Well I'll get right to the point of this update - medication withdrawl...specifically the withdrawl effects of discontinuing Effexor
I saw my Dr the other day and after some discussion he decided we should change my medication - so I'm completely going off of the Effexor (Venlafaxine is the generic one I've been on) and moving to another medication that is actually specifically for treating Fibromyalgia. The new one is called Savella. I made the name of it a clickable link to info about it for those of you who are curious and will want to look it up :)
Effexor is actually a Depression medication that in high doses has been known to help with the symptoms of Fibro - after telling my Dr that I didn't feel it was helping either way he decided to try this new one. Honestly until the effects of coming off the Effexor are done, I don't think I'll know if the new one is working.
Although I knew I would experience withdrawl symptoms, as I've tried to discontinue Effexor in the past, I think it's time to try to ride this out and see if this new medication will make any difference for me. Unfortunately the two can't be taken together, so I had to completely stop the effexor instead of a gradual decrease which is what is really recommended to come off the drug - although in the past, the gradual decrease still gave me the same withdrawl symptoms so I don't suppose it really matters much if I still have to deal with the withdrawls symptoms that don't seem to be less on the gradual decrease of the medication.
For anyone who has never had to deal with such a thing, the best way to describe it is a form of dizziness which also causes a nausea feeling - kind of like electrical sensations and dizziness combined - brain shivers or the sensation that your brain is moving around in your head or faster than your head from side to side. However you describe it, it's miserable for lack of better words.
So today is the 3rd day of dealing with it and I'm hoping, no I'm praying that an end is in sight - I really don't have any idea how long it is suppose to last and have read it could last anywhere from a short length of time to an extended period of time - I can't do extended so I'm hoping for short.
I will be calling in this week to set up the sleep study I've been putting off for a while now - I just found out last week, and I didn't realize, that initially I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 1997 - so a new sleep study is definitely needed in order to determine if the apnea has stayed the same or gotten worse - if I were a betting person I would bet it's gotten significantly worse as my chronic fatigue has gotten significantly worse over the years - a common problem for those who suffer from sleep apnea is also extreme chronic fatigue due to the lack of restful, reguvenating sleep on a daily basis (even though I sleep a min of 8 hrs a day!)........so we'll see - really right now I have little faith in the medical professionals or their solutions to all the various problems I am currently dealing with, have dealt with and will, I'm sure continue to deal with in the future. I've been putting it off as we can't really afford the test (it's a whole insurance deductible issue for us) but basically we pay full pop until the individual deductible is met - so we're just biting the bullet - if this is possibly one thing that can make a huge difference in how I feel it's time, it's been time to just get it done. On the flip side of the insurance, once the deductible is met they pay 100% for all medical needs - so I guess it's a given and take kind of thing....
Until next time - stay well and please, if your Dr ever suggests EFFEXOR for you, find out if there is something else that has very little to no withdrawls so when it's time for you to stop taking the medication you won't have to deal with the electric dizziness of stopping it...seriously, if I knew then what I know now, I would of opted for a different medication entirely!
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