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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by shadowmon on May 25, 2008, at 0:40:10
I just completed a change over from paxil cr 75 mg per day to effexor. I was on paxil for 8 years and hit the max dose and still having anxiety/ depression symptoms. I also suffer from GAD with my depression. Pdoc changed me over to effexor. I went from one 37.5 to day to two, and felt no depression/ and no anxiety! It was great! I felt this way for 2 weeks. All of a sudden, Crash!. I'm depressed again. This time though, I have no Anxiety that usually hangs out with my depression, just the depression. What happened?
I'm supposed to be on a total of 150 mg of this stuff, I just booted myself up to 125 mg of the effexor a couple of days ago, but I am scared that its not going to work to alieveiate(sp) the depressive symptoms like it did the anxiety symptoms.... This is scary... How long should I wait to go to the Dr. to tell them, hey this isint working!!
Posted by Racer on May 25, 2008, at 10:59:52
In reply to Effexor... what's going on? I'm worried, posted by shadowmon on May 25, 2008, at 0:40:10
General rule is that six to eight weeks at an adequate dose should show you what the medication will do for you. If there are still residual symptoms, you can choose to switch or augment the medication. And there are a lot of augmentation strategies you can try.
The nice thing about Effexor is that it does tend to help a lot with anxiety. If it's effective for your anxiety, it's probably worth continuing it to see what it will do for the depression, too. Adding something else to help with any residual depression symptoms is probably in your favor.
Good luck.
Posted by Phillipa on May 25, 2008, at 11:34:55
In reply to Re: Effexor... what's going on? I'm worried, posted by Racer on May 25, 2008, at 10:59:52
I guess I'd let my doc know that anxiety was gone and two weeks after starting it had been working for both anxiety and depression and now it's only working for anxiety. Maybe he will up the dose? Good luck Phillipa
Posted by shadowmon on May 25, 2008, at 19:04:38
In reply to Re: Effexor... what's going on? I'm worried, posted by Racer on May 25, 2008, at 10:59:52
> General rule is that six to eight weeks at an adequate dose should show you what the medication will do for you. If there are still residual symptoms, you can choose to switch or augment the medication. And there are a lot of augmentation strategies you can try.
>
> The nice thing about Effexor is that it does tend to help a lot with anxiety. If it's effective for your anxiety, it's probably worth continuing it to see what it will do for the depression, too. Adding something else to help with any residual depression symptoms is probably in your favor.
>
> Good luck.I tried stepping up on thrursday and to be honest I am feeling not much better at all.... I have no gat churning, but am very tense, can't del with going out in public and don't want to do anything, and feel depressed... I don't know if it has to do with the increase in dosage or what.
I know when I was on the paxil I would feel like this and it would eventually getbetter, but I never had it to thepoint where I was feeling ok and then things start crashing down on me like It did with thiw. anyone else feel like this when starting effexor??
Posted by shadowmon on May 25, 2008, at 19:06:11
In reply to Re: Effexor... what's going on? I'm worried, posted by shadowmon on May 25, 2008, at 19:04:38
> > General rule is that six to eight weeks at an adequate dose should show you what the medication will do for you. If there are still residual symptoms, you can choose to switch or augment the medication. And there are a lot of augmentation strategies you can try.
> >
> > The nice thing about Effexor is that it does tend to help a lot with anxiety. If it's effective for your anxiety, it's probably worth continuing it to see what it will do for the depression, too. Adding something else to help with any residual depression symptoms is probably in your favor.
> >
> > Good luck.
>
> I tried stepping up on thrursday and to be honest I am feeling not much better at all.... I have no gat churning, but am very tense, can't del with going out in public and don't want to do anything, and feel depressed... I don't know if it has to do with the increase in dosage or what.
>
> I know when I was on the paxil I would feel like this and it would eventually getbetter, but I never had it to thepoint where I was feeling ok and then things start crashing down on me like It did with thiw. anyone else feel like this when starting effexor??I forgot to mention that the only time that I seem to feel "decent" is at night when I take trazodone to sleep (50mg).
Posted by blueboy on May 31, 2008, at 10:00:56
In reply to Effexor... what's going on? I'm worried, posted by shadowmon on May 25, 2008, at 0:40:10
Of course, one thing you always have to be careful about, when trying to figure out meds, is that depression and anxiety can get stronger and weaker for no apparent reason.
Most antidepressant trials have a decent percentage of people in the placebo group who show significant improvement. I have no idea if this is a factor in your case, of course, but just thought I'd point it out as a possibility.
This is the end of the thread.
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