Comments on: Effexor Withdrawal and Brain Shocks

By: Christine

Christine — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 02:34:45 +0000

What you described is effexor withdrawal. I was on it for two or three years and whenever I would miss a dose I would actually hallucinate. It was like a ’60s light show. When I finally went off it I had about four days of horrible withdrawal. I just kept vomiting and felt really rotten. I had the brain zaps, too. It’s quite frightening but you do get past it. I’m probably your mom’s age and the person who insisted I get off the antidepressants was my son, who, like you, is a weightlifter. He had been doing a lot of research on the internet about the effects of anti-depressants because he’d seen the effects in me. Not only did they not work but I really lost my personality and love of life. All I wanted to do was sleep and I just had no spunk.

There are other things you can take that actually do help. I take 800 mg a day of something called samE and find it is really good. You can find it at the health food store. It’s quite expensive but not more than the anti-depressants were. I also don’t have to worry about the long term effects. Just try to find information about whether effexor or any other anti-depressant will affect your liver or kidneys over the long haul. You can’t find it. I only found out something was wrong with my liver when I had a gall bladder problem and they did an emergency cat scan at the hospital. The doctor asked me if I had a drinking problem. I’ve never been a drinker. I’ve probably had ten sips of alcohol in my whole life. But they thought I had cirrhosis of the liver. When I asked if the anti-depressants would have affected my liver, the doctor said yes.

If you really look into how anti-depressants are given to doctors as samples by the drug companies and how sloppily they are handed out to patients, you’ll be quite shocked. (More shocked than by the brain zaps!)

I hope you do better with the anxiety. You might try going to a naturopath. I’ve found that really helpful, too. I wish everyone getting off effexor the best. It’s pretty scary but it does get better. Eventually it’s out of your system and you go back to normal. The brain zaps do become a thing of the past.

By: Pigeon in the Sun

Pigeon in the Sun — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 05:47:07 +0000

You cutie. You cutie-bear. Your blog is fab. I found it b/c the money ran out and I haven’t had Effexor for three days and I think I might die. Not die, but cut off my head and leave it in a dark room until I can medicate it. My body thinks that diva needs to be put in her place anyway.

So! Glad your not dead. You’re a nice find.

XO,
A Complete Stranger

By: Molly Pearson

Molly Pearson — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 22:22:42 +0000

First of all I am not the “ultimate Hypo”. It was a way to get attention from an estranged mother. Second, anything that I felt or feel is wrong with me is ultimatetly your fault because you are the one “scaring the life out of me” in order to get me to go to the doctor. When in fact at the age of 16 the doctor told me I had cancer when I had MONO! Hence “Angel of Death”. Third, you called me and asked if I thought you were the angle of death because of advice you give. I said nooooo, I would never say that, ever. I take it all back you are not the angel of death, you are now the devil of death in living flesh.

For those of you reading this horrible display of affection, I really do love her and she will laugh when she reads this, even the devil laughs some times.

By: Sharon Lesner

Sharon Lesner — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 04:19:00 +0000

You are a good boy. Do you want money now for B day or do you want to wait until you get back here? This is a fun blog site or whatever you call it.
m

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 03:57:14 +0000

I stand corrected!

By: Sharon Lesner

Sharon Lesner — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 03:53:44 +0000

Ok Nicky,
Here is the Angel of Death. You poop, you called and ask. There are always bad things that can happen but when you combine high blood pressure with blinding headaches, that is pretty serious, hence death is possible. Now being a mother, and that is something you will never experience, it is my job to tell you to get to the doctor and scare the shit out of you so you do not blow it off. I remind you that your sister is the ultimate hypochondriac so her opinion of Mother Death is to be excluded as not relevant. The other one thinks I am the devil in living flesh so she doesn’t count either.
Be a good boy and stand corrected on the importance of motherly advice and the tendency to try to scare their children throughout life so they live longer and pay attention when advice is given. By the way, anyone who wants to chat with me and get my medical opinion which is often right on because I actually have super powers ( is that an angel thing?) please contact me through my son and I will respond.
Mother Angel * my new title

By: Chad

Chad — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 19:33:46 +0000

Wow. And I was thinking about starting antidepressants to combat a lingering, debliltating depression I’ve had for a while now. After reading this, I’m going to rethink my strategy.

I also occasionally suffer from sleep apnea…in fact, I was sent to Wilford Hall Medical Center for evaluation in San Antonio when I was active duty Air Force because it was so bad. They concluded I had the worst sleep apnea in the history of the United States military, and put me on Zoloft to help regulate my sleep.

Well, it worked, but it had unexpected side-effects. For one, everything that makes me Chad, disappeared. I was nothing but a walking piece of gray felt. I could have won the lottery, and I would have said, “Hey, that’s great.” My house could have burned to the ground, and all I could have mustered would have been, “Man, sucks to be me, huh?” That and I had absolutely zero interest in sex, which is Definitely Not Me. You could say it strained the relationship I was in at the time…while I was well-behaved and levelheaded, I was painfully boring - especially to myself - and the only time my peepee got semi-hard was in the morning when I had to ta-ta.

“Fuck this,” I thought.

I stopped the Zoloft, and felt nervous and anxious for about two weeks before the Old Me returned, all foul-mouthed, neurotic, and horny. It was great. I ended up controlling the apnea by losing about 70 pounds (yes, when I got out of the Air Force I was quite the Hefty Hideaway girl). I get it occasionally, but nowhere near what it used to be, where I’d wake up choking on an uvula swollen to the size of a plum.

Man on man…I’m going to bring you some good, strong, delicious weed, my friend. And maybe spend some more time in the sunshine, which always lifts my spirits.

Ai yi yi.