I'm 29 and suffer from epilepsy and also after a crazy man tossed me around a massive amount of back pain. I also have scoleoses? haha, but now 2years after being on the same meds and nothing working, i have seen a new doctor and she is telling me i have fibromyalgia, and because of the pain and it taking away most my daily activities depression has also been a problem. Now she wants me on this venlafaxine and im already off balance and can hardly remember yesterday. im just so worried it wont help and could make my life worse. im already taking the celexa,mobic,norco,phenobarbital, and neurontin. she wants to wing me off celexa, and the neurontin add use the venlafaxine in place of. I just dont know
Should I even try this venlafaxine?
- Asked
- 7 Dec 2012 by lanay
- Updated
- 9 Dec 2012
- Topics
- depression, anxiety, pain, epilepsy, back pain, fibromyalgia, venlafaxine
Responses (7)
Dear lanay, After tryig many many medications for depression, I found one I liked. Due to my husbands insurance chaging, I could no longer afford a $70.00 copay. My doctor SWITCHED me to Venlafaxine and so far, I have had no problem. I'm sooo sorry to hear about the abuse you went through. I too went through that with an ex-husband, and it can be devestating in many ways to you mentally. Even if i's been years since it happened and you haven't dealt with it. Just a thought there. I'm just trying to help you out anyway I can. Fibromyalgia is a pain that is undescribable to some people. You hurt all over at times, and it can be miserable. It's very common for sme people to be scared, afraid, nervous, etc.. about starting a new medication. I can't give you any solid advice other than to tell you, you won't know if you try. You have two people respond so far that has had great success with it. and one is in the medical field and pretty darn smart.
You might want to try a different anti-depressant first since some people have great difficulty getting off of it. I myself have been on Effexor for the past 7 years and it has helped me like no other anti-depressant has. I've gone off of it twice without major problems--doing it very gradually. And 3 other friends went off of it without any problems. The Effexor even helped me when I got severely depressed from terrible pain and no quality of life. I didn't think that ANY medication could help with a situational problem which drives significant numbers of people to suicide. But just increasing the dose of Effexor completely took away my depression within a month. So I can't say enough great things about the medication and will have to stay on it for the rest of my life. Very few side effects.
I am also an epileptic for forty years now I have been told that being on phenobarbital is not a good thing it tends to mess with the brain and confuse you so i'm on tegretol (for my petites) and it works great (yes i still have 1 or 2 petites in the morning but it works the rest of the day) I use to take dilantin For my grandmals but my body wouldnt except it anymore and i was put on Depakote (1 in the morning and 1 at night 500MG) not many Doctors know about this med. from my exsperiance but this 1 med saved my life i stopped breathing 3 times while going into 5 grandmals in1 day. Depakote is the main med i suggest everyone with epilepsy talk to their doctor about to see if it's right for you. I have been Grandmal seisure free for 6 years now and plan to keep it that way. yes i still have the petites from time to time but i can do my daily activies on a daily bases. hope this helped.

Further Information
- Venlafaxine Information for Consumers
- Venlafaxine Information for Healthcare Professionals (includes dosage details)
- Side Effects of Venlafaxine (detailed)
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The other thing is learn all you can about fibromyalgia. Its the only way you can deal with it. I've had it for a very long time so I know what you're dealing with. Here is a very good site about fibromyalgia. www.fmnetnews.com/