5 ms·
When I stopped taking Venlafaxine (Effexor), the side-effects were immensely unpleasant. Brain zaps, panic attacks, hypersensitivity to light, barely any cognit
by kmm 8y ago
When I stopped taking Venlafaxine (Effexor), the side-effects were immensely unpleasant. Brain zaps, panic attacks, hypersensitivity to light, barely any cognitive function. My psychiatrist was a sweet lady, but she did not appear to understand how tough it was for me. It boggles my mind she did not get it, she must have had so many patients stop with the medication, did she just not take any of them seriously?
In the end, I opened up the plastic casing of the pill, which turned out to contain a few dozen grains. Over the course of 2-3 weeks, I took a few grains less every day, until I was completely done with them. I don't know if you're allowed to do that, maybe there is no guarantee that every grain contains the same amount of medication? I'm not a fan of tampering with medication, but I didn't feel like I had a choice.
- mattyb678 8y agoEven if I’m just a few hours late taking my Effexor I start getting brain zaps. They are terrible. I’m not looking forward to ever having to go off it
- adyavanapalli 8y agoHow the flying heck did your psychiatrist let you stop taking your medication cold turkey? There's usually a weaning off process for any sort of psychiatric drug.
- darpa_escapee 8y ago> I don't know if you're allowed to do that, maybe there is no guarantee that every grain contains the same amount of medication? There are entire fields of material science dedicated to this problem. Generally, if a single pill is metered into smaller doses, resources went into ensuring that each dose is metered accurately. The grain form was probably for absorption or time-release.
- tachyonbeam 8y agoIt may be that most psychiatrist don't follow patients long term, or that when things don't go well for a patient, they stop seeing that psychiatrist, and so they don't hear about bad withdrawals very often. Crazy idea, but maybe psychiatrists should take antidepressants for a short bit as part of their training. It would give them some perspective.