Posted by Trying on August 6, 2004, at 11:49:05
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal survey, posted by Trying on August 4, 2004, at 12:48:37
Wanted to post an update - sort of a travelogue for my Effexor w/d, now at day 5 of 0mg.
Things are improving a bit: instead of having the 'brain shivers' 75% of the time during the day, I would say its down to 50%, at least that's how I'm able to perceive the frequency of that strange effect. More on the w/d effects I've had below.
As noted, I've phased in Buproprion/Welburtrin, and based on what I've read on this and other discussions, I've decided to simply gut it out, rather than asking for specific new meds to counteract what appears to be w/d of the old meds.
That said I'm trying some specific tactics to try to moderate things, some of this gleaned from sites dealing with other types of w/d. I realize some may be totally placebo, but it at least feels like I'm exerting some degree of control over the situation and may in fact be responsible for helping.
1. Deep breathing - I learned this one as a youngster dealing with anx.attacks, and it does help calm the mind/body.
2. Drinking lots of water - okay I realize this sounds a bit silly, but going on the assumption that my body is having some sort of reaction to something, might as well pump in the universal solvent to see if it can wash out something toxic along the way can't hurt.
3. Exercise - I will try to take a short run today at lunch...not sure how I will feel if my mind/visual starts shaking too much, but I trust most of the chemicals my body produces more than the pills I've been popping/stopping, and running is a way I've always been able to get a surge in these going. Of course...getting the motivation to actually take the first shuffle may be the trick.
4. Acceptance - one thing I;ve not seen much on this board in dealing w/d is the spiritual component, and I'm no holy roller (I'm Unitarian/Universalist, which I think feel off the left side of the Christian spectrum) but much of my recent reading (Tolstoy, A.Heschel) speaks to the universal truth that life, with the myriad of physical limitations of our body (not to mention the chaos of the greater world), is that this reality is a horribly difficult place at times -- suffering is inseparable from being human. Mental illness (for me, other family members) has been the largest boogey-man in my life over many years...and in context of understanding that the pain of it, including the relatively mundane/logistical challenge of phasing off a specific med like I'm doing now, ties me to something larger, a dimension that cannot be fully articulated, but felt in the stillness of night or the laughter of a child through an open window. Okay, this is a long winded way of saying I'm persevering through this w/d phase by trying transcend it on a spiritual, as opposed to physical or psychological, tactic.
5. Dramamine. Another post discussed using dramamine (and benadryl) to help knock down the brain-shakes. I've taken 2 pills (the standard daily recommended dosage) yesterday and took 1 this morning, planning to take 1 in afternoon.
6. There's also a bit of naming-of-the-evil aspect -- just knowing that these symptoms are not just me, and not originating as a result of some new mental health problem, is comforting...at least it reduces the stress/anxiety of worrying that there is something new and bad. So when i do feel the brain-shake/shiver, I have a word for it...I can label it quickly its not scary anymore. Sort of like turning on the light in the bedroom to determine that the hulking shadowy beast is just the laundry piled on the ironing board. This is akin to a factoid I learned years ago re: anxiety -- that much anxiety is caused over fretting about the anxiety itself...so I learned even when going through a wacky=scary disassociative effect of anxiety attack, rather than freak out, just say 'oh, here's one of those attacks again', and wait it out...that at least kept my adreneline level down, which then made the attacks diminish.
So...all this has me feeling a somewhat reduced level of those brain-shake problems, allows me to go and function at work, more or less, and keeps me looking ahead to a day when the w/d is over. last night my wife was out and I was able to give both kids baths, read books, and do a couple of house-chores. Perhaps this was overdoing it -- by near the evenings end I was in a low-grade anxiety attack...the sensation that I was not quite in my own reality, different from the brain-shakes, but got to sleep okay, had some very vivid, a bit funky dreams, and woke at regular time.
Curious -- does anyone have any idea of how many people experience the brain-shake w/d effect? It is so uniquely unsettling to have a psychotropic/delic w/d effect as a result of treatment for a mental health condition -- it seems doubly worse...and in some I could see it pushing folks to new lows or harming themselves. I read how Eliot Spitzer (NY AG, who's taken on the excess in corporate America of past several years) is charging at the drug manufacturers over non-disclosure of critical research findings...no mention of Effexor, but I may drop a note to his office, at least put my name on a list, or start a new one, in the event that there is enough of a critical mass of people like us to warrant any action/inquiry.
poster:Trying
thread:371721
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040805/msgs/374710.html