just prescribed Effexor-really freaked to take-any thoughts?

[greenvelvetdragon]

Here I was thinking like many others here that my depressive symptoms would dissapate after CPAP therapy. i have been 100% compliant since begining in Nov 07; really good luck finding the right mask straight away, everything pointed to then life will be beautiful soon sort of scenario.

Well, didnt happen. depressive symptoms got MUCH worse, due to HUGE relationship issue that happened right before OSA diagnosis; then work issues have gotten to crisis point. Relationship stuff slowly working to right however.

I now have the ability to sleep with all the equipment etc, and dont have any trouble fighting the mask or anything, but i cant sleep due to stress, massive anxiety and depression. So i see the GP yesterday, we have a LONG chat, and he gives me s script for Effexor. I have had my own patients on this before and its worked very well for them (been a trauma and medical social worker for a very long time). It wasnt until today I start reading the fine print and reveiwing stuff on line I hear the horror stories, the good, the bad and the ugly as it were. I also see that it may make my insomina worse-like I need this.

I have searched this site and havent found much about effexor, so I am seeking other peoples thoughts, experiences, etc before I actully put this pill in my mounth and swallow. I need to do soemthing, that is clear, but now I am not sure this is the right one.

I have been pulled out of work by the GP for a few weeks to get my head clear, so I am hoping this helps, but the cure is looking worse that the condition.

any thoguhts, words of advice, would be much appreciated. I feel like I am floating on a chunck of ice all alone in the Southern Ocean, waitng to be harpooned by some awful whaling ship and no one is there to help me. I had thought some kind of SSRNI would be good, but I am just left confused and frightened now.

Thank you for having such a great forum where one can rant like this and people actully listen.

GVD

[Guest]

You're still in the early stages of therapy. Give it some more months. I've been on since late April 07, and am only NOW seeing much improvement.

Good luck,
Babs

[JeffH]

Relationships have been ending since the beginning of time. That is painful. Why would anyone take a pill trying to make that pain go away?

I don't get it.


JeffH

[sleepycarol]

Are there other options?

I have taken Effexor before and I do know you can have a terrible time getting off from it. I slowly decreased it over a period of time as I wasn't seeing any improvement with it.

I am now taking Zoloft, which seems to be beneficial to me. I have asked the doctor about going off from it to see how I do and he has agreed on the condition that I wait until summer vacation as my work schedule this year has been horrendous. I am hoping part of my problem was uncontrolled OSA.

[Guest]

Please, please. If you can take something besides Effexor, please do it. My husband was on this for several months. His doctor slowly weaned him off it because his depression worsened. During the month of weaning off Effexor, he became suicidal and was on the very brink of losing it. It's been months now and he's doing great finally but it was the worst months of his life. Effexor can be horrible to withdraw from.

[sleeplessinaz]

Hi there --yes, we are all here to listen and give advice. I agree that relationships do end --and we all live thru it. I am happily married now --but this is my third try at it!!! So--life does change--I only wish I would have found CPAP and well as anti depressants about 10 years ago. Having recently been diagonosed myself--I am just starting to feel like a human again by getting some quality sleep. Yes--I am also on Lexapro---the lowest dosage of 10 MGS. I think Lexapro should be in the water systems---HA!! HA!! It is no shame that we all need help--Like is hard on us as we all have so much to think about and muli task ----no wonder we are so wound up we cannot sleep at night.

It will get better ---I know everyone will say that --keep thinking it and you will start to believe it. Hope you stay with us and let us try and hekp out!!!

take care,
Cheers!!!!
Carrie

[TossinNTurnin]

Relationships have been ending since the beginning of time. That is painful. Why would anyone take a pill trying to make that pain go away?

I don't get it.


JeffH

What you just wrote was irresponsibly insensitive.

Why don't you just close your eyes, go to sleep and stop snoring without your machine?

When you don't get restorative sleep and start being an ass to everyone around you... why don't you just stop being in such a cranky mood?

When you're exhausted, why don't you just "perk up"?

Because you have an illness and you need help to manage that disorder.

I don't understand the willful ignorance surrounding depression.

It's not about "making the pain go away".

Depression, simply put, and in most cases, is when the chemicals in your brain don't work the way they should. It's not uncommon for a painful experience to set off a CLINICAL depression, and people find it more and more difficult to be emotionally resilient. They don't "bounce back" from trauma the way healthy people do. It's different from the typical "bad feelings" one feels after a negative experience.

Everyone gets colds. But if you consistently get more and more colds and it becomes harder and harder to get over a cold, it probably means you've got something more serious going on.

Depression a genuine illness, why in this day and age people still don't "get that" is beyond comprehension, unless they've been living in a cave.

[TossinNTurnin]

greenvelvetdragon,

People will try to give you personal horror stories regarding anti-depressents. But, very often, if you were able to get a video type of them, you'd find that they weren't taking the medication as prescribed, or were given too high a dose to quickly, etc...

People who have a hard time coming off of drugs like effexor, are going off of it too quickly. You do need to be weaned off of it. When you slowly reduce the dosage, it's not usually problematic.

The truth is, that different anti-depressants work differently and more or less effectively on every individual.

Often you have to try different prescriptions to find one that starts working for you.

I personally don't think GP's should be prescribing anti-depressants. There's a lot of tweaking that goes on in finding the right medications at the right dosages. GP's simply don't know enough about the medications to fine tune them the way they need to be. You should asked to be referred to a psychiatrist to specifically manage your medication.

[Moby]

Good advice from Tossin and Turning

Also thanks T&T for your post discussing depression as an illness. Very well put.

GVD, I am sorry you are suffering from depression.

If you can get a psych consult (I know you live in the sticks, but it is worth making the effort) that would be the best way to go.

If you can't, maybe see your GP again and explain your concerns re Effexor and ask why s/he decided to prescribe it. There may be a good reason.

I have taken a number of antidepressants, and Effexor is currently working well for me. In my experience it does have more side effects than some of the others, but it is also very effective. Looking at side effects on the internet is not a good way to go, maybe ring a pharmacist and get some informed information. When a drug is developed the drug companies have to report all the things people experienced during the tral, even if only one person had the problem and it is completely coincidental. So you need to read the side effects list with an informed eye.

Problems I've had with Effexor (and which I consider worth the pay off of not being depressed) include

..............................................................................................................
difficulty sleeping in the first week or two.

monster headache the first week or two ( painkillers helped)

Feeling overstimulated "wired' the first two or three days - like my eyelids were being held up.

.............................................................................................

Long term - reduction of libido - not extinction though

Increase in appetite - weight gain.

Decreased tolerance to alcohol

Sleepier (noticeably after taking the meds, so not just the sleep probs. )

"Zappy Zingy" feelings if I am late taking a dose. Hard to exlain, some call them "electric shock" type feelings. Very distracting and uncomfortable.

MAJOR rebound of depression combined with "zingy zappies" when I tried to come off the Effexor cold turkey. NOT reccommended.


.................................................................................................

My doc has reassured me that if I do want to come off the Effexor, there is another drug which "takes over" from it so I wont get the "zaps", and which will make it possible to reduce the dose gradually and cease.


However, since starting the ADD meds, I find the two complement each other perfectly and I feel pretty good. Miss the alcohol though - try it occasionally, not a good idea


........................................................................................................
Whatever you decide Green Velvet Dragon - good luck!
Oh, and meditation works well for me.

regards

Di

[angimarie]

Relationships have been ending since the beginning of time. That is painful. Why would anyone take a pill trying to make that pain go away?

I don't get it.


JeffH

People do NOT take a pill to take away the pain of ending a relationship necessarily. People take anti-depressants for DEPRESSION. Clearly, there are other issues here. Believe me they are NOT a magic pill to take pain away. IF you even have to ask what depression is like, you have NO IDEA.

[angimarie]

Hi there,
there are sooo many horror stories about anti-d's on the web. I too made that mistake before I took the one I am on/and during my treatment. I am on Paxil. I have to say that after reading the web I was sooo upset that i was already on Paxil. However, it has saved my life so I now realize that the people who posted on the web make up a very small percentage of people who have taken the drug. I take it mostly for panic attacks, not as much for depression. I have heard and have a lot of experience with family/friends on different anti-depressants. The best advice I have ever gotten and give is to start with half of the lowest dose if you can. It minimizes the side effects. My husband tried Effexor and LOVED it. He was feeling the best he has ever felt when on it, but it raised his blood pressure and he has kidney disease, so he had to change. He is now on wellbutrin, and it does not work as well and he is more grumpy. My sister is also on wellbutrin. My mom is on zoloft, and a friend is on prozac. My brother took effexor for about a year and said it was the best antidepressant he had ever been on. I have personally tried effexor (did not stop my panic attacks, but I think i did not give it a good chance, only took it for a few days), and prozac (no thanks, not good for panic attacks). I have been on paxil for about 8 years now. I know it is VERY DIFFICULT to get off of. I will probably be on some form of ssri or snri for the rest of my life though to treat panic disorder which is another misunderstood illness like depression. One cannot "will themselves" out of panic disorder any more than they can will themselves out of cancer. I get tired of people not understanding that like the previous poster is tired of people not understanding that Depression is a real illness.

[angimarie]

Relationships have been ending since the beginning of time. That is painful. Why would anyone take a pill trying to make that pain go away?

I don't get it.


JeffH

PS i have noticed that a lot of people who I hve met that have a negative opinion of antidepressants and depression in general seem to "self medicate" with either cigarettes, pot, alcohol, or food to fix their depression when they could just take a pill instead.

[greenvelvetdragon]

Thanks for the info and kind works, esp T&T and Moby; I agree that GP's should probably refer out and under different circumstances I would be going to see a specialist. Again due to the remote factor this makes life that much harder.

Things hit crisis point over the weekend, its more work than anything. They just dont get the OSA, I expect that is common. due the severity of the situation and that its been going on for some time, this is why we looked at the meds. I was on zoloft many years ago for almost a year. yes had side efects, but after 2 weeks, ok. No withdrawl Like i have read about efexor.

I actually rang my psychologist in Melbourne this PM and we discussed this drug. I trust her very much and have agreed to try it for the one month. I am on the low 37.5mg dosage at this atage to see what happens, but the mood swings, crying jags, massive anger outbusrts are just too much to bear. but if this makes any of that worse at all, they go in the trash and we either try something else or go without. I had been doing natropathy in the past with success but that, like most eveything else doesnt exist out here.

I am now keenly aware of the withdrawl aspects and would look to taking great caution about this.

The work situation is what seems to be making everythign worse, and like with most sh*it that hits the fan, it hit all at once, about 4 months ago, also in the middle of me getting an OSA diagnosis. The relationship thing is so much better than it was a few months back, but will take time to mend and we are working hard to stay together. I have struggled hard to kept me together, but just gave out. I am considering that it would be better to move back to civilisation, but wont do anything hasty.

Thanks again for all the (mostly) kind words and thank the gods for this forum.

cheers

GVD

[greenvelvetdragon]

thanks angimarie, you must have been typing while i was typing too-i also have panic attacks and am hoping efexor works as zoloft never did that, and yes also agree that people self medicate with legal OTC or the not so legal versions as well....

GVD

[GrizzlyBear]

Hiya.

I'm no expert on anti-depressants - I spent nearly 40 years trying to deal with my chronic depression myself, and have only been on lexapro for nearly a year (and I've not really found it earth shatteringly effective). These drugs can have all sorts of effects - but my GP makes the point (when he tells me about them) that the side effects are VERY rare.

My suggestion, for what it's worth, would be to keep a very close eye on yourself, and contact your GP (or your psych) if you have ANY concerns - this is the benefit of the information you've gained from the internet. Don't panic (as the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy says), but use the information to your own benefit. I'm unsure of your relationship with your partner, but it could be worthwhile to ask them to also talk to you if they have any concerns or notice any changes.

Oh, and again for what it's worth, lots of people have no understanding of depression as an illness, and can sometimes unintentionally make quite ignorant and uninformed comments. Many people have done this to me over many years. I used to react with anger (which was often self-directed, because I never told anyone that I was depressive), but now find that the best thing is to let it flow past, and move on in your own life - otherwise one's responses can fester.

While some on this forum may not understand about depression, many of us do, so please come back to us if you need support.

All the best,

GrizzlyBear