Re: Effexor Withdrawal

Posted by Sherry on 07/20/05 at 07:09 AM

Thank goodness I found you all. I suffered from anxiety and depression because of a life changing event in my life one year ago in March. My doctor put me on Paxil CR and Wellbutrin XL. What life savers they were. It seemed though that the longer I took them, the more sleepy and unmotivated I became. I went back to my doctor (Physician\'s Asst. really) and my regular PA was no longer there. A new PA who I am very impressed with took me off of Paxil CR (weaned off) and had me stop the Wellbutrin XL completely (she said I didn\'t need to wean off of that). So, she decided I should start Effexor because it hits 3 different receptors in the brain. I started with 37.5 mg for one week and went up to 75 mg after that. My PA said that if that was too much, I could cut back to 37.5 mg. I had to cut back because I didn\'t like how the 75mg made me feel. Then, I decided that, since my crisis had long passed - why am I still on these pills? I cut back to 37.5 mg for a few days, skipped a day, took another and now, haven\'t taken one for 3 days. Coincidentally (sorry guys), I have my period and once in a while, I get a really really bad one where I am very sick. So, I don\'t really know if I\'m suffering from withdrawals or from my period. Maybe it\'s a combo of both. One of the reasons I didn\'t want to take the Effexor anymore was the long vivid dreams I was having. I can\'t take that! I am having strange dizzy spells - which I did experience when I weaned myself off of Celexa. I had to take that for a year once when my Mother was ill. Same thing happened there. The longer I took it, the worse I felt. I believe these meds are very helpful but should not be taken for a long period of time. Thanks for reading.