Posted by bleauberry on September 16, 2008, at 17:24:15
In reply to Prozac to Effexor XR, posted by medicated86 on September 14, 2008, at 17:44:45
> I am changing myself from prozac to effexor xr and wanted to know if anyone here actually likes effexor? All i see is haters.
There are definitely people who swear effexor changed their lives for the better after not doing well on many other meds. They can be seen at revolution health or at askapatient.com. But as you have commented, there are also definitely people who hate effexor. I guess the one thing for sure is that getting off it is hard.
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> Prozac takes so damn long to wash out that i got to thinking, maybe i could factor in the Effexor XR while im still tapering off the prozac.
> Any advice experiences?No experience here, but a common strategy to get off effexor is to take prozac in its place, which is then later easier to get off. A frequent poster here did fairly well at one time on a combination of effexor plus prozac. If it were me, I would use the regular pills, not extended release, so you can cut them to custom sizes. 6mg doses, 12mg, and such. Gently ease it in. For prozac, empty a capsule into orange juice, stir it well, and drink a custom sized dose, store the rest in the fridge for up to a week, stir it good before drinking (it won't dissolve). With these tricks you can custom tailor a cross taper.
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> Does anyone know which is more stimulating out of effexor XR and prozac?As mileage varies, I don't think this is predictable. Some people get wired on prozac like too much coffee, while others get tired and lethargic. Some people get wired on effexor while others get tired and lethargic. But it deserves mention that with either drug there are also people who feel perfectly well.
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> any input appreciated.Regardless of any of this discussion, in my experience there usually is some kind of weird stuff to expect when transitioning from one med to another. It can be hard to figure out whether it is withdrawals from one med, partially covered up by the new med, or side effects from the new med, partially covered up by the old one.
One thing in your favor is that from statistical clinical terms, effexor has a slight advantage over all others (except lexapro) in terms of response and remission, as determined by metastudies reviewing thousands of patients in many different clinical trials. There is built in flaw and bias in all of this though, but still, effexor is generally regarded as better than ssris. I think why we see people hating it is because side effects can be worse than other meds, and if it doesn't work or isn't tolerated then the experience in getting off it is worse than other meds.
poster:bleauberry
thread:852006
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080915/msgs/852342.html