Effexor questions

[ccgirl]

Hi. I usually post on the substance board, but I just got back from a major mental health hospital that treats dual diagnosis. They suspected, as did I, that the Lexapro I had been taking for the depressive part of my bipolar was no longer as effective as it could be so they switched me to effexor xr (I also have GAD) I went online to look up facts about the drug, but I'm still a little confused or not as knowledgeable as I'd like to be. I'm committed to trying this med, barring any serious side effects, so I would welcome some constructive opinions (no horror stories just because you hated the drug) but just things people may have learned about how it works, etc. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[historyteach]

I've never had effexor, but, I'm sure someone will be along soon who can share their ESH with you.
Wishing you the best.

Shalom!

[ccgirl]

Stormy; thank you. I thought the stomach thing was from detox but that was 11 days ago and I don't have diarrhea; just lots of nausea and headaches. Doesn't it take about two weeks for most med side effects to disappear.


To look for the silver lining: I also have no appetite, so maybe I'll be sliding into those size 8's soon, LOL.

[PaperDolls]

Hey, ccgirl. I was on effexor for about 1 year. It did work for me but eventually stopped working. Before the effexor, I was on lexapro as well. That stopped working too.

Effexor has a very short half-life which means it leaves your body quickly. Because of that I had some sort of withdrawal symptoms. For me, I had to split my dose up, half in the morning and half at night. I started at 75mg and ended up at 300mg. I stopped taking it because I wanted to see how I'd do without it (bad idea) and also because I didn't like the withdrawal sort of symptoms I was having plus the fact that it stopped working for me. I say give it a shot but remember not to just stop taking it if you decide it isn't working for you. With your doctors help, you need to wean yourself off.

I hope it works out for you.

[Astro]

I tried Lexapro, Zoloft, and Paxil before finally settling on EffexorXR which I took for just over a year. I don't have much to add to what's already been said. It takes time for any SSRI to take full effect, for me it took a couple months before feeling comfortable on EffexorXR. Up until then I couldn't get the foggy, cobwebs on the brain feeling to stop. It's extremely important to let the prescriber know how it's working so that can adjust the dosage if necessary.

I worked my way up to 150mg daily, then weaned off by dropping 25mg at a time over a period of two months. It's different for everyone though, as are the side effects.

[ccgirl]

Thanks all for your continuing comments.