This worked for James

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http://tribes.tribe.net/83fdf167-7eea-4 ... 591361db15

I was on Effexor for years, a few years ago and I had a hellish time coming off of it. In fact, I was not able to. I'm in the healthcare profession, so I have access to journal articles and such, so I did my own research. I found a hot-off-the-press journal article examining the so called "discontinuation syndrome." Why don't they just call it what it really is: withdrawal? Anyhow, this article noted 5 or so case studies of research done by a psychiatrist and he noted that because Effexor and Paxil have such short half-lives, they they are more likely to cause the "withdrawal." So while tapering the Effexor, he replaced it with a 5 day course of Prozac as its half-life is much longer and this managed to decrease and/or prevent the withdrawal in his patients.

Anyhow, I brought the article to my doctor and she prescribed me a 5-day course and I was able to come off of Effexor and switch to Serzone with ZERO problems! She has used this with many other patients and has passed the info along to her colleagues. She often used to thank me and tell about all of the people she was able to help.

Now the discontinuation syndrome is well documented (it was not even on the radar back then) and I believe many docs that know their pharmacotherapy use this approach as well as adding a benzodiazepine for 1 week during the transition.

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The Road Back program helped Jenelle

Hi...I joined this forum so I could share my story with anyone who is going through withdrawal from Effexor or other antidepressants. Seven years ago I was put on Effexor after being attacked and raped at knifepoint by an intruder in my home. I started seeing a counselor to deal with the trauma, and I started to experience some mild anxiety and depression as the weeks went by. Fearing that I was on a downward spiral, she put me on Effexor.

I felt some initial relief from the anxiety over the next few months, but the depression worsened. I stopped caring about by job and lost it, I became more moody and impossible to deal with, so my roommates made me move out. I was 26 years old and living back at home with mom. A college graduate stocking shelves at Wal-Mart. I lost my insurance, so I stopped seeing the counselor, but stayed on the meds because I thought I needed them. At times, I became suicidal. Family and friends were so frustrated with me that my relationships crumbled. At one point my mother told me to "get over it or get it over with."

Eventually I turned to illegal drugs to escape the hell that my life had become. I started using ecstasy every weekend, and going out with friends who did the same thing. This was totally unlike me. I never even drank until I turned 21. I had never even smoked pot. But I just didn't care anymore. I continued to have trouble holding a job; I developed problems with authority and this insane aggressiveness. Got kicked out of mom's house and lived with dad. And by this time, I had been on the Effexor for so long that if I didn't get it, within a day or two I'd start experiencing withdrawal symptoms: nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, slurred speech, inability to think or concentrate, brain zaps, headaches, erotomania, intense food cravings, nightmares, sleeplessness. Somehow, every month, I scraped together the $140 to get my Effexor fix. For seven years this went on.

Finally, I just had to get away. I moved to California, started volunteering, and started to feel better about myself. I had gained 40 pounds, so my self-esteem was shot, and I developed a rash on my arms, legs, and stomach which I started compulsively picking at. But, life was manageable. I got a job working with a nonprofit mental health and substance abuse agency, and started seeing a counselor again. Soon, he recommended that I try going off of the antidepressants.

I was afraid to try. I was afraid that I still needed them; I was afraid of the withdrawal symptoms. But I decided that I'd never know if I needed them anymore unless I tried going off. So, I started to taper down under the guidance of my physician. I did this very slowly each time, going down from 175mg to a 75 + 37.5, to 37.5, to 20. I stayed at each dose for one month until I felt ok. I would experience mild withdrawal for a couple of days each time I decreased, but it would subside.

Finally, I was ready to try going off completely. Only I couldn't. Within a day or two after stopping the lowest available dose, I was sick again. I tried taking them every other day; that just made me crazy. I didn't know what I was going to do; but now I was starting to get angry that it seemed like I was ADDICTED to this drug without knowing it. Like my body was physically dependent but it just wasn't producing a euphoric high. And nobody, none of my doctors, had warned me about it. In fact, it seemed like none of them believed me either when I told them what I was going through. It was suggested that I try adding sleeping pills, lithium, etc. But at this point, I was afraid to go on other pharmaceuticals. Who knew what other side effects that would cause. I felt trapped and alone, like no one could help me.

I started doing my own research and found The Road Back program for people withdrawing from antidepressants at www.theroadback.org. A man named James Harper has done intensive research about what the antidepressant withdrawal is doing to the body and why, and how to fix it using natural remedies that make you healthier, not sicker. I had never tried any natural therapies before and doubted that any vitamins would be strong enough to counter the effects of this nasty pharamaceutical I was stuck on. But I was desperate enough to try anything.

I purchased the nutritional kit suggested on the web site. I followed the instructions in Mr. Harper's book, and lo and behold, I felt alright. In fact, I felt better than ever. The brain zaps subsided. The nausea was gone. My mood was stable and I was HAPPY with life. I had energy, I felt confident and relaxed. It was wonderful. The program isn't easy though. It's a little expensive (nowhere near as expensive as Effexor though). You really have to follow the directions to a T, and it's very inconvenient. But if you're where I was, you'll be willing to give it a shot.

I'm not saying it will work for everyone, but I was able to get off of Effexor XR after taking it for seven years. I kept working while I did it. I maintained my life. This drug could not destroy me.

Now I am facing a bigger challenge: fully healing the damage done to my body by Effexor. But my success with The Road Back has convinced me of the power of safe, natural medicine. I no longer trust regular doctors and their drugs, because half the time they don't even know what the full implications of what they're prescribing are. Only the drug companies really know, and they're not telling. Our system of medicine is broken. Doctors spend ten minutes with you, prescribe you a drug to cover up your symptoms, and the root cause never gets fixed. And most likely, the medicines they prescribe make you sick in other ways. The body is a whole system. You can't take a chemical to alter your brain without affecting your liver, heart, kidneys, adrenals, bones, and everything else. This is why these drugs make us so sick.

So now, I am working with a naturopath to heal my body and detoxify. This is pretty tough (and expensive); I am still experiencing some depression, anxiety, nervousness, tremors almost like parkinson's disease, panic attacks, etc. My blood sugar is all over the place, my heart flutters, I can't sleep very well, and my blood pressure was high at my last checkup (I am only 32 and have NEVER had high blood pressure in my life). I am still nowhere close to the person I was before Effexor. But, I'm no longer paying Wyeth to ruin my life pill by pill. Nobody should.