# Effexor Warning



## 16831

Hello, i am knew to the group, but i have noticed alot of people saying they are taking Effexor. I just wanted to share my experience with you. I have been on a series of anti depressents in my life but nothing like Effexor. I took it for less then year when my doctor and i decided to take me off of it. Coming off was the worst experience of my life! I went through serious withdrawl systems, dizziness so bad i couldnt function. Nausea that was unbarable. Paranoia and seeing things that werent there. And my body would shake. I felt like a drug addict coming off powerful drugs. Afterwards my doctor told me Effexor was a powerful drug and these were possiilites ( he never told me beforehand) Anyway it took me months to get off of it, but i only remember about of month of it, ( my mom remebers it all though) i also had extreme weight gain after coming off. I wasnt the only one with these side effects. I friend of mine had an even worse time coming off of it, her doctor told her she was going to put her in the hospital to detox her off of it. My doc told me he will never prescribe this medicine to anyone ever again. So if your on this medicine just be aware, and talk to your doctor about it. Don't mean to scare anyone, i just made it my mission to warn everyone about this drug.


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## Vamplady

WOW!This is what I am going through. In fact I am questioning if this stuff has given me brain damage.I have been off of it now for 10 weeks. I have had blood pressure issues. Anxiety issues. Depression issues. and the Weight Gain. About 10 lbs.I know I will never put that back in my mouth ever again. I was on and off of it 3 years. I know my head is clearer but were you in a fog for a long time?Vamplady


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## h8ibs

I've been taking Effexor XR for about a year. Started coming off it about 3 weeks ago. What is working for me is this: Instead of taking one pill every 24 hours, I'm now taking one pill every 36 hours. Next step will be taking one pill every 48 hours. The transition of going from 24 hours to 36 hours was only tough for about 2 days. And the withdrawl symptoms were not all that bad at all. In my experience, one has to SLOWLY reduce the amount of medicine their system to avoid overly aggressive withdrawl sypmtoms.


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## 16831

My doc at first tried taking me off cold, but then he tried that half a pill one day full next, and slowly tried to help me off of it, but i still had serious trouble. As for how long it took to be totally fine, about a year, but i still have some side effects. I get really dizzy real easily ( never had that before) and i get nauseous really easily.


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## Vamplady

Did any of you experience fogginess? Or Spaced out feeling. Like your there physically but not there mentally.This is driving me nuts. Also what happen to your IBS?Blood pressure too?Vamplady


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## 22943

I hate this medication! I was on it for awhile and then I started acting like I was an alzheimer's patient. I couldn't remember anything, I was in a fog. I hated it. Coming off of it, was even worse. I came off of it very slowly. I think it did give me brain damage. I still don't feel right and I don't think I ever will.


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## Vamplady

How long have you been off?Its been 11 weeks so far for me. I feel weird yet at times. I don't know if its from going off of the med or having no med in me.


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## 22943

I've been off of it for a year and a half now and I still don't feel right. I wish I had never taken that medication.


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## John

Sunshine, Welcome aboard.







What doseage were you on before you tried coming off of it? I've been on Effexor XR 75 mg for almost 7 years for My IBS D. I've made one attempt to go off of it 6 years ago by taking half the doseage. For the first 3 weeks, I had no problems, then going into the forth week, my IBS along with the usual cramping, gas, pain and finally, the D started acting up. I decided to go back to my original dose. I've been fine ever since. That's my story. *John*


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## 16831

Thank you for the welcome. I was on 75mg 1 in the morning and 2 at bedtime.


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## 21723

I wish I knew this a week ago. Just ordered 100 pills based on peoples positive experiences. I am very drug tolerant however and never had a side effect. I have come off long-term Prednisone and Elavil cold turkey with no problems. Sunshine 21, how do you tolerate other meds? Also (3) 75mgâ€™s a day sounds like too much. Did it help your ibs? Did it help your anxiety? Why did you go off it?Hang in there; I am sure you will be back to normal in time.


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## 21723

> quote:Originally posted by John:Sunshine, Welcome aboard.
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> What doseage were you on before you tried coming off of it? I've been on Effexor XR 75 mg for almost 7 years for My IBS D. I've made one attempt to go off of it 6 years ago by taking half the doseage. For the first 3 weeks, I had no problems, then going into the forth week, my IBS along with the usual cramping, gas, pain and finally, the D started acting up. I decided to go back to my original dose. I've been fine ever since. That's my story. *John*


Hi John, (Is that your name or pastime? Just kidding)







Are you saying 75 mg day cured you of ibs? No other meds?


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## John

Sunshine, I'm assuming that you are on the tablet formula. I'm on Effexor *XR*, the time released capsule formulation. 75 mg daily is the minimum doseage for the *XR* variety. There are people who are on much higher doseages that can go as high as 300 mg a day. Pooman - No, I never said it "cured" me. However it has controlled my IBS D and the cramping that goes along with it. I also take 500 mgs daily of calcium w/minerals which is similar to the Caltrate Plus (purple and white box). LNape was the individual who highly recommended this product.I do take Levsin occasionally whenever my bowels do act up.


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## 16831

To answer a couple of questions: I was on the Extended-Release capsulesThe only side effects i have ever been sensitive to with pills is weight gain, other than that i had always tolerated meds pretty well. It does seen like the dose is alot but i trusted my doctor with that.Did it help my Ibs, i found no significant change while on the medication.My Anxiety it did not help with at all, infact i found the medicine to make me feel jittery and i felt like my heart was always pounding, that is one of the reasons i stopped it. My doctor perscribed this medicine for me because of depression. I went off of the medicine because i had decided with my doctor that i was ready to try living my life without any depression medicine for a while seeing as i had been on some form of med for 7 years. luckly and god willing i havnt relapsed since.


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## John

Oh well...so much for the assumption theory.







When I first started taking Effexor, I began to feel jittery and my heart felt like it was pounding too. My head even felt tingley and my one forearm felt pulsating. With me, those symptoms gradually disappeared once my body became acclimated to the meds. Too bad the Effexor didn't change your IBS status along with the anxiety. However, things appear positive for you on the depression department. Let's hope for the best and I wish you good luck.


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## 21723

> quote:Originally posted by Sunshine21:My doc at first tried taking me off cold, but then he tried that half a pill one day full next, and slowly tried to help me off of it, but i still had serious trouble. As for how long it took to be totally fine, about a year, but i still have some side effects. I get really dizzy real easily ( never had that before) and i get nauseous really easily.


Sunshine, I would question your doctorâ€™s competence. Just started Effexor yesterday and it clearly states in the packaging 75mg day is the usual dose and you cannot stop taking it abruptly. At 225mg a day and cutting off cold turkey, you will have problems. Also I was wondering what you are taking now? Maybe your problems are being caused by another drug?


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## 16831

Sorry this took so long to post, but i've been real buisy with school. To respond to your post, Although i have questioned some of my docs actions, he is one of the most highly regarded docs in his field. My aunt is a nurse in a hospital and when i first got sick she did a lot of research talking to other docs and he was the most recommended, even today when i go to other docs they all know who he is and highly recommmend him. As for other medications i am on none. (although now my gastro is trying some ibs drugs on me) so no other medication could have caused my symptoms.


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## 15814

I tried an anti-depressant in 2005 because I heard it would help IBS. It gave me insomnia, so I didn't take it very long. I went through a horrible serotonin withdrawal even thogh it wasn't a high dose. Now that I've read that you all think it has lingering symptoms, I'm wondering if that's what's wrong with me. I continue to become dizzier & my head continues to become foggier. Were you all worse a year after stopping the anti-depressant, or are you the same a year later? I'm using a year "window" because it's been approximately one year since I stopped. I jst had an MRI of my brain & I'm scheduled for a test on my Inner Ear. But now I'm wondering about the seratonin withdrawal......... I'm worse now than I was 9 months ago.


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## bettyblue

i have been on Effexor for about 5 years now. i can't believe that. i have been on 37.5 all the way up to 225.mg i hate it, i want to get off so badly, but i don't have a good time to do it until the new year maybe. i am aware of the side effects and withdrawals, i got down to 37.5 last summer but freaked out and went back up, i didn't do it slowly enough, i figure this time, it could take a year to come off. my doc just gave amatryptaline today after i refused for many months, i am just so wary of these drugs. i told her i'd try it and see. i feel pretty hopeless right now, like they've given up on me.i have a cat scan and upper G.I lower bowel scope in jan. so we'll see...it's been a long road, i'm sure for us all.


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## 22388

I started taking Effexor about 7 years ago. I had no side effects at all for many years. Last year my doctors noticed that my blood pressure was very high for my age, weight and lifestyle. We suspected it was the Effexor so I dropped down to 112mg and then 75mg. I got headaches my 3rd week after dropping to 75 but then eventually went away. I actually LOST weight when I dropped down the dosage. I think that being on 150mg was making it difficult for me to lose weight. So I was happy that I was able to lose. I have also experienced some dizziness from time to time but for the most part that too has gone away. We are going to drop again in Jan to 37.5mg. I wanted to wait until AFTER the holidays to drop again because I am afraid of the withdrawel effects that many of you have mentioned. I think the trick is to do it SLOWLY in very small doses.. Coming down to half the dose was not that bad. So for so good. I am hoping it will be just as easy to taper off completely. I am still kind of aftraid of doing it though but I know it must be done. I know this is one of the hardest drugs to get off of. I wish I had known it was going to cause blood pressure issues. I was told it was the only drug of its kind that causes bp to go up in patients.


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