Effexor XR - I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Traumatic Brain Injury, all of which?
- Posted:
- 23 Mar 2011 by outofnames
- Topics:
- effexor, effexor xr, head injury, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome (cfs), chronic
Details:
... affect my thinking ability. I take 300 mg./day of Effexor ER because it helps my cognition tremendously. But the costs of being able to think have been a significant reduction in the ability to feel emotions and a complete inability to have an orgasm.
I would love to get off of Effexor, but every time I try, my thinking ability diminishes, e.g., short term memory, abstract thinking, organizational ability, focus, etc., all suffer. I also go through a huge roller coaster of emotions when I try to stop taking Effexor; it gets so bad that a TV commercial can make me weep! This went on for two months once and kept getting worse until I gave up and went back on Effexor.
I want so much to find a better way to bring my cognitive ability back to normal. If anybody else is getting a different kind of effective treatment for cognition problems, please let me know. I will check back here. Thank you.
http://www.drugs.com/answers/anxiety-and-stress-i-have-been-taking-effexor-xr-57125.html
23 Mar 2011
Hey outofnames,
I wish I had a good answer for your medical problem. I can share a website with you that touts having the answers to developing our cognitive abilites. Try going to lumosity.com. It is a site that offers mental agility exercises that help "build" our brains. Might find it interesting at least.
You may have to take an antidepressant the rest of your life. I too have to do this. I can't function without one. It could be worse. I look at it like being a diabetic that has to take insulin the rest of their lives. I have accepted that this is the way it is.
As far as the sexual side effects and emotional lability, discuss with your doctor the possibility of adding Wellbutrin to your drug regimen. It helps reduce the sexual dysfunction for some people and may give you some emotional lift.
Best wishes,
Laurie
23 Mar 2011
I know that I can't honestly tell you that I have all of these but I have had a very complicated medical history, it may be that in order to function and to do it in a way that is acceptable for you that you will either need to use the Effoxor or a similar medication, it's hard to deal with when you have to rely on a medication to keep things half way on keel but if you think of what the alternatives and their affects have on you then I would think it's easier to cope with given the fact that otherwise it has you on a roll-a-coaster, maybe there will come a time when you find a better alternative but for now this may be the best and more acceptable way of dealing with these, they make up a very complex situation if you can just look at it this way at least with the medication you do have some positive aspects such as cognition, ability to remember etc it may be that I knw you would like to be off this it may be for the time being that this is a blessing is disguise.
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I wish you the very best, you have a lot to be proud of because you accept this and I hope that there will come a time when you find something that will even improve things further
24 Mar 2011
I understand what you are going through and I feel for you. The medication helps but the side effects I hate. The sweating,sexual side effects. Right now I am weening off. I am down to 37.5 from 225 mg. Today I am having a bad day but I know I will get through it. I know the sadness and I really do understand. I am having one of those days right now. I took a xanax before and laid down. I am a little better than I was a few hours ago. I wish I had an answer for you. Talk to your doctor and ask him about other treatments that would not give you the same side effects that you are getting with the effexor. I know it is trial and error everytime they change your medications but that is the only way you can find out what will work for you. If you are not getting the help or understanding from your doctor than find another. I did and he does not like effexor because it is very hard to get off it. I wish you the best. I am here if you need to talk. Take good care of yourself.
6 Apr 2011
hello outofnames,
today is my first day on here and it looks like i have found some people who are in the same mess i am! i have had numerous medical problems in the past years, one of which is fibromyalgia. it took years to finally get a diagnosis and but i have also had experience trying many different medications. i too have taken effexor but i had horrible side effects while taking it. i became severely depressed and suicidal. i wanted to ask if you had heard of a drug called provigil. it is mostly used for people with narcolepsy (which i dont have) but i have found that it has made a huge difference in my cognitive ability. i havent experienced any side effects and i am feeling what i consider "normal" emotions as well as the ability to reach orgasm. i hope you can find something that helps and allows you to stop taking effexor! good luck!
veeva =0)
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outofnames
LaurieShay
caringsonbj
outofnames
caringsonbj
veeva
veeva
Thank you, Laurie, for your response. You and I seem to be on the same page.
I started taking Wellbutrin XL less than a year after I started Effexor, precisely for those reasons. Now I take 300 mg./day of each. (I used to take 375 Eff. and 300 Well. and it helped cognition more, but my emotions were just too dead.)
And just last week I found the luminosity.com site. I haven't tried it out yet, but it does look interesting.
I do keep my mind busy. Now I need to get my body going more. I have started strength training (in frequent, short, low-weight sessions for now) to build my endurance so I can start walking daily. I know that physical exercise helps the brain and can improve cognition. Since getting CFS/FM, I had to let that part of my life go. But lately I have been able to start incorporating it back into my routine.
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You may be right that I will have to take an antidepressant the rest of my life, and that's okay. I just wish Wellbutrin improved my cognition like Effexor does. Since it doesn't, I'm looking for another antidepressant (or other drug or supplement) that can take the place of Effexor in improving my cognition with fewer side effects. Whether I find one or not, I do consider myself fortunate to have found something that helps my thinking ability this much, and I am grateful.
Thanks again for answering my post.
Karen
Hey Karen,
Check out the lumosity website out of curiosity if nothing else. Starting an exercise program is the best thing you can do for the brain and the body especially for the CFS and fibro. Slow and easy wins the race. The exercise will release endorphins and other feel good brain chemicals as side from help boost your energy level.
Good luck!!