Posted by JohnL on June 17, 2000, at 5:36:00
In reply to Effexor withdrwal, what are we doing about it?, posted by dotah on June 16, 2000, at 21:15:55
> I'm getting kinda scared. I've been taking 150mg (TR) Effexor for more than a year. On those few occasions that I've had (ok mostly through carelessness, I'm also ADD :) to stop taking it for more than a day I've expereinced two serious side effects that are well documented here: Extraordinaril vivid dreams, and light flashes similar to vertigo. These symptoms are real, and the cause is obvious!
> My expereince has me frightened because several posters to this board are saying that some symptoms (e.g. the light flashes, leg pain) simply don't go away.
>
> So what are we doing to make sure the FDA is checking in and that the drug companies are actively working on this issue?Is this an FDA issue? I mean, even common household aspirin has risk. Every drug--OTC or prescrip--has risks. I think the FDA focuses on the ones that clearly have very dangerous risks for a large percentage of people.
Let's face it, the brain is a complex yet fragile organ. Can we really go messing with it with chemicals and stuff and not expect there might be some risk? Like everything else in life, it's a fine balance between risk and benefit. It's up to the patient and the doctor to assess the risks they are willing to accept and deal with. Personal responsibility is very important. We have to remember to take our doses as prescribed, and we have to follow prudent weening schedules when discontinuing a med. Otherwise the risks are increased by negligence.
I never had tinnitus before antidepressant meds. Now I do. It varies in intensity, but never goes away. But it's a risk/benefit factor. Do the benefits outweigh the risks? In my case, yeah. Though I have this moderate ringing in my ear that wasn't there before, I can look forward to a normal undepressed life. The real risk as I see it is not tinnitus or vertigo or light flashes or whatever, but rather death. When depression goes untreated, it almost surely sentences the patient to death row--either by suicide or by a torturous erosion of the soul. You might want to reassess your own risk/benefit scenario and leave the FDA out of it.
It's no secret that Effexor is hard to come off of. Again, risk/benefit. If it caused light flashes with a majority of people, it might be a concern. But even then I doubt the FDA would remove it. At most they would probably want med companies and doctors to be sure patients are aware of that risk. But to put the whole issue in perspective, did you know that aspirin causes more deaths each year than antidepressants? That's right. Deaths. Not light flashes and vertigo and stuff. Actual death. Aspirin. Now that's something to think about. Aspirin also causes ulcers, tinnitus, and a host of other things. Risk/benefit. Personal responsibility for one's own life and one's own actions.
poster:JohnL
thread:37594
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000610/msgs/37617.html