Re: Re: Re: Effexor Withdrawal NIghtmare. Class act lawsuit. Not one told us about this.

Posted by Mary on 07/15/03 at 09:44 AM

I have been on Effexor twice in my life. The first time it was to help my migraines (aka Chronic Daily Headache) and it was during college. I fell asleep in almost every class and my grades were very adversely affected. Eventually my doctor informed me that the problems I was having could be coming from the Effexor and she took me off of it. I only remeber small amounts of withdrawal when going off it, as there was a day I had to leave class because I was so out of it. I had to immediately take a pill (150 mg I think) and 2 benadryls to get me through the day. This time (5 years later) I was looking for something that would possibly help my headaches and my depression all rolled up in one drug. Unfortunatley, my insurance company would only pay for a few drugs and I absolutely couldn\'t tolerate the other. (Celexa). I regrettably started taking Effexor sometime last fall and after fighting to stay awake all day for the past 6-9 months I have finally had enough. I weaned myself off of it by taking it in increasingly longer intervals (I didn\'t have access to a Dr. during this time). I have been totally off of it for 10 days now and the nightmares are incredible. I can hardly sleep at all. The sleepiness has subsided some, but the weight gain noticable also. I also have the \"brain shivers\" quite frequently, but they are subsiding as I am off it longer. I have also noticed that I am rather emotionally weak now, and highly oversensitive (possibly because I am no longer being medically treated for depression, but my current state is WORSE than it was before I took the Effexor). I have found that at least 1 Benadryl a day has been helping slightly. I am disgusted by the fact that the drug company and prescribing doctors are so laxidaysical in warning people of these issues. I am also angry with myself for trusting my doctor when my instincts told me not to (I guess this withdrawal is like a penalty for being so stupid). I am very interested in doing anything to help spread the word about this medication and making the drug company take a little more responsiblity and pro-activity around these issues. Feel free to email me with any comments, for support, or ideas for a fight at fissyfan@hotmail.com

Replies	Posted By	#	Date & Time
Re: Re: Re: Re: Effexor Withdrawal NIghtmare. Class act lawsuit. Not one told us about this.	c vandorn	0	07/19/04 05:40 PM
Re: Re: Re: Re: Effexor Withdrawal NIghtmare. Class act lawsuit. Not one told us about this.	michael westman	0	08/02/03 12:41 AM