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Effexor Withdrawal and Brain Shocks, Round 2

Filed under: Geek Out, Pharmacology — Nick Hodulik at 2:50 pm on Wednesday, August 3, 2005

I went to the doctor today and she essentially confirmed my suspicions about the brain shocks and the Effexor withdrawal. She ran some basic neurological tests on me and then told me to continue taking the Effexor for a while to see if the brain shocks go away. If they don’t go away we’ll do the whole MRI-EKG-CAT thing. If they do go away then she gave me a plan for tapering off my dosage and going off Effexor entirely.

This whole ordeal has made me realize that I have essentially been medicated my entire adult life (ten years now!) and that I have no conception of what life is like off of the drugs. I have tried going off of them a couple of times but I have always done it abruptly and without the supervision of my doctor, and each time it has completely freaked me out, prompting me to go back on the drugs. This time I am doing it under a doctor’s supervision and hope that it goes smoothly. My insurance company and pocketbook will both thank me for it.

2 Comments »

33

Comment by neil

August 4, 2005 @ 7:06 am

Hey,

a pretty scary situation to find yourself in. But you did the right think going to see the doc and reading up on it. Anti-depressants can be highly adictive and are all to easily prescribed and forgotten by GP’s. I deffinately believe they have a place for helping people through difficult times, however, psychological therapies are often a preferable and longer lasting way to control any life difficulties. (CBT is short, cheap and often preferred by insurance companies). Is it best to smother a problem with drugs or work to try and solve the root cause
take it easy

60

Comment by Heather

September 23, 2005 @ 1:37 pm

Hello, after consulting with my doctor, I decided to get off of Effexor XR. I felt like it was time to do to better with life without being dependant upon anything. I wanted to develop mind control and hopefully I will. I have been taking 75mg since January 05, and my doctor lowered my dosage to 37.5mg. Last week for seven days I took one every day and this week I am taking one every other day. Let me just tell you, it’s been rough. Last week everything was perfectly fine but now that I am on the every other day schedule, I am experiencing MAJOR brain shocks, but only every other day when I am not able to take a dose. I’m very worried about next week when I am completely without anything. Do you know how long these brain shocks may or may not last? I’m very concerned. Thanks and good luck to you~

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