Posted by gardenia girl on March 25, 2005, at 16:16:49
In reply to Re: About the Effexor XR Withdrawal » gardenia girl, posted by SLS on March 25, 2005, at 12:54:50
>Have you already discontinued Effexor entirely? If not, what are you currently taking?
Last dose – seven days ago. None since last Friday.
>That's why I made the remark that, "If you feel you are headed in a positive direction..."Trick is, I don't know if it is headed in a positive direction. No personal withdrawal history beyond 5 days without E (until now). Every day is a wait and see kind of day. I thought others might have some recollection as to what happened to them as they survived each day.
>Although only a theory of mine, I think the withdrawal syndrome gets worse and lasts longer...Hmmm. Will have to think on that one. I wonder how much worse it can get.
>I guess we will both have to find out...That brings in the thought that I should be keeping a diary of sorts. The diary won't hasten the end of the symptoms nor will it lessen the severity for me, but it might provide comparison information for someone else.
>No. However, there are many people here who describe a persistence ...I think I finally get it! Skipping doses is not considered weaning oneself off at all. Only reducing the dosage amounts by stages alters the way the brain/body reacts to the removal of the chemicals, which are really only substitutes for what our own systems were not producing enough of to alievate anxiety in the first place. Yes?
>Good thinking. I don't recall whether the granules are the same or different. However, I can't see what difference...My thoughts were that by removing them from the delivery system and separating them into four groups there is no guarantee that one group won't contain all of the higher strength grains, another group all of the lower strength… But logically that scenario would be an absolute freak happening and the answer is easy. As you said - get the tablets. Then a grain is a grain.
>You really wouldn't be adding very much Effexor back into your system; 12.5mg a day versus 18.75mg a day.Help me out with the logic on this one. It seems to me it actually comes down to 12.5 mg per day vs. none. If one 37.5 timed release cap hits your system and is intended to produce results for a 24 hour period, with some residual into the next 24 hour period, then the next day another 37.5 hits – on a daily basis there should be an average of 37.5 + in your system. If you skip the next day you only have the residual in your system, not 18.75 mg. Yes? If you also skip the next day any remaining residual is used, skip the next day, residual is gone, hence the onset of the symptoms at three days w/o E. Every time your system reaches day 3 it is trying to use resources that are not there. Every three day cycle will be the same. By golly, I think I really am getting it!
If, however, your system was functioning without symptoms as long as there was some residual, then it becomes a matter of training your system to function with less and less per day, eventually finding the magic number, instead of jerking the rug out repeatedly as with the skipping doses method.
OK. Thinking out loud. The factors for making my decision are:I have already jerked the rug out. My system is looking for non-existent resources to relieve symptoms. I am well into the seventh day of the beating. If I don't put any resources into my system, the beatings will continue until my system figures out how to produce what it needs on its own. This now begs the question, what exactly is it looking for? What are possible ways to encourage production by my own system? Is there something I can do to hasten the end of the beatings without putting more of the drug into my system? How many more days of symptoms? Have I already been through the worst? Am I very close to the end and just don't know it? Lots of unknowns.
Or,
OK so I jerked the rug out. I can still put the drug back into my system but in much lighter doses and reduce it a little every day until I find my tolerance level. At some point I will still remove the drug entirely. How many days of symptoms will I have? What will be the severity? The same ways to encourage my own system to produce needed chemicals still apply. Will this method add to or subtract from the time investment of the other method? Still some unknowns.
Thanks for the forum to think out loud. Thanks for sharing your experiences and for the encouragement.
I have a decision to make and a diary to start. Good luck to all.
I will probably peek in periodically. I will definitely let you know what happens.
poster:gardenia girl
thread:469497
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050323/msgs/475509.html