on effexor 14 years!

[gemcat]

i have been on this drug for 14 years. i still have depressive episodes that lead me to stays in the hospital. i feel it is barely doing anything for me but causing adverse reactions, especially "brain shivers" which i only experienced when trying to be weaned off of it or if i miss a dose. now it is my constant tormenter. i have tried, without success, with a doctor's help to get off of this nightmare of a drug. the withdrawal  is to severe and i end severely depressed. my last crazy doctor told me "it was all in my head", which i just could not believe he said to me. any help or advice would be so appreciated

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

It is between you and your doctor about whether to stay on medication, but if you two decide to get off , then a three week period is required, and in your case add a week.  the first week continually lower dose to lowest possible with no symptoms  of withdrawal...stay on that for one week; the third week, that dose every other day; the fourth week, every third day...then stop.

[Llyn]

I took Effexor/venlafaxine for three years (Aug. 2002-Aug. 2005).  In 2004, the FDA sent out a warning letter to psychiatrists about the "discontinuation syndrome" (i.e. physical addiction) caused by this drug.  I went off the drug at my request when I found the FDA warning letter doing research on the drug on my own-- having spent my life addicted to nothing more than tobacco, I did not want to be addicted to any other substance.  (Thank you, psychiatrist!)  Simply missing  a dose of this drug can cause one to have flu-like symptoms, which also was not explained/stressed by my psychiatrist.  When I was tapered off the drug, each time the dosage was lowered I experienced flu-like symptoms (body aches and nausea).   When I discontinued it completely, I had about a week when I my mood was much better than normal for me (a little hypermania), then another 4-6 weeks when the flu-like effects came and went unpredictably.  

I had an abrupt and severe change in my ability to cope with life in general, in Dec/Jan. of 200-2001, coincidentally when I switched HMO's.  The new psychiatrist diagnosed this as the failure of my medication (Welbutrin/bupropion) and switched me to Zoloft/sertraline,
which turned my digestive tract into a sluice run and caused fecal incontinence.  Despite this, I took the Zoloft for 18 months because it was, I felt, better than a bullet to the brain.   Although I reported the side effect of the severe diarrhea, the psychiatrist simply pursed her lips and recorded it.  I finally had to demand a change of medication.
That was when she put me on the Effexor.  Over the three years of being on the Effexor, I  experienced a number of "creeping" side effects (uncontrollable weeping fits, panic attacks, memory problems,  increased anxiety in general, muscle spasms/clonus are a few of them).  The 2004 FDA warning letter listed these and other as having been reported since the drug was approved but of course there have been no long term studies of the drug's side effects and the evidence is anecdotal.  In 2005, in the course of investigating another possible medical problem, I asked a vascular medicine doctor if it were possible that I had had a stroke.  "Yes," he said.  I asked for a brain scan, which he approved, which found a left parietal lobe scar from a stroke that I now believe precipitated the sudden decline in my ability to cope in Dec-Jan. of 2002-2001.  

I now advise people that they should insist on a thorough physical investigation for underlying physical problems that might cause their psychiatric symptoms, that they should NEVER take a drug that has not been on the market for at least 5 years,  and that they should always read the detailed drug insert information (NOT the patient information sheet which is less detailed and simplified) available at fda.gov before taking any medication.  During the time I took the Effexor, I was prescribed Valium/diazepam at bedtime as a "chaser."  In the last year or so, the doctor added Wellbutrin back in combination with the Valium and Effexor to increase my energy level.
The combo intensified the side effects of the Effexor.  This psychiatrist and the SSRI drugs she prescribed plus the undiagnosed stroke kicked a five year hole in my life and my career.  I feel lucky to be alive and to feel like myself again, but there is no way to retrieve those 5 years, no compensation for the misery this caused me.  

My advice to you is to get another psychiatrist, taper off the Effexor very very slowly with the expectation that each time the dose drops, you WILL feel withdrawal symptoms, and bulldog your way off this drug, which should be either a medication of last resort or taken off the market.  Remember that many of the symptoms of your depression COULD be creeping side effects of the Effexor, and until you get off the damned stuff, you have no way of knowing what is being caused by the drug and what is really underlying true depression.  The severe diarrhea caused by the Zoloft has never gone away, and I am now forcing my doctors to investigate it thoroughly to be sure it is only irritable bowel syndrome and not something much more serious.  I am concerned that years of SSRI drugs could permanently damage one's SSRI receptors in the gut and other parts of the body, and I would like to know if anyone else has had this particular side effect continue after stopping SSRI's.  Best of luck to you:  may divine grace bring you healing.

[cuz100]

I was wondering what dose of Effexor you have been taking and also any other medications; and if you don't mind, what depressive diagnosis you feel you suffer from? I've been on effexor CR time release for about 5 years and suffer the same withdrawal.  

[finditat]

I have never had loose stools from meds until I took Navane(generic form).
so each person has a different reaaction to each med.
I took effexor 225mg for 2 years with none of the side effects you mentioned. When I combined it with geodon though I began having tardive dyskinesia and it was so embarassing I stopped the effexor by switching to 20 mg of celexa and this switching from one day to the next resulted in NO SIDE EFFECTS WHATSOEVER. Then I switched to paxil and then over the course of a week weaned myself off the paxil and suffered no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever.
P.S. when i was taking the effexor i abruptly stopped taking it a few times becsue i went out of town and forgot it at home and couldnt sleep due to the brain shivers, like lightning bolts in my brain (with the light effect and everything)