Effexor XR Brain Shivers, Unpleasant Sensations, Large Intestine, Organs of the Body, Cold Sweat

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.