![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
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 BrianS on May 6, 2005, at 15:30:28
I'm 19. I was on effexor for almost two years. I suffered and still suffer from social anxiety (and because of this and the loss of a loved one I was depressed). The ignoramous doctor of mine perscribed me the horrible drug. It did nothing to alleviate my anxiety; in fact one of the side effects was nervousness!! It was bad but I still took the drug, thinking and hoping that it would help me. My muscles would twitch, I would sweat alot, have headaches, my eyes would hurt, and I would also have brain "shocks" at night. When I started tapering off the drug I started feeling like my brain was moving, not to mention my eyesight was (and still is) terrible. It would shift in and out of focus, and whenever I looked down at something and looked back up everything would be blurry; it was hard to adjust my eyes. I also heard beeping in my ears at night and still would be woken up by brain shocks. My memory was affected as well. I have been off effexor for almost four months now and still have both the side effects and the withdrawal symptoms. How long does it take for all these symptoms to go away? Or will they ever go away? I have a distrust for doctors and medication now and do not want to take any, but I fear I might have to.
Posted by Slinky on May 7, 2005, at 10:26:11
In reply to Effexor withdrawal--WHEN WILL IT END???, posted by BrianS on May 6, 2005, at 15:30:28
I sympathise with you..Effexor withdrawals are bad and exactly how you described.
I went onto another antidepressant and it got better after 2 weeks.
Now I'm getting the exact same problems from paxil..I'm wondering whether or not to take another depressant pill..although I'm being helped by my mood stabilisrs.
I wish I could say when it will go away. The only advise I could give is taking small dose of Prozac then tapering that..it has a good success rate to elliviate the withdrawal.
Posted by canadiangirl3 on May 20, 2005, at 22:30:15
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal--WHEN WILL IT END??? » BrianS, posted by Slinky on May 7, 2005, at 10:26:11
I tried that Slinky. I used teeny doses of Prozac to taper the Effexor. I finally went off Prozac and after ten days free of the drug I am getting the wicked brain zaps, full body buzzzzzzing and I am irritible as sh*t! It is getting worse, I think. I am loathe to introduce even a small amount of Prozac back into my regime. I want off these crazy drugs. What is weird is when I was on Prozac seven years ago - I NEVER had any of these same w/d symptoms. Is it cause I'm getting older?
Posted by SLS on May 21, 2005, at 7:24:59
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal--WHEN WILL IT END???, posted by canadiangirl3 on May 20, 2005, at 22:30:15
> I tried that Slinky. I used teeny doses of Prozac to taper the Effexor. I finally went off Prozac and after ten days free of the drug I am getting the wicked brain zaps, full body buzzzzzzing and I am irritible as sh*t! It is getting worse, I think. I am loathe to introduce even a small amount of Prozac back into my regime. I want off these crazy drugs. What is weird is when I was on Prozac seven years ago - I NEVER had any of these same w/d symptoms. Is it cause I'm getting older?
One possibility for explaining the failure of the Prozac substitution strategy might be that you didn't use nearly enough of it. In actuality, 20mg is a teeny dose. The stuff stays in the body so long that it takes over a week at 20mg just to reach the lowest of therapeutic blood levels. The idea is to take Prozac 20mg for 3-5 days and then stop; allow this slow-clearing drug to act as a natural taper.
- Scott
Posted by canadiangirl3 on May 21, 2005, at 22:10:27
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal--WHEN WILL IT END???, posted by SLS on May 21, 2005, at 7:24:59
Ok now I'm confused. I'm not sure I understand your 20mg for 3 to 5 days theory. Can you explain that in plain language for me? Also How then does that jive with the 20mg every other day, every two days, every three days etc theory..? (I'm starting to think you are a pharmacologist)
Posted by SLS on May 22, 2005, at 7:57:53
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal--WHEN WILL IT END???, posted by canadiangirl3 on May 21, 2005, at 22:10:27
> Ok now I'm confused. I'm not sure I understand your 20mg for 3 to 5 days theory. Can you explain that in plain language for me? Also How then does that jive with the 20mg every other day, every two days, every three days etc theory..? (I'm starting to think you are a pharmacologist)
Because Prozac has such a long half-life, it takes quite a few days for steady-state concentrations in the blood and brain to become established. 20mg of Prozac taken only once does not contribute very much to the total accumulation. It must be taken on a continual basis for some period of time to reach therapeutic levels.
Reaching therapeutic levels might not be warranted, however, when using Prozac as a substitute surrogate for discontinuing other SRI drugs like Effexor and Paxil. I have heard of people taking Prozac 20mg for one or two days in a row, and waiting a week before taking a 10mg or 20mg dose as a follow-up. Others have taken it for 5 consecutive days and not need a follow-up dose. Perhaps your system is stubborn enough to require a series of follow-up doses that follow a pattern of skipping days at increasing intervals.
I'm afraid you will have to be the best judge as to which method will work best for you.
One strategy that I like to use is to take a very small dose of a drug only when withdrawal symptoms appear. This might mean taking 5mg of Prozac at a time. Some experimentation is necessary. However, the idea is to allow the body to become your alarm clock as to when to take the next dose. In this way, you will be taking exactly the amount of medication that wards-off a full withdrawal syndrome while at the same time putting pressure on the system to change back to a more normal drug-free state. This manner of tapering is called flexible-dose. Flexibility is sometimes encouraged in discontinuing other drugs that one becomes physiologically habituated to - the benzodiazepines.
- Scott
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Withdrawal | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.