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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Chairman_MAO on June 9, 2004, at 13:05:58
I'm on day 8 of both desipramine 75mg/day and Effexor withdrawal from 75mg/day. I'm doing some temp work in data entry these days and feel mentally incapacitated. Even tasks sequences, such as pressing the tab key, following the cursor from one field to another, and then looking at the appropriate space on my hard copy to find the value I need to enter, are proving excrutiatingly difficult! I'm so spacey I feel like I'm in waking dream! Hell, simply writing this posting is proving more difficult than I anticipated, as it always feels as if all my sentence structures are suboptimal. That's not even the word I wanted to use--or it doesn't feel like it--but I have to put SOMETHING down for all of you to try to understand!
I quit the Effexor in favor of desipramine primarly because serotonergic drugs without dopaminergic augmentation--which my pdoc will notgive me--make my ADD much, much worse. Well, now I'm even foggier than ever! There are so many possible factors at work here:
1) desipramine causing cognitive dysfunction due to its anticholinergic effect (didn't notice this the last time I tried it)
2)Trileptal 900mg/day, which I had to start taking again to keep myself from randomly crying during the withdrawl
3) Effexor withdrawal
etc etc etc. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced similar cognitive dysfunction upon withdrawal of a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and, if so, how long did it last?
Thanks for your support.
Posted by linkadge on June 9, 2004, at 13:46:12
In reply to Effexor withdrawal/spaciness/desipramine help!, posted by Chairman_MAO on June 9, 2004, at 13:05:58
Let me know how things go.
I am considering chaning my celexa (only half working) to anafranil. I am in university (canada) and am kind of wondering just how bad the anticholinergic side effects will be.
But right now, the depression is sucking the life right out of me.
Linkadge
Posted by Racer on June 9, 2004, at 17:25:28
In reply to Effexor withdrawal/spaciness/desipramine help!, posted by Chairman_MAO on June 9, 2004, at 13:05:58
I went through the Effexor withdrawal, and there's no question it's rough. Did you taper down, or go cold turkey? I ran out of Effexor a few times, and that was truly hellish, but even with a very slow taper it was still really rough. The only thing I can tell you is to hang in there as best you can -- not all that helpful when you feel so bad, and I'm sorry I can't do better than that.
The only good news about it I can give you is this: it does end. While it was going on, it certainly didn't feel as if it would ever get better for me, but it did eventually get better. (Relatively speaking, that is: I stopped the Effexor because it was no longer effective for me, and it took eight months for me to taper down off of it, so while the withdrawal was going on and making me miserable, the depression was getting worse both because I was so miserable from the withdrawal and because I wasn't medicated for it.) So, forever does come to an end, and the relief of getting over it will probably make the wretchedness of it feel worth it.
Do keep us posted, though, about the desimpramine and how you're doing on it. And Effexor is not typical of the SSRIs in the withdrawal effects. I had a little trouble when I stopped Paxil, but that was just a day or two of yuckiness, nothing worth mentioning. The Effexor was a beast, though.
(Also, don't let my eight month taper worry you: I'd been on it for several years, and was taking a lot more than 75mgs. Both the dosage and the duration of treatment were involved in my experience. I was also going very slowly to minimize it as much as possible.)
You have my best wishes, for what they're worth.
Posted by cubic_me on June 10, 2004, at 5:04:01
In reply to Effexor withdrawal/spaciness/desipramine help!, posted by Chairman_MAO on June 9, 2004, at 13:05:58
Reducing Effexor had the same effects for me, plus head shocks. The spaciness and dizziness lasted less than 2 weeks when I went down by 75g. Like Racer said, it is easier to taper than to go cold turkey, but it does take a little longer.
There are several threads in the archives on effexor withdrawal if you do a dr.bob search, these might be of interest to you.
Good luck.
Posted by Chairman_MAO on June 10, 2004, at 8:22:15
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal/spaciness/desipramine help!, posted by cubic_me on June 10, 2004, at 5:04:01
Thank you all for your kindly words of support, espeically given how stale the topic of Effexor withdrawal is. I actually feel significantly better this morning mood-wise (day 9) than I did at the same time yesterday. The fog, on the other hand, is less improved. I hope there are clearer days in the extended forecast!
Posted by Questionmark on June 12, 2004, at 3:55:40
In reply to Effexor withdrawal/spaciness/desipramine help!, posted by Chairman_MAO on June 9, 2004, at 13:05:58
> I'm on day 8 of both desipramine 75mg/day and Effexor withdrawal from 75mg/day. I'm doing some temp work in data entry these days and feel mentally incapacitated. Even tasks sequences, such as pressing the tab key, following the cursor from one field to another, and then looking at the appropriate space on my hard copy to find the value I need to enter, are proving excrutiatingly difficult! I'm so spacey I feel like I'm in waking dream! Hell, simply writing this posting is proving more difficult than I anticipated, as it always feels as if all my sentence structures are suboptimal. That's not even the word I wanted to use--or it doesn't feel like it--but I have to put SOMETHING down for all of you to try to understand!
>
> I quit the Effexor in favor of desipramine primarly because serotonergic drugs without dopaminergic augmentation--which my pdoc will notgive me--make my ADD much, much worse. Well, now I'm even foggier than ever! There are so many possible factors at work here:
>
> 1) desipramine causing cognitive dysfunction due to its anticholinergic effect (didn't notice this the last time I tried it)
>
> 2)Trileptal 900mg/day, which I had to start taking again to keep myself from randomly crying during the withdrawl
>
> 3) Effexor withdrawal
>
> etc etc etc. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced similar cognitive dysfunction upon withdrawal of a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and, if so, how long did it last?
>
> Thanks for your support.
i definitely experienced cognitive dysfunction after quitting Paxil last year. It was a bizarre & horrible sort of cog dysfunction though-- not like from an antihistamine or benzo or something. It was like i could not control my thoughts and where my mind wandered-- i could not think clearly at all. It was horrible. My situation was (unfortunately, for me) pretty unique for some reason, however, in that this effect and the horrible despair & etc. from the withdrawal did not go away for months. i did not feel better until i finally started Nardil.
But anyway, so yeah i definitely think that the Effexor withdrawal can be causing a lot of your cognitive difficulties. If it's possible i think taking a low dose of Prozac for a little while would be beneficial (b/cz of the long half-life).
Also, the Trileptal may definitely be aggravating this as well. So this should be good though-- once you get over the Effexor withdrawal and once you stop taking the Trileptal, your cognitive abilities should return to normal or better (especially, i imagine, once the desipramine starts working well).
This is the end of the thread.
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