Posted by omegon on January 27, 2004, at 21:48:25
In reply to Re: Anyone had success on Effexor XR yes !!!!!!!!, posted by EFFEXED on January 27, 2004, at 19:40:15
I hope it works for you as well! Great that it helps you relate to your kids better.
I will give you my limited advice: I was on this drug recently for around three months. It worked well some of the time, but caused major problems at other times - so I can't be objective! (not that I think anyone can, really)
I did get several weeks of feeling better than I did on any of the other antidepressants I've tried - I actually enjoyed dealing with people for the first time in years.
I found I got a rapid decrease in effect after a couple of weeks at each dosage level. However, my doctor "fixed" this by increasing the dose, 75mg each time. At 225mg/day this "tolerance" decreased to some extent, but was replaced after a few weeks by extreme sleepiness, then mood swings (further in both directions than I'd been before starting ADs) bad enough that I had to switch to another drug.
If you find that the effects decrease after another week or so, you should probably wait a couple of weeks before you increase the dose - you might find it changes again, for the better. From many reports I've seen on here, it can take several weeks at the same dose for things to stabilise, despite the short half-life. Be very careful about sticking to the same time each day and don't miss any doses: I think that being somewhat variable in dosage time may have made things worse for me. Also, lots of people (and me) seem to report being moody, very irritable, anxious, unable to sleep, having nightmares etc. for a few days each time you increase the dose; but it should be controllable and get less each day, otherwise go straight back to your doctor! I found that, once I'd got used to the high dose I ended up on, it actually reduced my anxiety a lot for several weeks, though in the end I had problems.
> LIKE I SAID BEFORE I TOOK THE 37XR FOR 2 WEEKS NOW I AM ON THE 75XR WAS MOODY FOR THE FIRST 2 DAYS BUT NOW DAY 4 IS HERE AND TODAY IS THE BEST I HAVE FELT IN YEARS THIS STUFF IS GREAT I REALLY WAS ABLE TO GET UP THIS MORNING GO TO SCHOOL ON TIME AND AT THE END OF THE DAY I DID NOT FEEL LIKE I WAS GOING TO PASS OUT ON THE WAY TO PICK UP MY KIDS FROM SCHOOL MY DAUGHTER EVEN ASKED WHY I COULD NOT PLAY WITH HER LIKE THIS EVERY DAY I FEEL GREAT THANKS TO THE EFFEXOR
>
> PS.I KNOW THIS IS ONLY DAY 4
> HOPE IT LASTS.
>
> THANK YOU.( EFFEXED )
poster:omegon
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040127/msgs/306252.html