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.
poster:Racer
thread:355135
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040608/msgs/355197.html