Posted by Emmah on June 16, 2001, at 11:22:45
In reply to Re: positive on Effexor + don't want to stop! » Emmah, posted by Cam W. on June 14, 2001, at 18:57:20
Hi Cam,
Thanks for your great suggestions. I will talk to my doctor if it is possible that I am responding to the noradrenergic effects of Effexor at a dosage of just 150 mg XR. I don't know if the symptoms I had when lowering the dosage from 150 mg to 112,5 mg were from serotonergic wthdrawal. I tend to think not, because I don't seem to relate much to all the withdrawal stories I have read. What happens when I have to lower is that I start feeling sad without no reason, nothing feels fun anymore and I can sleep all day. Just about what Effexor was prescribed for in the first place.
Oh, and when I am on 3x 37,5 mg non-XR a day (1 tablet with each meal) I can't sleep all night because my head feels terrible. I have tried to put more time between the tablets to spread them more equally over the day, taking them around 9 am, 4 pm and 11 pm, and then I sleep much better, but from 2 hours before I have to take the next tablet till about 2 hours after I have taken it I have such a miserable feeling in my head. I just feel short of one tablet, when I only have 3 tablets a day.You said my doc will now my disorder better than you do but I am not so sure of that. I have been suffering from dysthymia for 15 years already and have been treated by him for feeling down and having no energy and more of those symptoms, but I myself had to discover what it was I am actually suffering from. I found some info on the internet and took it with me to ask him if I could be suffering from dysthymia. He looked through what I had printed for him and then agreed that the diagnosis dysthymia is most likely.
I really like this man, he has helped me very well with some major stuf the past 11 years, and I feel that most of the time he really listens to me and what I have come to know about it. But I think in general family physicians in my country don't know very much about all the different mental problems people can have. And they are still not happy to accept the biological-cause-theory. I am very sure that in my case it is a biological problem and with that my doc does not agree completely. He says mind and body are very much interconnected, so you cannot clearly seperate the causes.Since I don't respond as well to lowering the dosage as he had expected he now wants me to see a psychiatrist. I really don't want to do that, because I am so sure it is a biochemical problem and I feel I can feel great with the proper dose of Effexor, and because I don't want to talk about anything with a mental health professional. Sure I have to deal with some issues, but it's nothing big and I feel I have come to terms with that during the talks I had with my family doc the past 2 years. I feel there is really nothing to talk about, so I would only have to see that psychiatrist for my medication. Well, I cannot believe that he will let me just take meds and not talk about anything going on in my life. But the months I have taken 150 mg of Effexor XR I felt good enough to deal with everything myself. No sad feelings or feelings of insecurity or hopelesness, I simply enjoyed life and I didn't encounter any problems that would made me need to see a psychiatrist.
So it is not just that I have to convince my doc to let me stay on 150 mg as long as I feel I need that, I also need to convince him that he is qualified enough for that maintenance treatment, that I really don't need a psychiatrist.Wow, when I started typing I had no idea it would be such a long story, sorry for that.
Thanks for the help and best wishes,
Emmah
poster:Emmah
thread:66461
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010612/msgs/66722.html