Effexor and other anti-depressants - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

dissentowner · 04-17-2008, 04:57 PM

Anyone else on this crap?? What a brutal drug! I got put on this after a bad car wreck had me bed ridden for 6 months back in 99 and have not been able to get off it ever since as the side effects of coming off it are a nightmare! Even missing one dose makes you sick and dizzy and the worst side effect is this brain-shock effect, ugh! The worst side effect when taking it? Almost impossible to reach orgasm!

Anyone else going or gone through this???

The Fonz · 04-17-2008, 05:31 PM

I wouldn't mind the side effect of it being almost impossible to reach orgasm...I could go forever, I'd be a legend.

But no I don't take it, sorry for wasting thread space.

sixpacked · 04-17-2008, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Anyone else on this crap?? What a brutal drug! I got put on this after a bad car wreck had me bed ridden for 6 months back in 99 and have not been able to get off it ever since as the side effects of coming off it are a nightmare! Even missing one dose makes you sick and dizzy and the worst side effect is this brain-shock effect, ugh! The worst side effect when taking it? Almost impossible to reach orgasm!

Anyone else going or gone through this???

My wife is on it and has the same nauseous side effects as you, but not the oooooooo, iiiiiiiiiiiiii eeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Temporary_User · 04-17-2008, 07:32 PM

damn failure to reach orgasm would leave me pretty depressed.

Do all anti-depressants leave you feeling like this? Specifically the coming off them effects?

BlackArcher101 · 04-17-2008, 07:33 PM

nm

Flamesmom · 04-17-2008, 07:47 PM

My sister took Effexor for a while. While she was on it, she had HORRIFIC nightmares, where she'd wake up crying, sweating, and on the kitchen floor?? (Not knowing how she got there, as her bedroom was UPSTAIRS!). Scary! I have another friend who's on it, and it doesn't seem to be helping her !!

Now I've never taken it, but I took Celexa about 5yrs ago - and I had the anorgasmia side effect... it SUCKS big time. It's really frustrating, and sadly a rather common side effect of most anti-depressants

Some people get it, some people don't... but those of us "lucky" few who do... UGH!

As for the rest, it's pretty common with Effexor. You're supposed to come off of anti-depressants SLOWLY, with ANY of them, but especially with effexor, you have to be REALLY slow about it. Even going down to half and quarter doses, and then half doses every other day... etc. I've been told it can take about 2mths to come OFF of effexor - so go slow, be careful.

Good luck !!.

jolinar of malkshor · 04-17-2008, 07:57 PM

I was on effexor several years ago. I had the weird dreams, the tingles, brain shocks and all that. I stopped taking it one time and I thought I had parkinsons disease. I went to the doctor and the idiot said, I dont think it is from the medication, I have never heard of those side effects before. IDIOT. I checked on line and sure enough everyone who took it had the same symptoms. The way I got off the was by slowly cutting back. It took about a month but each day I took less and less. I broke open the pills and counted out the little balls, reducing the amoung each day. That pretty much worked but to this day I still have these twitches that I know was cause from that SH*T.

The worst thing was the doctor never told me about the possible side effects and then didn't know about them when I asked about it.

Dion · 04-17-2008, 08:00 PM

I took that drug years ago and it gave me horrible nightmares. It was my cue to get off antidepressents period.

I didn't suffer any side effects when easing off antidepressents either. My advice would be to slowly ween yourself off this drug. Also talk to your GP and ask him what's the best way to do it.

Best of luck!

CaramonLS · 04-17-2008, 08:04 PM

Took it a few years ago... No nightmares - but weird, vivid dreams. I had dreams I was talking to the GF on the phone and when I woke up I had no idea if it actually happened or not. Sometimes it actually fooled me.

BuzzardsWife · 04-17-2008, 09:33 PM

Ask your doctor to put you on Welbutrin as well as effexor. They are finding this combination works great, you get back your orgasm and your feeling of well being. My friend read something about it and told her doctor and she switched and she said the combination is amazing, she hasn't been so happy (or horny) in years. Hope you at least look into it. NEVER EVER decide to ween yourself off this drug without a doctor's advice. You can have a fatal seizure~and it does happen.

Thor · 04-17-2008, 09:58 PM

Too much medication, shrinks are giving this stuff out like candy.

KevanGuy · 04-17-2008, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

edit: For the people who haven't experience it before, a very delayed orgasm or the impossiblity to reach one is actually not very appealing. Trust me.

Thankfully he was alone at the time.

Dion · 04-17-2008, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thor

Too much medication, shrinks are giving this stuff out like candy.

Quoted for truth. I remember back in 2000 going to my GP for depression symptions and he quickly writes out a perscription for some pills. Just said; "Here, try these and come back and see me in a month." No comments of we'll set you up with some psycologist. Looking back that disturbed me.

It was only after some extensive research on antidepressents did i wise up and throw my pills in the garbage. These drugs are fast tracked to the market and have little long term studies. It's no wonder drugs are being pulled off the market.

Too me it's the easy way to treat depression. More often than not talk therapy will cure the problem.

BlackArcher101 · 04-17-2008, 10:11 PM

nm

Thor · 04-17-2008, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotze

Makes you wonder why some drugs are legal and others are not

Quoted for truth.

Temporary_User · 04-17-2008, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuzzardsWife

Ask your doctor to put you on Welbutrin as well as effexor. They are finding this combination works great, you get back your orgasm and your feeling of well being. My friend read something about it and told her doctor and she switched and she said the combination is amazing, she hasn't been so happy (or horny) in years. Hope you at least look into it. NEVER EVER decide to ween yourself off this drug without a doctor's advice. You can have a fatal seizure~and it does happen.

Does she have a #?

Momo · 04-17-2008, 10:52 PM

I'm probably going to come off a little biased, since I will be a pharmacist soon, but while these side effects can occur, they don't happen to everyone. They also don't occur with every antidepressant out there. If you are having problems, you need to talk to either your doctor or pharmacist about it. If you truly have depression there is probably something out there that can help you... it just might take some time to find it.

As for trying to get off of it, your doctor or pharmacist should be able to help you devise a plan to help you do so. How it is done depends on your dose. It is not wise to just skip doses, especially if it is giving you those kind of side effects.

Antidepressants can and do work for some people. They are not universally bad drugs. They are prescription medications for a reason.

dissentowner · 04-17-2008, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuzzardsWife

Ask your doctor to put you on Welbutrin as well as effexor. They are finding this combination works great, you get back your orgasm and your feeling of well being. My friend read something about it and told her doctor and she switched and she said the combination is amazing, she hasn't been so happy (or horny) in years. Hope you at least look into it. NEVER EVER decide to ween yourself off this drug without a doctor's advice. You can have a fatal seizure~and it does happen.

Thanks for the advice about the Welbutrin, will ask about that. Thanks to everyone else too who posted, glad I am not alone on this one! I am definitely going to look into weaning off of this stuff, I have not had depression issues for a long time now and can't see anything in my life currently (except the damn Flames losing,lol) that would call for me to be on it anymore. Will talk to my doctor about getting off it.

Dion · 04-17-2008, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Momo

Antidepressants can and do work for some people. They are not universally bad drugs. They are prescription medications for a reason.

Then why was the anti-depressant drug Remeron pulled off the market by Health Canada? Truth is there's no long term studies done on by drug manufactuers. It's left to the GP's to report any life threatening side effects.

Momo · 04-18-2008, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dion

Then why was the anti-depressant drug Remeron pulled off the market by Health Canada? Truth is there's no long term studies done on by drug manufactuers. It's left to the GP's to report any life threatening side effects.

I think you may be mistaken here, as Remeron has never been pulled off the market.

Drug manufacturers absolutely do do long term studies on drugs. All drugs must go through phase I, II, and III trials (done on increasingly larger numbers of people) before being allowed on the market. Most side effects are found during phase I and II trials. The problem is that these trials are done on a limited number of people. The target population, for example, the population of depressed patients, will always be more than the number of volunteers/patients for each clinical trial. It's a matter of statistics that the rarer side effects often don't show up until phase IV trials (post-market). It's unfortunate, but it is reality. Also, life-threatening side effects can and do occur with some drugs during clinical trials before they make it to market. Usually, this means the drug never makes it to market.