Posted by willow on February 19, 2001, at 21:45:47
In reply to Effexor XR Chronic Fatigue Syndrom, posted by Ria on February 18, 2001, at 13:45:26
"I am also extremely concerned with becoming dependant on this drug. Any advice or
information would be appreciated."I too have been diagnosed with CFS and am taking Effexor. My CFS started in the spring of '96,
going on five years this spring, after a cold, nothing bad just a very sore throat, and my course
with this illness has been a textbook case.I had changed family doctors about 18 months ago. When my first really bad flare started during
the course of seeing the new doctor, he diagnosed it as depression. He prescribed me Effexor,
because in the past I haven't been able to tolerate other anti-depressants or they were of no help.
The Effexor is starting to really help at the 150 dosage, after about four months I was able to start
waking up. Sounds like such a simple task, but I'm sure you can appreciate the significance of it.I too don't have much problems with mood. I have also been seeing a psychologist for the past
two years regarding the CFS. I believe it is a combination of the medication and therapy which is
helping me. I don't think one on its own would have done it.The reasoning behing the psychological aspect is that a person doesn't feel the emotions, but
instead internalize it resulting in say "butterflies" in the stomache, etc. I think this is too simple of
an explanation but it goes along these lines. I think the technical name is somatoform,
somatisation, or somatization.If you are thin skinned I don't recommend looking them up on a search engine. Most of the
information is painting the patient in a negative viewpoint from a medical doctor's position.
(Which I think make this syndrome worse with their good intentions.)Regarding the effexor, the good are outweighing the bad effects for myself. I do have side-effects
from it but am able to tolerate them because it is also having more of a positive effect. The main
one is that it has almost stopped the concentration problems for me. And also now I am able to
wake up and stay awake, though I still get fatigued, but the overwhelming sleep that pulls me in
isn't there anymore. I did have about two months where this was worse though, and then puff I
started to wake up.It has affected my sleep, as a result I was getting bouts of insomnia which worsened muscle pain.
For this I used gentle stretching and baclofen which also causes fatigue, so I limit the use of it.
Now at the five month mark the insomnia is starting to go away, and I'm having to make an effort
to correct my sleep cycle. But heck I was so happy to have the insomnia! : )Regarding this drug being difficult to get off of for myself that is a chance I'm willing to take,
because I suspect that I may need to take it for a long time, having had the CFS for almost five
years now. And really if you look at the posts regarding problems withdrawing from it they just
sound like an everyday thing living with CFS. ;^)PS Sorry for rambling but there aren't many with this on the board!
poster:willow
thread:54322
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010212/msgs/54432.html