Effexor Withdrawal – Naturopathic Medicine Network

I first have to say that I am so happy that this web site is here it has been a life saver for me.I have been on Effexor rx for a little over a year. I suffer from depression and mood dissorders. I have tried many different drugs. Zoloft, which made me tired all the time. Welbutrin mixed with efffexor made me crazy at first like I was on crack and then in the weeks to follow I felt very irritable so I disscontinued. Effexor seemed to help at first and I was slowly moved up the ladder to 225mg but then I started having some of the same problems so my doctor re-diagnosed me from depression to Mood disorders or mild Bi-polar so I started taking Lamictal. My Doc. put me on a plan to slowly get off the effexor but I still had side affects. I had headaches, nausea, dizzyness, a strange noise in my head when it’s quite like a swoshing that comes and goes. Hot flashes, night sweats, strange dreams, I think I’ve had it all. When I first brought this up with my doc. having no idea there even was withdrawals with this drug he told me to slow up the dropping of the meds over a longer period of time so I did. I then took 37.5 for about two weeks and then finally quit as he suggested. Then the withdrawals got worse than ever. I called him still in the drak about all of this and he said I was still experiencing withdrawals and to take another effexor each day untill I saw him. He then kept me on the 37.5 for about another two weeks because my Lamictal was getting higher and he wanted to make sure I had no problems with it. Well I did. I went to my family Doc. for a physical and on a lym got blood work done. That same day my family doc. called me at home saying there has been a problem on my blood test showing irritaion with my liver. My family doc. spoke with my phyc. doc. and they decided I needed to go off both the Lamictal and the effexor right away. Liver damage is a side effect for both but very uncommon. So now I’m on day four off of effexor. Lamictal has no withdrawals thank god. As far as the effexor I’m having all the effects just like before but I’m not ever taking the med again. I threw out all remains so I wouldn’t be tempted. I have told myself that no matter how bad I feel I will wade this out. I’m supposed to be seeing one of the best phyc. docs. in my area. I waited six month just to get in to see him and I like him. I’m just concerned that he never prepared me for these withdrawals and that when I came to him for help his answer was just to take another pill. I don’t understand whats going on and how this med had become so popular. I just wanted to share my experience with you all. I fould this web site about a week ago when I started doing research for the liver problem. IThis web site was like a light bulb. Everything I was and am going through became alot more clear. I was glad to know I wasn’t the only one. I thought I was going crazy. I’ve only been married about a year and I have taken about ten preg. tests thinking I must me preg. or something. I’m also pissed that mt doc. said I would be fine to get preg. on this drug. I can’t imagine tring to get off this drug being pregnant or having a baby while on this. The poor baby would go through the withdrawals right??? I have taken the advice of the detox although I’m using a different brand but it seems to help a little and I[‘m just glad to be cleaning out my body. I have also experinced the weight gain which is crazy for me. I have probabaly only gained 10-15pounds but I have been very thin my whole life and have acctually been eating healthier and excersising more because it came highly recomeneded for my mood problems. My belly keeps getting bigger and bigger and alot of my clothes have stopped fitting very depressing. I hope it’s startes to drop soon now that I’m off the meds. Good luck to all and feel free to contact me if you need help or have questions.