Posted by pretty_paints on December 14, 2004, at 17:15:53
In reply to Re: Effexor not going well, Advice please! » TheOutsider, posted by MKB on December 14, 2004, at 16:57:03
This isnt at all to devalue what MKB has just said, but I thought I'd just mention...
Don't always take to heart everything that everyone says on babble. I'm not disagreeing with MKB or saying that he/she is wrong. Not at all.
But what I'm saying is, sometimes when you start on a new drug, you feel particularly vunerable. Before I started on Efexor I'd read all these horrific posts about it and had decided there was NO WAY I was gonna take it. Anyway, I did, and it has been fine. At the end of the day, you must remember that everyone has different experiences with drugs. There is a lot of bad stuff on babble about Efexor yes, but I don't think that accurately represents the drug. People tend to post more when they're unhappy with a drug or it has caused them problems. The thing MKB wrote about the petition, while I don't mean to offend, I don't think it was that helpful. If you go and read about all these bad posts and take a look at this petition, there's no way Efexor is going to help you! You'll be sitting there waiting for all the side effects from day 1. Sometimes its best just to give it a break and not read everything on here. I'm only saying this from experience because I worried myself sick before I tried Efexor, reading all these gruelling posts!
In terms of how the drug has been, for me it is difficult to comment because it was only after adding an antipsychotic that I really began to have any sort of relief. Efexor was good in that it got me stable. It stopped me surging down into sucicidal thoughts, it stopped me crying all day, it made things a little less *raw*. Your anxiety should subside, at the beginning of taking the drug it probably will worsen, but it should eventually subside. Efexor is prescribed for Generalised Anxiety Disorder, separately to depression, so fingers crossed it should help you!
I currently take 225mg and haven't had any problems with side effects (not to discredit all those people who have suffered though). I'm trying to remember, it was a while since I started it. In terms of the liver thing, I didn't know anything about that, so it hasnt been something I've thought about.
I know the main thing with Efexor is the famous Nightmare Withdrawal when you stop taking it. I'm *sure* this is the case for many people and I don't doubt that this can occur given that so many people have problems with it. But sometimes I think maybe you need to just deal with the problem in hand, rather than thinking of all the future problems. You will go onto this new drug and you will get well. If you ever need to come off it, and it does happen to be bad, then deal with that THEN. You will be well by then and much stronger and able to cope with it. So for now, FORGET it.
Anyhow, I mainly just posted just to try and encourage you. Changing drugs sucks, and you will always feel a bit weird and edgy. You can always increase up to a max of 375mg, so don't give up yet. I'd say 6 weeks at the top dose would be a good trial period.
Good luck!!
poster:pretty_paints
thread:429563
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041211/msgs/429581.html