Posted by Alice Fay on March 8, 2001, at 21:44:24
In reply to New thread; effexor withdrawal , bad bad news, posted by Alice Fay on March 3, 2001, at 17:59:57
Thanks again, Willow and dj for your kind and very helpful comments and sharing.
I'm glad your HR and BP went down with the monitoring, Willow. Yeah, sometimes I've forgotten if or how much of the Effexor pills I take too. Very thoughtful comment about asking about my activity level or physical issues re: my working as a physical therapist. Yes, it can be hard on the body. In fact, my job plus perhaps too strenuous yoga brought on 2 shoulder injuries, the first of which in turn led to my latest major depression. And since a recent car accident I also have to be very careful about my back in the work I do. Not to mention stress.
Even though I only work p/t now as a physical therapist, I have been under a lot of additional stress lately because I'm in my last semester in a grad program in clinical psychology. The main stress is in writing my thesis, which is due 8 weeks from now. I'm sure all of the above has contributed to my muscle tension.It must be hard, dj, to deal with a major depression and/or its aftermath without meds. Neat that the biofeedback has helped you somewhat with your anxiety and muscle tension. At times, even on antidepressants, I have felt so drained and exhausted that CFS, or coming down with it, has crossed my mind.
I guess many of us depression sufferers must have a lot in common. I too have dysthymia and so my latest depression has been a "double depression". It has lasted more than 2 years. I also suffer from different kinds of anxiety, social anxiety among them. And since I injured my first shoulder and came down with the depression over two years ago, I stopped doing yoga (which before I had done avidly) and exercising as much: partly due to my shoulder injury, and of course partly due to the depression. My issues with social anxiety really came out in my last session with my psychotherapist.
The valium I've been taking for about 2 days has helped decrease my muscle tension and also some symptoms of anxiety a bit. But I know this is not a good permanent solution. I hope that soon, perhaps after finishing school, I can get back into a yoga and/or meditation practice that will help me to manage my anxiety in a more natural way.
So far its been better with the weaning process from Effexor, on 3 1/2 pills now, will go down slowly. No more withdrawal symptoms like I had last weekend. Thank you, Willow, and I have looked at the other threads re: Effexor withdrawal, and they have definitely helped.
Again, thank you both for your comments and kindness. Wishing you both well,
- AF
poster:Alice Fay
thread:55468
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010302/msgs/55966.html