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Long-term withdrawal effects from Effexor XR - HELP!
I have been off Effexor for about 5 months now. I stopped cold-turkey per my doctor's instruction (BIG mistake!). I thought once I was over the initial withdrawal, I would be fine; BUT I only had a couple weeks of feeling o.k. before I started experiencing all sorts of problems. I started with muscle weakness and pain in my calves and stomach pain directly below my rib cage. It then progressed to my arms and now my voice is even weak. Everything is bilateral. Has anyone else experienced these delayed, long-term withdrawal effects from Effexor? If so, did they ever go away? I'm scheduled for an MRI of my brain to rule out anything more serious such as ALS. If my tests come back o.k., the doctor mentioned putting me back on Effexor and then weaning me off of it very slowly to see if that gets rid of everything, but I'm afraid to go back on it in case it just makes everything worse. I am also under the care of a homeopathic doctor and am on several supplements, which have helped greatly with my depression, but my physical symptoms have not gone away. Any advice or help would be appreciated!
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Thankfully, my brain MRI was normal! Praise God! My Lyme test was also normal. Now I just have to hope that these symptoms don't last for several years. I have an appointment scheduled with a different neurologist for a second opinion, but they didn't have any openings until October. My doctor suggested I have them do an EMG. However, from what I've read, most people with the symptoms I'm having go through all these tests, and they all come back normal, so I'm not expecting much. Just wish I knew when I would be "normal" again.
You have to realize that the very extreme horror stories are rare, and a LOT of them end up being not completely all related to the med. A lot of those horror stories that Ive researched carefully often end up with the person finding out that INDEED there was an underlying medical condition, or, a reemergence of anxiety and/or depression that they attributed all to med side effects/withdrawal. Try not to spend a lot of time reading those kinds of stories.
ALS in someone your age is literally next to impossible. In the 18 years I've been a nurse, I've only encountered two people with it. It's very rare.
Try not to put the cart before the horse. My Dad always had advice that was very wise (although difficult to put into action)..."save your energy and worry until you KNOW you have something to worry about."
SO true.
ALS in someone your age is literally next to impossible. In the 18 years I've been a nurse, I've only encountered two people with it. It's very rare.
Try not to put the cart before the horse. My Dad always had advice that was very wise (although difficult to put into action)..."save your energy and worry until you KNOW you have something to worry about."
SO true.
Thank you . . . I will check out those sites! If you don't mind my asking, which antidepressant did you take and what types of long-term withdrawal symptoms did you experience? I wish I had researched this BEFORE coming off Effexor cold-turkey. I still can't believe my doctor suggested that now that I know what I know. I'm glad to hear you are no longer experiencing any symptoms . . . it gives me hope!
Thank you so much for your encouragement! I am beginning to feel like these symptoms will NEVER go away. I've been on other forums where I read of other people having MS-type symptoms that started a while after coming off the Effexor, but haven't been able to find anyone who followed up with when and if they ever felt normal again. Some people were a couple years out from coming off Effexor and still having the symptoms, so it's starting to scare me. Right now I'm just hoping that the brain MRI I have tomorrow morning comes back good because the one thing worse than dealing with these symptoms would be getting a diagnosis of ALS. If all my tests come back fine, do you think going back on the lowest dose of Effexor and then very slowly weaning from it could reverse any of the muscle issues I'm experiencing? Thanks!
The symptoms I'm experiencing were already present for several weeks before I started the supplements, and I haven't been feeling any anxiety. The supplements I'm on for my depression have really helped my mental state, so I don't feel anxiety is the issue. Thank you for your well wishes!
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The vast majority of people who come off these kinds of meds will experience some level of a discontinuation syndrome (aka, withdrawal), but most for people, it is tolerable and short lived. You should have definitely been tapered off slowly, your doctor was wrong to suggest for you to go off cold turkey, unless you were only taking it for a few days.
Effexor is one of those meds that is notoriously hard to come off. There are definitely more horror stories related to Effexor than a lot of other meds. The good news is, even if it takes a lot longer than a person would think, or desire, you WILL get to feeling better. You are doing the right thing by continuing to follow up with your doctor about your symptoms, because another fairly common occurence is that people attribute a lot, or most of their symptoms to drug w/d, when in reality, a lot of times, there is something else going on, even a reemergence of anxiety and depression. It's just always good to keep the assessment process open while you're still experiencing these symptoms.
I would strongly recommend you making sure that the doctor managing this issue is a psychiatrist familiar with these meds. A PCP can manage anxiety and depression to a POINT, but the most optimal doctor to do this is a psych. I also agree that you may want to seek a second opinion from a new doctor, to get a new perspective. Again, unless you were only on the Effexor for a short, short time, your doc should have known that tapering was recommended.
I'm so sorry you are feeling so lousy, and I wish you the best of luck in finding a solution to help get you feeling better real soon! Just try to keep in mind that, while this has gone on FAR too long for you to have to endure feeling so badly, you won't feel like this forever. For some people, and for unknown reasons, it just takes longer for your system to readjust to not having the Effexor on board.
Please keep us updated, we care!