Posted by Sallygooden on April 23, 2006, at 8:49:44
Didn't read all of the posts on this entire board, but didn't see one like mine. I was on EffexorXR a year and a half, during which time I began to break out in sore-like areas. I went to doctor after doctor (including the one who prescribed it), and told them it was breaking me out. NONE of them believed me, just told me to continue taking it! So I continued. The sores started at my ankles and spread up to my knees, both legs. Then suddenly they started on my lower arms from the wrist to the elbow. They itched, would dry out and erupt again, nearly made me lose my mind. I was sent to a Wound Center at a hospital. They were questioned about it but would never commit to an answer, and also would not believe it about EffexorXR. So, I continued. After 3-4 months, they sent me to some skin specialists, who could not make a determination, but wanted to do a lot of 'allergy testing'. I declined and then the Wound Center sent me to the area Infection Control Doctor from Atlanta. He immediately told me it was due to a drug, and was NOT an infectious process. I then went back to my family physician, told him what I suspected all along. He took me off EffexorXR and said that IF it was the drug, I would begin to show improvement slowly. And for as long as I was on the drug, it would take that long for it to completely clear up and be out of my system entirely! That meant a year and a half! It's been about 8 months now, and the sores are gone but I am left with purple areas, hundreds of them, that my doctor says is scarring underneath the skin surface. These should continue to clear for a few more months. This has undoubtedly been the most horrific thing I have ever encountered. It, too, had the secondary sexual problems, but these sores were the most embarassing things to endure, especially when going to a restaurant, church, or stores. By the time I quit, they were spreading to my upper legs/thighs and upper arms, and were all over the tops of both hands. PLEASE, whatever you do - DO NOT TAKE this drug! Since stopping, I have run into two people while out that had the same rash of sores. One had spread onto her face! But their doctors believed them and took them off immediately! I wasn't so fortunate.
poster:Sallygooden
thread:636100
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060423/msgs/636100.html