effexor and intrusive thoughts
Posted , 3 users are following.
I have been taking effexor for almost 15 years. I was on a very high dosage, 450 mg for a long time and 650 mg for a few weeks. But I managed to taper it down to 150 mg a day. Then I wanted to stop taking effexor complelety because soon in the future I want to have a baby and breastfeed. With a GP's advice, I reduced the dosage by 37.5 mg every two weeks, until, about 3 weeks ago, I stopped fully. The result ahs been hell. The first week and a half, I had the usual withdrawal symptoms like nausea, dizziness, diarrhea, horrid nightmares, insomnia, mood swings, anger etc. I stuck it out and most symptoms died down, except the diarrhea and insomnia. They are as bad as ever. However, over the last week, I have been having sever intrusive thoughts. They were triggered by some foul language used by a family member. Now I have those bad words and others spinning non stop inside my brain. It makes me feel yuckya nd contaminated. I can barely function. So today I went back to the GP. He advised me that I will likely have to be on effexor for life. He started me back on 75 mg XR for two weeks and then step back up to 150 mg a day.
My questions are:
1. is it safe to take effexor while pregnant and breastfeeding?
2. I'm wondering if the intrusive thoughts are a side effect of effexor withdrawal or a sympton of another separaare anxiety disorder. Does anyone have any experience like this?
1 like, 3 replies
phyllisj s20934
Posted
Wow, what a brave lady you are. I was in 225 ven for 8.5yrs and 1g tryptophan 3 times a day to boost it as my psychiatrist didn't like going higher than that without hospitalization and I refused to stay in, I had just had my second daughter. Two weeks ago I dropped to 150 and on day two of my decrease my T1diabetic older daughter went into dka and had to be admitted to hospital. I dropped everything to get her to the doc and went straight to hospital from there, no ven that day, overnight hospital stay, my daughter was improving rapidly but my husband didn't get in until 11am, I normally take ven at 6.30am. My face was crawling, my brain was zapping and I was sitting beside full height window thinking "am I high enough off the ground for it to work?" Now the Windows Don't open, my girls are 9&10 and would be very aware of anything I did, so it was a "dark thought". Or was it? Maybe it was the ven? Maybe the ven wasn't working it was more than 48hrs since my last doseafter all? Maybe I'm a crap mother, cos I know I'm a craps wife/daughter/sister/friend.
phyllisj s20934
Posted
Cur myself short there. Anyway I ruminated and prayed and had a huge fight with the folk in my head calling me down, cos there are coincidences. People say stupid things because they don't know/understand/care or just generally get it. I think we have mental health problems because we want to help folk and people being unhelpful is beyond our comprehension cos we wouldn't do it. A bad day is just a bad day, if it's more than that do something with the meds. I was told folk on ven often need a maintenance dose for life, maybe yes maybe no. One of my friends has just had a beautiful baby boy after a tightly monitored pregnancy off all her meds. She had anxiety and panic attacks and all the rest but she has her baby. Where there's a will there's a way. Maybe a different doc would have a different view or maybe the current doc doesn't get how important it is for you to have a child. As for breastfeeding, my milk didn't come in both times, nothing to do with medication as I started ven after both girls, I was told they wouldn't be as bright or attentive and all sorts of nonsense. They are beautiful and they were worth every dark thought. Keep questioning and you'll end up where you're meant to be, motherhood awaits and at least we know we can cope with broken or no sleep cos we've done it all before.xx
Greatgranny s20934
Posted
I think the withdrawal. When I started "feeling" again--didn't realize how complacent I had become-- the little things that aggravated me became big deals. I have been off for 5 weeks and am noticing that I have calmed down. However, my husband clams up if I explode because I have had discussions with him before just not THIS loudly. My psych switched me to Zoloft to get me off the Effexor 150ER. I go back next week to see if hewill start withdrawing me from it. I also take Klonopin and still have anxiety but am relly not anxious about anything. I think the depression has resolved itself but I won'tknow until I get weaned from Zoloft. You were taking a massive dose. I wish you well and as medicine and science understand more, maybe the chemical imbalance can be corrected another way. Incidentally, I wish I hadn't kept my head out of the sand for so long. I had counselling in my late teens, 30's and late 30's. Also meds before. false pride. It's like a heart condition. Treat it until it is resolved. But don't delay. Sounds like you have done the right things as far as getting treatment. I would have blissfully stayed on the effexor but had a severe withdrawal episode when missing one capsule. All the things you had. It's been rough for someone who likes things just right all the time. As far as all the bad words etc, find another outlet and for example just go in the bathroom and shout all of them out for awhile. Maybe therapy would help.