Effexor for Obsessive compulsive + depression

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If what I get are the same thing as other people on this thread mean, they're very difficult to describe. Imagine something like a headache, but coming in short bursts, feeling like a cross between being kicked in the head and someone electric-shocking your brain. For some reason, the shocks I get always come in series of two, one after the other. They happen through a general feeling of nausea/muzziness. I believe they're a widely-recognised Effexor withdrawal symptom.

I had these back in 1994 comming off Zoloft. They had no idea at that time. I went to
the doctor and he had no idea what I was talking about.

First its the SSRI or serotonin part of effexxor doing it and the short half life of the
drug.

I notice it from Paxil also (short half life). I notice if I moved my eyes sideways
fast it would induce a strong "electric" shock. Oh its not an electrical shock feel
thats just the way its been popularized. I think its more a static feeling like
when you loose blood flow to a body part but in pulses.

I'm on Prozac now (a drug with a very long halflife) and it would likely never produce
that sensation.

Zoloft and Paxil both turned me into a squirmy puddle of tears, shame and regrets, with no interest in going to work or playing music. Proxac made me feel like I was buzzing on coke and I couldn't sleep. I stopped that one after about a month. (I know I didn't give that one a fair chance) I get some kind of "brain shock" or "kick in the head" all the time, from fatigue I think, with or without drugs. It goes away with alcohol. Too bad I stopped drinking, huh? (No, I didn't drink alcohol while using those drugs.)

I am still open to the idea that something could help. But maybe SSRI type drugs aren't for me ...?

I had Paxil - or Seroxat, as it's marketed here in the UK - for a while, and the side-effect I got was a physical one; it made me sick as a dog. I just couldn't stick with it. I felt like I was going to throw up almost twenty-four hours a day.

Towards the end of my four month experiement with Paxil, I was able to keep food in my body for only about forty five minutes to an hour and a half, before it was projected rearward at something approaching the speed of sound. I was constantly dehydrated and I cried everyday, I could not take even the most gentle and helpful critisism, without exploding at people, like an ASS bomb.

After hearing alot about the side affects some of the tablets can cause, what about something natural?
Has anyone ever tried Anxietol 7 ? a natural supplement for stress, anixty & depression?

I have not tried it, but I am thinking of trying it.

It works on both serotonin and norepinephrine— two chemicals in the brain linked to anxiety and depression.

Read about it on this site-http://bodestore.com/anxietol7.html

I see it has a brand name Suntheanine. I've seen some phoney claims were it claimed
only their Theanine is effective. A lady on an ADHD forum site said the same thing
then she tried it(Suntheanine) and said useless

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theanine

Oh read the above link you can see its in tea.

So get some tea or decaffienated green tea before you try that Anxietol crap

The other thing in it



sounds like Ginseng but you can see it does not even claim to help deprerssion,
OCD, anxiety

Thanks!! TheMachine1

Another bunch of crap! stuff there trying to sell us, Its all a marketing scam! Does any of it ever work??
I will go and drink some decaffienated green tea now! lol

I am on Effexor (3/75mg nightly). I am pretty sure it reduces my anxiety. I am told that when I tried to go off it I isolated myself and got very depressed in comparison to before. I think at one point they tried to up what I am on now to a higher doses but the effects were less then satisfactory.

nirrti_rachelle is right about the withdrawal. If you forget to take it for a night, or (as has happened a number of times with me) forgotten to renew to prescription and missed it for more then one night the effects are absolutely terrible.

I know medicines pretty good, so you can ask me about them. I haven't taken Effexor or Effexor XR, but I know the side effects, and they are not so severe. Don't stop it too quick, unless if your doctor says otherwise. If you were on it for 2-3 weeks, and if it has caused you problems, then I would stop. You have to realize that every medication has its own side effects, also.

I've been on Effexor XR now for over a year now. Dose: 300mg @ night daily.

I've been diagnosed with ADHD/OCD/Anxiety/Manic-Depressive (basicly the whole kit and kaboodle).

I don't know if I have AS/ASD or not, I did not grow up in an era when AS/ASD was even known to exist, when I was born back in '72. psychologists/psychiatrists where still a taboo. I was actually taken to a neurologist instead of a psychiatrist, and was prescribed ritalin before it was the drug of choice for prescribing to children. (*sarcasm mode*)

Side Effects: SEVERE - these side effects include: a dramatic near-total loss of libido, a sense of detachment from positive emotional states, a sort of 'short-circuited brain' like effect when I've gone too long without a dose, and insomnia bad enough to require 100mg nightly dose of Trazodone to enable sleep.

Positives: A sense of detachment from negative emotional states keeping me from flying completely off the handle like I used to. An end to the complete panic attacks associated with decision making. A dampening of a wildly out of control manic/depressive pendulum enabling me to function at something close to an even keel. I am no longer repetitively suicidally depressed, and have managed to actually start to try to improve my life vs just surviving it.

So, yes Effexor is both a boon and a curse, one that you will need to weigh the pros and cons carefully for.

So far...for me...the Exxefor is working quite well. I now think that I should have been on some form of medication years ago. I've lived with chronic low grade depression all my life, and the obsessive compulsive thoughts were exhausting.

Yes, there are pros and cons. One reason that I resisted was because I thought that such medication was just a way to keep "oppressed" people drugged up so that they wouldn't resist their circumstances. I was firmly convinced the big bad pharmacuetical companies were only out to exploit people. I realize now that was fairly simplistic thinking on my part. Let's face it, those "big bad" pharmacuetical companies have also saved alot of lives with their medicines.

Several people have commented in the last few weeks that I look better, the stress is gone from my face, my hair and skin have improved and a few family members keep telling me I look younger. I'm no longer depressed and that's a big dramatic improvement to my quality of life.

I wouldn't tell anyone they should go on medication, but I do know that so far it has improved my life.

Hey girl let us know how your doing? Things must have got alot better or worse.

Thanks Machine1, I'm much better now. I went out, bought myself some new clothes, had my hair done, got contact lenses, when out to a club with some friends, and had a great time. I've even had someone ask me out for a date.

I always thought before that it was lame ass to take medication for ocd or depression, but so far that part is working out quite well. I have no side effects so far. I still have down moments, but it's no longer overwhelming. I feel like myself, but much stronger.

I have also joined the local church and that has made a huge difference to me. But I won't go on about that because I understand that many people do not feel comfortable with discussion of religion or spirituality. It's just made such an amazing difference to me.

Great! Yeah a church provide a support structure people need. I'm an atheist and do not
goto church and I'm alone to I need to start a church of atheism.

You said in the past you likely have ADHD do you feel you can focus more now that
your on the effector? Oh why I asked is I was hoping it would. I mean can you think
of a boring task that you hated to do before that you can now get done? In my case
reading a long post is hard so I will keep this short

delete

Last edited by anandamide on 06 Oct 2006, 12:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.