Effexor XR and vertigo

This is to serve as a personal warning to ANYONE taking
Effexor XR or thinking about taking it.

After my husband and I experienced HORRIBLE withdrawal symptoms within a week from coming off of our medication, and has continued for 4 months now. I feet compelled to inform people about the risks that this drug carries with it.

This drug helped my husband and I immensely while we were on it, but I just wish that I had been more knowledgeable about the risks of going off this medication so abruptly.

I understand that the medical professional that is prescribing you the drug is supposed to inform you that you are not to stop taking the medication abruptly (which is exactly what I was told). IN NO WAY was I told the consequences of NOT taking the medication.

So here are some of the symptoms that I experienced within the first two days (there are many more symptoms that other Effexor XR patients have experienced, but I feel that it is only right to list mine):

• Akathisia - a syndrome characterized by unpleasant sensations of "inner" restlessness that manifests itself with an inability to sit still or remain motionless.
• Ataxia – Loss of the ability to move the body with coordination.
• "Brain Zaps", "Brain Shocks," "Brain Shivers" or "Head Shocks" Descriptions include dizziness, electric shock-like sensations, sweating, nausea, insomnia, tremor, confusion, and vertigo.
• Cold Sweat – The skin is clammy and moist and you feel chilled. This is a reaction to a shock or pain as well as to fear and nervousness.
• Colitis – A condition where the large intestine becomes irritated from the use of the drug.
• Dehydration – An extreme loss of water from the body or the organs of the body as in sickness or not drinking enough fluids.
• Depersonalization - A feeling of watching oneself act, while having no control over a situation. (A sufferer feels that he or she has changed and the world has become less real, vague, dreamlike, or lacking in significance.)
• Diplopia – A condition where a person is looking a one object and instead of normally seeing just the one object he sees two. This is also call double vision.
• Disequilibrium - Dizziness, light-headedness and vertigo with a sense of losing balance.
• Dysarthria – The inability to control the mouth muscles when forming words so the words are not clearly spoken and heard.
• Gastric Irritation – An inflamed and sore stomach.
• Hyperhidrosis – The triggering of an excess of sweat being produced on the soles of the feet and/or the palms.
• Hypoesthesia – A partial loss of sensation or general loss of awareness.
• Influenza-like - Fatigue, lethargy, chills, sweating, headache, weakness and palpitations.
• Insomnia – Not able to fall asleep or sleeping for a shorter time than desired, thus not being able to properly rest and feeling un-refreshed. As a result, a person can become irritable, have difficulty concentrating and feel a lack of energy.
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome – A painful condition where the either the muscles or the nerves of the lower intestines, are not responding normally. This results in an alternating condition of diarrhea followed by constipation, back and forth.
• Mania – Unusually irrational, excessive and/or exaggerated behavior or moods ranging from enthusiasm, sexuality, gaiety, impulsiveness and irritability to violence.
• Mood Swings – An emotional shifting as from a state of happiness to a state of depression for a period of time.
• Night Sweats – With night sweats you become wide awake in the middle of the night shivering and cold and wet with your sheets/pajamas soaked in perspiration making it difficult to go back to sleep.
• Nightmare – Dreams that make you afraid or leave feelings of fear, terror, and upset long after waking up.
• Abnormal Orgasm – Unable to have an orgasm with normal sexual stimulation.
• Pain in Extremity – A painful feeling in the legs, arms, hands, and/or feet.
• Paresthesia - A sensation of tingling, pricking, or numbness of a person’s skin with no apparent long-term physical effect.
• Photopsia – A condition where a person sees lights, sparks, or colors in front of their eyes.
• Pressure of Speech – A condition where the individual cannot voice his ideas fast enough with the pressure of there being not enough time to say it.
• Pyrexia – Fever or the increase in body temperature that is usually a sign of infection.

Now some of you may be thinking that I might be overreacting, but I assure you that I am not. Quite the opposite actually, I feel that there are probably more symptoms that I am leaving out.
When I went online to research the symptoms that we had been experiencing, there was little information that I could find. I went onto the website for Wyeth (the company that produces Effexor XR) and the only thing that I could find was, and I quote,

“When people suddenly stop using or quickly lower their daily dose of EFFEXOR XR, discontinuation symptoms may occur. Talk to your doctor before discontinuing or reducing your dose of EFFEXOR XR.”

Wyeth also states that Effexor XR is, and I quote AGAIN,

“ Effexor XR Is Not Addictive. Effexor XR and other antidepressants are not addictive. You cannot become addicted to an antidepressant even if you take it for long-term maintenance therapy. An antidepressant is not a controlled substance like a narcotic or a stimulant.”

I am very sorry Wyeth, but I disagree.

I have been on effexor XR 75mg. for 3 or 4 years and now I have decided to wean off. I never had any noticeable side effects on the drug. I decided to wean off not only because I felt I had been on it ample time but also because my liver enzyme count kept coming back high.My doctor put me on a dosage trail that will wean me off. I don't understand these posts about stopping cold turkey? Why? Why wouldn't you wean off? Anyway I have been taking a capsule every other day for 2 weeks (at bedtime). On my off day I do feel dizzy IE:vertigo, hot flashes, shallow breathing, extra tired. Before these symptoms would begin later in the day maybe around 5 PM and for some reason now 2 weeks in the symptoms seem to begin earlier. My doctor suggested after the 2 weeks that I take 1 capsule every 2 days instead of every other day. Because I have many pills left still I'm going to do 1 every other day for an extra week. To be honest I'm nervous about going every 2 days with out. So I may just end up reverting to 37.5 every other day then every 2 days and hopefully that will be easier. There are options here people. I wouldn't suggest effexor XR for any other depression than major depressive disorder. The healthiest alternative is to not be on anything and instead try less invasive methods such as therapy, consistent exercise etc. To each there own? Like I said the exception would be major disorder. Good luck.

I have been taking this drug 75mg everyday for 6 months. at first I was feeling so much better. This past winter I have been sick constantly. I almost never get sick and I have had every virus that has went around. now I am feeling so weird sleep disturbances weird dreams, not being able to sleep but being exhausted.. I have gained weight and want to eat all the time. I am going to the doctor in a few days and will be asking to be weaned off this drug.

I am going on day 4 of stopping my Effexor cold turkey. I was on 300 mg and taking 20 mg of Pexeva. I am stopping cold turkey after being on this medication for three years. The withdrawals are terrible, I don't know why any doctor in their right mind would ever prescribe this medication for anyone. I have those wonderful brain zaps every ten seconds, the only thing that momentarily makes me sane is food, as if the 30 pounds this medication has gained me aren't enough, stopping it is going to pack on another 30. I am a bundle of anger and rage directed at anyone within distance. I am at the toilet every night waiting and praying that I can just throw up. When I finally can fall asleep I am jolted awake in a puddle of sweat having just had yet another nightmare. And when I say nightmare, I mean the kind that have me screaming out loud in terror waking my husband. Minor daily tasks are ignored due to the fact that putting one foot in front of the other is too much to handle. I can't stand this feeling and only pray for the day that it will stop.