EFEXOR venlafaxine - The time is now

[cagedbird]

Thanks for the support gary, i appreciate it :-) i do get restless especially in my legs, the wife calls it "laughing legs". When i sit down to watch tv, they're bobbing up and down, drives the wife crazy, sometimes they keep going for hours., if i don't get it out in front of the tv, they spontaniously kick out in bed.

[cagedbird]

Things are going ok. Not sleeping through, nothing new there though.. Side effects are getting better, think i'm getting used to the reduced dose. Things easier at home with the kids as my wife is off this week and it takes the pressure off loads. Had a kickback earlier in the week when so called "friends" showed their true colours. Never mind, got to keep the goal focused. Got two little hedgehogs in the garden, there's always something ready to cheer you up when you're down, just got to find it :-)

[Flying Badger]

Good to hear things are heading in the right direction! Make sure you take some time for yourself whilst your wife is around to help with the kids too. Doesn't have to be hours on end - just take a few moments out if you need it, and whilst you have the chance.

Cheers

Gary

[cagedbird]

Well gary, i took your advise about time out and i felt good for it, thankyou. In fact i have felt alot more relaxed since the small brake, so much infact that i have reduced my pills from 3 to 2, that's 225mg to 150mg, just this morning. I felt i was ready and didn't make a big deal to myself about the lower dose. Just took it and carried on, i reckon alot of it is about positive mental attitude. Felt bit spacey this morning, but generally quite good. We got a young canary at the weekend, and while the kids are killing each other until they start school again next week, i can focus on the bird. Distraction is a good one, works for me :-) i'll keep you posted x

[Flying Badger]

Good stuff - taking a little time for yourself is, I think, really important. Certainly something I try to do every now and then.

I suppose I am quite lucky in the fact that I have a really decent keyboard (music keyboard that is) that I can enjoy playing with the headphones on - it makes a nice escape from everything else.

If you've ever thought of taking up a hobby, I can highly reccomend doing so, even if it's something like pursuing something which you currently just have a passing interest in.

Hope things continue in the right direction!

Gary

[cagedbird]

Well, it's been a couple of weeks now on just 2tabs and i feel quite good. Side effects are minimal and to be honest the constant sweating that i've put up with for the last few years is totally less severe. Even that little thing helps put me in a better frame of mind and boosts my moods. My lads back at school, so there's less pressure there and things are settling down. I play on my DS when i feel a stress coming on and it helps take my mind off things. I keep myself busy with gardening, our new canary and my old car. I'm hoping to reduce to just 1 x75mg tablet at the end of sept and totally off them for christmas. But we'll see, i don't want to set any solid goals just incase something happens. There is no going back to more tablets, they worked when needed and now it's time to come off them. I am in control of them, not them of i. I'll keep you posted, thanks for following my progress.

[pammy1944]

Stay with it, caged, its very hard to come off antids.... im 6 weeks today without any sertraline and i know what ive gone through ( still am) but take it very slowly and you will come through .......take care xx

[Flying Badger]

Good to hear your making progress!

I'm not sure if you prefer to do this completley solo, but it might be a good idea to have a quick chat with your GP. S/he may be able to help you with the final step, perhaps giving you some 37.5mg tablets to take for a few weeks before stopping completley. I'm not advocating you do this of course, just thought it might be useful.

Cheers

Gary

[cagedbird]

Thanks guys, your support is appreciated. Mmmm, worth thinking about the 37.5mg especially closer to the time. I'll chew that over with my personal psychiatriac nurse, also known as the wife :-)

[cagedbird]

ballintoysunset.,

hi, and thanks for supporting me during this time. I personally feel that my meds, same dose and type as yours put me inside a protective bubble. the higher the meds dose, the thicker the bubble walls were...

Everything that was happening before I went inside the bubble was still happening, though I was the one with the barrier. The bubble created a buffer for me, it was my coping mechanism against the world and at 375mg, that's some buffer eh. As you say covering how you feel, not tackeling the problem. I suppose, when I decided to come off them, my main reason for causing me to fall into depression, which was my work was long gone and I thought what else is keeping me inside this bubble, for what reason..? I realised that everyone has their problems, some daily, daily long term, but they cope with things in different ways, not just by using meds. My wife has a stressfull job, she's not on meds, she copes different ways which work for her.

For that, I WILL be able to cope just fine., as flying badger said, a hobby is great, a distraction from what may make you feel down is good, go to that happy place when you feel the darkness come..

I needed the help when I was depressed, help from the meds, but now, 9 years on I'm at a different place in my life, my problems aren't just my own, I do have someone to share them with, to talk to someone about them., my wife is their to help me and that's great.

I was in my bubble for 9 years, that's how long it's taken me to change my way of thought, everybody will have different times, there's no rush, no one should be pushing you to come off your meds and out of your bubble. Being able to talk to someone helps me, perhaps you should speak to your doctor before thinking about reducing or coming off your meds. My wife is my doctor in a sense, nobody knows me better than her and I have the extra bonus of her actually being a Physciatric nurse and knowing what she talks about (don't tell her I said that though )

Last week, I reduced my meds to just one tablet., that's just on 75mg tablet. I woke up one day and thought, today feels like a good day to do it, and I did...................... It has been a REALLY tough week, most of it i was in a different place, felt zoned out, but kept thinking to myself, this will only last for a week and then it will get better - and it has, my zonings gone, I'm started to sleep again and my sweating........., I CAN ACTUALLY FEEL THE COLD.. it's great, I can look like the other parents who pick their kids up from school wearing a coat and not sweating, I'm loving it.

It's the little things that I'm getting back are outwaying the effects of coming off the meds, soon they shall be gone from my life. My sexual labido thingy is kinda absent, people have noticed I'm not hyper like I was with the 375mg, even my wife has said that I've calmed down alot. Pre-meds I was pretty laid back, chilled, wouldn't start an argument, just enjoy stuff, you know on the meds though it's superman time, running round manic one day, coming down to earth the next., all over the place really.

So I'm on 75mg of my bubble drug now, and I'll stay on this for at least a couple of weeks, it's got be right, when I come off them, I'm going to have one one day, miss the next and take one the day after and so on - I think..

I'm not there yet, not ready...., but I will be, by god I will be and when that day comes I will not fail, I will not go back and I will succeed in coming out of my 9year EFEXOR venlafaxine Bubble. ~x~