![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by ICanFlyButterfly on September 16, 2005, at 15:55:07
hi, i am new to effexor xr and to this forum. I just want to feel that i belong in this world and it is comforting to know others are going thru the same feelings as me. my doctor prescribed effexor xr at 75 mg and 37.5 mg capsule. i am also on zyprexa zedis?? at 15 mg (this is supposed to be for my anxiety).
i'm a complete mess, i have not worked for the past 3 months due to my depression which seemed to happen "overnight". i am also terrified of "brain zaps" ?? as i have been reading alot about them in this forum. i have been on these drugs for about 4 weeks now.
my depression is still severe and i can't really seem to get thru each day. i've told my doctor that i still feel the same but he insists to give these pills a chance.
i can't take too much more of this and some days want to just end this torture. i guess it would be really nice to connect to others knowing that maybe one person feels like i do. can anyone respond to me...please tell me it will be better.....
Posted by wildcard on September 16, 2005, at 16:12:40
In reply to New to Effexor - terrified of life, posted by ICanFlyButterfly on September 16, 2005, at 15:55:07
hey and welcome! trust me, u are not alone. one thing i learned here is dont always go by what side effects others have had on meds.. i take effexor xr (225mg) and have never exp. most side effects mentioned. it all depends on ur chemical makeup. i wld. think though that by 4 weeks, u should feel some relief...if i were u, especially feeling as badly as u do, i wld. get in to see my doc ASAP and be 100% honest about everything. if he/she still doesnt listen, maybe consider finding a new doc.? things will get better. i know its hard but they will so hang in there. u have support here~trust me ; )
Posted by linkadge on September 16, 2005, at 16:54:20
In reply to Re: New to Effexor - terrified of life » ICanFlyButterfly, posted by wildcard on September 16, 2005, at 16:12:40
Can you elaborate on what you said about how your depression seemed to happen overnight ?
Excatly how long were your symptoms going on before being prescribed these meds. And have you felt better or worse since starting them?
Linkadge
Posted by EERRIICC on September 16, 2005, at 20:18:42
In reply to New to Effexor - terrified of life, posted by ICanFlyButterfly on September 16, 2005, at 15:55:07
You will feel better. One of depression's most cruel tricks lies in its ability to color the past and future with the transient pain of the present; it seems like there's no way out but that's just a symptom of the condition. I am sorry you have to go through this strange and horrible pain but it will end. Maybe you should ask your doctor for a temporary prescription of xanax or ativan until a drug kicks in properly for you.
Posted by Racer on September 16, 2005, at 22:04:51
In reply to New to Effexor - terrified of life, posted by ICanFlyButterfly on September 16, 2005, at 15:55:07
EERRIICC is right, it takes a while for any drug to kick in. You're on a very low dose of Effexor, and if it doesn't kick in for you in the next week or two, your doctor will probably raise the dose for you. You have to titrate up slowly on most of these drugs, especially since the best idea is to stay at the lowest effective dose. What that dose is will vary for each individual.
The biggest problem, of course, is that this waiting game is taking place at a time when you need relief so desperately. Believe me, I know how bad that is. It's like a cruel cosmic joke. The best advice I can offer is to use whatever support system you have or can find -- from friends, neighbors and family through boards like this one -- and stick it out until you've had a good six weeks at a therapeutic dose of Effexor. If it still doesn't work, your doctor can either augment it with another medication, or change your drugs entirely.
Is the Zyprexa helping at all? For me, the anxiety I feel when depressed is sometimes worse than the depression itself.
Welcome to PsychoBabble. You can get a lot of good information here, although you do need to keep in mind that, as wildcard pointed out, most of us who spend much time here are not your average patients. We have a lot of people here who have some degree of treatment resistance, or are hypersensitive to medication side effects, or simply react oddly to medications in general. We're not the ones to look to for what you'll likely experience on these drugs!
Optimal dosing of anti-depressants is only found through trial and error. Back in the bad old days of the MAOIs and TCAs as the only options, doctors could do blood tests to check on blood levels of the drugs because they knew what the therapeutic window was. Nowadays, it's all trial and error. And there's not much that can be done to anticipate reactions. For example, a lot of doctors have expected me to respond to low doses of drugs because I tend to be underweight when beginning treatment. Not so, I usually require very high doses before anything kicks in. Other people here, though, have good results with doses so low that they're hardly considered therapeutic. Just depends, and it means that we gotta stick it out when trying drugs.
I hope that helps, and doesn't overwhelm you. Welcome, and I hope you feel better soon.
(Oh, and I took Effexor XR for years. Don't let all the possible side effects scare you. It's a good drug.)
Posted by jen2 on September 17, 2005, at 19:27:26
In reply to New to Effexor - terrified of life, posted by ICanFlyButterfly on September 16, 2005, at 15:55:07
Give the Effexor a chance to work. It took a long while before I got used to it and started to feel relatively normal again. I've been on 75mg since January and it's keeping me sane. You will feel better.
Jen
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.