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The Effexor Effect

A Discontinuation Log

Created on 2006-09-11 23:25:20 (#11124222), last updated 2009-04-14

114 comments received, 55 comments posted

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Name:	brain_shivers

Bio

This journal is dedicated to my experience with Effexor XR from the day I began to take it and the days, months and years that followed and mostly to the withdrawal symptoms of this drug and why they occur.

It is also dedicated to people who have taken this drug and those that are thinking about taking it. Hopefully, using this journal as a reference will help you make that ultimate decision.

useful links

ANTIDEPRESSANT FACTS - MUST READ
FDA pdf on Effexor pointed to withdrawal symptoms
How a dysfunctional medical-pharmaceutical complex causes and perpetuates unnecessary harm - by Dr. Jay S. Cohen
Effexor Withdrawal
Emotional Healing - Effexor Withdrawal
Symptoms and Strategies
Support Discussion Board - Effexor
People's Pharmacy: Effexor withdrawal can be miserable
Effexor withdrawal induces Fibromyalgia
Natural Cure - Amoryn
Discontinuation Effects are NOT Relapse
FDA Alert: Effexor warnings added for neonatal adverse effects and suicidality risk

a quote by a nursing student:

"Depression is often a result of lack of serotonin, dopamine and other neuro-transmitters in your brain. These transmitters pass signals from brain cell to brain cell. Sertotonin and dopamine are responsible for regulating mood and emotion.

Normally, the brain recycles these transmitters...that is, once they pass from one nerve to another and do their job, they turn back around and go through the transmission again. This is referred to as "reuptake" and ultimately lowers the concentration and effectiveness of the transmitter.

Anti-depressants like Effexor work by removing the recycling mechanism, blocking the reuptake process. This makes the transmitter stronger. The increased strength of the transmitter increases activity in the part of the brain which it effects, which in this case is the part of the brain that produces happy feelings.

When you stop taking Effexor, the "block" that has been placed in the return pathway of the transmitter is removed. This can have an effect like opening a floodgate. A concentraton of transmitters has built up behind the block, and this concentration is suddenly flooding into your brain. It is confusing because although it HELPS your mood to have MORE serotonin, it becomes counter-productive when there is this sudden increase that happens with withdrawal. This flood of transmitter produces a concentrated rise in the excitability of nerve cells. These nerve cells in your brain are suddenly dealing with more transmitter being circulated, which increases the rate and number of electrical impulses whizzing around in your brain.
In other words, there is a very unnatural amount of electrical activity going on. I think this is why the effects feel so "zappy" and so much like electric shocks.

Also, I know that too high a concentration of dopamine causes what they call "overactive brain"...hallucinations, difficulty telling reality from imagination. This is probably what causes the vivid dreams and nightmares."

SOURCE

"When discontinuing an SSRI-AntiDepressant, serotonergic activity dramatically decreases because the neurons aren't able to communicate properly with each other anymore. As a result of this decreased serotonergic activity, side-effects occur, which are falsely defined as "withdrawal side-effects."

READ MORE:
SIDE EFFECTS - WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SSRI'S TAKE OVER (A *MUST* READ)

"I think the most important question to ask oneself when Effexor XR [or any other antidepressant] comes into the picture is if you're ready to commit to taking it for the rest of your life and accepting the brain damage it will cause." - me.

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