Posted by LisaH817 on March 23, 2006, at 20:30:19
I've been on Effexor XR for about 9 months now. I had gone thru a rough period with my one son, other family issues, and work was extremely stressful. I became extremely depressed and began to suffer extreme anxiety so that I could not eat, or sleep and would cry for no reason. I was losing weight, exhausted all the time, headaches, nervous and fidgety all the time, suffered irritable bowel, had trouble getting thru work and never felt like leaving my house. My doctor first prescribed trazodone which did not help me sleep much at all and when I did manage to drift off, I had such strange dreams that I woke up more anxious. Then I was prescribed Effexor XR. I was started on 37.5mg and slowly increased the dosage to 75mg at first. After about a month at 75mg, some of my anxiety was reduced and some depression, but I still had problems so I was worked up to 150mg that I’ve been on ever since. It worked for my depression rather quickly, the anxiety and nervousness took longer, and at times I felt very jittery, uncontrolled twitching of my legs and feet even when the rest of me felt lethargic and mild nausea, I slept better most nights, but some nights, I just couldn’t sleep no matter what I tried. After being on this dose for over 6 months, I have been sleeping better, have no depression, the anxiety is better and the jitters are gone, the nausea comes and goes, but I feel very lethargic most of the time. My work is stressful and requires concentration, I find that the Effexor seems to dull my brain, and I have little desire to do the things I used to do. I literally have to force myself to go out and do things with friends or family, or other things I once did all the time and really enjoyed. I’ve gain close to 20 lbs., I have no energy and when stressful issues arise, I feel this strange flush, heart palpitations, and sweats. Other side effects include dry mouth and eyes, itching skin, constant yawning, jaw clenching, cold sweats, and increased blood pressure. The other scary part is whenever I forget to take a pill, I would start to feel like I was getting a major head cold, my brain would start to fog up and I’d feel dizzy, ringing in my ears and nauseous. My vision would be impaired, as I would have trouble focusing and speaking clearly as well as constructing sentences. Almost like a migraine, but not quite the same. I felt as though I couldn’t move my head too fast and eventually I felt as though something strange was happening to my brain, like it was being prodded all over or as some have said, like electric shocks in your brain. Once I was able to take the dose I missed, these symptoms would start to subside, but it could take awhile depending on how long since your last dose. I saw my doctor today and asked to be taken off of it now, so I’m starting that process and she said that it should be done over the next six weeks, cutting back 37.5mg for two weeks at a time. I’m more than a little concerned after what I’ve experienced and from what I’ve read here!
poster:LisaH817
thread:623896
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/newbs/20060108/msgs/623896.html