☼ Lloyd: Effexor withdrawal - 2 months in

[Carmie]

6 hours ago, Lloyd said:

 

Hi Carmie thanks for checking in,

Whatever it was has passed, lasted about 4 days. Couldn't really tell if it was a virus or a WD aftershock. Still struggling with the brain fog though which is my worst sympton. Is this something you have experienced as-well? Things look kinda dreamy which is really frustrating when its 24 / 7. Hard to concentrate!

Anyways hope you are doing well!

 

Hi Loyd, 

 

I’m glad whatever you had has passed. Yes, I have severe brain fog but I’ve had it for about 24 years due to chronic fatigue syndrome. Everything seems surreal. I’ve read that lots of people get it through withdrawals too. I’ve lived with it so long I don’t know anything different. My brain is very scrambled and my memory is shocking. 

 

Take care💚

 

 

 

 

[Lloyd]

Hi Carmie, the brain fog & concentration & dream like state issues are the worst! I'm in IT and it makes doing my job extremely difficult. Most days i dont know how i get through to be honest. Lucky for me my boss understands what i am going through. Mornings are the worst. It eases up a bit at night when i'm at home watching movies or playing games so i get some relief at least.

 

I think he hardest thing i am struggling with at the moment is separating in my mind whats anxiety & what is discontinuation syndrome. I can't tell anymore & its so confusing. Everything i am experiencing is a apparently a known symptom of anxiety! There is always a base line of physical and psychological symptoms that are consistent with GAD & OCD. Does anyone know what the key differences between anxiety & discontinuation syndrome?

 

Whats even more confusing is that i managed to get off Effexor for a year and a half. I had brain zaps, concentration issues & low mood / irritability. I wasn't great but i wasn't as bad as i am this time around after coming off it. I went back on Effexor because i started getting faintness and chest tightness randomly.  I reinstated at 37.5mg and everything settled down and the issues i had faded away quickly. Everything started going to hell when the doctor prescribed me Sifrol a dopamine agonist for restless legs. Took it one night and presented to hospital with shakes and tremors and sever inner restlessness. Didn't feel right for about 3 days after that. Was scared i was damaged somehow. After that i started getting episodes similar to that night but a little less intense. They increased in frequency. I thought that the Effexor was causing it and decided to come off it. came down from 62.5mg to 0 in the space of 5 weeks i think. I also stopped taking codeine (around 7.5mg per night for restless legs) as i randomly had a reaction to it one night when i was tapering effexor for some unknown reason - body felt like it was on fire. I also quit coffee at the same time - was on about 3-4 cups per day

 

I honestly wish i hadn't come off Effexor the first time around at all to be honest. Life was great and i was happy and doing really well. But now its like trying to stuff a genie back in the bottle. I've tried reinstating, but i just cant bring myself to taking more than a few beads at a time because i worry it will hurt me after the hell i have been through.

 

Im between a rock and a hard place. Either i wait it out and pray to god that things get better and hope i don't loose my family, job or sanity in the process OR i restart the medication hope it works again and does not destroy me in the process.

I had bad OCD and anxiety when i was a teen when i started taking antidepressants, somehow i don't think that has gone and i think the Effexor just made it vanish into the background all those years.

I have a lovely wife and daughter that mean the world to me. I want to be the best husband and father that i can be. I worry so much about not being able to provide for them and to be who they need me to be. I've tried so hard to push through all this...

[needhelpguy]

Hi Lloyd,

 

I'm a software engineer too and most of my cognitive complains are similar to urs. You can check my background in my thread, but just a quick summary I had health anxiety on and off and recently had prozac 20mg for 1 year and went cold turkey. After 4 months CT I seemingly had all my current problem overnight. I have worse cognitive function (worse mental math calculation, train of thoughts), bad vocabulary, cant rmbr fav actors' names, hard to focus, running thoughts before sleep that I didn't consciously try to think about. Once awhile Im thinking if I hv brain cancer that causing this (I hope not ) Physical symptoms I have is few dizziness spell that make me nausea but it subside in less then 10 minutes

 

This website has help me not thinking about brain cancer and give me positive hope for all this cognitive nightmare to disappear as the symptom list resonate well with me

https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2014/04/15/prozac-fluoxetine-withdrawal-symptoms-duration/

 

i think our symptoms are manifestation of upregulation of serotonin receptor as the brain was trying to keep the balance of the feee floating serotonin during our medication period. Now without the drug and our brain have too many serotonin receptor there is hardly any free flowing serotonin in our brain. This is just my theory though.

[Lloyd]

Hi needhelpguy, thanks for posting. I worked as a developer for a few years and still occasionally write code sometimes all though its next to impossible to concentrate on. I'm now an architect and god knows how i manage to do it some days. Sometimes i work through it, other times not.

I touched prozac once with a 2.5mg test dose. Made my whole body go numb and felt strange for 2-3 days. Got depressed... Didn't touch it again.

 

I had an MRI about a month ago. All came up clear with no issues. I thought i might have MS. You can rest assured you don't have brain cancer, plenty of members going through what we are have had MRI's all show up clear.

 

It would be great if there was a way of testing neurotransmitter levels in the brain, it would give us some sense of whats wrong and kind of medications or therapies would suit rather than a psychologist randomly trying different drugs.

[needhelpguy]

I leave my coding job for a year while taking prozac. With my cognitive problem, I can't believe I still manage to pass an interview this month, and my backend engineer job will start next month lol. Glad to know you had mri and it came normal. I think after stopping our medicine, our neural cells will definitely need time to be replaced with new neurons but with old level of serotonin receptor expressions (I struggled producing long words like these which were nt the case even during my peak anxiety before taking prozac). I read recently from the prozac leaflet inside the packaging that <1% of patient experience amnesia, but I experience amnesia and brain fog after 4 months into cold turkey. My life was great during the treatment. Did your cognitive problem happen seemingly overnight?

[Lloyd]

Went to see someone else last week to talk about the problems i have been having. As usual they point the finger at anxiety and wont even acknowledge the possibility of discontinuation syndrome. Getting pretty tired of being told its all my head and that these medications could not have possibly contributed to my problems. What annoys me even more and is frustrating as hell is that every time i bring it up they use my past mental illness to dismiss what i am telling them as a fabrication of my mind - Almost feels like im being gas lighted. I am i no way delusional and am not a hypochondriac. I guess its convenient to be able to attribute all your problems against a pre-existing condition and label it as a relapse even though you didn't have these symptoms before.

 

I told them that when i reinstated a full 37.5mg dose last year the effect was instant - within a few hours. They outright denied this was possible and that i was experiencing the placebo effect because i was expecting the medication to make me feel better. Well the reality was when i took it i was worried a hell it was going to make me sick and i forced myself to take it anyway. From my understanding of placebo effect you need to think that its going to help you first.

 

If anything these visits just make me feel more alone and helpless as they don't seem to have any useful insights into the problem.

[ChessieCat]

SA exists because of the lack of knowledge that the medical professionals have about psychiatric drug withdrawal.  Telling you about my own experience might help.  I had a benchmark so knew it wasn't placebo:

 

When I tried to reduce my Pristiq from 100mg to 50mg I experienced bad cog fog for 3 weeks.  Walking took my whole concentration.  At the end of 3 weeks I couldn't type.  I've been a professional typist for 40+ years so I knew something was really wrong.  Thankfully I had joined SA a few days before this happened and they had suggested taking extra Pristiq.  When I couldn't type I did this and about 4 hours later I could type again.

 

How do you talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal?

What should I expect from my doctor about withdrawal symptoms?

[Lloyd]

Thanks Chessie, its good to know that we have some place to go and talk about these things with other people that have experienced what we are going through.

 

Out of interest how do you divide up your Pristiq as its a Matrix release tablet? Ive been prescribed Pristiq but haven't taken any of it because i'm not sure how to divide the dose into a small enough amount to start. I cant take the minimum 50mg to start with. Was hoping to go on a small amount for a while to stabilize.

[ChessieCat]

If you are changing from Effexor to Pristiq you need to take into account that Pristiq is stronger.  We don't know the exact ratio, but it would seem to be at 50mg Pristiq to minimum 75mg Effexor

 

Q:  What dose of Effexor are you currently taking?  Please update you drug signature if needed.  Thank you.  Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

I have to get them compounded, with slow release formula added.  We can't get 25mg here in Australia, which in my opinion is very wrong.  Once I got down under 10mg I started taking the larger part of my dose in the morning and a smaller part of the dose before bed.

 

After I got lower than 50mg I was getting 40mg, 5mg, 2mg and 1 mg capsules made up from 100mg Pristiq tablets.  When I got under 40mg I got 30mg made etc.  I'm now down to 6.5mg having had 0.5mg capsules made and after 5mg I will have 0.25mg capsules made.  Because of the doses I get made I'm not able to follow the 10% taper exactly so I've had to adjust my taper to keep my reductions less than 10%.  There have been times when I have held for 3 weeks because the reduction was a fair bit less than 10%.

 

I suggest you get several quotes.  I get mine for $15 per 100 capsules when I get about 500 capsules made, but other places where going to charge me a lot more.

 

http://www.pccarx.com.au/contact-us/find-a-compounder

 

Tips for tapering off Pristiq (desvenlafaxine)

[Lloyd]

Thanks Chessie, looks like there's a pharmacist that can compound near me. I asked my pharmacist if they could get 25 mg tablets & he said they don't exist which i know is rubbish!!

 

At the moment i am on no Effexor (ill update my sig). I've tried a couple of times to reinstate a few beads of Effexor but haven't been successful - I keep worrying about symptoms and the first sign of trouble i back down and stop taking them. I'm afraid of making things even worse. Its like damned if you do and damned if you dont. I know this sounds stupid but i feel like i have been holding on to see how bad things get being off the medication & when they get bad enough i have enough reason to go back on the medication & tolerate its side effects. Crazy huh!

I'm getting to a point now where i think i may need to try again as things are becoming intolerable. Was going to try Pristiq at a very low dose to see how it went.

 

 

[ChessieCat]

2 minutes ago, Lloyd said:

I asked my pharmacist if they could get 25 mg tablets & he said they don't exist which i know is rubbish!!

 

They are available overseas but not here.  I contacted Pfizer to find out why and they said that the Therapeutic Goods Administration won't allow them here.

 

From your drug signature:  Effexor XR 2-3 mg Re-instated March 10 2018 - 1 day (Didn't work)

 

It takes about 4 days for a dose change to get to full level in the blood and a bit longer for it to register in the brain.

 

Compounding Pristiq can end up expensive if you have to pay full price for your prescription and then the compounding on top of that.  I don't know if you would get a doctor to write a script for the compounding and it would reduce the cost.  I've never thought to ask about that.  I've already spent $300 dollars over the last 3 years for compounding.

[Miracle123]

15 minutes ago, Lloyd said:

Thanks Chessie, looks like there's a pharmacist that can compound near me. I asked my pharmacist if they could get 25 mg tablets & he said they don't exist which i know is rubbish!!

 

At the moment i am on no Effexor (ill update my sig). I've tried a couple of times to reinstate a few beads of Effexor but haven't been successful - I keep worrying about symptoms and the first sign of trouble i back down and stop taking them. I'm afraid of making things even worse. Its like damned if you do and damned if you dont. I know this sounds stupid but i feel like i have been holding on to see how bad things get being off the medication & when they get bad enough i have enough reason to go back on the medication & tolerate its side effects. Crazy huh!

I'm getting to a point now where i think i may need to try again as things are becoming intolerable. Was going to try Pristiq at a very low dose to see how it went.

 

 

Hi Lloyd,So sorry to hear that. Since you already trying to reinstated the Effexor for few times. im just wanna to know how long you stay at the same dose? Individuals reactions is different but some might take longer time to feel better or stabilise at that lower doses. Fear and probia is making people worsed in withdrawals. i understand the way you refused to take any drugs and over worry about the bad reaction effects. Thats not crazy....just a feeling of unsecure, fear and alternative way of relief. I hope you can re -consider to reinstated back and holding a bit longer at right dose. Switching to new medicine like Pristiq as well also need time for your body to adapt and more costly as per Chessiecat mention.

Take care and hope others can give you better solution.

[Lloyd]

50 minutes ago, Miracle123 said:

Hi Lloyd,So sorry to hear that. Since you already trying to reinstated the Effexor for few times. im just wanna to know how long you stay at the same dose? Individuals reactions is different but some might take longer time to feel better or stabilise at that lower doses. Fear and probia is making people worsed in withdrawals. i understand the way you refused to take any drugs and over worry about the bad reaction effects. Thats not crazy....just a feeling of unsecure, fear and alternative way of relief. I hope you can re -consider to reinstated back and holding a bit longer at right dose. Switching to new medicine like Pristiq as well also need time for your body to adapt and more costly as per Chessiecat mention.

Take care and hope others can give you better solution.

 

I think if i try it again i just need to tough it out. I do notice some positive effects when taking it - some slightly improved concentration and less anxiety. I get the burning skin, weird dreams, wake up shaking and nausea which is frustrating. I think if i didn't have to work a job and support my family i'd be able just to wait it out.

[ChessieCat]

On 3/19/2018 at 6:11 AM, Altostrata said:

Hello, Lloyd, I moved your question here. It's possible that a little Prozac might help, but 10mg is far too much. If I were you, I'd try 1mg to start.

 

This topic explains how to take a small dose of Prozac by making a liquid Tips for tapering off Prozac (fluoxetine)

 

[Miracle123]

2 hours ago, Lloyd said:

 

I think if i try it again i just need to tough it out. I do notice some positive effects when taking it - some slightly improved concentration and less anxiety. I get the burning skin, weird dreams, wake up shaking and nausea which is frustrating. I think if i didn't have to work a job and support my family i'd be able just to wait it out.

Im understand your consideration about earning for living and family. Im dont know about your country working rules.....if for me here i can planning to take a short break or paid working leave if needed. (maybe 1 or 2 weeks).

If you got such a opportunity and your boss is understanding your situation. Why not just trying to reinstated at suitable doses and stay for that period to keep stable since you know well your body already give you an answer of withdrawals turn down and improvements.

2 hours ago, Lloyd said:

I get the burning skin, weird dreams, wake up shaking and nausea which is frustrating.

Even small doses if your body can tolerated it again ....im believe this withdrawals will ease later. Be patience and listening to your body reactions. So sorry i cant give you what doses suitable because even myself also trying and error learn from mistake i have done too. i hope you can get the suitable doses with helps moderators here. Hang in there and take care.

 

[Altostrata]

Another possibility is to try Prozac, perhaps 0.5mg to start.

 

Is the primary symptom we're chasing the brain fog? Has it changed at all in the last 6 months? How are you sleeping?

 

If brain fog is your primary concern, you may wish to "fake it until you make it", without drugs.

 

How much fish oil are you taking? You might also add magnesium supplements, see http://survivingantidepressants.org/topic/15483-magnesium-natures-calcium-channel-blocker/

[Lloyd]

Hi Altostrata,

 

My sleep is good. Easy to fall asleep at night and i usually dont wake up until morning. Feel like rubbish when i wake up though until i get up have something to eat and move around which makes it a bit better. Usually feel rubbishy through the morning up until lunch time. Haven't really suffered from the depression that others describe here although the situation is hard to deal with and i do feel down at times about it. I'd describe my anxiety as a symptom of what i'm going through rather than the cause.

From yesterday i'm trying a low histamine / gluten / lectin free diet for a few days to see if that has any impact. Went to the super market and bought the most boring food imaginable. Cant event have cheese!!! It's worth a shot i guess.

The things that bother me the most are:

 

OCD - Obsessive thoughts & Anxiety. I worry medications and things i eat are going to make things worse all the time.

Brain fog & concentration issues.

Derealization.

Physical sensations (chills, tingling, numbness etc) & general weakness / loss of energy.

 

There is an overall sensation which is hard to describe but i can tell its drug withdrawl from effexor since its been there from day dot. Almost like what someone would go through coming off an addictive drug but without the pyschological urge to take it.

[Altostrata]

13 hours ago, Lloyd said:

OCD - Obsessive thoughts & Anxiety. I worry medications and things i eat are going to make things worse all the time.

 

You'll need to learn non-drug way to manage these health anxiety thoughts, or see a therapist who will coach you in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, see

 

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

Health anxiety, hypochondria, and obsession with symptoms

 

It sound like your post-withdrawal syndrome is relatively mild. If it doesn't get worse, you may not want to reinstate anything for it. It may just need some months to very gradually go away.

 

Cutting some things out of your diet might make you feel more lively. You can add them back in later.

 

How much fish oil are you taking?

[Lloyd]

CBT Was recommended in my last visit, although i have to wait until late November to see my doctor for a referral. Living rural it takes ages to get an appointment which is really frustrating. They also suggested getting a referral to a neurologist. Not sure if a neurologist will be able to shed some light on it, but they could rule out something like MS once and for all.

 

Not taking any magnesium or fish oil currently as i kept having bad thoughts about how it was going to make me feel worse (i know they are BS thoughts). Just used the avoidance coping mechanism instead which isn't great. I think CBT will help with that.

 

Last few weeks have been pretty rough and i picked up some kind of virus which has compounded the whole thing. Had one day last week where i didn't feel too bad.

Mornings are the worst, i wake up with hot cold chills, feeling faint, tingling in limbs and just generally sick. It improves a little when i eat something and get moving.

[Altostrata]

Please read both those topics. It sounds like you have health anxiety. You could learn techniques on your own to manage it.

 

Sorry to hear you're feeling poorly.

[Lloyd]

I'll have a read, i know i have health anxiety over the whole thing. In the early days after stopping Effexor i didn't really think about it too much. Thought things would resolve eventually and id be back to semi normal. Once i realized that the withdrawal wasn't budging i started looking for answers and found that dr google will tell you everything from cancer to alien implants!

 

Whats so confusing is that i managed to stop Effexor for a year and a half last time aftering tapering over 6 months. I had issues after stopping it including heightened emotion (ie random crying when listening to music or sad movie which i had never experienced before), irritability, concentration problems, negative thought patterns. But the initial sick feeling, tremors, chills and head zaps went away after a while unlike this time. I restarted Effexor later after some work stress and the ongoing problems became too much. Within a day i felt better after reinstating 37.5mg. Felt spacey, but otherwise fine. Continued with the Effexor for a few months and got to 75mg. Then everything fell apart when my doctor prescribed me a dopamine agonist for restless legs call Sifrol. Took 1 dose, vomited 25 minutes later and had a horrendous night with a visit to the ER with severe anxiety and akathesia. Ever since that night i started having similar episodes at night (less intense but not every night). I thought it might be the Effexor so i started tapering it down. Probably tapered way too quick and now here i am.

[Carmie]

Hi Lloyd, 

 

I had to laugh at your comment that dr Google will tell you everything from cancer to aliens. There’s a cure. Stop googling dr Google! 

 

I used to do that. I had all sort of weird symptoms n now every time I get something new I think it’s probably just another withdrawal symptom. I had earaches n toothaches n burning mouth etc etc. I though I had infections and with the burning mouth I read that people had it for years n years n it become chronic. I put myself through mental anguish for absolutely nothing. I had it for a number of months but it went away. 

 

When I came on this site I realised all the weird n wonderful symptoms we get are usually due to withdrawals. That’s not to say if you really feel something is wrong don’t get help. It’s just MOST of the symptoms are withdrawals.

 

Take care💚

 

[Altostrata]

When you go on and off psychiatric drugs and have adverse effectf from drugs, your nervous system becomes hypersensitive to drugs and even some supplements and foods. The nervous system you have now is not the one you had when you initially went off Effexor.

 

Magnesium can be effective for "restless legs."

[WantoffVen]

This might be off topic but a side note to fish oil. My latest bloodwork my cholesterol numbers were down quite a bit. So fish oil is a win win for me !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Lloyd]

Just checking in. Had a pretty good day today, all the physical symptons were pretty much background and very mild / unnoticible. Derealization even eased up a bit which was great. This week the anxiety has been allot less. Today felt totally zen all afternoon.

[Lloyd]

Does anyone else experience really strong effects from over the counter pain medication? I took some ibuprofen today as i have a migraine startig and felt hammered out shortly afterwards. I took about 35mg when the recommended dose is 200-400 mg.

Is it normal to be THIS sensitive to medications during withdrawal!? God this is confusing!

[ChessieCat]

It's not uncommon.  Tapering/withdrawal can make us sensitive to many things.  Members have reported sensitivity to food, medicines, supplements, light, sound, physical touch, caffeine, alcohol, exercise.  Taste and smell too.

 

I've tried to find a topic on medication sensitivity but haven't been able to find one at this time.

 

Edited October 22, 2018 by ChessieCat

[Lloyd]

Havent posted in a bit. Got a horrible virus which has knocked me down for the past week. Coughing nasty stuff and it wont budge =(

Saw the doctor again, said best thing to do is to reinstate a small amount of Effexor to help. At least i felt happy and had energy and motivation when i was on it. Need to decide what to do at some point as i am not really coping that well. If i didn't have to work a job and care for my family i could just stick it out. I'll see how i am feeling after i get over this damn virus.

 

Also does anyone notice how colors seem dull / greyish and everything just looks off like your visual perception is wrong (especially outdoors)? I'm really struggling with this symptom - had it since day 1.

[ChessieCat]

9 hours ago, Lloyd said:

Also does anyone notice how colors seem dull / greyish and everything just looks off like your visual perception is wrong (especially outdoors)?

 

See #50 Dr Joseph Glenmullen's WD Symptoms Checklist

 

I have read other members mention that things seem different.  There doesn't seem to be a topic specific to this issues.  Must just be comments that they have made.

 

Just did a search for color and found this:

 

On 12/27/2015 at 6:37 AM, Altostrata said:

Occipital Lobe This is the vision center. t's at the back of your skull.   In recovery, my nerves have been all wacked here. I see things as too bright - possible due to this lobe - and/or the actual visual nerves in the eyes.  But no doubt people "see things" that aren't there.  Vision is distorted. Things go blurry.  Colors are totally off.  Brightness is off.  There are a hundred symptoms possible in vision alone!  But again - it's a matter of time.

 

If you do reinstate, please update your signature:  Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

And remember to keep daily symptoms notes.

[Lloyd]

Hi All,

 

Thought i'd post an update as its been a while. Got sick with a virus twice, seems like the chronic stress makes us more susceptible to infection. Got a test for Vitamin D which showed as quite low which can contribute to getting sick. Also had a test done for testosterone which was also borderline low .

Symptoms have mainly been headaches, high blood pressure, elevated heart rate, brain fog, dizziness, tingling / numbness, anxiety and cold hands / feet. I did do some more research and found that pheochromocytoma (A tumor on the adrenal gland that secretes excessive amounts of adrenaline / nor-adrenaline & sometime dopamine). The symptoms seem pretty similar and it can be aggravated by certain foods. I have an issue with anxiety flare ups after eating. The condition is rare.

Had my blood test today so hopefully i'll have the results early next week. At the least it's something to rule out. In a a way i kind of want them to fins something wrong then at least i could have a way forward. On the other hand i don't. The test that's used is called Metadrenalines - (Plasma Free)b - overnight fasting. I had to ask my doctor to get an order for the test.

 

Article below about the condition.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2693284/

 

I'll let you all know the results.

[Carmie]

Thanks for checking in Lloyd, 

 

Yes, chronic stress can certainly bring on viruses as our immune systems become so low. 

 

What did your test show up as regards the tumour? I have had so many symptoms during withdrawals such as toothaches, earaches, burning mouth etc and before I found this site I always thought something was majorly wrong, but it ended up being withdrawals. That being said, if you think something is wrong it’s best to rule things out. 

 

Please let us know your results. 

 

Sending hugs🤗

[Lloyd]

Hi Carmie, hopefully know the results next Monday. Withdrawal for me feels allot like a chronic stress response. I get the freezing hands and feet which is from adrenaline, but i get it constantly. I have high blood pressure and more often than not a resting heart rate over 90. The test does show both adrenaline & noradrenaline (the 'N' part of SNRI) levels so id be interested to see what they look like. I had a good day on Tuesday where the symptoms were milder and the brain fog not as bad. Hopefully i can have some more days like that soon!

Hope you are doing well & have a great xmas!!

[VincentV]

On ‎10‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 12:57 AM, Lloyd said:

 

Not taking any magnesium or fish oil currently as i kept having bad thoughts about how it was going to make me feel worse (i know they are BS thoughts). Just used the avoidance coping mechanism instead which isn't great. I think CBT will help with that.

 

I mean it could because I'm still in 'early days' (since I took  any psychoactive medication) and things seem quite acute (especially the first 12 weeks of onset) but after about 6 weeks of taking the fish oil, magnesium and VitB12 (supposedly good for akathisia/RLS too), my anxiety and agitation are significantly less. My OCD like obsessions, which were the first symptoms I noticed in August, are also about 80-90% reduced. I've gone from being deeply depressed and constantly worrying over and over and obsessing (to the point where all I could think about was mental health/antidepressant related)  to now just mostly being deeply depressed. Progress of a sort eh? It could be coincidence, it could all change (I hope not) but  either way I'm going to keep on taking them. 

 

When did you finally stop taking any Effexor full stop?

[Lloyd]

Hi All, finally got the results back for the test for pheochromocytoma which came back negative (no problems). Atleast its eliminated from the equation. Back to my physcologist this week, not even sure what im hoping to acheive at this point but it does help having someone just to talk to about whats been going on. She seems quite understanding and good to talk to so ill keep going.

The brain fog / derealization eased up a little over the last few weeks and didnt seem quite as bad. Going back to work this week so im interested to see if my symptons get worse which will indicate work stress is playing a large part in this.

[Lloyd]

Well i finally have been able to start drinking some coffee again. Helps a bit with the brain fog. The derealization has eased up a little but the anxiety is still quite bad. Just riding it out to see what improvements come.

[Alanmane]

I am leaving effexor xoe months ago, the difficulty to think clearly is the worst symptom of withdrawal, mental fog. Still, when it stabilizes, it improves. You have to go slowly.