Welcome to the Effexor forum!

Please tell us a little about yourself.

hi,my name is clare and i started effexor almost 3 weeks ago for PND.i was on prozac before that but it stopped working and a dose increase didnt help.

i have come to this forum mainly looking for reliable info on effexor,as i have read alot of horror stories,but i have felt better on it sofar.

this whole site is huge!i have suffered depression on and off since my late teens so i will be intereted in reading the other forums over the coming weeks as well.

thanks for reading.

Hello Clare!



So happy you found us!

If you're looking for reliable info on meds (Effexor included), you've come to the right place. Please take a minute a read the FAQ page about Effexor. There's a lot of knowledge to be gained from just that page alone.

I've been taking Effexor, along w/ 5 other meds, for over 7 years now. I've suffered most of the nasty SEs associated with Effexor and have made it through. Effexor is one of the 2 meds I credit for my recovery.

What were the reasons for your switch from Prozac to Effexor? How's the Effexor working so far? Any bad SEs?

I know this site is huge. If you have any navigational problems, just ask. I'm only a PM away.

Please keep us posted.



-Bean

thank you for the welcome.

i am going to see my gp this afternoon as for some reason i just feel 'flat' now,even though i felt great for the first 2 weeks.i am a bit scared she will tell me this isnt the right medication for me in that case though...it was the last option for me as i have tried almost everything else,and it was great at first.maybe that was just a side effect?

i have noticed that i am on a fairly low dose compared to alot of other people(75mg a day).

also i need to speak to her about the constipation.i was given lactulose to help with it but its not doing anything.

i dont want to have to stop this med without giving it a fair go though.the only SE i cant put up with atall is drowsiness as i have 5 children ,and this is one of the few medications ive tried that hasnt made me drowsy.

Clare:

I wouldn't worry just yet that Effexor isn't the answer. You are one a very low dose (I take 450 mgs). Perhaps you just need a dosage increase.

Please let us know how the doc appt goes.



-Bean

well,apparently my doctor has never heard of people feeling better the first couple of weeks then not feeling very good on effexor.in fact she basically said that i will probably always suffer some sort of depression on and off as i have been and that medication won't 'cure' me.

she said i have to give it more time,anyway,as it's only been 4 weeks.

i did explain to her that i am aware there is no miricle cure,but what i'm hoping for is to get well enough to be able to deal with the issues that contribute to my depression in the first place.i am waiting for an appointment for CBT,and all im am hoping for is to be able to feel ok enough to be able to learn to change my way of thinking.but as it's a hormone-related depression this time,i know(from experience)that i need medication at this time to get me back on track.

if she had said 'if you still feel like this after X amount of time then we can try increasing the dose' then i would have left there feeling hopeful,but i left the surgery feeling awful,and like an attention seeking,never-satisfied,impatient idiot.

the doc i saw used to be my usual gp,but i started seeing the nurse practitioner instead as i found her easy to talk to,and felt like i was being taken seriously.the nurse p is on holiday though.

Divastrop:

Many meds, Effexor included, have a "honeymoon" period where the med will work wonders right off the bat than taper off some. It takes a few weeks for the med to have any real effect, as the honeymoon period burns out quickly.

As you yourself have said, it's only been 4 weeks. Give it another few weeks, then see the nurse practitioner again and reevaluate the effect the Effexor is having on you. You made the dose tweaked or another med added in.

Please keep us posted.

-Bean

i am currenty in the middle of dosing down on my effexor xr and then switching to cymbalta. my dr started the titration on thurs. i was taking 225 mg on wed. then 187.5 thurs, 150 fri then 87.5 sat and sun, then 75 today and tom, then 37.5 wed and thurs then start with 30 mg of cymbalta. if anyone has any experience with this. please let me know. i have had the usually "body shocks" that my girlfriend and i call them. but along with that mood swings, anxiety and extreme irritability. i am going to try to talk to my dr tomorrow about just starting the cymbalta. i haven't had to work, due to the long holiday wkend and don't know how the next few days at work will be. thanks for listening.

Hello Little Daisy!



Effexor withdrawal can be a nightmare. Switching right away to Cymbalta will probably help reduce these terrible SEs.

Once you make the switch, you may want to check out the Cymbalta room. There's a quite a bit invaluable info there.

Good luck with switch. Please let us know what your doc says.

-Bean

strange that my gp had never heard of the honeyloon period thing.still,not surprising as i had to point out the laxative she was precribing me was sold in most supermarkets very cheap,then she realised she'd put the wrong one down!

i still feel quite 'flat' and last month when i would have felt awful and been very paranoid(i always get paranoid at certain times in the month and think people are talkign about me or my partner is cheating on me online and stuff)i felt fine and got through what would have been the bad time.this month i have noticed the thoughts creeping into my head again,although i am able to control them rather than them controlling me.i feel as though i am getting better but have a very long journey ahead.the light at the end of the tunnel is there now but way off in the distance.

Divastrop:

Recovery is a long road, and you are well on your way. Perhaps the honeymoon period is over, but look at what this med is allowing you to accomplish. You may have a more difficult time this month than last...



...but you were able to work through it and cope better than ever before. That's a BIG deal! A HUGE difference and a major step forward.

It's hard to do, but try not to dwell on how far you have to go. Instead, look back and focus on how far you've come.



-Bean

just having a really heard time with my effexor withdrawals and attempts to contact my doctor. i have tried for several days to contact her regarding my withdrawals and no luck. so i started my cymbalta a day earlier. i have been able to take my anxiety meds to counteract some of the symptoms, but it is still yucky. wanted to see if there was anyone with experience with how long the withdrawals last. thanks.

i'm on 187.5mg , think it needs upping its not doing anything but worried bout the heart issues as have already had ecg.

Thats a pretty fast taper. Hell, I dont even know if I'd call that a taper. Effexor is one of the hardest to get off of anyway and if you are going down that fast then you are sure to get some bad withdrawals. Hopefully the cymbalta will alleviate or even totaly eliminate the effxor withdrawals once you start it.

Yeah, that is a very quick taper... I've heard of docs doing a quick taper only when they were also quickly ramping up another med in the same class of drugs, such as from one SSRI to another. I'm not as familiar with effexor or cymbalta, though, and I just did a quick read on the internet and it seems that docs will sometimes recommend a quick taper, but I'd question him/her about it, and DEFINITELY let your doc know how this is affecting you!

Take care,
Dewayne