Posted by colin wallace on February 27, 2002, at 14:13:46
Reading all these effexor withdrawal posts reminds me of the 'unpleasantness' of the experience, but more so, the infuriated feeling of conveying this withdrawal reaction to a doc.
I enquired about withdrawal prior to embarking on the effexor 'shuttle', and was told that it was no less problematic than, say, prozac.
When the time came, I was advocated a regime of a 37.5 mg decrease every week.Bearable, until that niggly last 37.5, which as you know, refuses to be ditched without putting up one hell of a fight.When reduced to a croaking, shiverring wreck hardly capable of speech, my doc. casually informed me that this was 'just the seratonin settling down.'the removal of the seratonin blockade'. Hah! sounds fairly innocuous doesn't it, sort of like 'you may get a mild headache.How about, 'you'll sit bolt upright in bed for 6 days without food or sleep and wish you were dead'...well, not strictly true, as I did drink masses of alcohol, with no good effect.Anyway, my first attempt failed- small wonder, as 'just stopping' that last 37.5 is, I believe, asking for it.
I personally treated effexor withdrawal in the same manner as many use for coming off benzo's;
splitting 37.5 pills into smaller and smaller amounts, over a period of a few weeks.
This way, the trivial 'removal of the seratonin blockade' can be (almost) as painless as many docs. would have us believe.Especially if done under cover of prozac.
poster:colin wallace
thread:95720
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020222/msgs/95720.html