Posted by tina on March 15, 2001, at 7:54:15
In reply to Effexor xr causing panic attacks, posted by AnneL on March 14, 2001, at 23:16:02
I've heard this before and also have personal experience with this problem. Apparently this side effect improves with time. Perhaps your body just doesn't tolerate a hig dose in the beginning. Have you tried taking a really tiny amount for a couple of weeks and increasing slowly > I'm what the docs call a 'low-dose responder' maybe you are too. Every new one I take causes me severe panic attacks so I always have to start out with a dose way smaller than is recommended by my doc. Give this a try.
wishing you good luck with the FXR
t> My primary care doctor prescribed Effexor XR 37.5 mg to start with for one week then to increase if tolerated to 75 mg for a situational depression. I did inform him that I had tried all of the SSRI's about 2 years ago with the same result - night panic attacks starting after 2 or 3 days resulting in discontinuing the meds. Sure enough it's happened again with the Effexor. By the second night I had a panic attack that was pretty well controlled by Xanax, but by the third night I was pretty much unnerved by the whole situation that I discontinued the med. It was very disapointing because it was so well-tolerated during the day. My doctor wants me to try Remeron next. Should I completely abandon the Effexor idea and try Remeron? Or can this particular side effect be managed?
poster:tina
thread:56547
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010310/msgs/56561.html