Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: B-day, dog, depression, fibro, UPDATE....

Hey Ruchie,

Sorry that you had such a bad b-day

I hope things are looking up for you by the time you read this!

I just wanted to mention something about the Effexor. Obviously I'm not a doctor but I just wanted to give you some info based on personal experience. As far as SSRIs go, the withdrawal symptoms that people experience from discontinuing them tend to be dependent upon the half-life of the drug. The shorter the half-life, the worse the withdrawal. I used to take Paxil and I had a heck of a time getting off it because of the withdrawal symptoms...it was so bad I almost considered staying on it indefinately despite the yucky side effects from it.

Anyways, I let the doctors talk me into going on the Effexor in August, and sure enough, I had the same awful side effects (SSRIs just don't seem to be for me) and now I'm having withdrawal symptoms trying to get off them. Anyways, I did some research and Effexor is the only drug on the market with a shorter half-life than Paxil (and Paxil is well known for having terrible withdrawal) so Effexor is widely regarded as being one of the hardest to get off of. Plus, they're starting to only sell them in the time-released capsules so you can't even cut the pills to divide up the doses if necessary.

Anyways, I just wanted to mention that to you as it might want to be something to consider before trying that drug. I know Effexor works really well for some people but I feel they should know up front how hard it might be to have to get off it.

Good luck!
Kelly

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