When I was on Effexor I lost a lot of spatial abilites. I didn´t think of the future, I felt all analytical and disconnected, sure they helped my anxiety somewhat. But they took near damn every feeling with it. I was almost semiautistic and sad. I took them for years which I dont recommend, after a few years I started having weird flashes in my head and had to quit cold turkey. I couldn´t speak and it took a long time to get rid of the symptoms. I forgot how to spell right, and that was one of my gifts.
Soon you wont even notice the side-effects and you wont even reflect about your state of consiousness. These will all come back when you quit, but I am not recommending you to take them for more than a year or two if you don´t
Effexor has anxiety as a sideeffect, a lot of people start taking Effexor for anxiety but they also build dependence. They have somewhat of anxiety because of the drug which creates a psychological dependance, they think they need the drug or the anxiety will become far worse. Which it does initially when they quit (did for me, it was hell). 3 months after quitting, my anxiety levels were far more lower than they´d ever been those 4 years that I took them. And I thought that I needed them!
One positive thing is that Effexor and caffeine works synergically, I dont know why but I was drinking buckets of coffee when I was on Effexor which increased motivation and it made me do repititive tasks almost daily, to the verge that I forgot everything else. So that wasn´t all that positive either! But if id drink that much caffeine today id be in the ER.
And the experience...I wasted days by playing videogames over and over again, I cant remember how many times I played finalfantasy, metalgear although I finished the games a hundred times. Quake live wasn´t any better, and I am not a gamer
I just got these fix ideas that I needed to complete certain stuff so things would be ok, whatever that means.
The biggest mistake I did was being on them although I never sensed that they helped. So if they don´t help you, stop taking them. You will have severe symptoms when you quit but thats normal. Some prefer to taper them off which is recommened.
Good luck!
Btw here is my sideffects that I felt when I was on them.
Shallow breathing.
I started craving alchol which id never done before the drug.
I gained weight.
Short term memory problems (still affects me today).
Trouble spelling.
GI problems.
Anxiety.
Emotional disconnection.
Being overly analytical.
Trouble shifting tasks.
Muscle weakness.
Overeating.
Headflashes.
Headaches/migraines.
Not being active in your life.
Comfortable being in a depressive state.
I can keep on but it´s hard to differentiate between subjective sideeffects, real side effects, depression and how the drug affected me. The alcohol part I am sure of, I never ever craved alcohol. I didnt like alcohol, I couldn´t stand the smell. But when I started taking Effexor, well after a few months I was drinking like there was no tomorrow.
Edited by Brainfogged, 13 February 2012 - 10:00 PM.
