thanks for the tips on benadryl and clonazepam for weaning. i may be thru the worst since it does have a short half life.

i was placed on effexor 2 years ago. previously i had been on other ssri\'s, but this was the first ssnri i was ever put on. (i believe cymbalta is the only other ssnri currently on the market.) in retrospect, the depression issues are part and parcel of my ms. not situational...there are too many pwms (people with ms) who suffer from clinical depression for it to be situational. (at least 50% of us) but i digress...this was the worst of this class of drug i was ever rxed.

i felt myself starting to cycle like a bi-polar on the effexor...and it was bad. i weaned myself off...but not slowly enough i think...i went from 150mg xr 1x daily down to nada over only a one week period. too fast.

suffice it to say all the withdrawal effects did not do much for my already existing ms sx. in fact, from what i have read about other folks who do not have a neurological disease, the withdrawals sound chillingly like many of the neurological sx ms patients suffer from. for me i was not sure if it was my ms or withdrawal from the drug.

i plan to see a pysch who concentrates on pharma this month, but am going in with a fish eye to be honest.

my neuro..i love her. she specializes in ms. but i feel this issue is separate. i do not rely on her for my ad rx. instead, i keep all my docs in the loop with each other.

someone asked what is so terrible about this drug.... well read the accounts of folks that have gone off it. 80% of all patients who go off effexor have withdrawal sx from so-so to serious.

what would i like to do with what is left of my effexor? shove it up the doc\'s arse (who rxed it for me) so fast it shoots out his mouth like bullets from a machine gun.

why? because at the beginning of this month...june 2006 he still had the gall to tell me to my face this drug is not addicting in anyway.

is that clear enough?