Effexor withdrawl

[klebsiella]

Hey guys. I know this is an odd question, but I figured someone may be able to help.

My roommate has been taking Effexor for a few weeks. She decided to go off of them b/c she just couldnt handle the side effects. Starting the first day off them she started having HORRIBLE withdrawl symptoms (intense leg/knee pain, rage, dizziness, pains in the head that feel like electric zaps, sensitivity to noise, etc). I at first thought she was over exaggerating but I went online and searched and found some painful stories of folks trying to come off this med. Anyone know why this happens and what to do for it? Also since it seems as if a lot of doctors dont tell their patients about withdrawl symptoms would this be something pharmacists should start doing? After seeing her misery it makes me worry for all of those people who's drs are just pushing this med without telling them about the possibilities of withdrawl.

Thanks!

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[LiveLoveFartRepeat]

Hey guys. I know this is an odd question, but I figured someone may be able to help.

My roommate has been taking Effexor for a few weeks. She decided to go off of them b/c she just couldnt handle the side effects. Starting the first day off them she started having HORRIBLE withdrawl symptoms (intense leg/knee pain, rage, dizziness, pains in the head that feel like electric zaps, sensitivity to noise, etc).
Thanks!

Sorry to hear such horrible story....I do beleive that extreme symptoms of withdrawal such the one you describ are very very very rare...
now i don't know what where your friend DOC got his degree but he should have told her about it before putting her on it....

in the other hand, he might have done so and the truth is people tend to blank on such information...b/c you don't know that you are among the unlucky one until you've been there........until they are in the actual situation and feel like the pain is not like they have been describe that it could be ..it is worst....to their perception

About pharmacist telling about withdrawal symptoms....I say NO in the retail setting like it is right know.....it is enough to talk to them about how to take..side effect and many many other things.....

BUT if we were to do disease management = counsel et BE PAID for it then yes i will be more than happy to talk about the drug from A to Z knowing that i am not making other patient wait..( since people will have to take an appointment) and please any reader of this post keep in mind that when you start talking about possible bad things...then people won't let you go..they start asking more and more kestions!!!! and will go back to their DOC saying//the pharmacist said blabla...take me off of it! or if we don't say it all be sued for incomplete information..we might as well start puttin more money in our malpractise insurance fond ( i don't know if this the real name for pharmacist)

Such setting already exist....there on in a walgreen here in memphis..we just need more around the country..Disease management is a wonderfull thing to my opinion...this is where we should be heading as pharmacists..we could do so much more for people... 😀

 

[VCU07]

Hey guys. I know this is an odd question, but I figured someone may be able to help.

My roommate has been taking Effexor for a few weeks. She decided to go off of them b/c she just couldnt handle the side effects. Starting the first day off them she started having HORRIBLE withdrawl symptoms (intense leg/knee pain, rage, dizziness, pains in the head that feel like electric zaps, sensitivity to noise, etc). I at first thought she was over exaggerating but I went online and searched and found some painful stories of folks trying to come off this med. Anyone know why this happens and what to do for it? Also since it seems as if a lot of doctors dont tell their patients about withdrawl symptoms would this be something pharmacists should start doing? After seeing her misery it makes me worry for all of those people who's drs are just pushing this med without telling them about the possibilities of withdrawl.

Thanks!

Was the drug slowly taperd?

 

[pharmforme]

Hey guys. I know this is an odd question, but I figured someone may be able to help.

My roommate has been taking Effexor for a few weeks. She decided to go off of them b/c she just couldnt handle the side effects. Starting the first day off them she started having HORRIBLE withdrawl symptoms (intense leg/knee pain, rage, dizziness, pains in the head that feel like electric zaps, sensitivity to noise, etc). I at first thought she was over exaggerating but I went online and searched and found some painful stories of folks trying to come off this med. Anyone know why this happens and what to do for it? Also since it seems as if a lot of doctors dont tell their patients about withdrawl symptoms would this be something pharmacists should start doing? After seeing her misery it makes me worry for all of those people who's drs are just pushing this med without telling them about the possibilities of withdrawl.

Thanks!

First, she should call her doc or talk to her pharmacist.

Second, it doesn't sound like she tapered, but even if she did taper there are some stinky withdrawal effects. But there is a limit to what she should endure before notifying her doctor.

Third, all of the possible side effects, if not told to her by her doc (which wouldn't surprise me) are usually listed on the printout she recieved when picking up the meds. The problem is most people don't read it...

Although these side effects are different for everyone, this med has helped a lot of people (I know 2 friends personally that it completely helped with post-partum depression). Often people who have depression have to try several different meds, through the guidance of their doctor, to find one that fits them. Every body is different!

Hope she feels better soon!

 

[spacecowgirl]

She should taper slowly, halving her dose each week. Anecdotally, and I know quite a few people that have used it, this drug is notorious for the "zaps" but they do stop eventually and are nearly nonexistent with a slow taper.

One of the reasons I prefer long t1/2 SSRIs like fluoxetine if you can tolerate them.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

It's no secret on here that I took Effexor for severe post-partum depression. I started taking it soon after the birth of my daughter in late 2003.

Doctors don't also give patients the best information about medication in general and about SSRI's in particular. My doctor told me that Effexor had nor-epinephrine and serotonin IN it! When I questioned her about it she admitted that she finds it difficult to explain how SSRI's work to patients...

We also didn't talk about withdrawel symptoms. When you are first prescribed one of these drugs you aren't thinking about that. It feels like you are going to be on it forever, at least for me. I was so freaked out with PPD I could barely handle the present, let alone think ahead to the future to ask about withdrawing from the drug.

I decided to stop taking it earlier this year because I was having some bad side effects. Let me tell you, the withdrawel from Effexor can be HORRIBLE. My doctor (a new one) told me to just stop it OR to open my 75 mg capsule and try to pour out half the powder and take that for a few days. Ha, ha.

Instead I got about 7 of the 37.5 mg capsules and switched to those for three days. Then I went to one every other day until they were gone. I had AWFUL withdrawel symptoms, crying, insomnia, exhaustion, vertigo, nausea, ringing in my ears, the electric zaps in the head (I called them brain buzzes), and other stuff I'm forgetting. Those were very intense the first three days of tapering (I did it on a weekend - on purpose) and while the symptoms did abate with time, it was more than a month before I stopped having withdrawel symptoms completely.

When I was taking the drug, I would have similar symptoms when I forgot to take it for one day, so I somewhat knew what to expect. What surprised me was the duration and intensity of the withdrawel symptoms. It's only anecdotal, but I know two other people who've tried to stop taking Effexor and had to go back on it because they couldn't tolerate the withdrawel.

That's just my experience, YMMV. I hope your friend is doing OK!

 

[klebsiella]

It's no secret on here that I took Effexor for severe post-partum depression. I started taking it soon after the birth of my daughter in late 2003.

Doctors don't also give patients the best information about medication in general and about SSRI's in particular. My doctor told me that Effexor had nor-epinephrine and serotonin IN it! When I questioned her about it she admitted that she finds it difficult to explain how SSRI's work to patients...

We also didn't talk about withdrawel symptoms. When you are first prescribed one of these drugs you aren't thinking about that. It feels like you are going to be on it forever, at least for me. I was so freaked out with PPD I could barely handle the present, let alone think ahead to the future to ask about withdrawing from the drug.

I decided to stop taking it earlier this year because I was having some bad side effects. Let me tell you, the withdrawel from Effexor can be HORRIBLE. My doctor (a new one) told me to just stop it OR to open my 75 mg capsule and try to pour out half the powder and take that for a few days. Ha, ha.

Instead I got about 7 of the 37.5 mg capsules and switched to those for three days. Then I went to one every other day until they were gone. I had AWFUL withdrawel symptoms, crying, insomnia, exhaustion, vertigo, nausea, ringing in my ears, the electric zaps in the head (I called them brain buzzes), and other stuff I'm forgetting. Those were very intense the first three days of tapering (I did it on a weekend - on purpose) and while the symptoms did abate with time, it was more than a month before I stopped having withdrawel symptoms completely.

When I was taking the drug, I would have similar symptoms when I forgot to take it for one day, so I somewhat knew what to expect. What surprised me was the duration and intensity of the withdrawel symptoms. It's only anecdotal, but I know two other people who've tried to stop taking Effexor and had to go back on it because they couldn't tolerate the withdrawel.

That's just my experience, YMMV. I hope your friend is doing OK!

Thank you for sharing your story.

My roomie did taper. She was on only 75mg. Went down to 37.5 and did everything her doc told her to.

What she experienced was not listed on the side effects sheet she got with her script, she did read it and then I read it before I posted on here.

Any ideas to the chemistry of these withdrawl effects? Just curious

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Thank you for sharing your story.

My roomie did taper. She was on only 75mg. Went down to 37.5 and did everything her doc told her to.

What she experienced was not listed on the side effects sheet she got with her script, she did read it and then I read it before I posted on here.

Any ideas to the chemistry of these withdrawl effects? Just curious

No idea on the chemistry.

I could hypothesize that that zapping is the misfiring of axons when less neurotransmittor than expected is found in the synaptic cleft. But I really don't know.

I agree that not enough is known/disclosed about the withdrawel and side effects of Effexor. Or the incidence and prevalence is way under reported.

Effexor sucks. 🙂

 

[DownonthePharm]

When I decided to quit Effexor my doctor told me I could just stop taking it. I ended up having the same withdrawl symptoms as others have mentioned. I finally resorted to tapering off, down to counting out individual grains. I still spent about two months in hell, feeling like I was going to either throw up, pass out or die every waking moment. The last few weeks I was down to taking like 5 little grains a day or I would get these feelings. It was rediculous.

In case your wondering I stopped taking it because although it worked wonders on me mood wise, but it made me fat. Like gained 40 lbs in less than a year fat.

I think a lot of doctors are seriously misinformed about the likelyhood of these side effects and in fact dont even know much about what they are even prescribing. The truth there is a lot of cloudyness about how these drugs work, so therein lies much of the mystery.

 

[sdn1977]

Your friend needs to go back to her MD. It is too difficult & very inappropriate for us to advise when a pt is doing everything she is instructed to do & is still having issues, particularly when she is stopping a drug such as this. It is hard to separate the drug effects from the pathology of illness which is the job of her MD.

As for the chemistry - you probably don't want to know that (it involves structures, receptor attachment, etc..) You might be asking for the pharmacology. As someone alluded to previously, they are poorly understood, but we do know they potentiate some of the neurotransmitters & inhibitors of other neurotransmitter reuptake which ultimately resets the abnormal receptor-neurotransmitter relationship. Detail here is not important....but the manner of discontinuation is dependent upon a whole lot of factors - her original diagnosis, other medications, the form of the drug (immediate v. sustained release) & how far along she is in her treatment.....again - all things for her to see out advice from her dr.

I hope you feel you can encourage her to seek assistance from her medical provider or therapist, if she has one. Her own pharmacist will be more helpful than we can or should be here, but ultimately, she should go back to her dr.

 

[klebsiella]

Your friend needs to go back to her MD. It is too difficult & very inappropriate for us to advise when a pt is doing everything she is instructed to do & is still having issues, particularly when she is stopping a drug such as this. It is hard to separate the drug effects from the pathology of illness which is the job of her MD.
.

I wasnt asking anyone here to treat her, as she is seeing her MD....It seemed like an intersting problem from a pharmacology standpoint and it interested me so I thought I would ask.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

I think a lot of doctors are seriously misinformed about the likelyhood of these side effects and in fact dont even know much about what they are even prescribing. The truth there is a lot of cloudyness about how these drugs work, so therein lies much of the mystery.

Word. I got the drug from my FP doc (my PCP).

My friend is a doing a fellowship in child psychiatry and he says FP/GP residency training is inadequate to prescribe many of these drugs.

At first I thought he was just being territorial, but I have begun to think he is correct.

 

[sdn1977]

I wasnt asking anyone here to treat her, as she is seeing her MD....It seemed like an intersting problem from a pharmacology standpoint and it interested me so I thought I would ask.

Sorry if I misinterpreted..but...I also saw your post of this very same issue on the psych forum. You were asking for patient specific advice, which is not available here and as part of the forum, we are bound to not give it. It appears you are frustrated, she is frustrated & you are venting - all ok things here....you just can't expect a medical/pharmacy opinion on a patient specific case.

One of the things a pharmacy/medical/nursing, etc education gives a provider is the truth that what is published about an illness, drug, intervention or device is not necessarily applicable to an individual patient. There are always exceptions and part of the reason we get the education is to realize the patient specific exceptions - that is where our professional judgement comes in.

Now...if you wanted just pharmacologic info about withdrawal from a specific drug or drug class.....you could have rephrased your question from a professional standpoint and gotten more academic information than folks who have professional experience with it are willing to provide on this thread.

 

[Poland]

I'll tell you another drug that has hard side effects: Lamictal. 😱

Alright, back to the topic. The psychiatrists here put us on and take us off at every visit for a while. One of the area's only psychiatrists was in the paper today discussing a patient's bipolar disorder after her death. The article was a 2 page spread with color and graphics.

 

[Requiem]

I'll tell you another drug that has hard side effects: Lamictal. 😱

Alright, back to the topic. The psychiatrists here put us on and take us off at every visit for a while. One of the area's only psychiatrists was in the paper today discussing a patient's bipolar disorder after her death. The article was a 2 page spread with color and graphics.

"Put us on"???

You have bigger issues than pre-pharm, my friend. As well, what kind of sketchy psychiatrist are you seeing? I certainly hope I can count on my physician to give a 2 page editorial "with color and graphics" on my conditions after I pass!

 

[ndearwater]

Closing this thread because seeking or offering medical advice is in violation of the TOS. Please refrain from this in the future. Thank you. 🙂