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for about 10 years i have been on a low dose of effexor (anti-depressant) to help with vv pain. it has been the one drug that has consistently helped to take the edge off my pain - i think because it disrupts the pain signals or something like that. through the years, i've gone up and down as far as dosages depending on how i was doing physically, but have been at about 75 mg for the majority of the time. anyway, since i have never technically been on effexor for depression and have been on what's considered a pretty low dose, it never even occurred to me that getting off of it would have any impact on my emotions. all i cared about is what it will do to my pain levels. but, i'm finding that for the last few weeks, i have been in a truly horrible place emotionally. i mean really truly a deeply bad place. i had a really bad month pain- wise (although, thankfully feeling somewhat better the last few days since recent regimen changes), and have just about hit my one year mark in treatment, so have been really struggling emotionally anyway. but, i have to wonder if my emotions are just related to that or if in fact weaning off the drug could be impacting me more than i realize. so, wondering if anyone else could shed light on what their experience has been weaning off anti-depressants. is it really possible that going off of even a lost dose could make you feel worse during the transition? does anyone have a sense of how long that lasts? also, did your pain get worse? just trying to understand this process as well as how exactly these drugs could be getting in the way of treatment progress. i couldn't make the call yesterday, otherwise i would have asked then. thanks in advance for sharing any insights.
I am a pharmacist, and during
I am a pharmacist, and during 16 years of my practice I've seen a lot, a LOT of people having trouble getting off of Effexor. In fact, in my opinion, this is one of the hardest drugs to stop. You have to really be super careful and go super slow, decreasing by the tiny fraction of a dose over long time periods. Does your regular doctor guide you through it??? In most people the process does cause roller coaster of emotions and some other withdrawal symptoms and the slower you decrease, the milder they are if at all. My guess is that if you are on 75mgs per day only, it may take you good 3 months to completely stop, just to be safe. As for the interference with Matia's treatment, I had absolutely no problems related to the bladder with stopping anti-depressants (I was on Lexapro for years). In fact, I was really, really scared and I remember that she was guiding me through and helping me with herbs adjustments. Hang in there, Matia can definitely help to make the process easier!
Natasha149
Do you think that being on anti-depressants could impact the efficiency of the herb treatment and make difficult for someone to feel the benefits of treatment? Like could it be blocking the efficiency of the herbs to some extent and did you notice that after you weaned on the Lexapro and were taking Matia's herbs- did you notice you felt better? I'm curious to how antidepressants impact treatment on this proticall! Thank you! Mary
Mary, not to my knowledge,
Mary, I know that an antideressant (even though it is often given to many of us to decrease symptoms) can in fact irritate the bladder, and not let the herbs take a full effect, not in terms of interaction but just by being an offender. The same way that foods that are not allowed would not let the bladder heal properly and would not let the herbs do their job.This is exactly what was happening to me, Lexapro made me supposedly feel a little better emotionally but was terrible for my bladder, so when I got off of it, I felt a big difference pretty soon. But as we always say here: everyone is different, so I am sure there are many people out there who's bladderes are not bothered by those drugs.
great help
thanks. these responses are a big help. i do think i may have been underestimating the impact the weaning process could have on my emotions. i started weaning off on october 15 by doing one pill every other day, then every two days, etc. i have now been effexor-free for 6 days. so if natasha said it should take 3 months to get off of the drug based on my dose and i'm off in about 1 month, i have to imagine there must be some transitory impact based on the speed with which i went off. and i thought i was going at a pretty slow pace! but i am comforted to know that things do eventually balance out. when you are in such a dark place, it's very hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel - even if logically it makes sense. the thing that remains strikingly confusing to me is the fact that a drug that has always helped my pain could actually be hindering my healing. natasha when you were on the lexapro, you said it was for depression and was bad for your bladder, so it makes sense to me that when you went off, you felt better. but it's hard to think of effexor as anything but helpful after all it has done for me. still... matia thinks that even though effexor has consistently helped with my vv pain, it is still hurting my healing process. i have never been willing to stop it entirely because the thought of being off of it has been too scary. so, the fact that i am now 6 days effexor-free and still standing - so far :), is a pretty HUGE step for me. i feel genuinely grateful that i am not doing this "alone." thank you a million times over for your thoughts/knowledge/comfort.
I think what Matia means is
I think what Matia means is that Effexor was a band aid for you (like many, i would say MOST drugs out there), yes it helped the pain but added to the overall imbalance and therefore negatively influenced your treatment. After 5 years of knowing her many things that didn't make sense to me then, now finally do. I am so, so glad that you are off of it now! May be you went a bit too fast, but you did it and now are definitely heading for a better place. I feel these days like a total hypocrite, practicing Western pharmacy and advising people on all these chemicals, when deep in my heart I know how harmful the all are in a long run :(
the worst for me to get off of.
Effexor. I had a terrible time getting off this years back. I was on it for depression for a year, but I had no longer needed it, I was also on a low dose. When I tried to wean myself off I had really bad vertigo and headaches. I could not even work. The doctor ended up having me open the capsule and take one pebble out of the pill ( I was on extended release) at a time and it took months to get off until I was down to one pebble. For 2 weeks of not being on it at all, I had horrid crying spells and I was extremely irritable. I have a theory that is was messing with my normal serotonin production, so without supplementing it with the effexor, my body needed time to adjust to produce its own. It was a full month before I felt normal..but it took so long just to wean myself off in the first place. You will be able to get off it, it just takes time.
pharmacist too
I have my first apt on Nov 18th and have high hope after 8 months of pain. This is all new to me since I do nursing home consulting and take care of lots of demented elderly. I am learning so much so fast so it is kind of exciting. II need help with constipation currently after being on list one for 1 full week now. I feel like such a newbie. I got my flight and apt but did not book the hotel yet. This really hurts the pocketbook!!!Western meds are dangerous and we are a pill popping society. Exercise and water are my favorite meds...altho it currently hurts to walk for me so I am learning patience. I try to DC meds for my people all day long and am educating nurses all the time.