Venlafaxine rant

if you are thinking of coming of them i wouldnt suggest going up any more if you feel they are not working at 150mg , the higher you go the harder it is to withdraw from this drug , i found no more benifits from 75mg as 225mg , but we are all different , if you are just suffering with anxiety venlxfn is not a great medi ,more for depression , there are better meds for anxiety , if you have been on them for 3 to 4 months and dont feel they are not working then they are probally not the ones for you , i am no doctor but i think us sufferers tend to have a better insight than most doctors , some people have had great success with this med , but more trouble withdrawing , i know i have , hope you feel better soon , i know anxiety can be horrible suffered for many years , but you will find the right med it just can take time ,

Hi Terry. What meds did you find that worked??

How did yo finally get rid of anxiety

hi ellebi , still struggling with anxiety unfortunatly , just started a new drug citroprolam , but having rather bad anxiety and depression at the moment as i am also withdrawing from venlaxafine and quetiapine on very small dosages now , doctor added quetiapine for anxiety but this drug is designed for phsycotics and not reaally the best med to give to some one who as anxiety , i never really had severe depression until i went on this med but it made me so more depressed , i think doctors give out hard core meds to easily , and then we struggle to get of them . i have controlled my anxiety very well for most of the time but when it raises its ugly head doctors jus throw the latest drug at you in hope that it works , not really bothered about the real root of your anxiety , so you can soon get mixed up in the drugs cycle , the worst for me is the side effects of the meds , i hope you find some light with your anxiety , take care 

 

Yeah I've been on different ones before but I find they work for a few years and then bam, they stop, I think my body becomes immune to them.

I found the Lexapro good for a few years and the Fluxetine but these ones nothing yet. I tried the lyrica before too with the fluxetine but stopped them because there expensive to buy but ill see what the doc has to say today. Fingers crossed, thanks for your advice!

Hi Terry, 

I think your doctor, despite his good intentions, is ruining your health. 

Antipsychotics have huge risks. They are for psychotic people. They may numb your feelings so much that you don't feel your depression anymore, but that is no life, is it? Additionally you are running the risk of getting very severe, long term disabilities like Tardive Dyskinesia (google it). 

You say yourself that you never had a severe depression until the meds. You see what's happening? 

The meds are changing your brain chemistry for the worse. Meds act on the brain in the same way as illicit drugs. They alter the brain chemistry to make you feel different. That may be helpful in the short term, same as alcohol can calm you short term, cocaine can give you more self esteem short term. 

But long term your brain adapts and the drugs loose their effectiveness. Then you will be more depressed and anxious than ever before. Drugs may stop working and if you stop taking them, you're essentially in hell. 

This is unfortunately not recogized by the medical profession even though it's quite logic and has happened many times in the medical history before (benzos, barbiturates, opiates etc).

I think your best shot is to very slowly (months or years) taper off all meds, live though whatever depression and anxiety occur with the help of a good therapist and hope for your brain chemistry to go back to the original state. 

There is tapering plans at survivingantidepressants.com and advisors here and here: 

http://www.btpinfo.org.uk/

http://www.recovery-road.org/

Here are some of the few psychiatrists who have realized and dare to speak out about what is happening with psychiatric drugs: 

http://cepuk.org/

All the best, 

Laura

thank you laura i will look up these sites , i  am all over the place at the moment , anxiety depression dont know whats right or wrong , just want to feel better but i dont think meds are helping , but getting of is so bad  , just need a little relief ,

I know Terry, it's horrible. 

You're probably still experiencing withdrawal symptoms from the Venlafaxine. These symptoms basically rip your mind out and can last for months. But doctors don't acknowledge this. They are not well educated about withdrawal and assume any withdrawal has to be over after two weeks. So that's why they're telling you it's all your anxiety. 

Nonsense! 

If you need some relief, do you think you can slow the taper? But you weren't feeling well on Venlafaxine either, right? 

Remind me: You were on Venlafaxine for how long? And what did you take before?  How long was the break between the med before and Venlafaxine? 

I think a good indicator of your anxiety and depression without meds would be how you felt before you touched any med. This would probably be where you go back to when all meds are stopped and all withdrawal symptoms have subsided. 

I'll cross my fingers that you find some relief and you'll get off the psych-drug- train eventually! Treat yourself gently, try to avoid anything that stresses you and eat well. 

Cheers, 

Laura

I

hi laura have been on the venalaxafine for 10 year at 75mg my doctor at christmas raised me up to 150mg as the smaller dose was not working in january he also put me on 150mg of quetiapine , this just made me worse and depressed even though i had just really been suffering with anxiety for many years i have now redused my meds down to16mg ven and 25 quetiapine and the withdrawels have been horrible , my life is misserable , i was first put on prozac  and then serteline but these did nothing for the anxiety then on to venlaxafine , i first went to the doctors with feeling unwell for sometime after a bug , got put on prozac as doctor said i was suffering anxiety worrying over my health and now i am hooked on the drug train , if only i could go back ! why he put me on quetiapine god knows as that is not a med that should just be handed out for anxiety so readily ,he told me that it was very good and that i need to take it , trust me he said you will be fine ! if he new the suffering us people go through with the side effects of these meds , most people who feel ill or sick go to bed and in a few days are better , if you take anti deppressants it last for years and know one cares

Oh Terry, I'm sorry this is all happening to you when you didn't even need the drug in the first place. It gives me the rage to read about cases like that. 

10 years on meds is a long time. Sounds like you reached what is called "tolerance" or "poop out". That seems to happen to people after a couple of years on the meds. 

It's terrible what the doctors do to patients. The worst is they probably even think they are helping, when they are making things worse and worse. 

16mg ven is already very low. Congratulations!  I'm not sure about the quetiapine. On the website I told you, they have a lot of experience advising people how to taper off, which meds to taper first and at what speed. 

My hunch is they will tell you to taper of quetiapine first, as it has the worst side effects and risks. 

It won't be a fun ride tapering everything off, but in the end of it you'll have your life back. 

I'll cross fingers for you that you won't have to suffer too much. 

Cheers, 

Laura

thankyou so much for your support laura , its nice to speak to people on here who understand what people go through with these meds , instead of being told by a doctor you will be fine , one other thing mefiredy doctor has now put me on to a phyciatrist to help with my withdrawel my appointment is in august ! , no rush there then , it sucks !

It's horrific. The doctors are the ones who should listen and support you, but once they have screwed you up, they don't know what to do. 

I hope the psychiatrist you see is a nice one. I think there are some incompetent ones out there who just want to give you drug cocktails. 

Don't worry that the appointment is only in August. Tapering is a test in patience and steadiness anyway. You probably need to stabilize on your current dose until you feel ok again or reduce very slowly. 

I think rules that apply normally in life don't apply to withdrawal. Nothing can be wone here by "trying harder", "pulling oneself together" or "stop worrying about it". Worrying is a withdrawal symptoms. 

The only things that seem to help is reducing stress, treating yourself gently, taking it one day at a time and keeping in mind it's time limited and you will get your life back. 

I am sooooo lucky I wasn't on these drugs for too long. Four months later I am already starting to get better. 

i am so glad for you laura and i wish you the happy life we all deserve , drug free and symptom free , i look forward to the day when i can look back and say i dont take anymore meds and smile

I really wish you luck in your withdrawal journey and I hope the day comes soon! I think you'll discover a new life full of real, non-drug induced feelings!

also i forgot to put it in my dosage was 150mg

one min i was laughing ,talking happy , horny , next im aggressive , wanna fight , start fights 

Oh nichelle, I would not take this drug again. Stop while you still can. I'm still not recovered from my "Venlafaccident" and it's almost a year later. I went trough the worst hell anyone could ever imagine. This stuff is beyond dangerous. 

It seems like the drug invoked some symptoms of serotonin syndrome and mania in you. I would tell this to your doctor. Don't let them give you any drugs for mania though. Sometimes they say "the drug has uncovered an underlying bipolar disorder". This is total bu**sh**. The drugs can induce mania in people who would have never become bipolar.  

You might get withdrawals about 48 hours after stopping the drug. Fingers crossed they are not too severe. For me they are lasting 10 months already. 

They started you on 150mg? Did I understand correctly, you took just 1 pill of 150mg and nothing more? 

yes started on 150 & took it once

i also take vyvanse in the morning with it 

Ok, I think you need a new doctor. 150mg is an absolutely excessive starting dose. Ideally the starting does should be 37.5 or max 75mg. And also Venlafaxine is the strongest and most dangerous of all antidepressants. 

Were you really really bad? Like lying in bed not getting up anymore depressed? Because that's the only situation where this toxic drug is warranted. 

i felt like i was gonna pass out at some point , sweating , pamls sweaty , im in bed now had to call off work , im cold n hot off and on

I cant eat , every noise irritates me

Vyvanse and Venlafaxine have major drug interactions also: http://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=2296-0,1475-2533 

Was your doctor aware of you taking both? 

i feel depressed , i dont want to talk to anyone

I can imagine. If you're lucky the feeling will pass again. But you can expect that it will take a while to wear off. If you're still sweating and feeling very bad I would actually go to the doctor. If you do have Serotoinin Syndrome, that's not to be taken lightly.

There's a really good website called survivingantidepressants. There is very experienced moderators who can tell you exactly what likely happened and what they will advise further. They have seen a lot of adverse reactions to antidepressants. 

@moderators: I know you have a great collection of depression ressources with links. I keep forgetting where it is. Is there an easy way to find it? 

 

message didnt go through

 

I think the messages are waiting to be moderated. I sent you some links. If you are on Facebook, search for a group called "Psych Drug Adverse Reaction". You'll find more people with similar reactions. 

Theres also survivingantidepressants . org. Very good info there. 

thanks laura ill check it out

I hope you feel better soon. I'm a bit worried because of what I've been through, but I hope you're not as unlucky as I have been. Wishing you lots of healing and all the best. 

yea , as much as my brain is telling me to take more because of the good feeling , I feeel so alive you know 

I used to do a lot of ecstacy and molly & coke so this drug isnt a street drug but feels so good 

Sadly, it's like a street drug. It is chemically similar to ecstasy and even has the same withdrawal symptoms, just worse and longer. Taking this stuff is basically putting yourself on a daily dose of prescribed, slow release ecstasy. With the same consequences to the brain as taking ecstasy every day. Doctors are totally uninformed about these facts sadly.  

yea i get you 

and I dont wanna get addicted to it , its driving me nuts ...

all im thinking is to open the cap and snort a lil of it

See, and the doctors are telling you "antidepressants are not addictive"... sad, sad world we're living in. 

yea addictive & i only took one 

smoking cigarettes to calm me

Hi Laura,

@moderators: I know you have a great collection of depression ressources with links. I keep forgetting where it is. Is there an easy way to find it? 

It is here https://patient.info/forums/discuss/depression-resources-298570

It is a pinned discussion on the Depression group page. You can quote this link any time and it won't go for moderation. What I will do is add it to other relevant groups like Venlafaxine and other meds groups. Then users can find it by clicking the group link in the breadcrumb at the top of the page. You can also add it to your bookmarks/favourites for quick access if this helps.

Regards,

Alan