hi nicole,
my name is leigh and i don't post to the list very often. i'm also young
onset 40/3 and would love to correspond with you on that basis alone.
i was put on effexor about 2 yrs. ago and it worked quite well as an
antidepressant, but had some side effects i simply couldn't cope
with. these included insomnia, severe headaches and inability to
hold on to my urine until i could get to the bathroom.
of course that's just 'my' experience. i certainly hope these things
won't bother you.
i do have one MAJOR objection when i hear folks have been put on effexor,
however. when i was prescribed imitrex injections for
the migraines, i read the insert and discovered that the main action
of the drug was to shut down some of the serotonin receptors,
i called my md. and said hey if this is the main action of the drug,
why are we boosting my serotonin levels? he agrreeed that seemed
not too bright and said discontinue the effexor. well, i had read
and also had been cautioned not to do this abruptly, but NOT ONE
of my doctors was willing to help me taper off.
i had to do it on my own. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME!!!!
i spent two weeks in sheer hell, but by god i did it.
so PLEASE PLEASE anyone attempting to d/c effexor, GET HELP!!
again, this only my experience. we all have different chemical makeups, and
i pray this doesn't ever happen to anyone else.
hopefully you will tolerate effexor and never need to d/c it.
i have recently ben taking an amino acid called tyrosine which
is supposed to help with depression, and it seems to have helped.
with the permission of my md and pharmacist(i've found them to be
more knowledgable than mds plenty of times), i plan to geive
the st. john's wort a go. i'll keep you posted on that experiment.
anyway, good luck with the effexor.
best wishes,
leigh
