Hello...I'm new here....looking for support...
 

Has anybody here been on Effexor for anxiety/depression? I am going off of it and in some desperate need of some moral support. Right now, after being completely off since Sunday, I am having bad "brain jolts", dizziness, etc. I've been weaning off from 300mg down to 0mg since January.

Check your private messages.

(thread moved to health)

welcome to the club

Those are withdrawl symptoms. You can't just stop taking the drug, you have to slowly wean off of it over a period of weeks. See a doc if you have one.

Der, I missed the withdrawl bit in the original post sorry

Good luck.

Why are you quiting? Dr.'s advice? Not prying just interested. I've never taken an antidepressant except for a brief trial period. I hear a lot of folks say they feel MUCH better after stopping these drugs. One friend said he had taken his for years and had he known how much better he would feel, would have quit a lot sooner.
Stay in touch with your Dr. is my advice. I think the less medication we take the better off we are. Since I quit going to the VA hosp. I have dropped from 7 scpripts to 2 full time and 1 part time. I can tell a difference.

Thanks, Capnhowdy...

I decided to go off the medication because I feltmuch better and I didn't like the side effects. I have the support of my Dr. and my husband. It's been a long and sometimes frustrating road since starting tapering off in January. In the past six months I've gone from 300mg down to 0mg. I'd have to say that the worst has been this past week after dropping down to 0mg. I think my body is still craving the benefits of the medication. Today, though, I'm not as dizzy as yesterday, but had bad anxiety this morning and have been extremely tired. I agree with you that we are better off if we can get by with little or no medication at all. Thanks for the support!

Effexor has *nasty* sexual side effects. They affect some people more than others.

Huh, go figure. I was just gonna post a thread about antidapressant meds. Welcome GC'68, thanks for posting and good luck.

I have been on Zoloft for 5+ years. Within the last 6-8 mo it seems to have quit working despite playing with the dosage and trying to make some lifestyle changes. So, I finally saw a new doc, and as of this morning am trying out Lexapro. I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with this, and what their opinion was. I will keep this updated if anyone wishes to hear my experience. Thanks!

Effexor (continued....)
 

Hello LabRat...

thanks for the input and welcome. I, too, was on Zoloft for a couple years. Then I was off it for a couple years before having a rough time with anxiety. My doctor then put me on Effexor. It helped tremendously with the anxiety and all. I hated the side effects, though. Weight gain, little or no sex drive, jitters and shakes, headaches, and what some people call "brain jolts". I haven't found a real good way to describe the "brain jolts" to people who haven't experienced them. It's along the lines of dizziness, but different. They cause a feeling of sudden movement and sudden stops. They make my eyes, hands and face tingle for a couple seconds at a time with about 15 seconds or so between the "jolts". Really something that one has to experience to understand. Today, I'm feeling quite a bit better with fewer, less intense "jolts" and stomach isn't so upset. But, I noticed this morning and last night that I'm getting real "bitchy" and trying to not show it. For instance...my husband made a comment last night about a "project" of mine. I have things that I make and sell on-line and I ship them in a small box. I prefer to do that because I don't want to take the chance of them getting mangled in the mail by shipping them in a padded envelope. Well, every time he sees me packaging up a shipment he ALWAYS makes the comment "isn't there a different way to ship those?" and I ALWAYS explain why I ship them in a box. So last night when I was boxing up a package he made that comment again. I think I kept my cool pretty well. I said with a smile "you don't like the box...do you." He said "it just seems like overkill to send it in a box. I just thought there might be another less expensive way." I told him, like I've told him time and time again, that it costs the same to send it in a small box as it does to send it in a padded envelope. I said "i've explained over and over why I ship in a box and still every time you see me package an order up you make that comment." Plus...he is the "weed police" as I call it. We'll be in the yard and I'll point out some flowers that are coming up in the flower beds that I've worked so hard on and he'll say they are pretty and point out a weed. Or in the garden I've planted (he usually does the veggie garden, but he has other things going on this year so I'm doing one) I pointed out how the plants are starting to come up and he points out weeds that I need to take care of. It just seems like lots of negatives that I don't need right now. It would be much better to hear "the flowers are sure pretty", "the garden is doing good", and "that's a great way to ship your product."

Sorry for going off on a tangent. Kind of got off the subject there for a minute.

Half of my coworkers are taking Lexapro. They seem to be doing okay with it, and much prefer life with vs. without. Sorry I can't be more specific than that ... I'd ask them, but I'm on vacation and don't have the usual level of access. If I remember, I'll ask them when I get back in.

half of mine should be taking it.

Hi there -- I just joined today after checking the place out.

I've been on Lexapro for 3 1/2 years. It has worked wonderfully for me and I haven't experienced any sexual side effects. I started on 10 mg per day and that seemed to be just the right dosage for me. My teenage niece, however, is up to 40 mg per day. You'll have to see what works for you.

Good luck!:)

Ain't that the truth!!:right:

I hate to admit this, because this is more revealing than I usually am on the cellar, but I have taken Effexor, and yes, I gained weight, had "brain jolts" as you call them and had a horrible time getting off it. The "brain jolts" are unbearable when they occur every 5 seconds. Like you, I got down to 0 from 300 and couldn't stand it. I even got to the point where I was counting granules to ease myself off as slowly as possible, but it was still awful. Sometimes, I would get myself drunk, just to soften the withdrawals...it helped a little. Finally. after having tried for several months to get off the stuff, I made a gradual switch to zoloft and then a gradual switch to Welbutrin and then off Welbutrin. This method worked for me, because moving to a different medication didn't cause the withdrawal symptoms and getting off Welbutrin wasn't difficult for me. Yes, Effexor also caused ugly side effects for me, and I have heard this about a lot of other people using the drug. Sex drive suffered, too. I feel much better, now, not being medicated at all. It has been several months since I got off anti-depressants and I have lost the weight I had gained while taking them and feel good. I think they were helpful in some ways, but I wouldn't do it again, just due to the side effects.

I have a close friend who took Lexapro. It worked well for him for a while, but wore off over time until he was at the max dose. Then it stopped "working". He finally just got off the drug. He had some of the same symptoms that I had with Effexor. I don't think they were nearly as strong as mine, though, from what he tells me. He gained weight on the medicine and found it extremely difficult to take the weight off. Once he stopped taking the medicine, his weight was as easily lost as it was before he took Lexapro.

I have known people that had no real trouble getting off these drugs or even taking them.

almost 2 weeks off of Effexor
 

Well....this Sunday will be two weeks since my very last dose of Effexor. I have felt good for the past week. Still get the "brain jolts" very rarely and they aren't as bad when they do happen. For the most part, I am feeling good. I have so much more energy now and I feel like I'm starting to lose the weight I gained.

I really appreciate all your support here. It's so comforting in an otherwise lonely situation of going off Effexor.

Thanks!
{{hugs}}