Primekittycat: Hi! Was this protracted withdrawal? Will be tapering slowly soon..

[Kostas]

Hi, 

As have said before, I had suffered from unexplained pain in my left neck side, shoulder and arm for a couple of months, after been off my citalopram dose. 

No tests showed anything and pain doctor couldn't find anything wrong, or doing something about it! 

Painkillers was of little help. 

Great suffering. 

Gradually the pain faded away, and completely vanished within days! 

Now I am OK, a couple of years, without any symptoms. 

This was my experience. 

All the best. 

[Gridley]

53 minutes ago, primekittycat said:

Currently on 1 average sized bead which is about the 0.3mg I mentioned. Maybe for my next cut I can just take a smaller sized bead? Thoughts on that?

I would make an inventory of beads from medium and on down as small as they come, like a collection.  You can store them in a pill bottle and label by size.

 

  How long have you been on the medium beads?  If not long, you could stay on medium a little longer, then go to smaller and stay there for a little while.  If there is an even smaller, then you could go to that.  Of course at some point it's going to be a 100% jump but there's no getting around that.  But I definitely would go from medium to smaller as much as your inventory permits before jumping.

 

I know at the end with the beads it's a little tricky because of the limited number of sizes.  

 

By the way, intense exercise in withdrawal is overstimulating for many of us.  You might lessen the intensity.

 

I'm glad you're getting some relief from the physical therapy.  Back of neck tightness and pain has been one of my typical come-and-go symptoms.

 

You're almost there, primekittycyat.  You're almost off Effexor!

[buggedout]

6 hours ago, primekittycat said:

Hi all! Quick update, the orthopedic doc I saw back in January was useless. She didn't seem to care about my pain and ordered a wrist MRI that I never got. I saw my PCP in February being in horrible pain in my neck, shoulder and arm so she ordered me to see a neurologist, ordered more sensitive bloodwork and prescribed Flexeril (a muscle relaxer) temporarily for the pain. My bloodwork checking for autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and thyroid all came back normal.

 

I was finally able to be mostly pain free and get sleep, taking as low of a dose that I could of Flexeril (had read that sometimes people need to withdraw slowly from that drug too!) and still restricting my activity until I could see the neurologist 6 weeks later. The neurologist thought I had a herniated disc or pinched nerve in my neck as well as carpal tunnel. The cervical MRI he ordered came back normal but 2 weeks ago I started physical therapy for my neck. It has helped immensely, I've been able to come off of the muscle relaxer but I still get hot hands and feet that turn red with intense exercise, hot showers, drinking alcohol, anything that gets my body temp up. I found a condition called erythromelalgia that my doc believes I may have, however my CBC blood work came back normal (besides WBCs being slightly low and my % monocytes being slightly high). I guess typically platelets are high if you have it. I've been treating it by avoiding those things and taking aspirin or motrin as needed. She thinks my 'carpal tunnel pain' may even be from this condition. I am getting a second EMG in May, as long as testing opens back up with this virus situation, to see if I have any nerve damage.

 

I highly suspect that Effexor has been covering up nerve pain and possibly the erythromelalgia for me and I never knew it. I am curious to see if I continue to get better (is it really a pinched nerve?) or if I continue to have nerve pain issues. 

 

 

@Gridley thank you so much for your concern and for the congrats!! This is so exciting for me. I plan on jumping off at about 0.3mg which is the lowest I think I can go with my beads. I was using the Gemini scale until the weight got too low to read a few months ago, now I'm just counting beads. Currently on 1 average sized bead which is about the 0.3mg I mentioned. Maybe for my next cut I can just take a smaller sized bead? Thoughts on that?

 

Hey PKC. Congrats on your progress! You are so close! I am jealous lol. 

 

Not sure if it's related to what's happening to you, but I get super flushed/red as well with all of those things you mentioned. Especially my chest! It is very embarrassing! Also, I've had a few massages and my body literally turns into a lobster in the area's that are worked on. It is something that only started within the last few years and I have had a lot of tests done and Dr. has no clue. They thought it was my thyroid, mthfr gene or some kind of autoimmune thing but all my tests came back normal. Anyways I have no idea if it is related to diet, the Effexor/reductions, or what. But with that said, I recently been experimenting with the keto diet and I have noticed a significant reduction in the flushing. I still get my usual social anxiety flushing which I've dealt with my whole life... but this weird super flush that I get from showering, exercise, massages and even 2 sips of wine... it doesn't seem to happen anymore when I do my keto rounds (21 days).

 

Anyways, I typically wouldn't recommend a fad diet especially in a situation like this... however, it might be something to consider.

[buggedout]

Hi Lisa,

 

Just wanted to check in and see how things were going with you. Hope all is well!

[primekittycat]

@buggedout, thanks for checking on me, it's been a while (again!). Here is my update, and I will be sure to check out your updates after I write this

 

I officially took my last dose of Effexor on Oct 31! This year has been a rough road personally aside from COVID, with all the weird symptoms I mentioned in recent posts, and all the worries about possibly having an autoimmune disease or something more serious, which was made even more fun to worry about with COVID around. The nerve test (EMG) I had in May (that kept getting pushed back due to COVID) showed that I'd had a pinched nerve in vertebrae C8 in the recent past, but it was resolved, and according to doctors there was no more reason for the ongoing pain in my neck, shoulder, arm, and hand (outside of mild arthritis they discovered in my right wrist), and no reason for the swelling/burning/flushing in my hands and feet. I advocated for myself and saw 2 neurologists, a rheumatologist, other doctors I can't even think of right now, and had 26 physical therapy treatments that helped a ton. All bloodwork came back normal, x-rays of my shoulder, hands, feet, knees, were all normal except for the mild arthritis in my right wrist that I mentioned (all places I had pain or weird symptoms), I had a brain MRI to check for MS that came back normal, and a shoulder MRI that was also normal. The flushing in my hands and feet eventually resolved as well, in about May/June. I am very very grateful for all of this.

 

Again the pain from the pinched nerve should have resolved months ago, and I've discovered that any leftover pain was mainly due to MindBody syndrome. It is not well known but I encourage anyone with undiagnosed chronic pain to look into it. I still have some pain, but it's been reduced immensely. I am still working on it daily, and am in week 3 of Dr. Howard Schubiner's program for MindBody syndrome (the program in his book 'Unlearn Your Pain'). I haven't taken motrin in a couple weeks (HUGE improvement after taking it 1-2 times a day, and required it to sleep), and no muscle relaxers in over a month (was taking them maybe twice a week depending on how I felt).

 

I've discovered that to stay mentally healthy, I need to meditate at least once a day, constantly be aware of my emotions, stand up for myself, be kind to myself, and stay active in some way. Physically I've been getting therapeutic massages every 2-3 weeks and it helps relieve the tension in my body immensely. I just started yoga again, and have been taking walks 2-5 times a week since the start of COVID, even through all my pain, to keep active. 

 

I was supposed to 'jump off' of Effexor in March-April this year but didn't due to my odd symptoms and of course the new stress from COVID. I had hung on to taking a tiny bead of Effexor from March-October, and finally decided I was ready to do it. I feel great so far. I have grown so much emotionally and mentally this year. I know I am strong enough to overcome anything. 

 

I will be sure to continually update here and will be making a donation to this site for helping me through. @Altostrata and others who guide everyone here are serious life changers and angels (and I'm not religious). 

[Altostrata]

What a great update, Primekittycat! So happy you've taken care of yourself with physical therapy, meditation, listening to your body, and learning about MindBody syndrome.

 

Can you tell us more about what you've learned about MindBody syndrome? Maybe start a topic in the Symptoms forum?

[primekittycat]

Thank you! Yes, I will. I'll start working on that for a topic in Symptoms. Maybe it will help others!

[buggedout]

Lisa,

 

I am so glad to see (in your signature) that you are still med free and withdrawal free a year later.

 

How did the final jump go for you? Was that last dose you took 0.38mg?

 

How are you feeling these days?

[primekittycat]

On 10/30/2021 at 12:55 PM, buggedout said:

Lisa,

 

I am so glad to see (in your signature) that you are still med free and withdrawal free a year later.

 

How did the final jump go for you? Was that last dose you took 0.38mg?

 

How are you feeling these days?

 

 

Hey there! Wow, over a year since you sent this message so hopefully you'll see my reply. Technically I'm not sure what mg I was on at the end. I went from taking one large sized bead, to a medium sized bead, to a small sized bead to a tiny speck. Still doing great over 2 years later. I feel very grateful. Hope you're doing well too, happy new year!

[2cats2272]

@primekittycat I’m not sure you’ll ever see this but Congratulations 🎉. I’m 6 months of Effexor and dealing with the finger, hand issues you had. I tapered off 150 in 3 months. I had been on that dose for 17 years for generalized anxiety disorder. I didn’t go lower than 37.5 and am struggling. I have a dr appt next week where I’ll be asking for blood work and checking out reasons why my fingers and hands feel swollen, tired and sore. Your story has reassured me though 💜