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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by adamie on August 8, 2001, at 20:44:07
hi. I started taking Effexor today.it is a very strange feeling. I dunno what the hell it is but I feel very detached. Apathetic I THINK. The detachment makes me feel like I am some ghost in this world. That I am not here. And I dunno but things seem scary. As if everything looks darker. it is so hard to describe. the effexor deffinetly did something to my thinking. at least before it I would have a very small imagination and ability to picture things in my head with of course bad feelings accompanying them. Now I can't picture things. I feel extra detached from my fiance. I dunno what this is. it also seems harder to cry. I hope this will pass. I hope this isn't some numbing effect. I just feel strange and like a ghost. I feel very dead. earlier today the effexor made me feel at ease. but it seems to be some deadful feeling now. i felt very bad off the effexor but had some small attachment to the world. now I am feeling very bad but in a different kind of way! and I dont like it. I dont want apathy. I cant live in this horrid state. I need my emotions above everything else. I will see how I do the next few days.
Posted by Joy on August 8, 2001, at 21:49:50
In reply to Effexor detachment, i am a ghost, posted by adamie on August 8, 2001, at 20:44:07
Hi,
Give it a chance. One day can't be a fair assessment. You need 4 to 5 weeks. Effexor acts differently at higher doses than lower ones. Tell your doctor how you feel during the first week or two. Good luck.
Joy
> hi. I started taking Effexor today.
>
> it is a very strange feeling. I dunno what the hell it is but I feel very detached. Apathetic I THINK. The detachment makes me feel like I am some ghost in this world. That I am not here. And I dunno but things seem scary. As if everything looks darker. it is so hard to describe. the effexor deffinetly did something to my thinking. at least before it I would have a very small imagination and ability to picture things in my head with of course bad feelings accompanying them. Now I can't picture things. I feel extra detached from my fiance. I dunno what this is. it also seems harder to cry. I hope this will pass. I hope this isn't some numbing effect. I just feel strange and like a ghost. I feel very dead. earlier today the effexor made me feel at ease. but it seems to be some deadful feeling now. i felt very bad off the effexor but had some small attachment to the world. now I am feeling very bad but in a different kind of way! and I dont like it. I dont want apathy. I cant live in this horrid state. I need my emotions above everything else. I will see how I do the next few days.
Posted by reb on August 8, 2001, at 22:07:52
In reply to Effexor detachment, i am a ghost, posted by adamie on August 8, 2001, at 20:44:07
doesn't it take at least a week to see the effects of effexor or any of these drugs? how can you see effects of it from the very first day you are taking it? is that really possible?
>
> hi. I started taking Effexor today.
>
> it is a very strange feeling. I dunno what the hell it is but I feel very detached. Apathetic I THINK. The detachment makes me feel like I am some ghost in this world. That I am not here. And I dunno but things seem scary. As if everything looks darker. it is so hard to describe. the effexor deffinetly did something to my thinking. at least before it I would have a very small imagination and ability to picture things in my head with of course bad feelings accompanying them. Now I can't picture things. I feel extra detached from my fiance. I dunno what this is. it also seems harder to cry. I hope this will pass. I hope this isn't some numbing effect. I just feel strange and like a ghost. I feel very dead. earlier today the effexor made me feel at ease. but it seems to be some deadful feeling now. i felt very bad off the effexor but had some small attachment to the world. now I am feeling very bad but in a different kind of way! and I dont like it. I dont want apathy. I cant live in this horrid state. I need my emotions above everything else. I will see how I do the next few days.
Posted by adamie on August 8, 2001, at 22:40:35
In reply to Re: Effexor detachment, i am a ghost, posted by reb on August 8, 2001, at 22:07:52
> doesn't it take at least a week to see the effects of effexor or any of these drugs? how can you see effects of it from the very first day you are taking it? is that really possible?
>
> >
> > hi. I started taking Effexor today.
> >
> > it is a very strange feeling. I dunno what the hell it is but I feel very detached. Apathetic I THINK. The detachment makes me feel like I am some ghost in this world. That I am not here. And I dunno but things seem scary. As if everything looks darker. it is so hard to describe. the effexor deffinetly did something to my thinking. at least before it I would have a very small imagination and ability to picture things in my head with of course bad feelings accompanying them. Now I can't picture things. I feel extra detached from my fiance. I dunno what this is. it also seems harder to cry. I hope this will pass. I hope this isn't some numbing effect. I just feel strange and like a ghost. I feel very dead. earlier today the effexor made me feel at ease. but it seems to be some deadful feeling now. i felt very bad off the effexor but had some small attachment to the world. now I am feeling very bad but in a different kind of way! and I dont like it. I dont want apathy. I cant live in this horrid state. I need my emotions above everything else. I will see how I do the next few days.I doubt it's the actual anti depressant effects. What I am having is probably just side effects. I know the very first time I took paxil I noticed something different only 20 minutes after. I felt like I was drugged and dreaming. The next day it was more normal but generally paxil made me kind of like a zombie.
So just like the paxil I think the effexor deffinetly did something this very first time I took it. Probably just something that will go away. It's really strange how I have been feeling today. It's hard to describe but I know for certain I am feeling different somehow than when I was not taking any med.
Currently I am feeling better than the way I was earlier in the day. It's just strange how it makes me feel. In the shower I felt a tiny bit more motivated to do things. Then after it was quite the opposite. Apathy, feeling unattached to the world. now it's less of that. I dunno how or what is going on.
as it is now I look forward to seeing how I am on effexor in the coming weeks. perhaps I will start feeling better soon enough and whatever I am feeling now will just subside or go away. Before I felt apathetic but now a bit less and like I was before the effexor, as in apathy due to depression, not due to meds. but effexor before seemed to add to the existing apathy. but I am not sure exactly what it did. maybe it just made me feel more apathetic while I actually wasn't. take care. I am less worried now. I feel more waitable. I wish I had motivation to do something. all I can do is wait to see the effects.
Posted by pellmell on August 9, 2001, at 7:30:35
In reply to Re: Effexor detachment, i am a ghost » reb, posted by adamie on August 8, 2001, at 22:40:35
> as it is now I look forward to seeing how I am on effexor in the coming weeks. perhaps I will start feeling better soon enough and whatever I am feeling now will just subside or go away. Before I felt apathetic but now a bit less and like I was before the effexor, as in apathy due to depression, not due to meds. but effexor before seemed to add to the existing apathy. but I am not sure exactly what it did. maybe it just made me feel more apathetic while I actually wasn't. take care. I am less worried now. I feel more waitable. I wish I had motivation to do something. all I can do is wait to see the effects.
>adamie,
Effexor's antianxeity effects kicked in for me almost immediately, but it took five full weeks to feel it working on my depression. In those five weeks I felt sort of odd, sort of numb, something like what you're describing. I think it was because I felt like I didn't have any reason *not* to feel anxious (I was still depressed and down on myself), yet I wasn't. It just didn't feel right. I felt calmer, better able to take things, but I didn't feel like I deserved to feel that way. I think you may be feeling detached from your *anxieties about* your fiance, which in your depression you're mistaking for detachment from *her*.
Effexor is working very well for me, and my experience starting it mirrors yours. I'd give it at least five weeks at dose of 150mg or above before you give up on it.
Good luck, and keep in touch.
-pm
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