surfer girl Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 OK, so, i have been on effexor for 18 years, have come off a couple of times - first time i was off for 6 months and then crashed, next time 3 months and then 2 weeks, and then crashed when down to 37.5 mg. I am currently on 225mg and feel FLAT - have no motivation, no real enjoyment, but wonder if that is me just expecting medication should keep me feeling fantastic. When i have crashed I have wondered if it was a 'withdrawal' or a relapse - i have been lucky in that each time i have reinstated or updosed i have stabilised. But i have always wondered if i was to change to a different med if the symptoms I had are due to withdrawal and will only mediate with reinstatement or relapse and symptoms might mediate with a different medication. So, I am thinking of asking to change medication - but worry that it may not work if i change to another medication and i may not stabilise. My idea is that i would try valdoxone - totally different med, but my biggest problem with effexor is lack of libido (and feeling flat. Any comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blahblah Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 (edited) 18 years? That's a really long time. I've only been on Effexor 9 months and just went off because of the exact reason you mention. I was completely apathetic with no libido/sexual response (most A/Ds do this to me, but the SSRIs were the worst). Granted, Effexor totally demolished any anxiety and severe depressive episodes....super calm, but I was left feeling the daily blahs - flat, no motivation, no excitement, no interest in anything. So I'm taking a break to see how things go. I wouldn't hesitate to go back on it to get through a bad patch, but I'd rather not stay on it forever (if i can avoid it). I'm not familiar with Valdoxone, but I would definitely give it a chance! Never try, never know. Edited June 28, 2018 by Blahblah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianOCD Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 17 hours ago, surfer girl said: OK, so, i have been on effexor for 18 years, have come off a couple of times - first time i was off for 6 months and then crashed, next time 3 months and then 2 weeks, and then crashed when down to 37.5 mg. I am currently on 225mg and feel FLAT - have no motivation, no real enjoyment, but wonder if that is me just expecting medication should keep me feeling fantastic. When i have crashed I have wondered if it was a 'withdrawal' or a relapse - i have been lucky in that each time i have reinstated or updosed i have stabilised. But i have always wondered if i was to change to a different med if the symptoms I had are due to withdrawal and will only mediate with reinstatement or relapse and symptoms might mediate with a different medication. So, I am thinking of asking to change medication - but worry that it may not work if i change to another medication and i may not stabilise. My idea is that i would try valdoxone - totally different med, but my biggest problem with effexor is lack of libido (and feeling flat. Any comments? I'm on same dosage and feel the same way. You might get better results at a higher level, but 18 years is a long time, could have pooped out. I've been on Effexor about 8 years. What was your dosage for a long time at? And have you had any other symptoms from long term use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfer girl Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 I have gone up and down on my dose over the years. It is really the only drug i have been on. I have been trying to get off almost since I got on. I fought my psych doc going on, but i was desperately ill and nearly ready to drive into oncoming traffic. The recovery was miraculous at the time. I had had 3 episodes of untreated depression that lasted about 6 months each, prior to the episode that landed me on effexor. Initially I was on 225, then went down to 150 for a while, came off (after a 3 month wean), but only stayed well for 6 months. Previous to effexor i was well for 3 or 4 years between episodes. Subsequent reductions off i became unwell in increasingly shorter periods of time. I have often wondered whether that is due to drug or illness, i know it is chronic relapsing condition but the studies that i can find mainly relate to people who have been on medication - not the natural course of unmedicated recurrent MDD (which of course could be death by suicide) I do not take the need for medication lightly. I spent 5 years painfully slowly reducing with very little problem until i got to about 25 mg and then would become unwell - interestingly unless i forget a dose i don't get physical withdrawal symptoms, just psychological ones, which take about 3 weeks to abate. Perhaps effexor has rendered me more susceptible to depression? Over the last couple of years i have mainly been on 75, then i had to go up to 150 and then just recently decided to go to 225. But it hasn't given me the same feeling of wellbeing that I had initially. I have endured through the relentless media posts of the evils of medication, and for a while bought into it. My psych doc is good, and doesn't medicate everyone - has been supportive of my desire to come off even though it was somewhat against advice. I do want to try something else, but I think i have this little nagging fear (perhaps because of my time spent reading withdrawal blogs) that when i become unwell coming off effexor it's withdrawal from effexor and not depression and only effexor will cure that - can you sense my confusion? LOL. I don't believe i have adenhonia (?sp), but I do have apathy. I find it hard to be excited about doing anything. I might add, that I have my own quite successful business, but mainly run it from the sidelines, I have about 10 employees, so it's difficult for me to motivate others when i can not motivate myself. My doc has said that i should set aside a good month for down time in case i have difficulty - does this sound reasonable? Before I started my own business i was in corporate management, quite a stressful job - i needed to take leave of absences when i was unwell - I only say this to demonstrate that between my episodes I have been well - the differences were night and day - people at work were always very very surprised if i chose to reveal that i had MDD. For those that have got this far, thanks for reading and i welcome input Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
argh Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 (edited) Switch to Wellbutrin perhaps? Stimulating, hits dopamine so it might give you a motivation boost. It hits norepinephrine like Effexor does. Known to help with libido on its own or as an adjunct. augment the Effexor with remeron? It’s a popular cocktail that is known as California rocket fuel due to its supposed efficacy. Edited June 30, 2018 by argh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfer girl Posted July 2, 2018 Author Share Posted July 2, 2018 (edited) Wellbrutin is not available in australia as an AD - only used for smoking cessation - i did talk to my Doc about that a while ago. Not keen on remeron - due to weight issues... has anyone changed from effexor to something else and managed to avoid massive withdrawal depression? This is what freaks me out I was wondering about agomelatine - but from my research it doesn't get stellar reviews Edited July 2, 2018 by surfer girl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notloki Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Aplenzin is a branded version of Wellbutrin essentially no difference. Perhaps it is sold in your country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiet storm Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 My first thought would be cymbalta. An SNRI like effexor but more balanced working on serotonin and norepinephrine across all dosage ranges compared to effexor which only really turns into an SNRI once you hit a certain dosage(that dosage escapes me). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfer girl Posted July 4, 2018 Author Share Posted July 4, 2018 @Notloki - we can get Zyban here (same as Wellbrutin) but it is off label for depression - used for smoking cessation and quite expensive otherwise - my doc is not keen to prescribe it. @quiet storm - my doc did discuss cymbalta a couple of years ago but we decided against it - I can't exactly remember why. Interestingly, about 8 years ago, I tried to come off E - stayed off for 8 weeks and then started to get intermittent high anxiety/depression followed by a day of being fine then back again - got progressively worse and my doc suggesting trying pristiq - I had a massive negative reaction to it - had extremely high anxiety and feelings of intense doom and gloom after 2 doses, so discontinued and went back onto effexor - it was the scariest couple of days of my life so far!! it took about 4 weeks to stabilise. I feel like i have been extremely lucky to have always been able to reinstate E and stabilse - that is one of the reasons that i am hesitant to change, but I also know that I don't feel like i did the first few years that i was on it - do I risk rocking the somewhat stable boat with the hope of getting back to the 'sweet spot' or do I stay where i am - mucking through the only life I have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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