![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]Shown: posts 4265 to 4289 of 10407. Go back in thread:
Posted by racergurl74 on June 14, 2003, at 11:05:21
In reply to Re: My Story Day 13, posted by KimberlyDi on June 13, 2003, at 11:34:56
Thank you for your post. I am only 2 days into effexor and I was really discouraged from all the bad results from others posters. But yours gives me hope.
Posted by racergurl74 on June 14, 2003, at 11:21:34
In reply to Re: lets have a role call, posted by sierra1 on June 13, 2003, at 19:07:38
> it's seems we all have different reactions to this med. to get a better idea lets post whether it has a positive or negative on us.
>
> for me so far, its positive....I am new to effexor and new to posting. I have only taken it for 2 days and was looking for info on the med. when I found this website. I think it's great to read all of everyone's experiences. So far, I haven't noticed any side effects. I will keep up with everyone and let you know if anything changes.
Posted by zinya on June 14, 2003, at 11:38:15
In reply to Re: Zinya » zinya, posted by CherC68 on June 11, 2003, at 19:29:08
dear Cher,
Gosh, It seems this post of yours came in the very next one after i had last checked the posts here on Wed. and it was truly surprising to me last night when i checked again and got your latest post to realize that two days had gone by since i'd checked....I dont' quite know why, but in part i've been preoccupied with something here i had to deal with that was making me anxious, but other than that it may have been a good sign cuz (knock on wood) i've been side-effect-free for a few days now ... As I mentioned last night, i had taken up your suggestion and sent you an e-mail and so i was meanwhile a bit surprised i hadn't heard back from the e-mail yet and wondering how you were doing! ;))
But last night when i logged in I was already crashing and only now got to this post of yours about your grandmother and your mom and your wonderful and much appreciated comments, some of which i dare say feel like projection a bit cuz your own tremendous compassion and caring comes across loud and clear... or, maybe, soft and clear :))
Indeed, it does sound like your mom went through and reacted in much the same way I did ... as did you... It was such a complex set of circumstances at the end with the sudden belated discovery of cancer and having to repress at least some of anger i felt at all the doctors for failing so miserably to diagnose it much earlier because i knew i didn't want anger being part -- or much -- of what characterized my last days with her. It's still eerie, surreal, to believe that a year ago now, we still had no clue even 7 weeks before the end. I won't go through the saga here but it was wrenching...
What i realized with time afterwards -- and which was a realization that made me "put off" taking this anti-dep route because I thought maybe just time would heal, not sure what was mourning, what was depression of more than a 'natural response' -- I realized that there was also an overlay of, as a friend perceived it, a kind of post-traumatic stress ... There had been the inordinate stress of the entire last year when mom's pains had started to become a daily reality (and yet the alzheimer's kept her from being able to ever recall when a pain had started or how, and given that she was never one to speak up about pains as well until it was 'too late') and taking her to specialists, testing, etc... finally deciding to buy a home where she could live with me, moving myself and her in together, never really finishing get unboxed and settled into the house except in the rooms she frequented -- fortunately in retrospect just so exhausted from all the moving that i devoted our first month together to just being with her and it was a month of hiatus (turned out to be remission) in which her pains had lapsed, allowing to think that maybe indeed it had been the fact that the nurses at her retirement home had screwed up her daily medicines for some months until i'd discovered it, that they kept screwing up the dietary changes the md. had ordered because of the pains) and allowed me to think that indeed the pleasure of our mutual company was going to be blessed with a return to health for her... And then bang, six weeks after moving in the pains were back and within another month, back with a vengeance... So then kicked in the traumatic stress of the helplessness of desperately seeking yet another doctor (who finally performed the right test) and then of watching the person who loved me more than life itself fade away... The stress of having to make those awful decisions you know as well, after the initial massive increase in pain meds caused her to have some reactions so horrible she wound up for five days in the hospital -- the worst days of all really and also just in those days they too managed to let her get a bedsores on the heels of her feet and never ever getting the pain meds to her fast enough -- then back home and the wrenching decision to agree to the hospice conditions, the ones you had to override your mom to put into effect... And still she fought in her spirit like crazy to survive... One of the last things she said to me - more than a week before the end -- was that she was "gonna get well." A real trooper all her life. And it was both a harrowing and inspiring life lesson to watch such sheer will, in someone who'd already lived 93 totally loving but also many rough rough years, more than her share of life traumas, and yet such obvious desire not to give up ... the hospice nurses were amazed -- by that and by the fact she still looked more like 73 than 93, and that was in such a state of pain and dying ... There were the little things that were part of the process that had their inevitable guilt-inducing voices, but for the most part i kept them at bay and just focused on the moment ... on surrounding us both with transcendent music in her room and constant tenderness...
But then of course atop the stresses of the year of moving and desperate pain diagnosis plus that of witnessing the process itself was overlaid with the grief of loss that was not only losing my mom, my last immediate family member, but also i had become (as had your mom) "my mom's mom" for the alzheimer years and so it was also like losing a child in an odd way, cuz i had so happily filled my sense of identity and self with caring for her as you would a child, helping her with all the things an infant needs help with... My sense of loss of purpose, compounded unexpectedly by having resigned my job to care for her full-time, became at first gradually and then increasingly overwhelming such that i didn't foresee even after she was gone just how bad it was going to get...
What i realize now -- or at least i hope will prove to be borne out by this -- with the months of energyless stasis, almost a kind of paralysis (fortunately having a bereavement group to attend and especially a counselor there who remains a source of tremendous strength as well as my two best friends in particular), i managed somehow, almost miraculously to get through some very dark days of such a sense of loss of "raison d'etre" that the only thing at times that kept me going was remembering (rather guiltily) how hard mom had fought for just one more day. And how could I not fight at least as hard? ...
But I realize now that what this all may have done is to finally force me to face a depression which had been either just below the surface or in full consumption from time to time for years ... that had led to abortive anti-dep attempts over the last 15 yrs without relief or with too many side effects... and that this grief ... and no longer having mom literally here as a if not the raison d'etre that had eventually made me somehow rise to the need ... but this time it wasn't happening, and I do now think that i may always have been a matter which a biochemical component that finally just has refused to go unremedied any longer. It took a lot to reach such a level, to realize that there was more here going on in me than even the grief and the three layers of post-traumatic stress, but something that nine months later was telling me "This is healing with time; this needs something other than either time or mind over matter."
And so here i am.
So so appreciative of the compassion your post conveys and projects and reveals, Cher, and so appreciative of everyone here... whose tales even of horrendous negative reaction I think i required to read and process fully, which took me some extra months to absorb, before realizing with eyes wide open to the risks it represented that i had to take this risk. It was and is, or at least seems now, to be the specific form of 'being a trooper' that mom would have wanted for me, even though she herself needed no such 'supplement' to be the lifelong trooper she was. I actually realize increasingly that it was my dad who i think lived with an unacknowledged depression for essentially all his life (and had been alcoholic for some years that ended when i was 3 and my gentle mom took one of her most courageous stances of giving my dad an ultimatum, and he went cold turkey at the prospect of losing mom and me)... And I may have more of his biochemical predisposition in me than i'd ever fully admitted, seeing now in myself resorting to some of the withdrawal which i saw him go through so chronically...
So what i'm trying to say through all this babbling is that there's been new learning, about myself, about how confronting life and taking risks sometimes means very different decisions than one might expect. Of course, if the side effects from Effexor were (or still prove to be) "over the top" I probably would have to rethink this entire sense of silver lining yet again. But for now, taking this on as a new experience in surely the most "precautious" way any taker ever did ... turning a one-month intro to the drug into a two-month intro by taking only half the prescribed daily dose, aware of my history of bad reaction to others in the past - prozac, etc etc etc - But even though there's still not much improvement in energy, there's already a sense that maybe there's going to come out of all this grief, this trauma, this massive depression, a righting of some kind of imbalance or lack which has really been tugging at me for years, maybe all the way back to a horrid childhood auto accident that left me essentially parentless at age six for a year as mom and dad were nearly killed and laid up for months... a 'theme' of abandonment that has resurfaced and come to be 'understood' via therapy off and on for decades now, yet still maybe i'm finally finding that there was something more than understanding it which was required... and maybe there's going to be some basic 'repair job' here ... That's the sense i've got at this juncture, not "counting on it" cuz past experience lets me know that i could still have prohibitive side effects surface, but for now, i'm optimistic, more frankly than the depression itself had even allowed me to be when i started 3 weeks ago so guardedly...
Well, gee, could i have babbled any more? With my apologies for any tedium in this 'saga' but reaching out here in response to your heartfelt message, Cher, to convey just how magical this bridging via cyberspace feels, and to reciprocate your warm spirit of serendipitous new friendship here...
wishing to hear further that you are doing well, especially since your latest post conveyed your own sense of letdown ...
sending love and embracing warm good wishes,
zinya
Posted by zinya on June 14, 2003, at 11:58:14
In reply to Re: monitoring what we say, posted by Dr. Bob on June 11, 2003, at 20:31:43
Dr. Bob,
I'm a couple of days 'behind' in reading posts here, and just now came on your response here to my post back to you the other day. Thank you for that clarification. And now i'm wondering if I can pose two questions to you directly which exemplify the kind of comment I had thought (perhaps wrongly) might have been challenged if they were in error here. My doctor didn't seem sure about either of these matters.
Specifically, two different posters at different times had said that
a) It's okay to divide capsules in half, which means taking roughly half the granules one night -- just downing them without being in any capsule -- and then the remainder in the capsule the next night.
Is it true that there's no problem with doing this -- which in my case allows me to adjust even more gradually, in light of a past history of bad side effects and ultra-sensitivity to such drugs ??
b) Another poster said that the complementary effects of Effexor on the adrenal system don't start to kick in until 150 mg/day dosage? Is that true? Or does it vary by individual?
If you can answer these questions here, just as confirmation of what i've taken somewhat on face value here, i'd appreciate -- partly cuz i've already on occasion relayed this info on to others and i dont' want to be doing so erroneously. I guess until being reminded by your post, I half-thought that if such things weren't true, you would have stepped in to say so. But I gather your message here to be that that isn't necessarily the case, so I'm posting directly and hope you'll be able to confirm.
Thanks (for future ref, is this the kind of post that instead should be an e-mail to you instead? It seemed to be something of general value so i'm posting here)
zinya
Posted by zinya on June 14, 2003, at 12:29:01
In reply to My Story Day 13, posted by Rickey on June 13, 2003, at 5:12:58
Hi Rickey,
A couple of things in your post really resonated with me in particular... I've been posting a while so maybe you're familiar with me but i dont' think i've read you before, so first of all, welcome!I'm doing this twice as gently but when i moved up from 18 mg to 37.5, i had the same initial reaction as you mention at 75 - sudden overwhelming grogginess and sleepiness and sense of 'fog'... but for me too it passed and i'm letting myself stay at this side-effect-free stage for quite a while before moving up again. A part of me is impatient for more of the positives that are potential, but a bigger part of me is concerned enough to keep to my plan of taking each step twice as gradually, and i'll probably even try to go from 37.5 to about 55 before moving up to 75..
The other thing I reacted to which i'd never seen mentioned and which i find curiously almost embarrassing to mention and so i'm so glad you did: Namely, my aversion to music when i'm depressed. I LOVE music and have the most enormous rich collection of music and the "old me" loved nothing more than to fill my home with brazilian samba or to drive along with music filling my car and singing along when i knew the song... But for years now, and realizing it coincided with periods of depression, i can only listen to "talk" -- meaning tv (mostly news, i'm a fairly politicized person--although, granted, i do wonder sometimes if this world isn't too depressing itself -- although rightly or wrongly i don't think that, for me, compounds my depression and in fact at least mentally energizes me and gives me a focus outside of myself when i can't muster energy for much else) or newsradio like NPR ...
But it's always been a bit baffling and a sense of almost a helpless loss to me that i just can't "do" music in these states. I try every once in a while, but it isn't the same - the instinct to respond to it with gusto isn't there, and I suspect that i avoid the music in part to avoid feeling the lack of gusto that would feel "normal" to me ... Or maybe because music really does tap my soul whereas the news stuff is a mental activity, and maybe my soul is on hiatus? ? or too vulnerable to be tapped into right now? I don't know what it is but i've tried and it's not a matter of "will" ... The very same music i adore feels almost like something i'm 'allergic' to when i'm depressed. As if hearing it now just makes me miss more what is missing. I'm not doing a very good job of articulating this, but I was so glad in a way to read of someone else expressing a similar experience even while you're now doing so as part of celebrating a sign of recovery. I know exactly EXACTLY what you mean and know that for me too that will be a glorious sign of 'resuscitation' of my spirit.
thanks for writing!
zinya
Posted by zinya on June 14, 2003, at 12:50:25
In reply to Re: My First Day on Effexor » bgbham, posted by NThompson on June 14, 2003, at 10:13:11
wow, NT. How brave of you to be confronting this now. I'm so moved to read of your step back from the brink, and what i hope feels like the relief of having your 'secret' out of the closet. For so so so many of us, in fact i would say almost a universal experience -- about whatever phenomenon, for us about depression (and probably other specific things too), it is the hiding which is the worst of all. Not feeling able to reveal to anyone your reality... surely from early deep-seated fears that it's not okay to be not okay. Even though we know intellectually that everybody is not okay about something. Yet *our* not-okay thing seems worse, seems more shameful or more something to feel guilty about... and also to tell ourselves somehow, magically, we'll conquer it from inside our 'closet', while still in secret and no one will ever need to know.
Ah, the irony. Cuz the closet we put ourselves in, the very hiding and secrecy not only worsens the problem, it *becomes* the problem.
Your story, even just sketched as you have shared with us here, evokes such powerful feelings of the false 'knowledge' we can so easily betray ourselves with, by not feeling able to communicate and thus turning in on ourselves.
I hope you hear what a tribute it is to you, that regardless of what you can conjure up to berate yourself with about bills unpaid or whatever, your husband and children are testimony to how much you *are* more than what you *do*. I don't know if you've ever heard of John Bradshaw, who writes and speaks (one of many of course) about family dysfunction and essentially communication skills that most of us don't have, partly cuz our parents didn't either, cuz their parents didn't either... and no one's to *blame* but one of the messages too often passed from generation to generation, esp. in a society like ours, is that we are, as Bradshaw says, "human doings" more than "human beings" -- that our self-worth is measured in terms of what we achieve -- daily or over the long haul -- instead of who we *are.*
It seems clear that you have those who love you for who you *are* ... And perhaps one of the messages that will start to penetrate, as effexor or whatever helps on the biochem side too, is that you're not merely -- as they say about Hollywood -- "only as good as your last film" -- your last deed ... Instead, all of us probably need to take away the internalized sense of shame that is focused on what we haven't *done* (or did *wrong*) ... and is surely the theme of every anxiety at some level...
I'm so glad, in an odd way, that you actually have the bitter reminder of charcoal which perhaps can sharpen for your memory the recall of a path you will only ever take that once.
Welcome here, NT... My posts tend to be long and i've already spoken so much of myself that i won't repeat here, but i'm fairly new too, and it's such a resource and strength that we have each other for support here... Blessings to you,
zinya
Posted by bgbham on June 14, 2003, at 13:58:04
In reply to Re: Role Call - » CherC68, posted by zinya on June 14, 2003, at 3:13:05
Zinya (and all) - I am glad you are feeling better. I too have been able to get in my daily walk, up to a mile almost, around the grounds here at my condo. Even took a moonlight stroll last night with the full moon and was impressed that I had the interest in noticing how beautiful the sky, clouds, and wind were. I too am finding it odd how my brain and body are reacting, both good and bad in terms of emotions and mood. Especially after feeling the physical pain that I had for days that was best described as I have said earlier as "a broken heart". As of late yesterday, my broken heart is gone, and the worst thing I can say about today is the anxiety I have that it may be fleeting. Probably that will subside with a few good days under my belt. Returning to work on Tues for a few hours is scary for me, but I know it will be just what I need to help even further.
Brian
Posted by Sabina on June 14, 2003, at 14:11:59
In reply to Re: I am scared of this medicine, HELP ME!, posted by notquitethereyet on June 14, 2003, at 10:35:46
My doctor gave me Lexapro (10mg)with Xanax (.05mg twice a day). The Xanax really helps with the SE's from the Lex, but it makes me kind of sluggish. I was also worried initally by the combination (then, I worry incessantly, part of my problem!), but it seems like lots of folks posting are doing the same sort of thing with no trouble. I hope this eases your mind a bit.
Posted by stjames on June 14, 2003, at 14:34:46
In reply to Re: monitoring what we say » Dr. Bob, posted by zinya on June 14, 2003, at 11:58:14
>
> Specifically, two different posters at different times had said thatDr Bob does not answer these kind of questions
for several reasons. Some were covered in the
"test" you took to post here.The issue of Effexor at higher doses is well reported, even in the monograph.
Posted by Rickey on June 14, 2003, at 19:21:45
In reply to Re: My Story Day 13 » Rickey, posted by zinya on June 14, 2003, at 12:29:01
Just thought of another example which might give someone some hope. For the past few years it is the little things that really got to me. Practically every day when leaving work and on my way to the bus stop I would see my bus pulling away. I get so angry. If only I had left a minute earlier...why does this always happen to me....etc etc. Yesterday the same thing happened and I thought to myself,,"don't worry another will be along soon". And instead of running and cursing, I just kept walking and caught the next bus. I doubt that this would have taken place 14 days ago(pre-effexor). I am beginning to notice all the little changes.
Posted by CaptainD500 on June 14, 2003, at 23:51:45
In reply to Re: My Story Day 13, posted by Rickey on June 14, 2003, at 19:21:45
I can definitly relate to your situation "it is the little things that really got to me". For years I have had a "hair trigger", getting angry at the least little thing. The Effexor XR has really helped stablize my mood (better than the Paxil I used to take), although the side effects are quite annoying, mostly fatigue and lethargy, but I'm hoping they will pass.
Posted by zinya on June 15, 2003, at 2:36:53
In reply to Re: My Story Day 13 » Rickey, posted by CaptainD500 on June 14, 2003, at 23:51:45
Greetings, Captain
I'm curious: What level are you on now (dosage i mean)?? I'm asking because of the lethargy you mentioned...
I relate too to what both you and Rickey have said about, to use your word, "hair trigger" situations... For me, one has become computer problems... I've always been a good troubleshooter/problem-solver, but in recent years, when i start getting mechanical or certain kinds of computer system problems, i rather readily enter a state of anxiety or something that just blocks my problem-solving and me have to walk away cuz it becomes "too much" ... in a way that always feels 'out of sync' with what i'm really thinking, but something sort of 'takes over' that is very counterproductive...
Posted by CaptainD500 on June 15, 2003, at 15:25:48
In reply to Re: My Story Day 13 » CaptainD500, posted by zinya on June 15, 2003, at 2:36:53
Hello Zinya. I am currently on 150 mg, for about a week now. I was on 75mg it was doing fair, so my pdoc said that 150mg would work better for me. I have been told by others that the side effects should wear off in a few weeks, seems like a long time.
I have also had my share of "computer problems" as you have. I admit that I am a typical "computer geek". I can spend hours working on and troubleshooting computers, although sometimes I too have to get up and walk away from it, yet I don't have much patience with people. However, the Effexor XR is helping me in that respect. It keeps my mood stable and under control. Some of my fatigue is my fault also because I tend to stay up too late, like going to bed at 12 midnight and getting up at 4:30am and going to work, not good. As far as the lethargy goes, if I stay busy and keep my mind active, I can work through it. But if I stop and sit too long, sometimes I crash and burn, know what I mean. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)
Hang in there, Zinya.
Posted by zinya on June 15, 2003, at 17:44:57
In reply to Re: My Story Day 13 » zinya, posted by CaptainD500 on June 15, 2003, at 15:25:48
:)))
Hi Cap,
yes, indeed i do know whatcha mean...
Has your doc told you too that the 150 mg level will mean that the adrenalin system effects will kick in? That was exactly why i asked about the level, and given that you've only been at the dose alleged to begin the adrenalin effects for a week, it would be my hope for you (and vicariously for me too) that you might start seeing soon a better regulating of the energy mechanisms that adrenals impact...
Speaking of which, if you're reading this, Dr. Bob's assistant who mentioned a 'monograph' yesterday about the issue of higher dosage level effects, or if anyone else knows, where would i find that monograph?
I don't think i've seen it.Enjoying reading you, Cap. And i'm stickin' to that too
z
Posted by bgbham on June 15, 2003, at 22:21:09
In reply to Re: My Story Day 13 » CaptainD500, posted by zinya on June 15, 2003, at 17:44:57
> Cap and all, I may or may not be the one of us at the highest dose of eff. From what I have read and recall, I don't remember anyone saying they took 375mg per day. I can't speak to the adrenalin much,my 150 dose was a bit ago, and well, I have been depressed. My memory pre hospital and thus meds, is not real clear.
Not much ativity on the site today, hope everyone is ok.
Brian
:)))
>
> Hi Cap,
>
> yes, indeed i do know whatcha mean...
>
> Has your doc told you too that the 150 mg level will mean that the adrenalin system effects will kick in? That was exactly why i asked about the level, and given that you've only been at the dose alleged to begin the adrenalin effects for a week, it would be my hope for you (and vicariously for me too) that you might start seeing soon a better regulating of the energy mechanisms that adrenals impact...
>
> Speaking of which, if you're reading this, Dr. Bob's assistant who mentioned a 'monograph' yesterday about the issue of higher dosage level effects, or if anyone else knows, where would i find that monograph?
> I don't think i've seen it.
>
> Enjoying reading you, Cap. And i'm stickin' to that too
> z
Posted by CaptainD500 on June 15, 2003, at 22:27:59
In reply to Re: My Story Day 13 » CaptainD500, posted by zinya on June 15, 2003, at 17:44:57
Hi z
That's interesting what you said "that the 150 mg level will mean that the adrenalin system effects will kick in". I didn't know that. I need to make an appointment and ask him a few questions. I have actually had a pretty good day today, not feeling quite so tired, although I did have to take a little nap around 5 this afternoon, but after that, I went for a long walk and feel ok. I just hope now that I can get to sleep at a decent time.
As far as the monograph goes, I have not heard about it, but I would be interested in reading it.
Later.......
Cap
Posted by Napaba on June 16, 2003, at 8:34:00
In reply to Re: Does everyone on Effexor gain weight? » kalypsa, posted by Paco on June 13, 2003, at 20:30:49
I lost 34 pounds in 3 months on Effexor.
Depends on the person. My weight has not changed a bit.
>
> > I've just been reading all the posts about weight gain and am freaking out now. I've been on Effexor XR for almost 3 weeks and haven't gained any weight, but I'm worried that it's only because I haven't been on it very long.
> >
> > One poster said it slows down your metabolism - does it do this for everyone or does it depend on the person? Help!
>
>
Posted by Capri on June 16, 2003, at 17:52:26
In reply to Re: I am scared of this medicine, HELP ME!, posted by Susy on June 13, 2003, at 22:46:07
> Hi, I been taking Xanax for years also and lately I've been feeling like I don't have energy to do anything but still, I feel agitated inside.
> My pdoc gave me Paxil and recommend that I take it along with Xanax to overcome Paxil's side effects. I am scared...whenever I read the instructions it says not to take an AD with a Tranquilizer, have anyone of you do it before?
> By the way...I took Paxil alone and I experienced the strongest panic attack I ever had!
> Please help me with your experiences.
>
> Susy
Hi Susy,
I was on Paxil 4 years ago and took Klonopin for the first week or so to offset the side effects. Doc and pharmacist both recommended it. I never heard of not taking them today. They work quite well. By the way, I'm super sensitive to meds and I wasn't afraid to take AD's as long as I can take a "benzo" to offset the initial side effects. Go for it and feel good again!
Capri
Posted by zinya on June 16, 2003, at 18:08:18
In reply to Re: monitoring what we say, posted by stjames on June 14, 2003, at 14:34:46
Thanks. I'm sure i've forgotten things from when i first joined this site back in December.
Would that include access to knowing where this monograph is you mention?
Please direct me to it. Seems some others here would be interested too ... and forgive me if i'm not adequately brainstorming how to track it down on my own [my excuse for today will be a 36-hr-and-counting headache that's a bit of a killer :)]
Thanks!
Posted by zinya on June 16, 2003, at 18:17:37
In reply to Re: My Story Day 13 » zinya, posted by CaptainD500 on June 15, 2003, at 22:27:59
Hi all,
After four days or so last week of virtually no side effects at my new level (starting 9 days ago), since Sat. two things, one new, another too familiar have kicked in.
The new one is a degree and type of sweating that for me is totally unprecedented. I actually had thought i was going to make it out Sat. night to an event that had some anxieties going for it but was rallying to feel fairly calm about the whole thing, and got dressed up to go. But then before leaving the house, for whatever reason, i started sweating over my whole body - but my skin was clammy and cool ... It persisted to such an extent i had to get out of the clothes, give up the outing and eventually after some hours it eased somewhat. But then Sunday i went out in the afternoon for some errands, with no anxiety whatsoever to explain anything and not 'dressed up' but the cold-sweating and clammy skin happened again and remained for some hours back home too...
Is this familiar to any of you? and a plausible side effect of effexor? I hadn't had this one yet if so.
Meanwhile, i've had a horrid left-temple headache recur, something i've gotten before (pre-Effexor) and usually lasts 2-3 days, now already on the 2nd, and nothing helps, not vicodin or anything else i know to make it go away. aargh. But this is why i've disappeared for a bit.
zinya
Posted by stjames on June 16, 2003, at 18:23:47
In reply to Re: monitoring what we say » stjames, posted by zinya on June 16, 2003, at 18:08:18
> Would that include access to knowing where this monograph is you mention?
Use google, search for drug name and monograph
Posted by worrier on June 16, 2003, at 19:49:46
In reply to Re: I am scared of this medicine, HELP ME!, posted by Susy on June 13, 2003, at 22:46:07
> Hi, I been taking Xanax for years also and lately I've been feeling like I don't have energy to do anything but still, I feel agitated inside.
> My pdoc gave me Paxil and recommend that I take it along with Xanax to overcome Paxil's side effects. I am scared...whenever I read the instructions it says not to take an AD with a Tranquilizer, have anyone of you do it before?
> By the way...I took Paxil alone and I experienced the strongest panic attack I ever had!
> Please help me with your experiences.
>
> Susy>Susy, you are by no means alone. I also took paxil (after trying Prozac and Welbutrin which I thought had bad side effects) But the Paxil just about killed me...I had the most severe panic attack I have ever had...imagine your worst one and multiply it by a million. I went to the ER the next day, as the symptoms had only subsided a tiny bit...the ER doc gave me xanax and sent me back to my MD (who was the one who prescribed all the other meds including paxil) She said I was experiencing "breakthrough anxiety" and needed to increase my paxil dose. I did like an idiot and things went to hell fast...uncontrollable tremors,vomiting,sweating,agitation so severe I literally paced the floor all night or went for long walks outside (I live oon an 80 acre farm,so I had lots of room to pace). I finally realized I had to do something or die. Got in quickly to a pdoc who recognized my symptoms as a serotonin storm caused by the paxil. That was a year ago. Like you I'm still taking xanax, but the internal agitation/anxiety still remain.(By the way, before this I "only " had panic attacks, not this generalized agitation/anxiety. I just started taking xanax ER 2mg once a day...it's alot smoother than the regular xanax, no peaks and valleys and it has helped somewhat more, but still that internal feeling remains. My pdoc has suggested that I start on a tiny dose of zoloft with the xanax. Needless to say I am scared silly to try another SSRI, but he feels that in a very small dose (starting with 12.5mg) may help with the agitation. He does stress the need for a very small dose and caution if/when we increase the dose. He at least is very aware that people with panic/anxiety need to be extremely careful with these drugs. To make a short story even longer than I already have, you might want to give the combo a shot...knowing you've got the xanax in case the panic happens again should be of some comfort. Easy for me to say as I have not yet worked up the nerve to try the zoloft. Good luck to you and let me know how it goes. Worrier
Posted by sierra1 on June 16, 2003, at 20:48:28
In reply to new symptom: inordinate sweating!!, posted by zinya on June 16, 2003, at 18:17:37
hi zinya:
I have sweated terrible since day 1 of effexor. My hair looks as though i've just come out of the shower. It just drips off me. I have been on effexor for 4 and a half weeks and the sweating has not let up. this goes on during the day and night. I have to wear a towel around my neck at work to catch the drips.....
I hope it will end but who knows????????????? I try to avoid situations because of it too, no one else sweats that much. i hope it helps knowing someone else if feeling it too....lynn
Posted by Susy on June 16, 2003, at 23:10:28
In reply to Re: I am scared of this medicine, HELP ME!, posted by Capri on June 16, 2003, at 17:52:26
> Hi again; Capri, Worrier, you guys have no idea of how greatfull I am with your comments. It really makes me feel that I am not alone, It's just that my life had changed so completely bad, I am not even able to work anymore =( always feeling this lack of energy, this agitation and worryness about everything and the worst thing I am also super sensitive to meds, the first time happen with an antibiotic I took and I experienced a really bad panic attack or something else, I don't know an awfull reaction and then again with Paxil and by the way with Paxil I was also very stoned, like If I took and LSD or something like that, I wasn't even able to coordinate my own thoughts; since then, I've developed some kind of paranoia to medications or any kind of drugs; say alcohol, mariguana, etc...... because I still smoke tobaco.
Well, thanks a lot for your support, hopefully one day I can be the way I just to be at least 3 years ago.
>
> Hi Susy,
> I was on Paxil 4 years ago and took Klonopin for the first week or so to offset the side effects. Doc and pharmacist both recommended it. I never heard of not taking them today. They work quite well. By the way, I'm super sensitive to meds and I wasn't afraid to take AD's as long as I can take a "benzo" to offset the initial side effects. Go for it and feel good again!
> Capri
>
Posted by Rickey on June 17, 2003, at 4:11:30
In reply to new symptom: inordinate sweating!!, posted by zinya on June 16, 2003, at 18:17:37
Had the same problem for about the first week..has since stopped.
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