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As promised, my successful tapering off Effexor (Venlafaxine)
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Nov 2 2:20pm | Replies (199)Comment receiving replies
I thought so too, 30 years ago, when a female psychiatrist started me on a guinea-pig season of psychotropic meds. that caused me to have 12 auto accidents, totaled 1 car in broad daylight, and messed with my blood pressure and overall equanimity. A pioneer physician in AA had warned me to watch out for medically prescribed anti-depressant/anti-anxiety dependency over time, for he himself prescribed those meds. for himself, when alcohol stopped working. 25 years later, a brilliant but compassionate therapist suggested that prolonged usage of these drugs, with which he was familiar as a retired psychopharmacology professor at med. school, could build a level of tolerance in the brain that was the same as chemical dependency (AKA addiction). He was also a mindfulness practitioner who supported me in being weaned off Effexor (venlafaxine) after 30 years. Thank Heaven, Ha Shem, or Bodhisattva for this therapist! As a result, at age 76 I have more energy, self-esteem, & passion for life than when I was 46! Lest we forget, Michael Jackson & so many other Hollywood celebrities & White House occupants like Betty Ford trusted their physicians to prescribe responsibly. You know that Michael Jackson od'd on a horse drug prescribed by his live-in physician. Thank God, Betty Ford woke up to her chemical dependency & founded the Betty Ford Center. I was not ready to heed Dr. Paul O.'s warning in 1993. Suicidal depression, 10 days in a loony bin, & 12-15 auto accidents later convinced me to be weaned off anti-depressant, anti-anxiety, & mood stabilizer meds. slowky over a 5-year period. A word to the wise is sufficient.
Replies to "I thought so too, 30 years ago, when a female psychiatrist started me on a guinea-pig..."
Glad you found this offering helpful. Hope that whatever your illness - physical, mental, spiritual - you are alwaysworthy to choose life and sanity over the destructive force of the illness. My trust in a Power greater than myself tells me that I along with this Power can overcome illness. I'm a 52-year survivor of cancer and and now a recent survivor in my case of medically overprescribed venlafaxine for 30 years. I thank this Higher Power for giving me the opportunity to recover from psychotropic drug dependency & codependency over people, places, things I am powerless over. I do have the power, though, to take care of myself and just say no to irresponsible physicians who have no understanding of the side effects of the medications they prescribe over time; even if they do, they choose not to share their knowledge with their patients. Deoressives out there: You do have the power to partner with a compassionate psychiatrist in your treatment plan and the monitoring of your prescriptions & their side effects which multiply & change over time. Please don't make your docs your gods. We are all just human beings who need to listen to our body, mind, and soul. That takes work - a lifetime! If you are not for yourself who is for you? Your 15-minuteZoom practitioner? Think again...miover which
So far, I've been off venlafaxine entirely about a week. I don't have side
effects to the extent that you describe. The weaning process has taken me
3-4 years, based on my trust and collaboration with 2 practitioners who a.
Confirm a practical/ medical relationship between spiritual practice and
mental/physical health. b. Both happen to be male, have a mindfulness
practice in their own lives or have an ongoing physical/emotional/spiritual
relationship with a Power greater than themselves. They understand me and
nod their heads when I describe my inborn resistance to authority, the love
& acceptance I've found in 12-Step programs all over the world for 36.5
years - starting in HI in 6/'87. Feel free to email for more on this, if
you care to learn more. Will never forget a talk I heard in Honolulu, 1988
from a cancer surgeon with a spiritual approach to all illness. Dr. Bernie
Siegel, the author of "Love, Medicine, & Miracles" & other inspirational
books & media on how to heal ourselves, Hay House, concluded that talk with
this: "My cancer patients taught me this: The quickest way to recovery is
daily spiritual practice. The cancer patients who healed long-term were
either members of AA, Al-Anon, or a 12-Step support group. If you don't
already have an alcoholic or addict in your family, get one." There's humor
in this, yes. But also truth & wisdom. It's taken me a lifetime to wake up
to life, accept who I am, others who they are, and do my best to trust God,
clean house, and help others, 1 day at a time. Good luck and God bless!
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tgalpin1974
Hi - I am too a victim of *Effexor / * Venlafaxine in UK. (Ref Car use - meds guidance is serious about not driving if drugs make you feel unwell). I took 4 yrs to titrate off from Ven @ 75mg downwards. I STILL, get 95% of side effects, over 1 yr after stopping. With such a long time on this drug, did you get **such "legacy" effects? post stopping?? I cannot get any (specific to) Effexor / Ven user feedback on **this issue. principally , with "brain fog" & narcoplexy. Did these legacy / side effects endure with you after cessation & for how long? I have read 3 to 5 yrs after stopping such effects can last ! regards