MyNameIsntRich
24-11-08, 10:20
Well, for a couple years now I have been trying to get off of Effexor. A brief history, I started out 150mg Effexor XR in 03. I stopped this at some point with no adverse reaction that I remember for about 6 months. I then started to take it again as I had a bit of depression and had started having anxiety attacks. Fast forward to early 05' I decide I need to come off this drug as I start to notice the horrid half life and effects of missing a single dose are now controlling my life. Since then I have been trying to get off Effexor. I have found each time I go lower it’s harder to get even lower. I am now taking 1/4 of a 75mg Effexor pill daily, regular not XR. I have been on this for about a year now.
I can not get any lower then this dose, without all the super bad things like being knocked to the floor in the fetal position sick as a dog having brain zaps thinking I'm about to die of a heart attack. So I sit here, another holiday season is going by and I'm under the control of a drug in which I absolutely loath and often wonder if I will ever be able to kick. I was able to kick drugs as a teen and adult in my early twenties. I had no problems at all. I quit smoking cigarettes, while hard and I often want to smoke I still don’t. I just can’t kick the Effexor. The wonder drug my Dr. sold me on over 5 years ago now.
I know I must get off Effexor. I am convinced it adds more to my anxiety and that I am on such a low dose that it does nothing good anyways. The only things it does is keep my blood pressure elevated, aid anxiety, make me sick as a dog if I miss a dose and costs a small fortune.
Every time I try to kick I can make it about 3-4 days before I get so sick and such bad anxiety and brain zaps that I fold and take a bit. Within an hour I am feeling almost better and within 3 Hours I am as if I hadn’t ever missed a dose just a bit shaken up still from the withdraw I had suffered. How can I do it this time I ask myself every day. I have searched hours on the net about coming off Effexor. At this point I have read more then most of my Dr.'s on the subject and often find they hardly know about this horrid drugs effects. I have read every guild out there and even tried a few home remedies that have helped some get off the Effexor.
I am now faced with deciding when I will try to kick Effexor the final time. I know this time will have to be the time I kick it for good as I am so fed up with it controlling my life. It would be like winning the super bowl being able to live Effexor free. So far my only plan is to get myself checked into a rehab facility for chemical dependency. I see no other way I can get off this drug. I hope to enter some time in January or February. I know I will have a bad two weeks and hate life but I also know that after that I will be free of this drug that has controlled my life for too many years.
Checking myself into a chemical dependency rehab seems to be my only choice. My fears are that I will be looked at as a "druggie" this normally wouldn’t matter except for the fact that my ex would love to use that to try and get custody of my son back. I see no other way though. I am trying to feed this idea to my PCP and am going to start to see a shrink in a couple weeks. My goal is to get them to agree to admit me into a program for just the withdraw. I am not addicted to this drug where I want it. It’s quite the opposite. After I get off of it I will do all I can to make sure no other person ever gets placed onto it. I am just scared it will be looked at like I’m a meth addict instead of a person who started a drug that his Dr. prescribed and lead him on to believe that it was a wonder drug.
I will do my best to keep this diary updated as I go on my journey
NotRich
I can not get any lower then this dose, without all the super bad things like being knocked to the floor in the fetal position sick as a dog having brain zaps thinking I'm about to die of a heart attack. So I sit here, another holiday season is going by and I'm under the control of a drug in which I absolutely loath and often wonder if I will ever be able to kick. I was able to kick drugs as a teen and adult in my early twenties. I had no problems at all. I quit smoking cigarettes, while hard and I often want to smoke I still don’t. I just can’t kick the Effexor. The wonder drug my Dr. sold me on over 5 years ago now.
I know I must get off Effexor. I am convinced it adds more to my anxiety and that I am on such a low dose that it does nothing good anyways. The only things it does is keep my blood pressure elevated, aid anxiety, make me sick as a dog if I miss a dose and costs a small fortune.
Every time I try to kick I can make it about 3-4 days before I get so sick and such bad anxiety and brain zaps that I fold and take a bit. Within an hour I am feeling almost better and within 3 Hours I am as if I hadn’t ever missed a dose just a bit shaken up still from the withdraw I had suffered. How can I do it this time I ask myself every day. I have searched hours on the net about coming off Effexor. At this point I have read more then most of my Dr.'s on the subject and often find they hardly know about this horrid drugs effects. I have read every guild out there and even tried a few home remedies that have helped some get off the Effexor.
I am now faced with deciding when I will try to kick Effexor the final time. I know this time will have to be the time I kick it for good as I am so fed up with it controlling my life. It would be like winning the super bowl being able to live Effexor free. So far my only plan is to get myself checked into a rehab facility for chemical dependency. I see no other way I can get off this drug. I hope to enter some time in January or February. I know I will have a bad two weeks and hate life but I also know that after that I will be free of this drug that has controlled my life for too many years.
Checking myself into a chemical dependency rehab seems to be my only choice. My fears are that I will be looked at as a "druggie" this normally wouldn’t matter except for the fact that my ex would love to use that to try and get custody of my son back. I see no other way though. I am trying to feed this idea to my PCP and am going to start to see a shrink in a couple weeks. My goal is to get them to agree to admit me into a program for just the withdraw. I am not addicted to this drug where I want it. It’s quite the opposite. After I get off of it I will do all I can to make sure no other person ever gets placed onto it. I am just scared it will be looked at like I’m a meth addict instead of a person who started a drug that his Dr. prescribed and lead him on to believe that it was a wonder drug.
I will do my best to keep this diary updated as I go on my journey
NotRich