Posted by PoohBear on January 13, 2005, at 16:30:59
Seeing all of the bad press that Effexor and its attendant withdrawal has gotten here over the past year, I wanted to share my personal experience...
I started Effexor in October of 2003 for major depression and with the help of my dr. ramped up to 300mg per day and then back down to 150mg per day, where I was at for most of 2004.
As I have well-documented here on these boards, I had the usual Effexor start-up side effects: nightmares, night sweats, involuntary muscle spasms, brain zaps, sexual disfunction and MAINLY, sleep disruption. All of these moderated with time, as my body got used to the med. We did however, embark on a 4 month safari looking for the right sleep med before settling on Seroquel, 50mg every night.
Fast forward to November, 2004. I was complaining to my GP about arrhythmia or irregular heart beat. A Holter test revealed little of consequence, but I then did a search on Google for Effexer + Arrhythmia and came up with a recent Britsh study saying that Effexor could effect heart rhythm. I showed the article to my psychiatrist and his response was, "I want you off this stuff, NOW!"
I then explained to him that it was not wise to simply stop Effexor and discussed withdrawal with him. I got him to give me a prescription for Prozac 20mg capsules, enough for a month.
I then tappered my Effexor from 150mg to 75mg to 37.5mg, changing every 4 days until at the end of 12 days I took my last Effexor and was just on Prozac. I also augmented with Tylenol as needed and Benedryl every day.
The good news is that I had a VERY EASY withdrawal, with only one or two instances of mild brain zap and head swish.
Now I do have to say that no sooner did I get completely OFF Effexor and ON Prozac that I had major shoulder surgery and have been on Percocet and Vicodin for the last two weeks, so that *might* have helped, ie being distracted by pain.
I still maintain that Effexor is a good second-line AD, and strongly disagree with those who think it should be withdrawn from the market. HOWEVER, that being said, physicians who prescribe Effexor for fibromyalgia, PMS, etc., etc. are JUST PLAIN NUTS! It should ONLY be prescribed by a physician who KNOWS about the side effects and withdrawal symptoms that CAN be caused. I say *CAN*, because not everyone reacts to any given medication the same way. This is why I have (from time to time) been so vocal about the Effexor-bashing seen in these boards.
Oh and the arrhythmia? It's still there...
Tony
poster:PoohBear
thread:441722
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050113/msgs/441722.html