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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 13 of 13. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by maggiepiepie on July 7, 2001, at 23:29:37
I have been reading past messages about RLS and trying to figure out what MY cause may be.It is my FEET that begin to itch and crawl and drive me CRAZY, not my legs.
Well, I have learned from the postings that anti-deppressants can cause this condition. I had been on Prozac for 4 years, then switched to Effexor, then..........I have this problem! I never connected the two problems.
Could this be the cause? Are there any other reasons for my feet to drive me crazy at night? And My problem is when I get tired before I go to bed and as I am TRYING to get to sleep. Once I get to sleep.........I am OK.
Any input will be much appreciated!!!
"sleepless in Casco"
Posted by Poppy on July 8, 2001, at 4:49:23
In reply to Why do my feet ITCH at night???, posted by maggiepiepie on July 7, 2001, at 23:29:37
I too have experienced this. I have been on effexor for two years now, and I went throught a period of my feet and then my hands being crazy itchy. It would drive me insane. I went ot the doc and he said it could be a reaction, however i still dont know what to. It has gone now and I havnt had it again, although I didnt know thta there was a connection between effexor and this sympton. How long has it been happening I used this cream from my doc and it helped a little, it could be your sheets or something in your carpet???
Posted by SalArmy4me on July 8, 2001, at 22:54:31
In reply to Re: Why do my feet ITCH at night???, posted by Poppy on July 8, 2001, at 4:49:23
Try some calamine lotion...Worst-case scenario: have your doctor prescribe some Atarax.
> I too have experienced this. I have been on effexor for two years now, and I went throught a period of my feet and then my hands being crazy itchy. It would drive me insane. I went ot the doc and he said it could be a reaction, however i still dont know what to. It has gone now and I havnt had it again, although I didnt know thta there was a connection between effexor and this sympton. How long has it been happening I used this cream from my doc and it helped a little, it could be your sheets or something in your carpet???
Posted by maggiepiepie on July 9, 2001, at 16:57:14
In reply to Re: Why do my feet ITCH at night???, posted by SalArmy4me on July 8, 2001, at 22:54:31
Is Atarax for itching?
calamine is a thought.Thanks.
I am also on Trazadone "for sleep".....
sometimes it seems worse after that.
I usually have 2 cocktails a night......
I wonder how alcholol affects all this?
Sometimes I want to get up and "drink the whole bottle, just to sleep".
Not really :-/
Posted by Poppy on July 10, 2001, at 21:19:21
In reply to Re: Why do my feet ITCH at night???, posted by maggiepiepie on July 9, 2001, at 16:57:14
Last night my hands did the same thing, and my feet. It hasnt happend for a while, but I have recently been increasing my effexor dose, do your feet get puffy, when my hands it they get really puffy??
Posted by twiggy on December 10, 2001, at 14:00:16
In reply to Re: Why do my feet ITCH at night???, posted by Poppy on July 10, 2001, at 21:19:21
Thank God!!!! I went on Effexor XR in June, in July I started getting these itchy spots on my feet, which in-turn became little blisters which drove me nuts! - I tried everything over-the-counter, thinking that it was athletes foot or some sort of poison I'd gotten into. It was only on the tops of my feet & anlkes. Then I started getting it on my hands. Man alive, I went to my family Doc and he thought I just has sweaty feet & hands (gross, sorry), he gave me something called Drysol. That made it even worse. So, I saw a highly recommended dermatologist. He scared the hell out of me. He told me I had it looked as though I had prophyria (sp?) - a rare liver disease. NICE...Well, the tests came back negative. None of my doctors will even consider the possibility of it being the Effexor. I'm guessing there may be more people out there with this side effect. With a drug so new, why wouldn't they be monitoring and recording these things? Anyone else out there with this problem? I really like the results this drug has had in every other aspect of my life. It's ashame I may have to switch to something else. Or don't I have to? Advice???? ~Wendy
Posted by Mitch on December 11, 2001, at 9:25:34
In reply to Re: Why do my feet ITCH at night???, posted by twiggy on December 10, 2001, at 14:00:16
> Thank God!!!! I went on Effexor XR in June, in July I started getting these itchy spots on my feet, which in-turn became little blisters which drove me nuts! - I tried everything over-the-counter, thinking that it was athletes foot or some sort of poison I'd gotten into. It was only on the tops of my feet & anlkes. Then I started getting it on my hands. Man alive, I went to my family Doc and he thought I just has sweaty feet & hands (gross, sorry), he gave me something called Drysol. That made it even worse. So, I saw a highly recommended dermatologist. He scared the hell out of me. He told me I had it looked as though I had prophyria (sp?) - a rare liver disease. NICE...Well, the tests came back negative. None of my doctors will even consider the possibility of it being the Effexor. I'm guessing there may be more people out there with this side effect. With a drug so new, why wouldn't they be monitoring and recording these things? Anyone else out there with this problem? I really like the results this drug has had in every other aspect of my life. It's ashame I may have to switch to something else. Or don't I have to? Advice???? ~Wendy
Hi Wendy,You may need to try something else. I had something similar happen to me with Effexor as well. But, I didn't get blistering, just itchiness and some redness. This has happened with Effexor, Topamax, and Serzone. If you try enough meds, you will probably get a skin reaction from something, sooner or later. Sometimes they can go away on their own. I am taking Wellbutrin now, and I got a similar effect from it (as Effexor), but it is fading now after several weeks.
Mitch
Posted by irving on December 25, 2003, at 6:22:05
In reply to Re: Why do my feet ITCH at night??? » twiggy, posted by Mitch on December 11, 2001, at 9:25:34
I'm glad I found this site. My feet, and hands to some degree, have been itching lately, mostly on the top of the feet and mostly at night. I have been taking Effexor for a couple of years but recently increased the dose by 75mg.
Posted by rompy on December 30, 2003, at 14:53:15
In reply to Re: Why do my feet ITCH at night???, posted by irving on December 25, 2003, at 6:22:05
Please read my post. It's listed as Dr.Bob;redirect or something like that, I just started this site yesterday.
Anyhoo I started out with itchy feet first, and jumpy legs. The most obvious symptoms were moving toes, and that was weird.
Then it started spreading up my body slowly.
It very slowly turned from itchy to pain. Like airborne abestos. If you've ever worked in something like that you know what i mean.Then it started jabbing me with white hot pokes. Now it's so bad I'm on neurotin and clonapine..a lot of it. I get real hot at night in the summer.
(My wife took two doses of Celexa and she had her body start twitching periodically and the bottoms of her feet burned as well but she's slowly having less problems except when she's close to her period).
The reason that they didn't test this poison out was money. They used the excuse that they didn't have time to research AIDS drugs over long period's of time because of the obvious need for a cure. But they spread that law over the table for everything because a lot of people had big money invested in the wonder drug prozac that doctor's were stupidly were throwing out like crazy and still are.
I read somewhere that the testing period for effexor and other drugs during that period was only 8 days.
I quit effexor and have been off two years or so. But now the neurologist says I have nerve damage in my legs.
I've gone to the neurologist for about a year and a half. I'm no better. He can't come out and say what I have. He doesn't know.
Watch yourselves.
Posted by twiggy on December 30, 2003, at 15:12:25
In reply to Re: Why do my feet ITCH at night???, posted by rompy on December 30, 2003, at 14:53:15
Rompy. Do you suspect it was the Effexor that caused the nerve damage? I have so many strange things that have been going on in my body since i was on that. I had great results with my depression and anxiety, but my body fell apart.
Posted by rompy on December 31, 2003, at 14:21:14
In reply to Re: Why do my feet ITCH at night???, posted by twiggy on December 30, 2003, at 15:12:25
Twiggy, I'm 100 per cent sure it was.
An hour or so after ingesting this crud, my toes started going nuts. That's pretty strange considering that the only toe I could ever move was my big toe. But all of my outer toes started going crazy like the snakes on Medusala's head about 90 minutes after taking Effextor. ( I'm not crippled or anything, except for my toes, which I could never move. Just making that clear. I can move my big toe, but the others just stay there all limp.)
I've never had any problem with these other SRRI drugs, and I had been on SRRI drugs like prozac and zoloft with no problems and just quit because they didn't help. I had been on tri-cyclic anti-depressants forever but I could go about days without those and nothing remotely close to this would happen, except nasty head rushes. (I was on those pills because I had anxiety in high school about the nature of God, a common anxiety).My 70's shrink was an idiot,and gave me nasty tri-cyclics. He was useless and/or dangerous as are 99 per cent of pychriatrists.. Just stupid, lazy parasites.
That goes triple for the pharmacies that make these drugs. If they help they could at least make them cheaper. The Drug Companies are EVIL).
My neurologist tested for tardive dyskinsia and that was ruled out immediately as was MS and Parkinson's.
I"'ve never had any problems like this, and the fact that all this crazy stuff that started happening right after taking effexor is obvious. It's the effexor that messed me up.
Posted by humbum on September 13, 2004, at 19:05:53
In reply to Re: Why do my feet ITCH at night???, posted by Poppy on July 10, 2001, at 21:19:21
oh my gosh, i cannot believe what i just read. my feet drive me insane at night. i am on 150 mg of effexor, and i had no idea it was related. i thought i had athletes foot or something. does anyone else bruise really easily. i know i do and i heard it is a side effect of effexor.
Posted by InkyPinAZ on January 5, 2009, at 5:12:08
In reply to Re: Why do my feet ITCH at night???, posted by humbum on September 13, 2004, at 19:05:53
> oh my gosh, i cannot believe what i just read. my feet drive me insane at night. i am on 150 mg of effexor, and i had no idea it was related. i thought i had athletes foot or something. does anyone else bruise really easily. i know i do and i heard it is a side effect of effexor.
It's 3:45 am. I couldn't take the itching any more tonight. Every night I sit in bed and scratch my feet, just praying that my feet might fall off some day. I finally decided to try the net to see if there was some strange remedy.
As it happens, I have been tested for everything under the sun including MS, diabetes, etc. I'm 34 years old and at a perfect weight. No doctor has been able to help at all. I have tried all sorts of things to get my feet to stop itching, all to no avail.
I'm sitting here reading all of the previous posts, saying "OH MY GOD!!!" I've been on Effexor for at least 10 years. The bottoms of my feet itch like crazy as well as the skin just behind the inside of my ankles. My toes also wiggle incessantly.
The doctors wrote off the toe issue to the fact that my mom's toes wiggle too, so it must run in the family. I can't believe that after all this time, I finally find that there are other people out there with the same symptoms, all taking the same meds.
As much as my feet are itching now, I am mentally so relieved that I feel like doing a little dance. Has anyone found any relief for this problem short of going off Effexor? It does good things for my moods, but the itching has gotten to the point of ridiculousness.
This is the end of the thread.
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