reply to post by TKDRL
You may not have withdrawal symptoms after only taking it for such a short period. I'm 27 now, and I've been taking Effexor since I was 17. I hate
it. I hate it so so so much. If I am just one hour late taking it in the morning, God forbid I wake up late, I am light-headed, dizzy and have the
brain zaps something fierce. Also, even if I stay up really late, and it's about 7 hours away from my daily dose, I get this lightheaded feeling
every time I hear certain noises, like my mouse wheel, or the clicking of the mouse.
I also have been taking Lorazepam for these 10 years. Granted, these medications saved me. I had such severe depression and anxiety back then, I was
self-injuring myself really badly (And not just cutting myself, I would break the bones in my hand). For me, it all started after an injury during a
volleyball game that year of high school, I broke my foot in three places and was diagnosed with something called RSD. I experienced such horrible
burning stabbing pain in my foot 24/7, that I would try to hurt other parts of my body to try and get my mind off of the burning. I truly believe
those meds saved me from going any further than I did.
But now, trying to get off of them has been impossible. I feel I no long need them (Even after being in A SECOND injury and having my foot crushed at
work in 2005, and coming out of remission from my RSD in that same foot, and going through this cycle of horrible pain and my foot wasting away
again), I've somehow learned to control the depression much better. Not so much the anxiety, but I don't want to rely on medication for it my entire
life.
Well, it's been almost a full year since I started to wean off the ativan (With my doctors help, of course) after telling him that I want off it.
I've gone from 1mg three times a day to .25mg four times a day. In a year. I feel like I will never get off of it. I've been at this dose for
months, and trying .25mg three times a day leaves me unable to even sleep at night. And the Effexor... I used to take 300mg a day. I've now weaned
myself down to 37.5mg a day but it's taken YEARS. And I've been at 37.5mg for a year now, and just can't get off this crap!
I even tried taking one milligram out of each capsule for about two weeks, and taking the dose of 36mg. Then after those two weeks, I would take two
milligrams out of each capsule, so then I was taking 35mg. I got down to 27mg, and it took months.. and I felt the withdrawals. Ended up back to
37.5mg.
So you SHOULD be okay if you were to stop taking it right now, especially since you said you didn't take it for two days and had no side effects. I
mean, if it helps you.. and nothing else is.. it's worth a shot. But.. I try to tell everyone to please make it their last treatment they try.