Can I sue my doctor for Effexor addiction?

[adco88]

I am addicted to Effexor. I know that a class action lawsuit will take many years. I was maybe mildly depressed. Actually, I am chronically fatigued, I think. I am thinking of suing my doctor in small claims court, and use the funds to go to a rehab clinic for withdrawal treatment. Even if I forget to take a pill one day, I will have vivid nightmares when sleeping. This is a common withdrawal symptom I hear. Then I am really exhausted the next day. I am age 62. When I have had these nightmares, sometimes I will awaken in the middle of the night with my heart pounding. Probably people have died of heart attacks from Effexor at 3 am and no one knows it. In the past,  I have refused drugs like Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil. Both my parents committed suicide. I did not want to take any addictive drug, or a drug likely to cause suicide. I do not take any illegal drugs, or cigarettes or alcohol. My doctor assured me that Effexor was non-addictive, and posed no suicide risk. Now I am reading that Effexor has been linked to addiction and suicide! I think the limit is small claims court in my state is $3500. At least I could go thru a supervised withdrawal. I would be afraid to go cold turkey. I hear you can get angry and suicidal. Also, I now have a costly drug habit of $5 a day, and I only get $610 a month social security. Has anyone sued their doctor in small claims court for getting them addicted to Effexor?

[bubbaganoosh]

Effexor was awfull i tried it 1month extreme nausea for me so stopped it vivid dreams yes

[xartificialxflowersx]

I can completely empathize with your nightmares etc. when trying to discontinue medication. Effexor withdrawl is different for everyone but I don't think it should be taken lightly.
I will agree with everyone by saying it would be best not to sue. However, he TOLD you that it wasn't addictive (i'm using the term as physically addictive, because it really is) and posed no suicide risk. This is innacurate information! The FDA requires that antidepressants come with a suicide warning. The "black box rule" or something. It is very true that it comes with suicidal risks and has brutal withdrawl syndrome. I think he was very wrong in telling you it didn't, and if he didn't know then he shouldn't be prescribing meds.
I don't really know, but I'm pretty sure it makes sense that Effexor has even more risks for older patients.

[catmagnet]

Effexor worked good for me except that it gave me high bp. I was told to wean off of it, but I just quit c/t. I didn't want any part of it anymore. Except for a few days of brain zaps, I was ok. Every time I'm prescribed a new med, I do my own research and make my own decision. I was prescribed vioxx years back, read the leaflet that came with them, and decided they had too many risks. I was right, they were pulled off the market later on. Most of the time, I trust my Dr.'s opinion, but if I have a bad feeling about something , I won't take it...that's just me though...

[corey411]

I was on Effexor for over a year with little or no side effects. Antidepressants act differently on different peaple. You should never just stop taking any antidepressant. You need to be weaned off of them. This is different from addiction to say opiates as you don't crave them or have any of the mental addiction afterward.You may experience depression or sadness but that is more from the underlying depression that your experiencing in the first place. My event that caused my depression was resolved so I didn't experience any sadness or depression. Antidepressants are difficult drugs as it takes weeks to feel the effect, and sometimes the side effects go away and sometimes they don't. They sometimes have to experiment with different ones to find out which is right for each individual. Going through all of this may or may not be worth it depending on how bad your depression is. I'm thinking about going back on one and I'm taking my time and thinking about whether I want to go through finding the right one. I'm not sure if Effexor helped me or not. Good luck to you. Corey

[mommy52713]

I was on effexor for a little over a year.The withdrawls from it were brutal but you wont die.have you asked your doctor about lexipro it worked great 4 me and wasn't hard to get off.I am sorry about your situation .Have you tried to slowly cut back on the amount you take? you may want to try that. best of luck♥

[joann1975]

I am going to have to go with the majority here. I don't think suing the dr is going to  help you. I do think maybe you should find a new dr to help you get off this medicine and maybe find one that works better for you. -- just my 2 cents. JoAnn