Effexor bad? | ADHD Information

I just stayed at work until 11 pm to finish stuff that should have been very easy. I just started taking meds about 2 months ago and am still working it out. (Effexor and Concerta).

I've been doing ok so far but haven't noticed a real difference (although my memory has seemed *worse*). Then, yesterday and today, I'm a complete mess. My boss notices and is frustrated. He (for some reason) has a lot of faith in me but I see it waning.

I feel like the Effexor (I started it a month before the Concerta) is actually making me DUMBER. Has anyone else had this kind of experience with Effexor? Am I just having a few bad days?

My boss will be out of the country starting Thursday and I'm supposed to function as the director of a Core Microscopy Facility (troubleshooting 5 complicated machines, etc.) while he's gone (3 weeks). He's starting to seem very skeptical about leaving. He thinks I'm having attitude (well, I am a little irritable), but I'm really just tired from working too much.. Burnout is imminent. I'm desperate. The silent scream is reaching an audible pitch.

(Do any of you have the silent scream? It feels like what the Edvard Munch painting looks like. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/munc h.scream.jpg)

ooooo.....good parallel.....i love that painting...

yeah...if possible, for your sanity and for the sanity of those around you take one day, a saturday or sunday, just one day.....dedicate it to being alone.....if the weather's nice in your part of the country, just sit outside and drink in the fresh air in a nice quiet location....if it's still cold, possibly you could take in an art museum....while you're out, tell yourself "this is my day" and just stop and think about yourself for a while. you've been working so hard, that it seems as if you're wrapped up in some short-term problems (which i know all to well....and they are created from and labled by ADHD)

also, next time you go to the doctor or whoever is giving you the meds. ask if this is normal, or call your pharmacy....they can tell you right away the side effects of a medication...

Good luck!

I took effexer for a year, don't rember much of that year. It was very bad for my memory. Now the bad news when you stop taking it, the withdrawl is HELL. I have never been through anything that bad. Scares me to take SSRI type meds.

Wish you the best!!!

I weened myself off Effexor XR because the drs. told me that someday I should be able to only need Adderall or whatever they were perscribing for me at the time. Anyway, I lowered my dose but had horrible horrible side effects. I finally got down to 35 mg daily then I went to every other day for about a month. Then I started opening up the capsule and taking a half dose every other day, until I finally was off it. However, that's not the end of the story. I felt the withdrawl side effects for another couple of weeks on and off. Over the courese of one month after that I could still feel my mood changing and the dizziness would come and go. Whatever you are planning, take it slow. Depending upon your dosage level and how your body can tolerate the changes plan on at least a couple of months if not more to totally be free of Effexor.

Oh' one other thing I have to tell you is that now that I'm off Effexor completely, I feel like I need to be on anti-depressant becuase my mood swings are back and they are reeking havoc in my life.

Hi there,

I was on Effexor for over a year and went from a low dose to a high one, I had the same symtoms as u and when i found out that i had add i had to come off it. DO TAKE EXTREME CARE when u come off it. I checked sites and some people are sueing the company that makes effexor cuz they cannot stand the side effects and have to go back on them. They should be removed as they are the worst anti's to come off. my advice, slowly reduce your med, then dont just stop when on low dose, take half if u can break them, for a week then another half of the half then one every other day and so on. I had extreme dizziness from them, it was like i was on a ship and couldnt stand still.

All in all your symtoms are typical from effexor so get off them!

Wow, I thought I was the only one with the withdrawal effects of Effexor like that! Itis good to know it wasn't just me, even though I am sorry people had to go through that. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I was on Effexor for about 8 months in 2002 after Paxil killed my libido. The Effexor didn't do anything, and so I my doctor took me off of it in January 2003. She said it would take 2 weeks to wean off of it. Those 2 weeks were the worst two weeks of my life. DON'T EVER GO OFF ANTIDEPRESSANTS IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER!!!!

I was constantly sick to my stomach, felt like I was a puddle, wanted to hurt people, snapped at everybody, ended up effecting work because I would go to the nurse's office and lie down for 2 hours at a time, or I would just stay home. Cried constantly, couldn't walk downstairs because of the dizziness. People were seriously frightened of me and what was happening to me. I almost checked myself into a hospital.

The effects were the worst for the first 2 weeks, but still took another 4-6 weeks before I felt "normal" again. I then went on Lexapro 20mg, and have been on that ever since. A year ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD and added Ritalin, and the combo has been excellent.

So my advice, echoing those before me, is to go off Effexor VERY SLOWLY. Like 3 months slowly, and write how you feel down daily.

As for the current situation - you know you can do it, don't doubt yourself! Take one day at a time, and take some time for yourself outside.

I was just put of Effexor because my doctor felt my complaints of ADD were more targeted towards Anxiety and mild Depresion. I was shocked and kinda upset at first when he told me this because it was hard to swallow being diagnosed with *eeekkk* "depression".

I started taking Effexor on Tuesday and stopped my Ritlin. The first few days I felt nothing but I did notice I felt better rested come morning although for some reason I keep waking up at 4am and after half hour manage to fall back asleep until I get up for work. Today I really feel something like the med is taking effect. Hard to describe but I feel really "Good". I havent noticed any more or less memory problems and I hope it doesn't get WORSE beucase my memory is already terrible

When I started researching Effexor all I heard were bad stories so I'm sceptical. So far I can't say I've had a real negative effect but then again I just started it.

now u just may of hit the nail on the head!! You said your mood swings are back, now maybe u need a mood stabalizer, I had same and now i feel so much better, dont need the antidepressants. there is a difference and u might want to check with your doctor.

Anti depresants made me feel dumb too. I sympathize with you having to cope with that on the job. I am going to introduce you to a more natural product that relieves stress.

Go to > http://adhd-becalmd/?id=54552 Read all it has to offer. Read about how it restores the transmitters in your brain and what is accually happening to them while you are on medications. Look into the ingredients to find how safe they are. They are very affective in getting you well and fit. Natural products normaly take more time than perscriptions but you will notice a positive difference while tappering off the meds you have been on. There is more info on the web site if you are interested and I hope things get better for you soon.

I think Elliott Smith might have known the Silent Scream. Here are the lyrics to Tomorrow (album = XO):

everybody knows which way you go
straight to over
no one wants to see you inside of me
straight to over
I heard the hammer at the lock
say you're deaf and dumb and done
give yourself another talk
this time make it sound like someone

the noise is coming out
and if it's not out now
then tomorrow, tomorrow

they took your life apart
and called you failures art
they were wrong though
they wont know
'til tomorrow

I got static in my head
the reflected sound of everything
tried to go to where it led
but it didn't lead to anything

the noise is coming out
and if it's not out now
I know it's just about
to drown tomorrow out

you can give it a listen here if ya like (scroll down):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000AEF9/002 -4427046-9043233?v=glance

personally, I think he's awesome. There are times when he's all I can listen to (NOT a healthy thing). If depressing music makes you MORE depressed, though, you'd probably better stay away from ES. It's just too true. (He was on Stratera and a bunch of other junk, including junk.)
WOW! Thanks, guys! These are really helpful responses. I think I'm going to 86 the Effexor and I'm glad I'm not going into it blindly (thanks to all of you). I will take it slow and do my best to take good notes.

[QUOTE=MCD270]

[/QUOTE]

MCD270: I know what you mean. The reason I'm on Effexor is that my Dr. (who doesn't know me and has only seen me on 4 occasions for 15 min each over the past 2 months) decided, after a 12 item scale meant for children, that I probably just have anxiety and depression. She didn't prescribe Concerta until, after 1 month, I was still claiming that the Effexor wasnt' improving my concentration and that the anxiety is mostly the result of trying to hide my bad concentration and organization from the people who are supposed to be convinced that I'm a freaking expert. I was at the end of my rope by the time I finally got the appointment with her and I wanted to cry when she said I was just depressed.

I intend to ask her why, exactly, she decided that effexor was the best option for me. It's an SSRI and also inhibits reuptake of norepinephrine (same as epinephrine or adrenaline, but restricted to the brain). Those are some serious things to be playing with.

I wish you the best with your Effexor experience, but I hope you'll research it a little (as I wish I had). And ask your dr. to explain why he/she has ruled out other options in favor of this one. It's your right to know the reasoning behind these things and you probably have more insight into what you need than a dr. might realize. Also, pay a lot of attention to how you feel every day (I know, SO much easier said than done).

Thanks so much for the advice, everyone. I'm really glad I found this msg board. You guys are much better support than my head-shrinker.

The silent scream is reaching an audible pitch.

(Do any of you have the silent scream

I'm still pretty new here... can you tell me what is the "Silent Scream"?

haha.

Sorry, Michele. It's not any established symptom or anything like that... Just one of my bizarre mentations.

It just feels like pressure builds and builds in my head, usually when I feel overwhelmed by all the work I have to do and I'm trying to concentrate and people keep talking rather loudly about refinishing their basements or some other stupid thing.

Annoyance gives way to anger when I add up all the little factoids in my head (e.g., 1: I've already asked them to do a few simple tasks to lighten my load, which is 1.5 times the size of theirs, combined, and neither of them took me seriously [I'm a girl and I don't have a Ph.D.]; 2: At least one of them will go home early b/c they have no work to do; 3: The other one will ask me in his very annoying way to do some insignificant task for him; 4: He talks SO LOUD and he's very nasally.; 5: They've been talking about how to refinish this guy's basement all &*^$% DAY (not to mention the last 2 weeks) and I've long ceased to be impressed with guy 2's wealth of building structure engineering knowledge; 6: If he weren't teaching Guy 1 how to refinish his basement, he'd be trying to 'teach' me how to do something I don't want to learn; 7: They ignore me when I ask them to do something simple, like print out something that only exists on one of their computers; 8: Guy 2 takes my computer when a client takes his. Then SURFS THE INTERNET on it while I get farther and farther behind. 9: Their stupidity always forces me to replan my day when that's the hardest thing for me to do on the fly; 10: When we need to troubleshoot a problem with one of the microscopes (their ONLY job), they don't know what they're talking about b/c they haven't thought ahead, making us look like THE THREE STOOGES).

Anger gives way to an unfounded sense of persecution (It's so unfair, etc., etc. They have higher degrees and get paid more but my boss claims to have more faith in ME?? He told me not to be intimidated by their degrees and to delegate work to them but they don't take me seriously, etc., etc. ...) until I just want to stuff a chloroform-soaked rag into their mouths and glue their fingers to their(/my) keyboards.

Then... here it comes... my head is abuzz with a special, familiar kind of stress that really seems to have a sound. Sometimes, I'm afraid that one day it will. It's so loud in my head that I could really be screaming, for all I know, and I would only know when I noticed everyone looking at me or the men in white coats gingerly slipping my arms into the sleaves of a straight jacket.

Does that make sense? hmm... I guess the whole point is that it doesn't. It's just an overreaction on my part and I wish it really didn't make sense to me.
I was on effexor befor I was dignosed ADD. I was out of it and in between

I was in with redrawel symptoms... sweating, narrow vision, dissyness,

nousia. because ......ummmmhhhh I am ADD I sometimes forget things.

It made me feel worse and had some episodes on it that could had killed

me... frequently walking infront of moving cars and just more out of it

than usually.

But it's probably personal like everything else

Wyrd,

Thanks for the description. I like that one... the silent scream! I was curious because I have a bit of one myself. Mine comes in the middle of the night, when I wake up, and my head is racing 1000 miles per hour, thinking of every stupid thing I've ever said or done. Sometimes it might be something exciting like how I want to decorate a room. My head will just go and go and go. At those times I literally feel insane, and in my own head I do the silent scream saying "STOP!" Since my diagnosis everyday is getting a little better. I'm so thankful for these meds because I may wake up, but my head isn't going crazy with these thoughts anymore.

First, I think what he means by the silent scream is when you are freakiing out on the inside while desperately maintainiing a shell or facade of norality? If so, I've been there. I have to echo others concerns about effexor withdrawel. I would advise you to arrange as much support for it (the possible withdrawel ordeal) as possible and please taper -- don't just stop. I thought my head would spin off., six or seven years ago when I got off it.
Second, I would urge you to try and dump any non-critical worries and try and refocus on simplifying what you can by selecting priorities. If you have a confidant, show them your to-do lists and tell them your plans for some feedback. You might feel quickly better about at least the sense of being over-whelmed. Speaking of which I need to go plan and do that which I've decided I want to do.
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