Posted by LisaH817 on May 19, 2006, at 22:20:05
In reply to Re: Anyone had success on Effexor XR? YES!, posted by renecoston on May 1, 2006, at 5:44:21
Well I’ve been off the Effexor completely for 2 weeks now and have managed pretty well, surprisingly! The first few days were rough, especially considering that I didn’t feel as though I had finished with the withdrawal of the final dose I had been on. Even though I considered calling my doctor for more of the final dose capsules to take every other day for a while, I decided to tough it out. I’m glad I did. I’m still going through some withdrawal symptoms, but it’s getting better every day. My energy is coming back, I no longer feel so lethargic and numb, and I’ve dropped about 8 lbs in the last two weeks! I was more than a little worried, but now I’m sure I’ll be fine and my opinion about the drug has changed - again. I really think it did me a world of good when I needed it, but as a temporary aid, I do not think it is a long-term medication, or possibly as soon as the individual is coping better the drug should be very gradually reduced and monitored. I seemed to have more negative effects from it when I no longer needed it and that’s what I would have changed. Several months ago, I felt as though I could start to decrease my dosage and my doctor insisted that I stay on it for a few more months. I think if I had started to decrease the dosage back then, even more gradually, I would have under gone less of the negative side effects and then less of the withdrawal symptoms. At any rate, it served it’s purpose well but in the future I’ll be more insistent with my doctor as to how I want to handle any medication I am taking.
poster:LisaH817
thread:457503
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20060505/msgs/646101.html