Fatal Overdoses with Effexor

[MysteryChocolate]

My short-term memory was damaged using this drug and only 3 years later have I begun to recover from it. I know its definately the drug because I did nothing else very differently in my life for the year that I took it. I also had the rashes, dry mouth and the brain "jolts" and general nausea and it killed my sex drive completely. Only see this drug as a very, very last result and if you are becoming suidicial from depression and anxiety. Consider natural ways you can fix yourself first.

[DarkElfMairead]

I guess everyone reacts to it differently. I can't get off it because when I've tried, I get my anxiety back so bad. I don't care, I'll stay on it forever. The only side effect I have is a decreased libido, and mine wasn't real strong to begin with. Other people I know have been affected different. Generic doesn't as work for me.

[riteofapollo]

Yes, you who suffer from depression, anxiety, pain, PTSD are wrong here! Not the company who produces the chemical and not the FDA who approves it as safe. What a brilliant out! If the chemical harms you it's most likely your fault--I mean you do have depression or anxiety. When you buy a car and the engine fails in a week, nobody will say to you, "Ah, well you are in that category of people "car buyers" and there's a high risk they will damage their own car; we're not liable. Docs lv drgs.

[g0atsandstuff]

I hate Effexor XR but my doctor loooooves it. I rarely take it and it makes me jumpy, dizzy, and I feel insane in a bad way. I have been on it for almost two months now and have seen no improvement with my depression... it's been the same or maybe even worse. He just keeps increasing my dosage. Making me go crazy!

[desserts00]

I'm taking it right now, i don't think it helps at all and seeing a psy doesn't help either all they do is prescribe u drugs, I still feel suicidal and I tried to go off it once, it gave me major headaches and nausea and I felt worst, there should be a program without drugs I'm trying to get help it's been 6 months now, all I do is stay home and don't do shiet all day, I want to do something with my life but I just need help to get started so far all my effort is now paying off, :(

[NnysSexyAssistant]

i just took 3 today and it said "Take once daily". Am i going to die? i just want something to calm me down...I'm always so panicky and 1 doesn't work! :(

[ihateEffexor]

Effexor is an evil drug!

[rainslave]

I've been on this drug for about 8 yrs now - my issue is anxiety, YIKES! I have had some strange "stuff" happen to me within the past 6 months - especially a tingeling sensation where I scratch and then hives kick in! I then take a antihistamine and all works well. But for how long this will work I only wonder....

[afrance101]

my withdrawals were like non-existant, i thought maybe i was just getting better b/c antidepressants aren't supposed to make you feel better right away. so i didn't take it for a day andi was back to not sleeping. SO then i came home and took 225mg and it didn't do anything. Now im going through effexor withdrawal and methadone withdrawal still. I can't even imagine how much i was taking if i was in withdrawal that bad from taking 225mg

[primesuspect71]

@afrance101 Im on Effexor and Methadone right now. Ive been on Methadone before and Ive been on Effexor for 18 months now. I was on 225 mgs and then gradually lowered the dose till I was on 37.5 mgs I had to go back up to 150 mgs though because I felt so terrible. Its the most effective anti depressant Ive been on, but also the most difficult to stop.

[IsYouAthanasios]

@primesuspect71 Yep, Effexor withdrawls are some of the scariest shit that can ever happen, once on Effexor always on Effexor. It works well, but never miss a dose of that stuff or you'll be jumping off a bridge.

[Flamestar1989]

@IsYouAthanasios That's not necessarily true, I was on a highish dose of effexor for over a year and came off it in 2-3 weeks with no side effects. Many days in between I didn't take a tablet and experienced no side effects. Just depends really, I reckon a minority do suffer the horrible withdrawal effects.

[afrance101]

SO i had these expired effexors 37.5 and 75 mg. I took a 75 and it messed me up, not in a good way though. i was so dizzy, i couldn't stand up, i slept for god knows how long. my stomach was all messed up. well i hadn't slept in like 3 weeks b/c of the methadone/heroin withdrawal so i started taking about a third of the 75's and i felt normal, i could sleep,

[afrance101]

i took this for a long time and it always worked for me, i only had to deal with the WD's once b/c i normally switched to using heroin instead. Well I came off of heroin with methadone which is like a really nasty month long withdrawal anyway, i was living in nashville when the floods hit and got a job cleaning it up working like 12 hours a day.

[DoomKitty]

CBT is a great thing, I work with Psychologists who use these therapies however a chemical imbalance is exaclty that and no amount of CBT is going to level you out when you're ready to go over the edge....

Effexor is a demon.... that leaves your withdrawing even worse than where you began....

[InfinityDose]

lol what the hell? They don't control you, they're more or less a sounding board, you tell them what makes you anxious for example and the process of verbalizing and breaking down those "anxiety" triggers rationally makes you realize how silly they are. The anxiety/depression questionaires before each session are to track your progress. Google "Liebowitz anxiety scale". You're not helping anyone spreading disinformation. While Effexor is vile, there are other drug free alternatives like CBT

[InfinityDose]

CBT isn't a drug! It's just 2 people talking to you, and before you go in you fill out a quiz and add up the points to see how you've progressed since the last session. It's basically a therapy model to help you break out of depression and confront phobias/anxieties. I did it without drugs and it worked.

[FNB3857]

Hello InfinityDose. Excuse my ignorance but what is CBT? Can you give some more information on that and who can I contact for that? Thank you :)

[InfinityDose]

CBT is cognitive behavioural therapy, you can google it or read about it on wikipedia. Try asking your doctor if she can refer you to a CBT specialist, if not, then u might need a referral from a psychiatrist. You can also get a head start by reading up on it online or looking for books about it in the library/bookshop, some books are really good and include exercises to complete as u progress

[InfinityDose]

Or try to find a mental health practitioner that doesn't try forcing drugs down your throat. Believe me, it's not as easy as it sounds. I'm convinced many doctors are given kickbacks and incentives for the amount of pills they're able to push. Just my personal experience. These drugs are meant to be addictive and the more you take = more money in their pockets. What a perfect business model, no?

[InfinityDose]

Huh? Cognitive behavioral therapy is not a drug, you can do it drug free, although sometimes it helps with a low dose of something just to get you started. Maybe it's not for everyone, but it helped me realize that a lot of my anxiety, which led to my depression, was based on irrational negative thought patterns. Not all mental illness is biological, a lot of it develops throughout our upbringing and things we encounter and experience in our life (phobias/ptsd). CBT helped me, effexor did not.

[InfinityDose]

Or try cognitive behavioural therapy that doesn't involve taking pharmaceutically engineered addictive drugs. For me drugs like effexor only masked the symptoms and didn't address the root causes (whether it's social anxiety, post-traumatic stress, etc...). CBT helped me recognize the irrational negative though patterns/cycles that were behind my mood/anxiety. There are some great books on the subject, just do a little googling to find out more.

[ChaosFF7]

you should know the answer to that if you actually read what I said.

[cindiburkey]

effexor really helped me but it is not for everyone. also, it took a good 8 months to taper off, and even then I took time off from work because coming off of it was so difficult. it was like having the flu even with the gentlest of tapering.

[wis7dom]

SCREW EFFEXOR!!!! I have been free of it for 3 weeks and still have withdrawal symptoms after being on it for 4 years. I have lost so much b/c of this med. Just my experience. I would die first before taking another capsule of this crap!

[jcodym13]

@wis7dom what did it do to you to make you lose so much?

[SirLoin21]

I love Adderall. I hate Prozac. I have a prescription for the wrong thing...

[happilylil]

i really love Vilift, it's the only thing that works for me and i love that it doesn't have any side effects.

[salemramsey5]

ive been on the Effexor for 1 month and its actually making me worse than i was before,ive been sleeping 19 hours a day,dizzy,no energy,not thinking straight.

i tried coming of it for 1 day and the withdrawal symptoms are the worst thing ive ever experienced,ive told my doctor and he says its normal:(

[OrthodoxDarwinist]

First switch to a SSRI like zoloft and then after a while on that, lower the dose, then after a while stop altogether.

Take it from me, it is IMPOSSIBLE to quit Effexor once you've been on a high dose by just stopping it. Your brain goes haywire and the nausea is worse than anything imaginable.

So use the switching method. Just go to the local doc, don't tell them you're on Effexor (to cover their arse they always say to just keep taking it), and just ask for a SSRI script.

[RustyDK]

My experience with this drug has had its ups and downs but I'm off them now and the only withdrawal symptoms I had were the physical ones and a minor feeling that I needed them to not be anxious. I found that it was my attitude towards how I would deal with the withdrawal symptoms that helped me. Drugs can only do so much, you need to be proactive in your treatment, but again the way in which drugs work seem to have different effects on each person. For me it worked.

[kaoruneko16]

Effexor relaxes me but when i run out and dont have a chance to refill, i get anxious, nauseous, indigestion, headaches, and a huge appetite. Everything you eat will make you sick, without Effexor.

[Nanumir]

goodsmag you can't overdose on therapy and life style/diet changes rhiothoth

[x0xShelleyx0x]

Wish I never went on this drug. I'm still trying to get myself off it. I'm having horrible withdrawal symptoms.

[RickyBand]

I overdosed on this, don't remember the two weeks after I tried, so can't say much about it.

Took 6.2 grams.

You know a doctor is stupid when they give 3 months worth of this prescription to a suicidal person.

[PrimePro]

Took me 2 years to start recovering from this drug. Warped my brain more than I knew possible. Do not take.

[MrTsBastardChild]

I disagree. I hope someone who actually needed help does not take your advise. I have taken this drug twice. I was on it for years. It took me away from depression and helped SAVE MY LIFE. Now, on the other hand, I want off of it, haha.

[Brianmcoirc]

this drug personally did nothing for me (19 year old male), my 4th non working. it did though make me very angry and agitated. i had built up anger. this just released the valve for about 3 months. made me resent everything. lost the only friends i had. and caused damage to property . im certain i would not have witho ut this drug . my personal experience

[arcadios91]

wow i thought i was the only one. im 15 and have been taking effexor for about a month. Last week i was suspended from school. My princible asked me what my grades where and i told him to "fuck off, and eat shit". To me that doesnt make much sence. Im also experiencing memory problems like i cant remember what song i was going to play on my ipod or what i did the day before. If anyone else is having memory problems let me know

[kaoruneko16]

I am 21, I started on Effexor at 20. Since then, my memory has gotten worse. it feels like I've become a spacey, ditzy, person with a horrible memory. I am in college and I went from being an A student to a D student within three months; I could not remember to do my homework or remember what I just read.

Effexor did not make me angry, just really quiet and calm. If there was a hysterical situation I would be unable to freak out. It made me go anorexic too, I had no appetite whatsoever.

[ChaosFF7]

My advice to anyone starting effexor, Don't. I started it at around 16, im 24 now and the only reason im still on is it im afraid to stop. Withdrawl symptoms are the worst out of any anti-depressant out there and sometimes last months and from what I hear, years after you STOP taking the medication. There are alot better medications out there to try. I hate the fact that doctors think this is a good one.

[ladygirl99]

@ChaosFF7 I am glad I researched this first, I have high blood pressure, I lost weight and it's controlled now but i still have it, I have to pick up that medicine tomorrow, she started me on the low dose of 37.5. I don't think I will take it, I'm already messed up and paranoid, I don't need anything else in my system to make me feel hopeless. :(

[Skatetodeath1234]

ya, if you have serious problems where you must take some sort of drug, take valium or alplorazepam, to get over the restlessness and anxiety.

[Skatetodeath1234]

also, the whole point of overdosing is irellivant, everyone has to diverse reaction to this drug, it changed my mood so much it pissed me the fuck off, didn't make anything better, DXM worked better for anti-depressant effects, and i would suggest someone else undergo experiences like i did, changed my life... for the uttermost better, try at 150mgs a day, work up to 300mg's a day after a week and stay at 300, and if theres a day you feel good, don't use it.

[Skatetodeath1234]

Fuck effexor, and all these drugs, half of them are worse then illicits. if the depressed person can find something they love and cherish, and do that everyday, golden gates will open for them and they will be open to cherish the world, trust me... i am probably one of the worse cases here diagnosed with: schizophrenia, Bipolar II, Exreme depersonilization, Frank Delirium and a salad of other mood disorders and adhd, ocd... fuck theres no point explaining,

[smokingslime]

what is the smallest quantity thats consistent with good patient manegement!!!????

[ehouston]

annib00 i feel like that too, IM SICK TODAY..

[badboy377]

When i was at the worst stage of my depression, i drank half a bottle of vodka over 5-6 hours, and 20x 300mg of effexor xr, i addmited my self to hospital about 20 mins after i went in and out of consciousness for 40 hours then slowly recovered. To be honest I do not recommend this drug, I was on it for over 7 months, im sure it made me worse off. I was prescribed effexor xr in 300mg 2 weeks after my 18th birthday. Good luck to anyone using it.

[gi1bert0]

Hey Asshole, you are not supposed to take 20 of them!

You are in no position to not recommend a drug. Leave that to people with decades of med- school and real-world clinical experience under their belts.

If you had actually told your doctor it was making you worse, he/she would have re-evaluated your case and prescribed something else.

[tarquin08]

I was on 300mg of Effexor XR.

Down to 75mg with help from my Dr.

Hasn't been pleasant..

[augustina91]

Yes, its poison.

I decided to quit 5 days ago and I feel higly unstable,unable to sleep,restless so to speak and My shit looks more grey like wich can`t be a good sign.