Your experience is not necessarily mine

Just for fun, go to Remedy Find and pick a drug, any drug.  Let’s choose boring old NSAIDs (like Aspirin and Advil), and read reports from individuals about how aspirin worked to treat their fibromyalgia.  Among the comments you’ll find things like, “It bothered my stomach too much and then my asthma doctor got nervous about me using it as it could cause an asthma attack”, “the end result was an ulcer and bleeding into the bowel”, “My kidney’s (sic) starting leaking blood”, and “wound up with irritable bowel syndrome, and hiatial hernia, gerd and almost ulcertive colitis”.  After this, go to the Vitamins section, and read about people’s experiences with B12 injections.  You’ll find comments like, “I was more tired the next day then in weeks and over the next week even today I’ve been sick and had to go to the doctor to get medication”.  Try another category, something innocuous like chiropractic care.  Under the FMS section, you’ll see comments like this, “I was more tired the next day then in weeks and over the next week even today I’ve been sick and had to go to the doctor to get medication”.  Finally, if you want a real scare-fest, check out the Antidepressants section.  Someone left this gem in the Zoloft subcategory, “Antidepressants make u feel awful”.

The fact is, everyone has a horror story about something.  I know someone who seems to vomit everytime she takes Ibuprofen, so if you were given Ibuprofen for the first time and knew nothing about it and asked her opinion of it, she might tell you, “That stuff is awful!  It makes you throw up!” You could be surrounded by thousands of other people who take Ibuprofen all the time and never talk about it, but your opinion would probably be tainted the bad experiences of one person.  You might decide to not take Ibuprofen, convinced it will make you vomit, too.  I’m bringing this subject up (no vomit pun intended), because I’ve been seeing a lot of knocks against antidepressants online lately, knocks against Effexor in particular.

Let me be the person to finally speak up and say, I LOVE EFFEXOR.  EFFEXOR WORKED FOR ME.  I’VE BEEN ABLE TO TAKE EFFEXOR AND DISCONTINUE EFFEXOR WITH NO ILL-EFFECTS. Does that mean I think Effexor will work for you, too?  I have no idea… that’s between you and your doctor.  I’d never sit here and post that Effexor will work for everyone with no side-effects, yet I’m finding others who won’t hesitate to say the opposite, to imply that Effexor is a dangerous medication which no one should take, simply because their own experience with it wasn’t a positive one.  Last year, a friend was prescribed Effexor, and her co-worker said to her, “You shouldn’t take that—I’ve read that it’s dangerous!” Was the coworker a doctor or related to a doctor or had she even tried Effexor herself?  No.  However, she still felt qualified to try to scare someone in emotional crisis, to convince them against taking a medicine which might be helpful.  Last week, I dealt with two different people who need antidepressants, but are convinced from things they read online that Effexor (or other antidepressants) will make them fat or alcoholics or any number of other things.

The horror stories are bizarre and irresponsible.  Just because you had a bad experience with something, doesn’t mean others will.  If you have a bad experience, please write about and relate what happened to you, but don’t attempt to convince people that your experience is universal.  I could tell you nasty things about Wellbutrin, because I only lasted 48 hours on it and my doctor pulled me off it in a panic, but my reaction to Wellbutrin was unique to me, and means nothing to anyone else.  I might have wanted to vent about it if I’d had a blog at the time, but I wouldn’t have assumed that Wellbutrin was bad for everyone.

I linked to RemedyFind to show that someone, somewhere, has a horror story about something.  I think it’s great that there are so many online avenues for personal research, but please take what you read with a grain of salt, and don’t let fear stop you from trying a treatment which might lead to a happier, healthier life.  I read a great quote on another forum, and this is a perfect place to reproduce it:  Proceed with caution, but proceed. 

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I want to add that I’m currently on Cymbalta, not Effexor, but it’s not because anything was wrong with Effexor (except the price).  Cymbalta has a similar formulation to Effexor, and I decided to try it in hopes I can take a lower dosage of it, still have it be effective, and save money.  It’s an experiment in progress.

Posted by on 09/12 at 10:07 AM

  1. The great summary I’ve heard: Your body, your chemistry set.

    It’s very true. My doc still has no idea how to treat my embarrassing rashes (spots on my boobs- no itching in public!). I just try very hard not to itch and they go away after 2 weeks. Treating them with various things leaves scars and other nasty side effects. Hydrocortisone cream 2.5% for instance guarantees insomnia for 48 hours. Not fun. Benadryl cream just makes the rash grow. Pointless. If only I could figure out what the heck CAUSES them.

    Posted by Georg  on  09/13  at  12:59 AM

  2. Point taken and I do try to present both sides if I have both sides to present.  I believe is sharing info to make an informed decision.

    I have taken you comment and turned it in to a post to make everyone aware of the good side of Effexor

    Deb

    Posted by Deb  on  09/13  at  06:46 AM

  3. Georg, that’s a freaky sounding rash.  Do you figure that you’re also allergic to the dyes and fragrances in the ointments you’re using, which is why they don’t help?  Have you tried any homemade, natural remedies (like aloe or cucumber or any of the other odd suggestions you can find online for treating poison ivy)?  You need to figure out what sort of natural remedy the pioneer women used for their boob rashes.  I think they edited that part out of the “Little House” books.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  09/15  at  09:37 PM

  4. Hello Leigh-Ann
    Love this topic as I have taken Prozac for about 5 years.  My psychiatrist calls prozac Vitamin P, which cracks me up.

    Prozac has been a good drug for me… my depression has been pretty stable for years, with the exception of 2 bouts of post partum with the birth of my kids. 

    I also hate the stigma of taking meds… I hate the idea of ‘needing’ meds, truly.  But prozac has really chilled me out… true I am not as much of a drama queen grin, and I sometimes feel ‘dulled’ by the drug, but I am also less friggin serious all the time, and haven’t ‘hung out in bed’ for days in a long time.

    Antidepressants aren’t for everyone, however, sometimes they really make a difference in a person’s quality of life.

    Posted by Kristine  on  10/18  at  04:05 PM
    5. Page 1 of 1 pages

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