Effexor anyone???

IrvineFriend · 04-26-2013, 12:08 PM

I'm having terrible hot flashes but that seems small compared the side effects I'm reading about. I also went on Ritalin at the same time as my last chemo (TCH #4) really kicked me in the butt and working is/was getting very hard and I have a position where I have to be very focused. I think I can live with the hot flahes, because the Effexor is making me tired and nauseas. I need help with fatique more than dry clothes and I can handle tossing off my hat/scarf/wig and go bald if need be.

Any experience with Effexor or Ritalin?

Andrea Barnett Budin · 04-26-2013, 05:57 PM

I am always tired. Since I was a teen. I now believe it is chronic fatigue syndrome in my case. I take a # of supplements and they help tremendously!!! PLEASE SEE MY -- WHY I TAKE SUPPLEMENTS thread.

You have a lot of chemicals charging at you, Julie. Hard to pinpoint what's coming from where. But had to share my experience w/Effexor. I had a friend who was on it, and she was seriously loopy, out of it. I told her to stop the E.

I went online and found a petition from others who felt that drug should be withdrawn from the market. I signed the petition, I felt that passionately about the drug.

Yet, others I know are on it and say they are fine. We are each different. Varying reactions to various drugs.

Let us know what you do, please. We'll be thinking of you.

Andi

linn65 · 04-26-2013, 08:09 PM

Take the effexor at night it will help with SE with it. My hot flashes are much better now and this is my 3rd month on tamox.

IrvineFriend · 04-27-2013, 04:26 PM

Thanks for the replies. I'll think about the Effexor after TCH, but I've read the side effects and it sounds brutal. More worried about what it will be like going OFF that drug.

I've never had a problem with energy. I have always had lots of it, can't even tolerate a cup of coffee in the AM. After my last dose of TCH (#4), I have not recovered. I'm taking neupogen and still have low counts, almost to where I couldn't have my last dose.

I think my work stress does not help things especially as I get more tired.

Andi, I'm going through all your posts on supplements and will get on that website and order them. Thank you for taking all that time to keep it updated with new information but I need to print it out and make a list.

I have some fish/rice to nibble on throughout the day and hopefully by Monday I'll feel better. My last cylce was on a Thursday as well, and I still went jogging/running on Saturday and had steak for dinner. Today I'm in PJs, sweating and exhausted. So excited only one treatment left!

IrvineFriend · 04-27-2013, 04:31 PM

OH, just FYI. Main reason for wanting a Rx for hot flashes as I get extreme nausea with the hot flash. About 25% of people do get some nausea as the vomit center is in the same part of the brain that controls the internal thermostat, causing the hot flashes. I was throwing up at work and that wasn't so fun. Maybe the supplements will help with that. Thus far, the menopause has been the worst symptom of all.

Andrea Barnett Budin · 04-27-2013, 05:25 PM

Yes, Julie -- very important. Going off Effexor is a slow weaning process. Even though I was crazed by that drug (super forgetful, scattered, unable to focus, feeling like my knees were about to collapse) I had strict instructions on how to stop it.

I live by my lists. Can't function without them. Have been like that forever. I smile, as my dghtrs used to tease me about that, and now -- they make lists -- in magic marker!!

Amazed at your energy, yet you did crash, like the rest of us at a certain point w/tx. You will rally. I am sure. Oh the flashes are brutal. I would be dripping wet or at best clammy, not wanting people to shake my head, or knowing when they put their cheek to mine to kiss, they'd comment. Makes you feel so icky. But I never got nauseous.

With chemo, I would take Phenergan (in '95) and for the major nausea Zofran. They may have newer stuff out there. Some anti nausea meds did not work on me. You have to find your match.

When pregnant, 1,000 yrs ago, I would eat saltines and drink ginger ale. Nausea is truly sucky, I know.

Hope you'll soon be back to an acceptably good normal!

Andi

IrvineFriend · 04-27-2013, 05:41 PM

I only took the Effexor one day, and thought it was silly to be taking Ritalin and then falling alseep in my office chair from the Effexor so I posted about it and decided not to take it again with all the other stuff I'm on.

I will bounce back, I've alwasy been strong and stubborn! Thanks for the advise!

Andrea Barnett Budin · 04-27-2013, 05:46 PM

STRONG-WILLED AND STUBBORN HAS ALWAYS WORKED FOR ME!

And my supplements give me energy. Not that I'll be jogging any time soon, but I'm perky and moving...

v-ness · 05-01-2013, 05:05 PM

Effexor is a *nightmare* to get off. i JUST got free of it a couple weeks ago and it literally took months. i had horrible brain shocks when my brain was searching for it and couldn't find it in my system. come to find out this is common. i could kill the onco who prescribed it without telling me. so i had to slowly slowly taper down and even when i was on 1/4 of the smallest dose my brain still did its little lightning bolt. it finally diminished. it's a real crap experience. lucky you avoided it. valerie

IrvineFriend · 05-01-2013, 10:14 PM

Valerie (And Andi) - My fear of Effexor was the discontinuation issues. It's supposedly the worst, Paxil being the 2nd. Patients tend to fire their doctor while they're discontinuing or off it given the hell they had to go through.

In desperation this weekend, I took it a couple days because I didn't think I would make it through the weekend. I was so sick all weekend - Tuesday (also got a bladder infection on Tuesday). I don't think a couple will cause any withdrawal (I hope) because I spent a good deal of time today re-reading posts from people who loathe the doctor that prescribed it and I'm frightened of going through that again like I did with Paxil many years ago. One woman has been getting off it for over a year.

Thanks for the support in finding something else. I will definitely research this and suggest another option. Not everyone has menopause that is debiliating, but I honestly couldn't function and I've been able to work all through my surgeries and chemo. I was back to work almost FT 18-days after my double mastectomy. But I can't function from hot flashes? The entire thing is just so bizarre to me. But I know some are like this and find out today my sister was the same. She couldn't work during chemo and menopause symptoms were the worst thing she suffered from. My family typically don't go into menopause until late 50's and 60's so it's particularly hard to be forced into it in our 40's.

By the way, GINGER has worked wonders on the nausea. I did not have ANY faith it would help, but I stopped vomiting the day I started taking it and actually ate lunch and dinner tonight, albeit very small.

THANK YOU!!!!