pinkhistorycat cold turkey withdrawl

[pinkhistorycat]

Lost my insurance 3 days ago so am withdrawing cold turkey off 75 mg of effexor. Taking fish oil, b vitamins, increased water etc. The nightmares are horrid, and I'm having some visual disturbance during the day. Any other supplements suggested. No nausea, I can cope with the hysterical crying..it's just the weird vision that's the greatest challange.

[Lexy]

Welcome

There is a discount card from Phizer that u can download right away. Your wds can get worse.

[pinkhistorycat]

Really...I was thinking I made it through the worst

[dalsaan]

Hi Pinkhistorycat,

 

I wouldn't assume you have made it through the worst. Many people here have experienced delayed and protracted withdrawal.

 

Can you fill out a signature so that we can get a better sense of your drug history and what that might tell us about the prospects of withdrawal. Details on how to do that are here - http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/893-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/

 

Dalsaan

[pinkhistorycat]

Not to be a pain

.but perhaps I'm not focusing properly.i read the directions but can't find the arrow. Sorry

[pinkhistorycat]

So I'm am too befuddled to figure out the signature. What I do know is its almost 2 am on day 3 of withdrawal. 4 hours ago I thought I was ok. Brief history..moved to NJ from Texas and didn't take to it well. Went on 75 mgs.of effexor er to help with crying jags. Did not tell anyone and all leveled out. My insurance was canceled so here I am 3 days layer trying to contain myself while I carry on my life, teaching and being a wife. Meanwhile crying hysterically in the bathroom. I thought the crying would be it, as well as the nightmares but it's getting worse with verigo and vision disturbance. Just need some verbal support as I feel very alone. Thank u

[dalsaan]

Hi pinkhistorycat

 

I merged your two intro threads. We have one thread per person in the introductions section.

How long have you been on Effexor for?

 

Do you have any tablets left? We generally recommend reinstating at a low dose, can you access mire Effexor through the discount card mentioned by Lexy?

 

Dalsaan

[pinkhistorycat]

No I'm out. And no the card won't work. 2 years 75mgs.

[Fresh]

Hi pinkhistorycat ,  I'm so sorry about this situation.  The way to stop your symptoms is to get you some more 

Effexor.

Can you go to a local hospital or emergency centre?   Do you have anyone there to help you?

 

bw ,  Fresh

[KarenB]

Hey PinkHistoryCat,

 

Fish oil and increased water is really good.  B-Vitamins might be causing your symptoms to be worse (unless you were taking them well before you went CT).  You could also take magnesium, which helps with anxiety. 

 

Going CT can really make things hard for your central-nervous-system.  That's why it's important to find a way to get some more Effexor - even via the emergency room.  If you can do that, then you can get stabilised again.  And once you've done that, then we can help you make a plan to gently taper off using the 10% system. 

 

It's real scary for you right now, I'm so sorry about that.  Do you have a friend you could call who might take you to the hospital or other med place?  Would your husband be able to help?  I know you didn't tell anyone about it, but now might be the time to ask for help. 

 

Let us know what you decide,

Hugs,

KarenB

[pinkhistorycat]

Day 4. Everyone keeps saying I need more effexor. I'm doing ok. I'm not going to get more via emergency room or whatever.what I really need is someone who went through this. 5 his situation is not going to change. .I'm off the meds..im.staying off the meds until my insurance deems it so. Not to be rude, but telling me to find meds is not helpful right now..what I need is support while I come through this. Thank u

[dalsaan]

We have given the best advice we can based on our experience. As KarenB has noted, you might try fish oil and magnesium. When your nervous system is in withdrawal you can have adverse reactions to substances, including supplements but fish oil and magnesium are usually well tolerated.

 

We don't know of any supplement or other agent that will fix withdrawal symptoms

 

Dalsaan

[KarenB]

All good Phc,

 

We just wanted to see if the best plan could work first - we really want you to be okay.  In this case you might like to read through the self-care thread.  There are lots of ideas for things you can do to ease your way through this - as CT can tend to be a bit of a long haul (think in terms of months or even a year). 

 

Wishing you well,

KarenB

[bubble]

Is 75 mg of Effexor for 2 years your only exposure to psychotropic drugs? (It's not only but a lot of us got stuck for much longer).

 

I just felt the need to add a small correction to what Karen wrote: withdrawal can last for years and it usually gets much worse before it starts getting better.

 

That's why we didn't spend time and effort to explain to you the importance of reinstatement. If you look around you will see experiences of differnt people and see what they do to cope.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, pinkhistorycat.

 

We recommend reinstatement because cold turkey is a very high-risk way to go off Effexor. This can lead to very bad withdrawal symptoms for many months or years. By the time you're in the midst of this, reinstatement may not work as well.

 

After you reinstate, you'd wait for a while until your nervous system is stable and then taper off properly.

 

With a prescription, generic Effexor XR can cost as little as $17-$20 per month, see http://www.goodrx.com/venlafaxine-er

 

If I were you, I'd get my prescription filled at one of the less expensive pharmacies right away and reinstate.

 

Otherwise, please see our our Symptoms and Self-care forum  http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/forum/8-symptoms-and-self-care/for suggestions about how to cope with symptoms.

[bubble]

All of us here woud like to be off our drugs, moreover we wish we had never started taking them.

 

But getting off them and more importantly stay off and remaining a reasonable quality of life requires a different approach. It's not a matter of will power.

 

This post by our member Rhi explains why:

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1160-brain-remodeling/

 

 

 

I know it's all stuff I've said before, but it bears repeating and further discussion. A lot of people, including healthcare practitioners; in fact, I guess, most people-- are operating from entirely the wrong paradigm, or way of thinking, about these meds. They're thinking of them like aspirin--as something that has an effect when it's in your system, and then when it gets out of your system the effect goes away.

 

That's not what happens with medications that alter neurotransmitter function, we are learning. What happens when you change the chemistry of the brain is, the brain adjusts its chemistry and structure to try to return to homeostasis, or biochemical and functional balance. It tries to restabilize the chemistry. For example: SSRI antidepressants work as "serotonin reuptake inhibitors." That is, they cause serotonin to remain in the space between neurons, rather than being taken back up into the cells to be re-used, like it would be in a normal healthy nondrugged brain. So the brain, which wants to re-establish normal signaling and function, adapts to the higher level of serotonin between neurons (in the "synapse", the space between neurons where signals get passed along).

 

It does this by removing serotonin receptors, so that the signal is reduced and changed to something closer to normal. It also decreases the amount of serotonin it produces overall. To do that, genes have to be turned on and off; new proteins have to be made; whole cascades of chemical reactions have to be changed, which means turning on and off OTHER genes; cells are destroyed, new cells are made; in other words, a complex physiologic remodeling takes place. This takes place over time. The brain does not grow and change rapidly. This is a vast oversimplification of the amount of adaptation that takes place in the brain when we change its normal chemistry, but that's the principle.

 

When we stop taking the drug, we have a brain that has designed itself so that it works in the presence of the drug; now it can't work properly without the drug because it's designed itself so that the drug is part of its chemistry and structure. It's like a plant that has grown on a trellis; you can't just yank out the trellis and expect the plant to be okay. When the drug is removed, the remodeling process has to take place in reverse. SO--it's not a matter of just getting the drug out of your system and moving on. If it were that simple, none of us would be here. It's a matter of, as I describe it, having to grow a new brain. I believe this growing-a-new-brain happens throughout the taper process if the taper is slow enough. (If it's too fast, then there's not a lot of time for actually rebalancing things, and basically the brain is just pedaling fast trying to keep us alive.) It also continues to happen, probably for longer than the symptoms actually last, throughout the time of recovery after we are completely off the drug, which is why recovery takes so long.

 

With multiple drugs and a history of drug changes and cold turkeys, all of this becomes even more complicated. And if a person is started on these kinds of drugs at an early age before the brain has ever completely established normal mature functioning--well, it can't be good. (All of which is why I recommend an extremely slow taper particularly to anyone with a multiple drug history, a history of many years on meds, a history of past cold turkeys or frequent med changes, and a history of being put on drugs at a young age.)

 

This isn't intended to scare people, but hopefully to give you some idea of what's happening, and to help you respect and understand the process so you can work with it; ALSO, because you are likely to encounter many, many people who still believe these drugs work kind of like aspirin, or a glass of wine, and all you need to do is stop and get it out of your system. Now you can explain to them that no, getting it out of your system is not the issue; the issue is, you need to regrow or at least remodel your brain. This is a long, slow, very poorly understood process, and it needs to be respected.

​

[pinkhistorycat]

I appreciate all the insights..I really do. I'm doing well...good support from family ,but I'm not going back on the medication. I'm hitting gym, eating extremely well, and aside from an ocaasional sniffle, am feeling relatively stable. The brain zaps and visual disturbances are better. Nightmares are still the same..nightly, but at least they are interesting.

[dalsaan]

We wish you the best, I'm glad you've got support, let us know how you get on.

 

Dalsaan

[AprilShowers]

Pinkhistorycat, I'm glad you're doing okay at the moment and I really hope it stays that way for you. I fast tapered off that drug over a couple of weeks before starting others. For me the brain zaps that were very specific to venlafaxine dissipated within weeks, the nightmares got better after months despite the fact that I had severe withdrawal triggered and those symptoms haven't come back in any extreme ways (not sure if that severe response was delayed response to the fast taper after years on venlafaxine or new AD drugs being introduced, probably combo of both). Just want to caution you to be very careful what you introduce to your system in the next few weeks and months as your nervous system will be extra sensitive and you don't want to trigger a more severe withdrawal than you have now. Start low and build up slow with anything new you try and obviously try only one new thing at a time so you can see how it affects you.

 

Omega 3 and Vitamin C helped me a lot and I've recently found that taking some vitamin e alongside the omega 3 helps it metabolise. There are threads in the symptoms folder that may suggest recommended therapeutic doses for affecting the brain and where others have detailed their experiences. 

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/36-king-of-supplements-omega-3-fatty-acids-fish-oil/

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/40-vitamin-c-ascorbic-acid-or-ascorbate/

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/3860-vitamin-e-tocopherol/

 

I wish you continued improvement. Let us know how you get on in the coming weeks. Also I shouldn't worry about the crying, you'll probably be a bit more sensitive for a while and hopefully it will normalise over the coming months, that and any depression or other emotions can be extra 'big' because of the chemical changes as your brain adapts to the lack of the drug it's become accustomed to.  It's a big change so be kind to yourself. 

[pinkhistorycat]

Well had a breakdown at the airport today..too many people, it was hot, I was feeling really off. Nothing gets you through security faster then hysterically crying, though I would prefer not repeat it. Went from NJ to Texas to spend a month with my mom and it's around 3am. Brain zap city and my IBS which dissipated completely with the effexor is back. I realized that the posts I read earlier about this not being about will power were much more valid then I would let myself admit. Pretending to feel ok is not feeling ok, so at least here with my Mom I can be honest and let her know just how physically awful I'm starting to feel. I am still fighting mentally with myself that this is ridiculous and it's been a week..but understand that I tinkered with my brain..its...not a hangover or being sore from the gym. Thank you for the continued advice as I gain strength from the knowledge that I'm not alone.

[bubble]

This is a process. I discontinued my drugs many times not knowing about any of this. Even my doctor couldn't understand how horribly i got. I desperarely wanted to stay off. But things were getting worse as time went by to reach the level where nothing was left of me except pure horror.

 

I gradually over years heard about 10 % but it took years for this to sink in for me.

 

I'm glad you are here with us because nobody should go through this alone. We will support you regardless of what decision you take. When I did my last CT thinking i was taking only 2.5 mg, my husband found this site and read to me that stopping a drug cold turkey is like throwing your brain off the cliff. It didn't touch me.

 

One month later I crawled back grateful there was something that could stop the kind of agony I never thought possible.

 

It wasn't only my last drugs but my previous unsuccessful attempts. That's why I asked if you had any previous drug use...

 

Once again, I'm glad you are here with us and safe with your mom.

[dalsaan]

I'm sorry you are feeling your CT. Take your time to read through the information and links we have given you. Feel free to ask any questions. I'm glad you have support from your mum. And we will help as and where we can.

 

Dalsaan

[pinkhistorycat]

Thank you and I finally figured out how to do the signature. .only took me a week..lol