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I took Effexor for about three years. Samples of it were originally given to me by a family practice doc for pain and mild fatigue after a back injury. I asked if there were any side effects, and he told me that there were none other than sexual. It gave me energy; so I continued to take it.
I stopped seeing that doctor and began to see my current internist about two years ago with complaints about my weight, which had gone from 125 to 151, exhaustion, and my back pain had changed to an all-over pain. Nothing took the problem away. I barely ate and became depressed. I didn't work for three years. I slept for most days and nights. Nothing could keep me awake. I used to teach kickboxing, but now...even my court reporting business was in danger, but it was hard to care about anything. I was too sleepy, and it became difficult to get up and down my own stairs even though I used to teach cardiokick type classes at gyms.
This past September I decided to stop taking Effexor to see if I could lose some weight. Three days after I stopped taking it I got very sick and had no idea why. I was shaking, had what felt like a fever, couldn't eat or keep food down, couldn't stay out of the bathroom. The room was spinning and moved in stages when I turned my head. I had/have the little prickly feeling that I get when I take an antibiotic that I'm allergic to. I couldn't sleep but was exhausted. I had panic attacks for the first time in my life, couldn't be around people, didn't want to speak to anyone, was freezing, didn't think I would live.
On day six I saw my doctor, a Harvard trained internist. He was shocked to see me in so much distress but congratulated me for getting that poison out of my system. He didn't realize that I had been taking Effexor for the back injury and mild fatigue and that I wasn't even taking it for depression and didn't really need to be taking it; that it could have, in fact, been causing me to be tired. Though had continued the old prescription, we hadn't talked much about it. I didn't have a clue that it caused all these problems, or I would have stopped taking it -- no, I never would have started to take it in the first place. Where is the information on this drug?
My doctor said that Prozac could help me, but it had already been six days, and we both figured that my pain would be over soon. It wasn't. I hurt everywhere, from my fingertips to the soles of my feet. I didn't begin to feel a little better until the end of December, a full three months after I stopped taking Effexor. But the weight dropped on off, and it continues to drop to this day. I am no longer the least bit tired, not one teeny bit, nor do I have any pain besides in my neck and shoulders, but my doctor seems to think that that is nerve damage from the withdrawal.
I lost a full three years of my life that I didn't need to lose, my business and finances are in a bit of disrepair, and I am not completely healed. My stomach isn't completely well, and the nerves in my neck and shoulders are still feeling fried. My doctor just prescribed physical therapy and asked me whether there had been a class action lawsuit filed against the manufacturer of this drug yet.
Is there a whistleblower out there that can help those of us that were harmed by Wyeth's failure to disclose?
Thank you for your time in reading this.....
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:x With regard to Effexor, it is Wyeth's number 1 selling drug and they sell 2 billion of it every year.
I took effexor xr for 2 years and weaned off and am now at day 8 with no effexor.
The withdrawal is disasterous, and I have missed one full week of work and expect to miss another full week. I have complete vertigo, have a young daughter and a son in college but live alone single parent with daughter, very very hard for me to type this because by the mid afternoon I am LITERALLY retarded, my thoughts, I hear voices, my motor skills are that of a disabled person. I know from all of the reading on the web I have done that this is not going away soon, cant sleep at night, banging crashing in my head and what little sleep I get in the day is filled with hallucination dreams.
If anyone does read this who has any pull, (no one has this kind of pull, this is like going up against big Tobacco) but anyway, help by Telling your Drs. how bad the withdrawal is ( I was on the absolute minimum dose) and not to prescribe it to young single moms, or anyone for that matter.
I found out on the web that the FDA forced Wyeth a year or so ago to change the bull sh@@ it said about NOT HABIT FORMING that was all over the inserts when I first started taking it. also, they now say you must take at least 2 weeks to taper off, before it said at least a week. They should not just be able to "change verbage" what about all of us suckers who were already on the crap??
They owe us restitution and I am going to contact Erin Brokovich about this, it is right up her alley!!
Make no mistake, at this point I am not even a shell of myself, and if anyone who did not know me met me and heard me speak and saw me move they would assume that I had cerebral palsy. My vision is also shot.
Please respond, anyone
Thank you in the name of humanity.
I am in the middle of some serious withdrawal symptoms for the "non addictive" effexor. I was originally diagnosed with post partum depression after the birth of my 4th child who will be 3 in May. Effexor did help me with the depression, as long as a was taking large doses of it. I was taking 225 mg. of the Effexor XR for about the past year. In September, I visited my family doctor because it just wasn't working anymore and I needed a change. He began tapering down the dosage. With each drop, my depression got worse and I had this feeling in my head that I can only describe as my brain being shocked. This past week, I took my last dose and the pain in my head has been unbearable. Each movement of my eyes brings more shocks to my brain. The pressure behind my eyes is intense. Sometimes it feels like my eyes are going to fall out. Is this something that anyone out there has experienced?? Do the manufactures of this drug know of this side effect of withdrawal??
I spent 5 years in a dark room after taking Prozac, Zoloft and Effexor, I was prescribed the last two, to try to "help me" when the side affects and withdrawals got deadly. My deepest empathy to anyone going through this, but you can get well, I have. There is a non profit company called truehope.com who exists to help people with this, with a slowly detoxing nutrient program. They also have great success in treating mental/emotional illnesses. I would also like to inform anyone suffering shocks, despair and panic etc that Vitamin b3 (inositol) is used with a multi vitamin to treat panic and anxiety, (it's very effective) and "balance 100% Pure Ion Exchange Whey" is a whey protein isolate, it is natural and has seratonin in it, it boosts mood, and stops the shocks. You need to do this as your body needs all the right nutrients it can get whilst "gently detoxing" the toxic drugs from your body. All other forms of detoxing made things worse in my experience, it brings the side affects back in full force. You are "hyper-sensitive" and you have to be careful what you eat and take. Please contact me for any information. wildroses1@mailblocks.com I am well now and I hope this helps as the suffering is indescribable. I have written to the the Managing Director of Eli Lilly, Sydney the manufacturers of Prozac, Zoloft and Effexor and he said, quote "he doesn't accept his medications can do that" (side affects) these drug company executives are criminals; cruel torturers and murderers, and they get away with it. I urge you to write to your local govt, and the drug companies about your experience and contact your "patient rights advisory". I am sending information to media outlets as well. I feel like I can't do enough to educate people about the horror of prescription drugs.
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Hey, I have a few issues and need some assistance getting documentation, and possible help removing a criminal charge, and getting my children back.
Bad side effects, and still not able to secure work due to the criminal charge.
HELP
Richard
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