Advertisement
I was on effexor for 10 years and got off it two years ago. Up until 8 months ago, I still had withdrawl symptoms that never went away (Heavy head, brain zaps, dizziness, nausea, slow thinking etc.). It got a little better after the first 5 months of going off effexor and switched to 150mg Zoloft, but I still had these persistant symptoms that never went away. I tried EVERYTHING to fix this - I had MRIs to try to find a cause, detox therapys, acupunture, went to neurologist and had a EEC, - you name it, I have probably tried it. I would go to bed crying every night because I felt so helpless and could do nothing to stop the agony. I finally discovered a PAXIL discussion group that delt with withdrawl symptoms and SSI drugs. Someone mentioned in the post that the drug can be held in fatty tissue. It was a long shot, but I was so desperate that I would try ANYTHING. So, even though it was the MOST PAINFUL thing I have ever done in my life, I started walking on a treadmill every day and cut my calories. It was hard because walking was the worst thing I could do because it made me the dizziest. My logic for doing this was that if it was still stored in my fatty tissue, if I could get rid of it then maybe, just maybe, I could start to feel some relief. I was skeptical at first because it was sooooo hard to get myself to walk everyday. Not only that but at that point I didn't even know if it would work or not. To be honest, I was doubtful. But I was so desperate for relief that I was willing to just suffer for it. Well, I was 5'0 and 160 pounds, so I was already overweight. The weight came off slowly as I was only able to do a little each day and I could only walk and not run. I did not feel anything at all for a while, but when I had lost about 10 pounds, I could tell a noticeable difference. The symptoms were still far from gone, but they were definately better. This encouraged me to keep on exercising and dieting. Also, the walking got easier. After 25 pounds I stopped thinking constantly about my symptoms, as they were not very noticeable anymore. After 30 lbs I did not have ANY SYMPTOMS!!!!! I am SOOOOOOOO happy and glad to be free of this evil drug... It has been 2 months since I stopped having symptoms and I have happy to feel normal again. I am still on Zoloft and Trileptil (I'm bipolar). I thought I should mention this after reading your post in case it might work for you and anyone else. Last month I told a classmate who also happened to be going through the long-term withdrawls of this drug.She was skinny and did not really have much weight to lose, but she ended up trying it and it helped! I am not saying that this is a cure-all, but if it helped two people get over their symptoms, who knows? I hope it helps... If anyone does end up trying it please post so we can see if this might help other people or not. Thanks and good luck!
Advertisement
Advertisement
-
Re: POSSIBLE EFFEXOR HELP
Sun, February 22, 2009 - 8:18 AMHi Jenny Thank you so much for your wonderful hopeful letter. It makes sense that if the drug is held in fat cells, then losing weight could help. Weight gain is a common side effect of effexor.
I do not understand why bipolar people are still given SSRIs.
Antidepressants of Little Benefit for Manic Depression
www.insidermedicine.ca/archiv...08.aspx
Antidepressants of Little Benefit for Manic Depression
See video
Those with bipolar disease may not befit from the use of antidepressants. According to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the use of antidepressants did not offer any additional benefit during periods of depression for those suffering with bipolar disease.
Bipolar disorder is the sixth leading cause of disability worldwide, that affects nearly 4% of people at some time in their life. The annual costs of bipolar disease are greater than those related to diabetes or major depressive illness. While the hallmark of this condition is the presence of episodes of mania- frequently characterized by feelings of euphoria, excessive risk-taking and pressured speech, it is the episodes of depression that is the leading cause of impairment and death in these patients.
While the benefits of mood stabilizers such as lithium are well documented, research on how to control episodes of depression has been inconclusive. Some doctors worry that placing manic-depressive patients on antidepressants may increase the chance for a manic episode.
The researchers performed the present study to evaluate if patients with bipolar disease who had a depressive episode needed to take antidepressants in addition to their mood stabilization medicines. They were most interested in whether or not the patients had normal mood for 8 weeks after initial recovery.
The results showed that those who received antidepressants fared no better than those who received mood stabilizers alone, as 23% of those who receiving a mood stabilizer plus adjunctive antidepressant therapy had a durable recovery, as compared to 27% receiving a mood stabilizer plus a matching placebo. The use of antidepressants did not increase the risk for a manic episode.
Manic depression may present with either a manic or depressive episodes. If you have symptoms of either mania or depression, you should seek medical attention on an urgent basis.
For more on SSRIs and Bipolar disorder
theeffexoractivist.org/forum/...rum.php -
-
Re: POSSIBLE EFFEXOR HELP
Tue, March 24, 2009 - 7:32 PMAntidepressants are no more beneficial than placebo. Even bipolar people respond to the placebo effect. Even psychiatrists who prescribe antidepressants perceive a placebo benefit in their patients, sort of an empathic virtual placebo effect.
As far as your suspicion that exercise cured your 'withdrawal' symptoms by removing contaminated fat from your system, I have an alternate explanation.
Exercises is a great normalizer of cardoivascular and neurological function. We are meant to be hunter-gatherer and farming animals, in other words we are meant to be physically active. Exercise is beneficial to just about every problem.
In using your body for physical activity, you are also re-training your nervous system in the same fashion that a stroke patient in physical therapy is retraining. Damaged nerves may regenerate or even be re-wired or bypassed when stimulation of neural pathways jump-starts neuroplastic regeneration.
I doubt that it has anything at all to do with stored antidepressant. If there is in fact any antidepressant stored in fatty tissue, it is inert. It cannot be simultaneously stored somewhere while also reacting in your synapses. Either it is stored, or it is consumed in metabolism, but not both at the same time.
Congratulations on having discovered a possible way to alleviate antidepressant-induced brain damage. Other possibilities include learning to play a musical instrument and enrolling in a challenging academic subject. I would suspect however that exercise, especially aerobic exercise that utilizes the entire brain including cerebellum, is the most effective remedy for antidepressant-induced brain damage that anyone will ever devise. I would suspect that jogging, aerobics, gymnastics, martial arts, dance, swimming... a combination of full-body exercise that includes elements of strength, endurance, meditation and skill would be the best -- especially if there is low-impact competition involved, to keep you on your toes.
-
