Hi all!
My name is Chris, I’ve been on
Effexor for about 3 months now, and was on Prozac
(60mg/day) before. I was diagnosed with MDD in June/2000 and
have been in and out of the ward a few times. I
believe the Effexor is much more effective, because I’m
not as suicidal as I was.
My initial side
effects were sweating and the strange dream part. I
really had no idea till recently when I discoverd this
forum that what I’d been going thru was related to my
drug. My Dr. told me virtually nothing about what to
expect as side effects, but instead went on about the
withdrawl effects. Actaully at the time I really didn’t
care, as I’d tried to kill myself Somehow I survived
and was drug back to the mental ward. Now that I have
read all the messages in this forum I now know what
happend and would like to share my experience. <br><br>I
also had a bout of nausea, and my Dr. gave me
Phenegren for it. Phenegren is nice but boy it sure puts
one asleep.
I’ve also been diagnosed with
personlaity disorder with borderline, narcissic and dependant
traits and take Kolonopin and Risperdol. I also have to
take Surfact as a stool softner as the combo of drugs
made me constipated.
Hm, what else? My Dr.
also put me on iron pills and vitamin B-6 complex to
help combat my depression.
As far as the
dreams go, I had similar experience, but now I take
Ambien to help me sleep and it is terrific. I sleep so
well, have no dream recall, and feel refreshed in the
morning. On the down side, Ambien causes memory loss
during the time it is effective but since one is usually
asleep that isn’t much of a problem. I have done things
at night like answer the phone but have no memory of
the the next morning.
As for the withdrawl
effects, I know them well. I flew up to see my parents and
forgot my meds. I went from 300mg a day (XR) to 0. The
first day I felt lightheaded and kinda euphoric. The
second day I had increased dizzyness, and it was like
being drunk. I also experienced ringing in my ears,
blurred vision, and sweating, and some REALLY wierd
dreams. The third day the ringing got worse, and
everytime I moved my eyes the ringing would momentarily get
louder. This was by far the most annoying of the side
effects to me. <br><br>It took about 5 days for the
effects to wear off to a tolerable level for me. I’m
Effexor free now and have been since Christmas and doing
great. I in no way recommend cold turkey to anyone, it
really becomes hell after a while. If it wasn’t for the
fact I was staying with my parents I’m not sure if I
would have survived it without losing what little of my
mind I have left. 
I like the fact I found
this forum, as I see my Dr. about once a month and he
has no group therapy and my character pathology is
significant that psycotherapy is ineffective on me, so I have
to take the drug route. I have actually found it
very theraputic to talk with others like me on the
web, more so than the Dr. I also met a girlfriend
while I was in the ward, and that was great since we
knew what each other is going thru without having to
explain it. The romance didn’t work out but we are still
best friends.
Enough for now,
Chris