Posted by Racer on August 12, 1999, at 0:51:38
In reply to Zoloft to Efexor. (Racer?), posted by Alison on August 11, 1999, at 23:59:58
While I'm not an expert, I do know that Effexor works on all three major neurotransmitters in the brain. Noradreniline, seratonin, and dopamine. I don't quite know what it means, beyond the idea that if any of those are out of whack, this may help.
As for my experiences on Effexor:
I started taking Effexor the day after I stopped taking Serzone. On Serzone, I thought I was going to die. Literally, my muscles were so tense that they ached constantly, I would stagger when I tried to walk, and I was almost ready to implode with anxiety. And then there were the side effects... Anyway, I was in a bad state, to put it mildly. I hadn't been sleeping through the night, either.
The first three days on Effexor, I did not sleep at all. I don't mean that I was dozing rather than sleeping, I mean that I was lying in bed, trying to stay still so as not to wake my erst-while boyfriend. That makes it sound awful, but it was actually WONDERFUL!!! Even without sleeping, I rested so well on the Effexor, and loved getting up in the morning feeling refreshed, rather than dreading the day. After about three days, I slept again, and slept pretty well, though I had to move the drug to the morning to do it.
The anxiety went immediately. The side effects tend to last, for me, about three or four days, then they go away. The only side effects I've had in the early days of a dose increase are the trouble sleeping and headaches, but the headaches aren't bad, and they go after a couple of days. The longer lasting effects are anorgasmia (which isn't complete, it just takes longer), and constipation. Both of those I can live with, and the cyproheptadine works pretty well on the first one for me.
Everyone is different, but I love the Effexor. I take Prozac to augment it, but I still think the Effexor does more than the Prozac does to help me. I know that I feel content, and calm more of the time than ever before.
The other thing I love about this combination for me is harder to explain: every other AD I've ever taken has given me what one dr called "emotional constipation", I couldn't experience deep emotion, good or bad. Paxil was the worst for this: when a friend killed himself, I couldn't feel any real grief until I stopped the drug. The Effexor combo lets me experience emotion while keeping it in perspective. What a wonderful feeling that is!
Here's the bottom line for me: My life hasn't changed from a month or so ago when I was in crisis. Nothing is different, except me. Now I like my life, and can find all sorts of good things about it. Hell, I love my life despite the fact that certain commitments have caused my income to drop drastically! What more can you ask from life? That's what the combo has done: it's let me experience the good of my life instead of focussing on the bad. I can look over my days and count the shiny coins of joy that each day brings me, rather than seeing only the clouds that marred the day.
Good luck to you. I hope that it works as well for you!
poster:Racer
thread:9933
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990726/msgs/9935.html