Posted by MJC on October 1, 2002, at 0:47:37
Hi, how's it going? I've been suffering from symptoms of a variety of different anxiety disorders (you name it, I've probably got it) for the last 15 years of my life. I also suffer from extreme insomnia. For example, I have LOTS of trouble falling asleep, and I'll usually wake up prematurely, like after 4 hours, and be wide awake though I suffer through the rest of the day. So, finally it's got to be so bad that I've decided the only way I'm going to get on in life is if I get treated for it.At the moment I'm taking 75mgs of Effexor XR every day and 1mg of Clonazepam every night. The first 2 weeks of Effexor sucked since I felt like I had the flue constantly. Then it started getting better. The Clonazepam worked wonders for my sleeping disorder and my panic attacks for the first few weeks too. Now I have a problem. I'm pretty sure it's the Effexor, but I feel WIRED all the time. Like I'm trippign on speed or something. I've only slept a few hours in the past few days. But on top of that, I don't really feel tired whatsoever. I've taken my 1mg of Clonazepam tonight and even though I feel sedated, I have no desire to sleep. The only real disadvantage to this at the moment is that my eyes are starting to really hurt but other than that, I'm just FULL of energy. This is not like the insomnia that I've suffered for most of my life either. The past insomnia was basically because I was dealing with so much anxiety that my body and mind just felt stretched to the capacity and it wasn't allowing me to sleep. This time, I'm calm as can be, but I just have so much energy in my body that I just can't sleep.
I should probably also mention that this is my 18th day on the medication.
Now, for all you veteran Effexor users, is this a normal side effect and does it go away with treatment? I feel great on the medication, no anxiety whatsoever, but I can't just decide to give up on the sleeping to be rid of my anxiety. Either way is just as painful.
So, what do you think? Am I having some sort of messed up side effect from this medication and I should try to get off of it as soon as possible? Or should I just tough it out and will it clear up by itself, possibly before I have to be hositalized for sleep deprivation?
Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated
poster:MJC
thread:121763
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020930/msgs/121763.html