A couple of names you’ll need to know before we get started:
Paul Greengard
Julius Axelrod
Nobel Prize Winning Neuroscientists

PART I

I am certainly not saying I have any answers. In fact, I have more questions now than I had before this began…

I knew it was not going to be easy to detox from this one. There had been days in the past when I missed a dose and hadn’t realized it until I felt the dizziness and nausea the next day. There had been days in the past when I had to stretch my budget, and therefore, my medication until I could refill. But never was I forced to miss more than one dose. The half-life of Effexor is 48 hours. This means after 48 hours there is no longer any “therapeutic” medication left in the body; which means withdrawl begins then.

September 28, 2005, with my doctor’s blessing the decision was made to discontinue my use of the antidepressant drug I had been relying on for the past four years.

September 29, 2005, with intention to never do so again, I did not take my medication.

September 30, 2005, I “wake” (wasn’t really sleeping) to the expected dizziness, nausea, and crying and crying… and crying... and crying… …

Early morning, October 1, 2005, no time to not not take my medication…my first seizure strikes.

seizure

1st…of many

Was I warned? Was my doctor even aware that I was going to be experiencing any serious discontinuation effects of terminating the Effexor? No. Nor was I—I was naïve and blindly dependent upon my Master. When I called him to inform him of how sick I was feeling, how scared I was, and all the electricity rolling through my body he says, and I quote, “you’re having withdrawl symptoms?” I was speechless. I was truly without speech. I sat on the phone stammering, attempting to formulate…something! Knowing how sick I already was I knew it was too late to find another doctor. I knew I was going this without. My “doctor” would have to be me.

October 4, 2005, I am now on my fourth day of “discontinuation syndrome” and my fourth day of seizures, severe vertigo, unrelenting nausea, insomnia, rapid weight loss and extreme emotional distress. It is also my fourth day of research—research I should have begun weeks ago—into my circumstances in a desperate attempt to find control over my life and body. In my hour of serious psychiatric and medical need, reaching out to find myself surrounded by incompetent and ineffective children wielding the power of Masters in tiny capsules I have realized that the only people that can best help me at this very moment and the next are the trailblazers of modern neuroscience and Myself. Since Paul Greengard has other priorities, I’m sure, and Julius Axelrod died last year it looks as if it’s just Google and I.

It never ceases to amaze me how abruptly life can shift course. A week ago I was concerned with events that might now be very much Non-events. Four days ago I was wondering if I was ever going to sleep again, laugh again, play again, have peace; I embodied terror, chaos, burning agony, electricity, finality. I am facing massive challenges right now but every day that passes things seem to improve. At least, I need to feel that. I have begun tracking the seizures and believe they are decreasing in frequency. I am certain, however, I am more optimistic now than I can remember having felt since before I left to travel Down Under two years ago. My spirits are high today. I am empowered by every bit of knowledge I acquire and strengthened by every moment of pain I endure (most of the time).

There is so much more history I am not yet communicating, recent and distant. Perhaps in the future I will look back, yet again, to tell my story of anti-de-poison, Haunting, misdiagnosed mental un-health, self discovery, education, incest, violence, sexual identity, my quest for peace... and everything involved.

Until then...crippled by my journey, I slowly walk through to the other side

I’ve just slid through
Pale, thin, unsteady, weak, dependent
I have had no seizures for two days
However, I fear expecting that they have ended may be setting myself up for a scare
...but I feel they are over
Expecting little, that seems comfortable to me
Do I expect none ever?
I just don’t know
No one knows, and no one could
Finding peace with the unknown, this was my greatest goal while travelling OZ

My spirits are high
…even if I am crippled by severe Veritgo
I am not sure what damage is permanent, if any
Our brains are not designed to handle the amount of surges mine has sustained over the past week
They are also not designed to handle the amount of poison I have subjected it to over the past four years
The reality is that it may have caused permanent, irreversible damage…
I may have caused myself permanent, irreversible damage
There are all sort of possibilities of what the damage could be
Possibilities we can sit and postulate upon endlessly
At this point we couldn’t possibly know
What we, I, need is time for the dust to settle
I need time for all that needs to heal to heal
Then, perhaps, the testing might begin
…if I find my Faith in western medicine again

Did you guys taper?? It is VERY dangerous to quit an AD cold turkey. Any google search will tell you that.

Yes, tapering is key when stopping most meds that one has taken for an extended period of time. Doctors wean people off blood pressure meds, pain meds, cholesteral meds, seizure meds, antipsychotic meds etc.

Many people who stop caffeine or nicotine experience withdrawl. This is why they need to wean themselves from those substances.

I am on Effexor XR and so is my sister. About 3 years ago, we both were weaned off of it. We both experienced vertigo. headaches, :eek: moodiness and irritability. Because I was working in a customer service job, these attributes were "not cool." So, I "survived" by breaking open the capsule and ingesting tiny amounts of the drug, instead of swallowing the 37.5 mg capsule. I would take a tiny amount every day for a week. Then, I went to every other day, then every three days, then stopped. I had eliminated all side effects.

I know it's not :nono: advisable to do what I did because you not getting precise amounts when ingesting each dose. But, I survived :bouncing: and eliminated those headaches, dizziness and moodiness.

Good luck

I have been thinking about stopping Effexor. I have learned that you taper off for weeks, decreasing the amounts little my little. Although I read Blackberries post, i have also read that people had severe withdrawal from tapering. I can imagine nothing worse than being dizzy and sick for weeks. I am barely functionable from missing one dose. I was thinking about taking my week vacation from work to get off the Effexor.
I have actually thought about staying on just because I don't want to deal with this madness. But I've gained 25 lbs since going on. I don't have energy for anything yet I shake all the time. My hands shake so bad I can hardly eat soup. I was orginally put on for anxiety. Unfortunately the med has done nothing to help me. I think it has done more harm then good.
Oh there is one more thing....My stomach has gotten extremely weak since on this. Has anyone else experienced this?

hi nisam-

How long have you been on it? The side effects you are describing definitely sound like it s not the right anti-depressant for you. If these are side effects that have never worn off I think you need to talk to your doctor about trying something else. Often they can prescribe you something that you can take in combination with the taper to lessen the withdrawal effects.

Have you ever been to the anxiety board? There is a LOT of helpful info and experiences from people on anxiety meds and you will definitely get quick responses and support there. Good luck.

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It is a shame you have to use vacation time to do this, Nisam. I was on Effexor for four years because there was never a good time to interrupt my life in order to get off it. It is now more than three weeks later and I have still not fully recovered. Perhaps if you ween it will not be so bad (I was on a low enough dose that we did not think I would need to, we were wrong).

Toward the end (the final 16 months or so) Effexor exacerbated my anxiety greatly, made me shake, and gave me serious stomach problems. Now that I am off I found that I have not complained of anxiety to my therapist at all. Nor have I complained of persistent nausea or shaking. I have stopped taking the proton pump inhibitor I was taking for my stomach (some ppi's are prilosec/aciphex/protonix) and have NO trouble. Dicontinuting Effexor was definately the right choice for me. I am just waiting to regain my strength (I have another medication affecting me at this point as well--I am began to ween off this one two days ago).

I wish you luck and the best of health.

Be Well-
MamaSarah