Posted by meliss337 on April 15, 2005, at 18:10:28
Hi, I'm new to this board. I've been browsing some of these threads for the past hour, and was wondering if I could submit my past and some questions for someone to answer. :)
I've been on Effexor for about 18 months now - before that I was on Celexa but it stopped working somehow. Anyway, Effexor doesn't really give me any problems... other than sleepiness. And lately I've just gotten entirely sick of it. I can essentially sleep for 12 hours if given the option, and getting up in the morning (or afternoon) is SO HARD. It makes me unmotivated and lazy and sleepy and I just want OFF of it.
I've done research on the internet and it seems like Effexor is one of the hardest antidepressants to go off of. I'm on 150 mg, and my doctor (who has continually told me "It seems to be doing fine, why go off of it if it's working? Why mess with a good thing?") has finally listened to my telling her that I can't take the sleepiness anymore, and told me to start tapering off, starting with 75 mg for a week or so, and then "if I want," to taper down further.
From reading this board, and from other websites, it seems like I should be tapering down in MUCH smaller increments than that... should I just do it in 37.5 increments?
Also, was sleepiness a big side effect with anyone else? Was there any real remedy for it?
I would appreciate ANY advice. I'm scared about going off of this stuff. I tried going off celexa, and it was hard enough.
Thanks!
-Melissa
poster:meliss337
thread:484824
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050323/msgs/484824.html