Quit Effexor about 3 weeks ago cold turkey now back on it.
Posted , 3 users are following.
So about a month ago to 3 weeks ago I quit taking my effexor due to me being dumb and thinking that I could control my anxiety. I was on it for about 2 years as i'm only 19. Friday night I had a panic attack and decided to take my effexor regularly again and I got a dry mouth and still have it. I went to the Dr because the dry mouth scared me and I thought it was a disease or something, now last night after the Dr I wanted to sleep and I kept falling in and out of sleep like every couple of minutes and had these stupid strange thoughts racing through my mind that made no sense whatsoever, I was shaking bad and felt warm in my face and was freaking out. This went on for about 3-4 hours, I finally fell asleep and woke up at around 8 with only 4 hours of sleep. I went to the Dr again because I'm scared that i'm going insane and he said it's purely the anxiety, I went back home and took an hour nap and felt the same exact things although not as bad, now throughout the day i've been thinking of stupid things like when I was driving I thought "what if i'm driving on the wrong side of the road" and then at home "what if this is all fake" and it's scaring me and i'm scared to go to sleep tonight. My mom is pleading with me and telling me i'm not going insane and that it's due to the anxiety and most likely getting off the effexor and coming back on it as my doctor and friends also said. However I am still extremely scared, does anybody else have these issues when they went off their meds and went back on them?
1 like, 5 replies
lynne82155 airforce4321
Posted
Try therapy
craig137 airforce4321
Posted
I was on effexor for 6 years and it needs to be tapered slowly do you get the brain buzzing yet? What your describing is call intrusive thoughts and derealization. These are all perfectly normal when taking and anti depressant. Whilst they are unplesant they are completely harmless just uncomfortable. Your also having panic attacks, and your mom is actually making things worse. What happens is say you have one of those "is this real" moments, If someone starts asking you if your ok or notices and comments on it, it renforces it your mind, because you get whats called "external validation" basically you think well if they can see something is wrong then something MUST be wrong and that gets the "what if" cogs spinning in your head. Best thing is ask your family and friends that if they see you in the middle of an event is to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING completely act as if nothing is happening. Sleep disturbance is quite common also but all these symptoms will lessen over time I can gaurantee that has i've been exactly where you are now, but you have to take the venlafaxine (effexor) as directed by your Dr. It takes about 2 weeks for a theraputic amount of the active ingredient venlafaxine to get in your blood and start to work on your GABA receptors in your brain. Hope this helps a bit, and tell eveyone just to act normal if you seem a bit off trust me that one is so important. One final thing I found that if i was having a wobble (you can always feel them coming on ) read somethin anything i used to read the back of shampoo bottles lol it activates different areas in your brain and will shorten the event considerably.
airforce4321 craig137
Posted
craig137 airforce4321
Posted
First things first read the leaflet paying attention to allergies and cross reactions if your on other medication.
Now this is important it is possible for symptoms to get worse before it gets better. It takes a minimum of 2 weeks for theraputic levels in your blood to reach what is called peak onset. Enjoy this part because if you've taken as directed you should be feeling like you can take on the world.
You will then enter the plataeu phase. This is where you feel great, have more energy, more interest in doing things and wanting to be more social.
Next the peak onset feelings will start to dull a bit which means you are now in the theraputic stages. In other words this is how the pill is going to make you feel from day to day. You should have a follow up appointment with the Dr to see how your doing they may increase/decrease or leave the same.
Once you start taking anti depressants there is a symptom that is very common, but no one is ever told about and that is. Derealization or a dream like state.The actual definition of derealization is a feeling that one's surroundings are not real, especially as a symptom of mental disturbance. Pay no attention to the word distubance.
This dream like feeling is completely normal if not expected. It can come on at any time though you are always in control everything just feels "a bit weird" They are perfectly harmless and usually only last for a few seconds. They will disappear after a few weeks and you may have an occasional one out of the blue one day, just keep in mind that it means your meds are working like they should. Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions.
jennifer318 airforce4321
Posted
Yes, I had similar things happen to me a while back when I tried to just stop taking Effexor. I couldnt seem to control my thoughts, I couldnt sleep, and when I did it was just for 30 minutes at a time..and then it was as if I was aware of everything even though I was sleeping. Weird. The way my brain was acting was very foriegn and scary.
Your brain is doing quite a bit of adjusting right now to the drugs, so when you start to feel like you are freaking out and things are not real keep reminding yourself that everything will get back to normal soon. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly, like to the count of 10.
Your mom, doctor and friends are right, you are totally not going insane!!! You are having anxiety attacks from hell. Also Effexor is a terrible drug to try to just stop taking cold turkey. In the future when you feel that a medicine is no longer right for you make sure you taper off safely with some kind of medical advise.
But really YOU ARE NOT LOOSING YOUR MIND!!!!!
Good Luck!
Jen