Re: Effexor withdrawal, HELL AND BACK!

[Guest guest]

Hey Natasha,

I'm sorry this has happened for you. First, stay with this group but join a

couple of others, VenlafaxineHealing is specifically for

those who have been on Effexor, some are totally free, others are tapering

off. Another group is ProzacAwareness - this group is like

SSRI Crusaders and addresses all the drugs with SSRIs in them. Read through

the files and old posts, learn about the drugs and the withdrawal problems.

A cold turkey stop from 300 mgs is true hell and very dangerous. You do

want to taper off the drug gradually and never stop it abruptly. You need

to get back on and stabilize, then start making gradual reductions in your

dose until you are free. The general rule is to reduce the dose by a small

amount, you will get some harsh withdrawal reactions but the smaller the

reduction amount, the less the severity of reactions. You stablize at that

dose, then make another small reduction in your daily dose, and wait again

until you stablize from the withdrawal effects before making another

reduction. There is not a set rule as to the amount of taper or amount of

time to take - it can vary by person but again, the general rule is the

slower, the better and most successful. Four days is not long enough. When

I got my son off, we cut at 10%, then had to reduce that to 5% when we were

around half of the initial dose. As we neared the end, we had to reduce

that to 2 1/2% (of initial dose). He had been on them several years, we

spent almost 6 months tapering. He was on time release capsules, I bought

empty capsules from the pharmacist and actually counted the small granules

out. There are some different ways others have tapered. I didn't bother

trying to get help from our doctor until we were completely off, and then

had him run tests to check out thyroid and hormonal functioning. He is off

for a year now and doing great. We went to a low carb diet (atkins) and all

the problems we had before getting on the pills are gone.

I have a few suggestions. One is that you can go this morning to your

pharmacist who has been filling the perscription. Tell him your situation

with your doctor being out of town and your withdrawal reactions. They will

most likely sell you enough pills to get to Monday. Insurance probably will

not pay for these though and you will have to pay full price - at my

Walgreen's, they use to cost around $9 a pill. Pharmacists are much better

educated in drugs than doctors are - your pharmacist most likely will

acknowledge what you are experiencing is withdrawal from the drug if you ask

him about it.

Then on Monday, call your doctor's office and tell them what is going on.

Someone should be covering his patients in his absence. If he has a nurse,

they can phone in a perscription depending on what is written in your file,

or get the doctor who is covering his patients while he is on vacation to

approve a new perscription for you.

Or you can go as you are thinking to the emergency clinic in your area. The

doctor who runs the local walk-in/emergency clinic in my neighborhood

actually is very informed on these drugs and helps people taper off of them.

Doctors who are informed about them are out there but few and far between.

Those who are not informed however, are usually quick to write a

prescription thinking that your withdrawal problems reflect your need to be

on the drug.

And my last suggestion would be not to worry about your doctor not wanting

you as a patient anymore. You don't really want him as a doctor either if

all he knows how to do is write perscriptions for these drugs.

Effexor withdrawal, HELL AND BACK!

> Hello all, I've been on 300 mg of Effexor XR for the past 6 months

> for major depression and anxiety. I didn't have much side effects

> going on it but I've missed two days because I ran out of pills and

> my doctor is on vacation. And it has been HELL AND BACK for me! The

> weirdest things are happening, when I move my head my eyes become

> unfocused and a weird " woosh " sound can be heard. It feels as if my

> brain is bouncing around in my skull or something. Not to mention

> extreme dizziness, feelings of unreality and sensitivity to light

> and sound. I don't see an end in sight to this because I feel like a

> damned drug addict!

>

> I talked to my doctor 2 weeks ago about going off Effexor and he

> said that if I did that I couldn't be his patient anymore because he

> finally found a drug that could " help " me and I'm refusing

> treatment. I feel so angry at him and at all medical professionals

> in general, no one told me that I'd be going through this! And I

> called the hospital and they told me it was all psychosomatic! So

> now don't I just feel stupid?

>

> I don't know what I should do, should I just wait this out, go back

> on the pills at regular dose, cut back...I'm really clueless! If I

> were to get pills from an emergency family clinic tomorrow what

> would be the proper way to taper off 300 mg? Go down 75 mg every 4

> days?

>

> I'm sorry I know this is long but I feel so helpless. I'm actually

> surprised that I can type this all because I just feel

> so...unfocused. I feel as if I'm going to die and I just cannot

> stand it anymore. Please, if anyone has any advice on how to win

> against this EVIL pill please share it, everything is appreciated.

>

> Thanks a lot

> Natasha

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hey Natasha,

I'm sorry this has happened for you. First, stay with this group but join a

couple of others, VenlafaxineHealing is specifically for

those who have been on Effexor, some are totally free, others are tapering

off. Another group is ProzacAwareness - this group is like

SSRI Crusaders and addresses all the drugs with SSRIs in them. Read through

the files and old posts, learn about the drugs and the withdrawal problems.

A cold turkey stop from 300 mgs is true hell and very dangerous. You do

want to taper off the drug gradually and never stop it abruptly. You need

to get back on and stabilize, then start making gradual reductions in your

dose until you are free. The general rule is to reduce the dose by a small

amount, you will get some harsh withdrawal reactions but the smaller the

reduction amount, the less the severity of reactions. You stablize at that

dose, then make another small reduction in your daily dose, and wait again

until you stablize from the withdrawal effects before making another

reduction. There is not a set rule as to the amount of taper or amount of

time to take - it can vary by person but again, the general rule is the

slower, the better and most successful. Four days is not long enough. When

I got my son off, we cut at 10%, then had to reduce that to 5% when we were

around half of the initial dose. As we neared the end, we had to reduce

that to 2 1/2% (of initial dose). He had been on them several years, we

spent almost 6 months tapering. He was on time release capsules, I bought

empty capsules from the pharmacist and actually counted the small granules

out. There are some different ways others have tapered. I didn't bother

trying to get help from our doctor until we were completely off, and then

had him run tests to check out thyroid and hormonal functioning. He is off

for a year now and doing great. We went to a low carb diet (atkins) and all

the problems we had before getting on the pills are gone.

I have a few suggestions. One is that you can go this morning to your

pharmacist who has been filling the perscription. Tell him your situation

with your doctor being out of town and your withdrawal reactions. They will

most likely sell you enough pills to get to Monday. Insurance probably will

not pay for these though and you will have to pay full price - at my

Walgreen's, they use to cost around $9 a pill. Pharmacists are much better

educated in drugs than doctors are - your pharmacist most likely will

acknowledge what you are experiencing is withdrawal from the drug if you ask

him about it.

Then on Monday, call your doctor's office and tell them what is going on.

Someone should be covering his patients in his absence. If he has a nurse,

they can phone in a perscription depending on what is written in your file,

or get the doctor who is covering his patients while he is on vacation to

approve a new perscription for you.

Or you can go as you are thinking to the emergency clinic in your area. The

doctor who runs the local walk-in/emergency clinic in my neighborhood

actually is very informed on these drugs and helps people taper off of them.

Doctors who are informed about them are out there but few and far between.

Those who are not informed however, are usually quick to write a

prescription thinking that your withdrawal problems reflect your need to be

on the drug.

And my last suggestion would be not to worry about your doctor not wanting

you as a patient anymore. You don't really want him as a doctor either if

all he knows how to do is write perscriptions for these drugs.

Effexor withdrawal, HELL AND BACK!

> Hello all, I've been on 300 mg of Effexor XR for the past 6 months

> for major depression and anxiety. I didn't have much side effects

> going on it but I've missed two days because I ran out of pills and

> my doctor is on vacation. And it has been HELL AND BACK for me! The

> weirdest things are happening, when I move my head my eyes become

> unfocused and a weird " woosh " sound can be heard. It feels as if my

> brain is bouncing around in my skull or something. Not to mention

> extreme dizziness, feelings of unreality and sensitivity to light

> and sound. I don't see an end in sight to this because I feel like a

> damned drug addict!

>

> I talked to my doctor 2 weeks ago about going off Effexor and he

> said that if I did that I couldn't be his patient anymore because he

> finally found a drug that could " help " me and I'm refusing

> treatment. I feel so angry at him and at all medical professionals

> in general, no one told me that I'd be going through this! And I

> called the hospital and they told me it was all psychosomatic! So

> now don't I just feel stupid?

>

> I don't know what I should do, should I just wait this out, go back

> on the pills at regular dose, cut back...I'm really clueless! If I

> were to get pills from an emergency family clinic tomorrow what

> would be the proper way to taper off 300 mg? Go down 75 mg every 4

> days?

>

> I'm sorry I know this is long but I feel so helpless. I'm actually

> surprised that I can type this all because I just feel

> so...unfocused. I feel as if I'm going to die and I just cannot

> stand it anymore. Please, if anyone has any advice on how to win

> against this EVIL pill please share it, everything is appreciated.

>

> Thanks a lot

> Natasha

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Natasha writes " And I called the hospital and they told me it was all

psychosomatic! So now don't I just feel stupid? "

This is the wording from the Effexor prescribing

information/insert/lable. I suggest you print it out, take it to that

hospital, shove it up the ass of the person you talked to and then

tell them the pain is psychosomatic. But then I'm really pissed off

for you and all the other people who get told that. Maybe that's not

the best way of dealing with them.......

PRECAUTIONS

General

Discontinuation of Treatment with Effexor

Discontinuation symptoms have been systematically evaluated in

patients taking venlafaxine, to include prospective analyses of

clinical trials in Generalized Anxiety Disorder and retrospective

surveys of trials in major depressive disorder. Abrupt discontinuation

or dose reduction of venlafaxine at various doses has been found to be

associated with the appearance of new symptoms, the frequency of which

increased with increased dose level and with longer duration of

treatment. Reported symptoms include agitation, anorexia, anxiety,

confusion, coordination impaired, diarrhea, dizziness, dry mouth,

dysphoric mood, fasciculation, fatigue, headaches, hypomania,

insomnia, nausea, nervousness, nightmares, sensory disturbances

(including shock-like electrical sensations), somnolence, sweating,

tremor, vertigo, and vomiting.

During marketing of Effexor, other SNRIs (Serotonin and Norepinephrine

Reuptake Inhibitors), and SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake

Inhibitors), there have been spontaneous reports of adverse events

occurring upon discontinuation of these drugs, particularly when

abrupt, including the following: dysphoric mood, irritability,

agitation, dizziness, sensory disturbances (e.g. paresthesias such as

electric shock sensations), anxiety, confusion, headache, lethargy,

emotional lability, insomnia, hypomania, tinnitus, and seizures. While

these events are generally self-limiting, there have been reports of

serious discontinuation symptoms.

Patients should be monitored for these symptoms when discontinuing

treatment with Effexor. A gradual reduction in the dose rather than

abrupt cessation is recommended whenever possible. If intolerable

symptoms occur following a decrease in the dose or upon

discontinuation of treatment, then resuming the previously prescribed

dose may be considered. Subsequently, the physician may continue

decreasing the dose but at a more gradual rate (see DOSAGE AND

ADMINISTRATION).

_________

I copied that from

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/venlafax_wcp.htm#P

which is a faithful reposting of the FDA approved pi/insert/label.

Just about any drug's pi/insert/label can be found by googling the

name of the drug and " Prescribing information " .

[Guest guest]

Natasha writes " And I called the hospital and they told me it was all

psychosomatic! So now don't I just feel stupid? "

This is the wording from the Effexor prescribing

information/insert/lable. I suggest you print it out, take it to that

hospital, shove it up the ass of the person you talked to and then

tell them the pain is psychosomatic. But then I'm really pissed off

for you and all the other people who get told that. Maybe that's not

the best way of dealing with them.......

PRECAUTIONS

General

Discontinuation of Treatment with Effexor

Discontinuation symptoms have been systematically evaluated in

patients taking venlafaxine, to include prospective analyses of

clinical trials in Generalized Anxiety Disorder and retrospective

surveys of trials in major depressive disorder. Abrupt discontinuation

or dose reduction of venlafaxine at various doses has been found to be

associated with the appearance of new symptoms, the frequency of which

increased with increased dose level and with longer duration of

treatment. Reported symptoms include agitation, anorexia, anxiety,

confusion, coordination impaired, diarrhea, dizziness, dry mouth,

dysphoric mood, fasciculation, fatigue, headaches, hypomania,

insomnia, nausea, nervousness, nightmares, sensory disturbances

(including shock-like electrical sensations), somnolence, sweating,

tremor, vertigo, and vomiting.

During marketing of Effexor, other SNRIs (Serotonin and Norepinephrine

Reuptake Inhibitors), and SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake

Inhibitors), there have been spontaneous reports of adverse events

occurring upon discontinuation of these drugs, particularly when

abrupt, including the following: dysphoric mood, irritability,

agitation, dizziness, sensory disturbances (e.g. paresthesias such as

electric shock sensations), anxiety, confusion, headache, lethargy,

emotional lability, insomnia, hypomania, tinnitus, and seizures. While

these events are generally self-limiting, there have been reports of

serious discontinuation symptoms.

Patients should be monitored for these symptoms when discontinuing

treatment with Effexor. A gradual reduction in the dose rather than

abrupt cessation is recommended whenever possible. If intolerable

symptoms occur following a decrease in the dose or upon

discontinuation of treatment, then resuming the previously prescribed

dose may be considered. Subsequently, the physician may continue

decreasing the dose but at a more gradual rate (see DOSAGE AND

ADMINISTRATION).

_________

I copied that from

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/venlafax_wcp.htm#P

which is a faithful reposting of the FDA approved pi/insert/label.

Just about any drug's pi/insert/label can be found by googling the

name of the drug and " Prescribing information " .

[Guest guest]

Natasha,

Effexsor is extremly difficult to come off of. You

should NEVER stop this drug cold turkey. Coming off

could cause Psychosis and you could end up on all

kinds of drugs to stop it. Do you have family that you

can educate a little, so that if any thing happens

they will understand what is going on. That it is the

drug and your NOT going crazy. That these quacks are

not there to help you and could cause more problems if

your situation is not handled correctly. What i'm

trying to say is that your family needs to be just as

educated as you are and the doc's are. I have a friend

whos daughter lost 5 years of her life because of this

trash they call medicine, but the mom was smart enough

to educate herself and new it was the drugs that was

causing all the problems. It took 5 years to get her

straightned out, but she is an honor student now

atending college. I don't want to see you drugged into

obivion if something happens. Just calm down and

decrease slow. That is what I would do. I'm really

sorry about all your going through. Join that group

our friend here gave you. There is good help there.

Please keep in touch with us here as we want to know

how your doing.

Connie in Dallas, TExas

--- natasha1981_2003@... wrote:

> Hello all, I've been on 300 mg of Effexor XR for the

> past 6 months

> for major depression and anxiety. I didn't have much

> side effects

> going on it but I've missed two days because I ran

> out of pills and

> my doctor is on vacation. And it has been HELL AND

> BACK for me! The

> weirdest things are happening, when I move my head

> my eyes become

> unfocused and a weird " woosh " sound can be heard. It

> feels as if my

> brain is bouncing around in my skull or something.

> Not to mention

> extreme dizziness, feelings of unreality and

> sensitivity to light

> and sound. I don't see an end in sight to this

> because I feel like a

> damned drug addict!

>

> I talked to my doctor 2 weeks ago about going off

> Effexor and he

> said that if I did that I couldn't be his patient

> anymore because he

> finally found a drug that could " help " me and I'm

> refusing

> treatment. I feel so angry at him and at all medical

> professionals

> in general, no one told me that I'd be going through

> this! And I

> called the hospital and they told me it was all

> psychosomatic! So

> now don't I just feel stupid?

>

> I don't know what I should do, should I just wait

> this out, go back

> on the pills at regular dose, cut back...I'm really

> clueless! If I

> were to get pills from an emergency family clinic

> tomorrow what

> would be the proper way to taper off 300 mg? Go down

> 75 mg every 4

> days?

>

> I'm sorry I know this is long but I feel so

> helpless. I'm actually

> surprised that I can type this all because I just

> feel

> so...unfocused. I feel as if I'm going to die and I

> just cannot

> stand it anymore. Please, if anyone has any advice

> on how to win

> against this EVIL pill please share it, everything

> is appreciated.

>

> Thanks a lot

> Natasha

>

>

>

>

>