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Effexor XR, there and back again...has this happened to you too?
Hello everyone!
I was first started on anti-depressants over five years ago because stress, anxiety and major depression were starting to ruin my life.
I was also prescribed Clonazepam to deal with panic attacks and I did not have to take it everyday.
They first tried me on Zoloft but it seemed to have no positive effect and was making me feel pretty lousy overall.
Then I was on Lexapro up until about almost a year ago, and that was going very well for me.
But they wanted to see what had the best effect so they even tried me on Effexor XR, I just switched overnight and actually was okay except for a few minor side-effects.
I then had the crazy idea, after five years I decided maybe I should quit this stuff all-toghether?
I had been on the Effexor for several months at this point, and felt okay for the most part but didn't want to be dependant on this type of stuff for the rest of my life.
I was worried about what the long term effects might be.
So little by little I lowered my dosage by taking apart the capsules and taking out a few of the little white balls, just a few at a time everyday.
The big mistake was not going to a doctor and doing this the correct way in the first place, I should not have been doing this on my own, but that's a mistake I am living with right at this moment.
Anyways, i had read about other people who quit it and had little to no problem doing so.
I figured, if they can do it, so can I and I did, for a short time.
I went through the withdrawal effects, dizzyness, light-headed, brain-shivers and insomnia.
Those effects gradually decreased over several months and then I felt good, like my normal self again.
But that only lasted for about two weeks and then all of a sudden I was hit all at once, like being hit by a mack-truck.
I was becoming very depressed again, worse than even before I took any type of anti-depressants.
I was/am crying all the time, feeling deeply depressed, not eating as much as I used to and my insomnia became even worse.
I also have pain in the right side of my chest and it feels tight and like a balled up knot, which I understand is related to anxiety.
Speaking of anxiety, I could not stand being off of the medicine and had no choice but to start taking it again.
But the thing is, I still feel like I have bottomed out and then some.
I have been taking it again for a few weeks now and I still feel depressed, panic, high amounts of anxiety, despair and my mind seems to be racing.
I keep having thoughts about death and people dying, thinking I am just going to die and I feel really sad about everything.
The only thing that calms me down is the Klonopin, and I don't want to take that everyday and become a spaced-out zombie.
Although that might be a better state than the one I am right now.
I actually feel like I am in the middle of a never-ending anxiety/panic attack.
When I can actually sleep, I wake up and there are those feelings again.
Also when I can sleep, I tend to oversleep by several hours.
I feel afraid, alone, helpless and sometimes hopeless.
I have no idea how long this is going to last and it's really starting to drive me crazy.
I have no intentions of hurting myself, I just want this emotional roller coaster to end.
When I go back to my doctor I am going to ask to be put back on Lexapro, unless anyone knows of something that works better?
I don't even really feel like myself half the time and things that I used to do for fun, I just don't care anymore.
I honestly feel like I was just dropped into a black pit and I cannot get out, that's how horrible this is for me.
I feel so much worse than before I quit it, and I am stuck in this major depressive episode.
How do I even know if the Lexapro will help me if I go back to that?
I am just really freaked out about all of this and during the holiday season, this has made things nearly un-manageable, but I know I cannot be the only one to have gone through this.
Even as I write this I feel a sense of dread, anxiety and panic, for no reason that I know of.
Did quitting the Effexor the way I did, and the re-start taking it screw with my mind?
And if so, can this be reversed?
I have been like this for almost a month now and I can't stand it anymore, I am willing to try and medicine that will make this stop.
Also, as might be usual with this sort of thing, my sex drive is pretty much totally gone, and I feel afraid to even sit in a room by myself, which I never had a problem with before.
Alot of these things I am experiencing are things that I never dealt with before, or at least not at this magnitude.
I have tried St.John's Wort twice in my life, once before I ever started on anti-depressants and another time before I re-started the Effexor.
both times it did not help me and I could only take it for about a week because it caused me to have really bad headaches for some reason.
It is a comfort to know I can come here and talk with other people, but it's hard to distract myself from these thoughts in my head that loop over and over again.
I just want to know if anyone else has gone through this or a similar situation and if possible, explain to me how you got out of it.
As it so happens, both sides of my family have a history of major depression, lucky me.
Most of my relatives take care of their problems by drinking and smoking, which I don't want to do.
Anywho, thanks to anyone who has taken the time to read this, I appreciate it.
I am open to any reasonable advice.
I was first started on anti-depressants over five years ago because stress, anxiety and major depression were starting to ruin my life.
I was also prescribed Clonazepam to deal with panic attacks and I did not have to take it everyday.
They first tried me on Zoloft but it seemed to have no positive effect and was making me feel pretty lousy overall.
Then I was on Lexapro up until about almost a year ago, and that was going very well for me.
But they wanted to see what had the best effect so they even tried me on Effexor XR, I just switched overnight and actually was okay except for a few minor side-effects.
I then had the crazy idea, after five years I decided maybe I should quit this stuff all-toghether?
I had been on the Effexor for several months at this point, and felt okay for the most part but didn't want to be dependant on this type of stuff for the rest of my life.
I was worried about what the long term effects might be.
So little by little I lowered my dosage by taking apart the capsules and taking out a few of the little white balls, just a few at a time everyday.
The big mistake was not going to a doctor and doing this the correct way in the first place, I should not have been doing this on my own, but that's a mistake I am living with right at this moment.
Anyways, i had read about other people who quit it and had little to no problem doing so.
I figured, if they can do it, so can I and I did, for a short time.
I went through the withdrawal effects, dizzyness, light-headed, brain-shivers and insomnia.
Those effects gradually decreased over several months and then I felt good, like my normal self again.
But that only lasted for about two weeks and then all of a sudden I was hit all at once, like being hit by a mack-truck.
I was becoming very depressed again, worse than even before I took any type of anti-depressants.
I was/am crying all the time, feeling deeply depressed, not eating as much as I used to and my insomnia became even worse.
I also have pain in the right side of my chest and it feels tight and like a balled up knot, which I understand is related to anxiety.
Speaking of anxiety, I could not stand being off of the medicine and had no choice but to start taking it again.
But the thing is, I still feel like I have bottomed out and then some.
I have been taking it again for a few weeks now and I still feel depressed, panic, high amounts of anxiety, despair and my mind seems to be racing.
I keep having thoughts about death and people dying, thinking I am just going to die and I feel really sad about everything.
The only thing that calms me down is the Klonopin, and I don't want to take that everyday and become a spaced-out zombie.
Although that might be a better state than the one I am right now.
I actually feel like I am in the middle of a never-ending anxiety/panic attack.
When I can actually sleep, I wake up and there are those feelings again.
Also when I can sleep, I tend to oversleep by several hours.
I feel afraid, alone, helpless and sometimes hopeless.
I have no idea how long this is going to last and it's really starting to drive me crazy.
I have no intentions of hurting myself, I just want this emotional roller coaster to end.
When I go back to my doctor I am going to ask to be put back on Lexapro, unless anyone knows of something that works better?
I don't even really feel like myself half the time and things that I used to do for fun, I just don't care anymore.
I honestly feel like I was just dropped into a black pit and I cannot get out, that's how horrible this is for me.
I feel so much worse than before I quit it, and I am stuck in this major depressive episode.
How do I even know if the Lexapro will help me if I go back to that?
I am just really freaked out about all of this and during the holiday season, this has made things nearly un-manageable, but I know I cannot be the only one to have gone through this.
Even as I write this I feel a sense of dread, anxiety and panic, for no reason that I know of.
Did quitting the Effexor the way I did, and the re-start taking it screw with my mind?
And if so, can this be reversed?
I have been like this for almost a month now and I can't stand it anymore, I am willing to try and medicine that will make this stop.
Also, as might be usual with this sort of thing, my sex drive is pretty much totally gone, and I feel afraid to even sit in a room by myself, which I never had a problem with before.
Alot of these things I am experiencing are things that I never dealt with before, or at least not at this magnitude.
I have tried St.John's Wort twice in my life, once before I ever started on anti-depressants and another time before I re-started the Effexor.
both times it did not help me and I could only take it for about a week because it caused me to have really bad headaches for some reason.
It is a comfort to know I can come here and talk with other people, but it's hard to distract myself from these thoughts in my head that loop over and over again.
I just want to know if anyone else has gone through this or a similar situation and if possible, explain to me how you got out of it.
As it so happens, both sides of my family have a history of major depression, lucky me.
Most of my relatives take care of their problems by drinking and smoking, which I don't want to do.
Anywho, thanks to anyone who has taken the time to read this, I appreciate it.
I am open to any reasonable advice.
Yeah, I wish I never had to take any of these meds in the first place, but I kinda have no choice.
It ***** when these kinds of problems are genetic.
So did the Dilouxetine help you better than the Effexor?
I want to get off of Effexor and return to Lexapro because for me there were little to no side-effects on the Lexapro.
With the Effexor I have a hard time getting through the day without some kind of anti-anxiety medication to back it up.
I hope I don't have to rely on this stuff for the rest of my life.
I am going to hang in there, and I hope I will feel normal again sometime soon.
Thanks.
It ***** when these kinds of problems are genetic.
So did the Dilouxetine help you better than the Effexor?
I want to get off of Effexor and return to Lexapro because for me there were little to no side-effects on the Lexapro.
With the Effexor I have a hard time getting through the day without some kind of anti-anxiety medication to back it up.
I hope I don't have to rely on this stuff for the rest of my life.
I am going to hang in there, and I hope I will feel normal again sometime soon.
Thanks.
Hi
How do we know if we'll ever beable to be drug free unless we try, we now know that
it's not an easy road but if we do it gently, gently maybe. But we will have withdrawals even if we do it slowly Dr's do it too fast follow cita's way they are on the web.
When we are prescribed these drug's it's a game of hit and miss they don't know which part of our brain is depressed. I really feel talking therapy, exercise and taking natural things to help like 5HTP and St.John's Wort.
I can tell you it's been hard coming off that effexor it's been the most horrendous time in my life but I can tell you I am not sleeping all the time and don't feel like a zombie. I haven't been able to work for years but now I have hope, that's fantastic I hope to have a new life for me and my son. I still have to come off dolsulipin when I stabilize but I will do that slowly with help from cita.
Have Hope !!
Love
Lorraine xx
How do we know if we'll ever beable to be drug free unless we try, we now know that
it's not an easy road but if we do it gently, gently maybe. But we will have withdrawals even if we do it slowly Dr's do it too fast follow cita's way they are on the web.
When we are prescribed these drug's it's a game of hit and miss they don't know which part of our brain is depressed. I really feel talking therapy, exercise and taking natural things to help like 5HTP and St.John's Wort.
I can tell you it's been hard coming off that effexor it's been the most horrendous time in my life but I can tell you I am not sleeping all the time and don't feel like a zombie. I haven't been able to work for years but now I have hope, that's fantastic I hope to have a new life for me and my son. I still have to come off dolsulipin when I stabilize but I will do that slowly with help from cita.
Have Hope !!
Love
Lorraine xx
Hi
Forgot to say we are put on these tablets for anxiety but they cause anxiety, I used to dred getting out of bed thinking about all I had to do now since stopping effexor it's
gone !!
Lorraine x
Forgot to say we are put on these tablets for anxiety but they cause anxiety, I used to dred getting out of bed thinking about all I had to do now since stopping effexor it's
gone !!
Lorraine x
Yes, I really do want to try and quit this stuff, but I may need to switch back to my old meds that I used to take before this.
I haven't been able to work for years either because of my problems and I hate being dependant on these drugs and the system, but it's all I have right now.
Well actually that's not true, I do at least have my family to turn to for support, but one of these days I will have to go out on my own, and that scares me because I don't know how I am going to function in society being the way I am.
I do believe in giving natural help a chance, and I may do just that.
I had taken St.John's Wort twice in the past and both times it didn't really seem to help me, but maybe I wasn't taking it long enough?
It's just messed up because I quit Effexor, felt terrible and then I thought that by taking it again I would go back to normal, but no.
Thank you so much for the info and support by the way, it's nice to have anyone to talk to about these things.
Especially people who can relate to what I am going through.
I feel terrible but I have my mind set to get through this no matter what.
I haven't been able to work for years either because of my problems and I hate being dependant on these drugs and the system, but it's all I have right now.
Well actually that's not true, I do at least have my family to turn to for support, but one of these days I will have to go out on my own, and that scares me because I don't know how I am going to function in society being the way I am.
I do believe in giving natural help a chance, and I may do just that.
I had taken St.John's Wort twice in the past and both times it didn't really seem to help me, but maybe I wasn't taking it long enough?
It's just messed up because I quit Effexor, felt terrible and then I thought that by taking it again I would go back to normal, but no.
Thank you so much for the info and support by the way, it's nice to have anyone to talk to about these things.
Especially people who can relate to what I am going through.
I feel terrible but I have my mind set to get through this no matter what.
I feel so bad for you . I used to take Effexor too and it was the worse med I've ever been on. After having so many problems I decided to quit taking it. Oh my gosh, the withdrawal was horrible and this was with tapering very slowly. Sometimes when we go back on a med it will not have the same effect, it can actually have the reverse effect and that might be why your having the severe anxiety. How long have you been back on the Effexor? The other posters are right about you still going through withdrawal if it's only been a short time that you've been back on it. It can take up to 6 weeks to start working. Personally, I would not recommend Effexor to anyone. It does help many people, but it was horrible for me. Can you work with your Dr on the tapering and go back to Lexapro? Hang in there, okay. We're here to help and support you anyway we can. Remar
Thanks for the concern, I truly appreciate it.
Yes, the withdrawal was/is very horrible.
I tried to come off of it slowly but I still got the bad side-effects.
I must have done it wrong, and I did it on my own, which can't be good.
Like you said, it is having a reverse effect and I feel more depressed, anxious and my insomnia is making my sleeping habits really crazy.
I actually like to write, and I have written several short stories, I do that for fun.
But now I feel like I cannot do anything, like I am trapped in this hole.
Well I can't truly say trapped because I have been trying to beat this.
Anyways, I was off of the Effexor at the end of October and went through the initial withdrawals until sometime in November, I can't remember anymore.
It was around then that I began to re-take the stuff because I had hoped it would reverse the feelings I was having.
So I would say it has been longer than six weeks now, and the misery never ends but I am finding some ways to help cope with it and deal with it.
One of them is coming here and talking with people, getting opinions, etc.
I want to switch to something else or just quit this all-together because it's not helping me at all.
I just can't imagine quitting it again and going through all that trouble a second time.
Maybe by switching to something else, and then coming off of that, I can do it the right way?
Basically I have been going through a living nightmare for months now, and I think you know what I mean.
Somehow my mother quit the stuff not too long ago, and she seems to be able to handle things okay, which is a mystery to me.
Maybe she has better tolerance than me?
Well thanks again for the support and if things get better, I will be sure to post it here.
Thank you so much!
Yes, the withdrawal was/is very horrible.
I tried to come off of it slowly but I still got the bad side-effects.
I must have done it wrong, and I did it on my own, which can't be good.
Like you said, it is having a reverse effect and I feel more depressed, anxious and my insomnia is making my sleeping habits really crazy.
I actually like to write, and I have written several short stories, I do that for fun.
But now I feel like I cannot do anything, like I am trapped in this hole.
Well I can't truly say trapped because I have been trying to beat this.
Anyways, I was off of the Effexor at the end of October and went through the initial withdrawals until sometime in November, I can't remember anymore.
It was around then that I began to re-take the stuff because I had hoped it would reverse the feelings I was having.
So I would say it has been longer than six weeks now, and the misery never ends but I am finding some ways to help cope with it and deal with it.
One of them is coming here and talking with people, getting opinions, etc.
I want to switch to something else or just quit this all-together because it's not helping me at all.
I just can't imagine quitting it again and going through all that trouble a second time.
Maybe by switching to something else, and then coming off of that, I can do it the right way?
Basically I have been going through a living nightmare for months now, and I think you know what I mean.
Somehow my mother quit the stuff not too long ago, and she seems to be able to handle things okay, which is a mystery to me.
Maybe she has better tolerance than me?
Well thanks again for the support and if things get better, I will be sure to post it here.
Thank you so much!
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Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
back on the medication because you had been off then quite a while. I am in a support
group and there is a lady like you there, the withdrawals mimic depression anxiety. Your brain does like sudden changes and going back on them has exaggerated the
withdrawals you are not going mad and you won't go mad !! I have been off effexor seven months now physical symptoms are subsiding but ive got the loneliness, fear, in the morning is the worst you will find that. If I get the anxiety I say to myself i'm not going there and tell myself it's withdrawals it really helps.
Effexor is a horrible drug to come off if I'd known that I would never have gone on them
I was on them eight years. I am on a beta blocker propananol 40 mg's and clonidine 100 mg's to help with the withdrawals. Your panic will be palpitations when you are on these tablets they shut down adrenaline and then when you come off them your body
over produces adrenaline.
In time they will go next time do it very gradually you could ask Cita my support group how to come down they are on the web.
Take care
Love
Lorraine xx