Posted by Mental on February 20, 2005, at 12:56:10
I wanted to leave my experience with regard to Effexor as I have received some good information off this site and felt maybe my experience might help someone else. Specifically I was wondering what would happen if I went of the Effexor.
One of the things that really became apparent while reading the postings here is that someone else somewhere has the same problem and your not going nuts. Interesting is that after reading many of the messages posted I found out many people react to the same drug VERY differently. For example:
I have had tinnitus for about twenty years and more importantly long before going on any medication by about 12 years. The tinnitus I have is a ringing at about 8372 Hz and is in one ear. The hearing test I took recently shows I have no hearing loss at all. I started on Zoloft about 8 years ago and switched to Effexor a few years ago. I am now off Effexor and the tinnitus which almost was inaudible on the Zoloft and Effexor (a great side effect) is back with a vengeance. This the opposite of what some of the postings have said.
To get started:
First you should be aware that my mother was bi-polar and apparently this can pass onto the next generation as either depression or manic only. My brother is manic and very successful as a specialty doctor. He can work 16 hours a day 7 days a week and doesn’t even feel tired! (Must be nice) He has never been depressed and has no idea what I am talking about when I talk about depression etc.
I on the other hand received the bent towards depression. I am pretty much in a state of mild unhappiness, not happy and not depressed just, well flat! I would however slip into depression very easily. The main reason I went on Zoloft was because I had been getting more and more depressed because I was in a vocation that I hated. As a result of the ongoing depression my Family Doctor suggested Zoloft to help me get my “levels back to normal” with the idea that I would go off of it at some point. Most doctors don’t tell you what the effects going on or off because they honestly just don’t know unless (a) they themselves have been on it or (b) they have had a lot of patients on the particular drug they are recommending. Anyway, I did this and found that it leveled me out and helped me to make plans and to change careers which I did over 4 years.
The side effects I had for GOING ON Zoloft were as follow:
1.Headaches for the first week or so. (Not migraines)
2.Weight gain over the years.
3.Low libido.
4.I felt pretty good and was out of the “Black Pit of Despair” as some call it and it helped me cope.Side effects of SWITCH TO Effexor:
1.More weight gain. Total about 40 lbs.
2.Occasional leaking bladder. (Uggh!)
3.Thyroid stopped working. (Not sure if this related to the Effexor)
4.Went on Synthroid to bring T3 and T4 back into proper range. (This worked)
5.Weight gain caused my cholesterol (LDL) to go up and I am now on Lipidil Supra 160. I have been on this four six months and this has not reducing my LDL cholesterol at all. My Family Doctor told me I need to get off the Effexor to help me reduce my weight which is why I went off the Effexor. Funny that they don’t tell you that you will have weight gain by going on the drug. I do the Tae Bo Circuit 2, which is a 50 minute advanced workout and I do this every other day and had done so for about 6 months. As well, I DO eat properly and as a result I have lost absolutely no weight. At least I stopped gaining weight! This is why I am off the Effexor, to loss weight. I never had a weight problem before the drugs by the way.Effexor worked great for me. It put my tinnitus to an inaudible level and made me feel pretty darn good. So as I said I went off this drug to see if I could reduce my weight not because of any side effects, except for leaking bladder.
Side Effects from GOING OFF the Effexor:
I went from 150 to 75mg for a month with no notice of any side effects. Then I went from 75mg to zero (cold turkey as some say)1.Major amounts of sweating at night (and some day).
2.On and off dizziness.
3.Weird dreams, really vivid and bizarre dreams. (Probably normal dreaming but enhanced?)
4.General feeling of being sick all a time. (Death seemed a better alternative at this point)
5.I had NO feeling of nausea at all.I have been off Effexor for three weeks now and here is what I have noticed after the initial withdrawal seems to be over.
1.Crystal clear thinking. I feel now that I was in a fog for the last 8 years and didn’t realize this.
2.Hungry all a time. I just have to say no.
3.No weight loss yet, but probably to early to tell.
4.Some impatience and irritability.
5.NO dark depression and only the odd mild depression.
6.My bladder stopped leaking.
7.Tinnitus volume increased. From inaudible to quite loud.
8.My tinnitus is driving me nuts. I didn’t realize that it was inaudible until I went off the Effexor. Actually I forgot I had tinnitus over the time I was on the two drugs.Honestly if it weren’t for the weight gain / cholesterol problem. As well, as the long-term worry of liver-damage, I probably wouldn’t have gone off the Effexor. It was, FOR ME, a very good drug with regards to feeling pretty good, and as bizarre as this might sound, I could say, again for me, Effexor reduced my tinnitus to inaudible which is back with a vengeance and I have no idea what I do at this point.
Moral: Honestly the MDs just don’t have enough time in a day to study each drug. You must do the research you self which is why the dr-bob.org site is so helpful. Every person has such different gene makeup that there is, in my opinion, no one drug fits all.
Final note: My dad was a heavy smoker and eater of high-saturated fatty foods. He had a massive heart attach at age 67 and ended up with a triple bypass. At age 69 he had a stroke which forever changed his personality from an extremely intelligent, loving man to, sadly, an almost stupid and unloving jerk. (Because of the stroke) Ironically, he died at age 74 because of liver disease caused by the amount of medicine being sent through his liver. When I cleaned out his bedroom dresser drawer I took out nearly 2 garbage bags of prescription medications.
So think carefully about what meds you are going to take. They all have side effects and no one person has all the answers. You only get one body, this isn’t a dress rehearsal. Hope this helps.
poster:Mental
thread:460826
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050214/msgs/460826.html