Chemicals and me.
October 4, 2005When will I learn that I CANNOT DRINK COFFEE? I love it. I love the coffee. But I am a delicate flower who trembles uncontrollably after half a cup. HALF A CUP. Then I start to write in ALL CAPS.
This morning I had two caffeinated beverages. TWO. And OH MY GOD MY HEART. It can’t take it. I was out with my friend and our children were not there and we were so happy! So happy, and so drinky-drinky with the coffee! And now I am trying to find the right keys on this keyboard thing and it’s hard because my hands are a blur!
Speaking of chemicals in the body…
One year ago, the above-mentioned friend and I and both our children were standing on the corner, being neighborly, when two cars collided. We screamed at the sound of the crunching metal and screeching and then we ran out of the way when it looked like one of the cars was coming right for us. Then we stood there, trying to comfort our crying children, as everyone around us screamed and ran for help and we realized that the people in the cars—who were right there, the shattered glass was at our feet—were in bad shape.
But we were okay. We were safe. We backed away; we showed our children that the firemen and the ambulances were coming to help. We retreated to our homes to regroup and try to make sense of what happened.
That night my heart began to race. The next day it was still going at breakneck speed. My heart wouldn’t slow down; my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I jumped at every sound. I kept thinking about those cars. If I had been at the corner a second earlier, the car would have hit us. If my friend hadn’t been there, I might have been crossing the street. If, if, if. I began to think about how my son wasn’t safe here, living on this busy street. Who knows what would happen the next time we crossed it? Indeed—who knows what will happen, period? There was no way I could keep him safe! Ever! In life! Because life is unpredictable!
I began to think about death. As in, all the time. Death! It happens! No stopping it!
So I began to clean, all the time. Clean clean clean. The cleaning wasn’t really working at drowning out the constant worrying and crying, so I strapped on my iPod while I cleaned and wept and I tried to think about something, anything else.
When I couldn’t wear my iPod or clean, I read the dictionary. You think I’m kidding, don’t you? But the dictionary was the only thing I could read that didn’t depress me in some way, that didn’t bring up some intimation of death. Or life—which just leads to death, as we all know.
My husband told me to go to the doctor, and I was furious. You don’t get it, I shouted! We’re all going to die!
I felt like I was surrounded by the pod people; like I was the only one fighting off sleep so that they wouldn’t come and take my brain. I had to keep up my frantic pace of worrying and fretting and weeping and cleaning, or else.
Finally, when my parents had to come and take my child away for a couple of days so he could spend a few carefree moments not worrying why Mommy wouldn’t stop crying, I thought, hmm. Maybe a doctor isn’t such a bad idea.
The doctor took one look at me and said, ooh, hello, post-traumatic stress lady! You’re nuts! (She may not have said “nuts.” Maybe.) She prescribed two things: A breathing/meditation course, and an anti-anxiety drug. First I took the breathing/meditation course. Which, oh lord, was the silliest thing I have ever done, but the first night of that class? My heartrate went down for the first time, from around 150 (I had been obsessively checking it ever since it began racing) to 65.
Although the course worked wonders for me (I would be happy to share details about it with any of you, if you want to email me), she still wanted me on the medication. So I, the obedient patient, took it. I didn’t notice any dramatic changes, but then, I was already cured, or considered myself to be.
So now, a year later, we’ve both agreed that I should go off the medication, which happens to be Effexor.
Here’s the thing. Effexor has the worst withdrawal of any of these drugs. (Except we can’t call it “withdrawal”! It’s “discontinuation syndrome”!) I have taken it before, and I have gone off it before, and I know what can happen.
But because I’m on a minute dose (see above, re: “delicate flower”) my doctor won’t acknowledge that I will have any problems, or that I need to wean myself slowly. Even though going off this drug cold-turkey is a terrible idea, a surefire recipe for physical and emotional misery, she insists that this is what I should do. Even though all evidence points to her being a moron.
So! I am now going to wean myself. And in the interest of public service, I am going to document here my weaning process. (Not in painful detail, you understand. I will try not to bore you overly. )
I’m nervous, but ready. I know what to do. I have done the research, and I am cheaper than my doctor.
Here’s hoping no more cars crash around me in the meantime.
Reader Comments (140)
It took me months to wean down, and now, over two years Effexor free, I still get the little 'brain-shocks' if I sleep too long at a time.
Sometimes I think the makers of those drugs have a bigger racket going than tobacco companies ever dreamed possible!
Anyway, I hope everything goes well for you.
Give yourself permission to be a little weird and DON'T make any life-altering decisions while you go through this. It's going to be a bit of a strange ride.
When I went off Effexor a few years ago, the exact same thing happened to me. I am also a super sensitive drug person (the "gentle" sleep aid ambien once made me hallucinate that I was a pirate) but my Doctor thought i was being dramatic. So I weaned myself as well, successfully, with the help of a few massages and the knowledge that I knew myself better than my doctor did. Wishing you the best - - -
Best of luck.
And yes, you are not alone on the coffee thing. I had a caramel mocha the other day and 30 minutes later I found myself scrubbing the baseboards with a toothbrush. Yay for caffiene!!
Are you taking effexor XR? If you are, and you want to go to a lower dose than the smallest capsule you have (37.5?) you can't just open it and take it with water. You have to sprinkle it on applesauce or something similar and swallow it without much mouthing. That way the little time release capsules don't get broken open prematurely.
Someone else mentioned that taking a small dose of prozac (fluoxetine is the generic) helps. The reason why is this: effexor has a very short half life in the body (5 hours). This is good in the sense that you get your levels to a steady state in the blood quickly, but bad in the sense that when you stop taking it your body's levels fall dramatically quite quickly. That's one reason why the withdrawl is so bad. Prozac has a half-life of 2-4 days, so your blood levels stay more stable.
The other reason the withdrawl is bad is that effexor is not an SSRI, aside from seratonin reuptake, at doses of ~225 it also affects norepinephrine, at at the highest doses it affects dopamine (the same this wellbutrin acts on). Getting off a norepinephrin reuptake blocker is very difficult because norepinephrine has a lot of physical effects. The precursor for norepinephrine is tyrosine, which you can get from various dietary sources like bananas, so supplementing that way might help.
Anyway, I'm not a doctor, so take this info as you see fit. Everyone is different. I'm on effexor xr myself, hence all the research. I think tapering slowly is obviously the right choice, but don't get yourself all worked up over the horror stories b/c that can actually lead to a reverse-placebo effect.
Good luck and hugs.
taper taper!! and if you do have any withdrawal symptoms, remember how lovely you feel for the 15 minutes after puking...sweet relief...until the feeling like crap comes back at least.
It was hell, wait, no, it was HELL! Like going thru the slow descent of depression backwards in slower motion. I cried and cried, I couldn't get out of bed, much less go to work. Even trying to phone the dr was too much. Eventually, I recovered (2-3 weeks? a month? time was a foreign concept) Anyhow, I recovered and looked up the taper on the internet. The manufacturers give a 2-3 month time-table for a taper, I wish the dr and I knew about that ahead of time.
This was a couple of years ago, so look on the internet to see what's current. BTW, I've had no relapses, I just monitor for when I get too anxious/panicy for too long and address that before it snowballs.
ps - I had gained lots of weight during the drug treatment, I had hoped when I discontinued the drugs, the weight would leave too... no such luck. I found some med journal articles on how carbs affect serotonin uptake, and decided to try a low-carb diet. Not only did I loose the weight, my mental state was the best it was in years!!! ymmv, but this was my experience. I'm praying for the best for you!
Be careful. And thank you for sharing.
You're a great lady, Alice. Good luck.
Secondly, I went off P@xil once upon a time, and I was also told that going off it would not be difficult. Then I had hallucinations, cold sweats, exhaustion, and paranoia. I'm glad to hear that you've been through this before and know better than to quit cold turkey. Good luck, and thank you for documenting the process. So many people hide these kinds of things, but I know that I am strengthened knowing I am not the only person who has had these experiences.
super. ps, document away, because we are obviously captive, as I am comment number 71, or some such thing.
Just out of curiosity--did the pill make you stop obsessing about death? I can't seem to find a pill that does that but it would be nice.