Posted by zeldas on September 26, 2003, at 12:14:40
In reply to Effexor Lawsuit, posted by kcg33 on September 26, 2003, at 5:42:41
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While I do recognize that Effexor XR helped my anxiety, and I acknowledge that for some people that know that they will have a problem with anxiety and depression their entire lives (chemical imbalances and other diagnoses), I am not in favor of this medication for anyone, not temporarily or perm. The pharmaceutical companies are thriving and making a fortune with these drugs, while for years, the complaints of the side effects and withdrawals go unanswered. If they really wanted to clean up their mess, they would take this crap back to the drawing board and find a way to correct the extreme side effects of not only taking the meds (outrageous weight gain, ringing in ears, nightmares, sinus headaches), but the withdrawals that come with ever trying to wean off of it, (brain shivers, excessive sweating, nausea, vertigo, vomiting, chest pain). I'm sorry I know that there are people on this medication that have suffered with depression and anxiety for so many years in their lives that feel like this medicine is a God-send, and maybe these side effects are okay with them, a decent trade-off for a little relief from the anxiety and depression, but for a short-term medication for anxiety and depression, my personal opinion, IT IS WRONG FOR A DOCTOR, PHARMACIST, OR PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY, to encourage a desperate person to take this medication and not advise that person what their life will become, or what will happen if they ever miss a dose or try to wean off of itlater. I have been sick as a dog for the past week, absolutely to the point of wishing death would stop flirting with me and just go on and get it over with! This medication has debilitated me to the point that I am not able to function at all during this period of withdrawal. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. It can't be healthy for the body, and I'll lay money down that eventually when Wyeth Labs wakes up and realizes they are culpable in this and they are forced to do some research and testing, we are all going to find out that there has been perm. damage done somewhere, just like with the rogue drugs Meridia and PHen Phen (and yes, I am aware they are weight drugs, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head, there are way more in the same category as Effexor) and others where serious investigations were not performed until AFTER thousands of people were suffering. If ever there were a justifiable reason for a class action lawsuit to force pharmaceutical companies to do more research on these drugs before marketing them, this would be the case. For those people who feel like they are having success on Effexor and have no complaints, just wait until you miss a dose by accident, or you try to get off it, then you will understand how severe the problem is with it. I personally intend to take the pharmaceutical company to task on this and as soon as I can stop holding the walls to walk and feeling like death warmed over, I will begin the business of collecting the horror stories and will find a law firm that will assist in bringing justice to the sufferers of this medication.>There are too many people, like myself, who have been downright saved by effexor to be anything but basically grateful for it. Side effects--what antidepressant doesn't have side effects?--You wanna get rid of them all? You may have had a very unpleasant side effect profile from it--but not everybody does. I too had to really taper off slowly to avoid "withdrawal syndrome". None of these are reasons to talk about lawsuits and taking the product off the market. That is just too extreme. Why would I sue them? Because the drug is not perfect and maybe another is better for me??? I don't think so. I am grateful knowing that effexor is there should I ever have an intractable depression again. At the time, it was the only thing that worked and it worked well. The side effects, like sleeping problems--I was aware of, and it wore off.
poster:zeldas
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030923/msgs/263494.html