schleprock

re effexor:

at first i didnt' notice anything... then i slowly started showing more & more symptoms of "depression"... they thought i was getting sicker, so they upped my dosage little by little... baically, watch to see if you start showing more depressive-type symptoms. i became crabbier, moodier, more sensitive emotionally, my sleep got messed up (too much at one time, too little the next, odd dreams)... -one of the workings of effexor is to interrupt the sleep cycle. this causes some people to start going into sleep-deprivation symptoms even though they seem to be getting a healthy level of sleep. i basically became a more-depressed, forgetful, violent shrew.

of course, again, it was thought that i wasn't getting enough med & getting sicker, so my dosage kept going up... and everytime i got more drug, the worse i got again. it took about 6mths of this or so before i connected the two, as by that time i was a nutball. totally different personality. i've got a list of what i went thru that i'll post below (it's gonna be long, be prepared!) that i made up for talking to others about it onanother site (i had to repeat so much cuz of people going thru the same thing that i just finally wrote it all out as best i could remember & saved it). so here it is:

these started gradually while on the effexor & continued until about 3mths after fully weaned
violent thoughts
violent self-harming
anxiety
jittery
lost-time
dizzy
forgetful
distractable
disjointed thought
screaming, throwing things, violent rages
(am bipolar) triggered first 2 ever hypomania & mania spells
tunnel-vision
night-paralysis/waking nightmares/hallucinations
bizarre dreams
anxiety-based non-violent self-harm
random suicidal thoughts (no volition, just images)
suicidal tendencies when upset -even when only over a little thing..
"personality perception problems" (coined by the blonde counselor) for an odd fully co-conscious yet dissociating thought/behavior
other things i know i forgot......

these lasted from about 3/4mths weaned til about 3yrs or so off it
anxiety-based self-harm
disjointed thought
violent rages
forgetful
lost-time
daily semi-constant anxiety
random suicidal thoughts (no volition, just images)
suicidal tendencies when emotionally upset -even the slightest bit
suicidal & self-harm thoughts when upset (little to no volition usually, again just images... occasionally volition tho)
anxiety-based urge to break things
the "personality perception problems"
and maybe more....


nowadays, 4yrs after weaning, i still have the violent rages but now i'm for the majority able to keep them under control & not act out on them... the anxiety is better, but still almost constant, i have a very hard time going out of the house... i still get the random suicidal thoughts. i won't be upset or anything, just walking around & get the idea and maybe the urge even though i feel good... same with self-harm... neither nearly as much as i used to though & they tend to fade rather than being very persisting... memory of course... i can't take being places where people know me, it's very hard... i'm basically an easily upset, socially phobic, self-conscious, memory-vacant, stupid version of my former self... it sucks. i now have to try to find meds that not only deal w/my illness, but also counter-act the effexor damage.. oh the fun.

that & i've had some wonderfully embarassing things happen during those weaning times... ugh.... screaming at my husband in public & tried to break my drivers-side window with my hands because i was being a psycho & he was trying to goto work... then walked out into oncoming traffic on purpose... all the while leaving the hotel room we were living in due to moving's door open where the cats could've gotten out & lost or killed by the busy street... -all of which things i NEVER would do. i don't even raise my voice to him in public, i find it demeaning to us both... and my kitties! agh....

oh, and i peed on him twice in my sleep. bedwetting is also a fairly common side-effect/withdrawal effect of effexor i found out...

i had an unusually severe reaction, but having several of the things i've listed is not rare. most just don't have as many or as strong as i did. here's the url to a site i'm also on that has other's experiences w/effexor to give you other's experiences & see that i'm not just some .01% freak lol

http://www2.health-center.com/db/MessageReq?SessionID=319294595.1056352261431&TopicID=377&Action=view

just keep clicking "view more messages" as they go back a long ways... anything w/ effexor , "brain-zaps" (or similar), or "terrible withrdrawals" or "nightmare" are likely to be effexor threads... hope it helps..

hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this stuff -while it *does* work great for some people- for the majority it turns out is dangerous. rather than the rarity being problems, no-problems is the unusual situation.

good luck.. i hope things go well for you, but i hope mostly that you'll try a different med a.s.a.p.


[Edited on Jun 23, 2003]

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