Effexor withdrawl

[pie]

As you may or may not know from my 'My coil is still in and I'm pregnant' thread, my now 8 week pregnancy is totally unplanned. At the time of finding out I was pregnant I was on a does of 225mg of the anti - depressant Effexor. Obvioulsy I have been cutting down with a view to cutting it out completely. About a week ago I was down to 75mg but was having trouble keeping that down due to morning sickness. About 4 days ago I cut down to 37.5mg, but for the past three days I have not been able to keep it down at all.

Since yesterdday I've been hearing sounds like electric shocks (which actually make my head jolt) and crying and all the things associated with Effexor withdrawl. I also know that nausea and vomitting can happen.

Has anyone been through a similar experience, pregnant or not. I have to say the auditory hallucinations are frightening me to the point of tears and I'm now very worried about the pregnancy. Although this baby is not planned I very much want it.

I'm sitting here waiting for my GP to ring back going out of my mind.

[Wills]

I remember the electric shocks but they were very gentle and also I wasn't pregnant. I went to a consultant shortly before trying to conceive. He advised that the best practice was to "come off the pills", however if I found it too difficult it was entirely possible for me to swap to something different that had already been proved to be fine in pregnancy like prosac. He explained that although no-one is allowed to test on pregnant women, those that fall pregnant whilst on unrecorded drugs are monitored closely and their details stored on record centrally. Thus from this many drugs have been analysed and shown to have no known side affects. He named prosac but also offered to lookup Efexor as I stated that I'd tried prosac and it had not worked. In the end I came off Efexor with relatively little problems but then I was not pregnant and desperately worried and under additional stress from possible problems with the pregnancy. Given all the things going on I think you should be investigating getting information from this central source (I'll try to look it up) and finding out if there were any side-affects recorded and how many women went through their pregnancies on Efexor. I admire your determination to come off the drugs and ultimately it may prove to be the best course of action but I think you should also ask your GP about alternatives that don't make your life quite so miserable and don't put any risk on the baby.

Sorry - bit of a long one but I really feel for you and this information came from a consultant not from my GP. Hope that I am helping and not making you feel worse. I'll try to find out the name of the central store of information.

[pie]

Thank for replying Wills, I would appreciate any info. May I ask how long the electric shocks lasted? I have been googling for info and seeing it said that the withdrawl symptoms can last for months. Pregnancy is hard enough without thinking you are living in a game of Operation!

[Chinchilla]

Pie - I came off Effexor in 2000 by going 'cold turkey'. I know that is not the way you should do it, but I knew that I wanted to try for a baby a few months later, and I did not want to have a 6 months period of reducing the drugs, and then another few months' wait before I could start trying.

Anyway, for two weeks, I got what I described as a brain twitch! It felt like my brain was contracting in my head every so often, and was very disconcerting. Other than that, there were no major side-effects, although I suppose I must have felt unwell - I just can't remember. As I said, it disappeared after two weeks. HTH

[mmjfarrell]

Dear Pie, I've just registered with this site and was very interested to read about your worries about Efexor and Pregnancy. I am taking a similar ssri anti-dep called seroxat and have just discovered I am five weeks pregnant. I have tried to come off seroxat before but have only managed to tolerate the side-effects (exact same as you describe) for a couple of days before giving in and going back on the drug. I'm not sure I would be able to cope with the withdrawal side effects now while being pregnant. I have been taking it two years now. I am terrified of going to see a doctor because I'm afraid they are going to be mad with me for not taking precautions against pregnancy while I'm on this drug. How are you getting on? I'm sure you're doing brilliantly and I know this thread is some months old but I'd really like to know!!!

[WideWebWitch]

mmjfarrell, hi, welcome to mumsnet. There was a discussion on pregnancy and Seroxat recently here which might be helpful.

[pie]

Hi mmjfarrell

Welcome to mumsnet and congratulations on your pregnancy!!

Please don't worry about going to your doctor, these things happen. I had a coil in and still managed to get pregnant. I don't know about the withdrawl effects of seroxat, but my withdrawl sypmtoms on Effexor lasted about 6 weeks. It has been very hard and I've had depression symptoms returning, but then pregnancy itself can be very hard sometimes.

The side effects became less week by week until I suddenly noticed that there were non at all. It really is a case of sticking to it though - it does get better!

But I'm nearly 25 weeks gone and the baby looks fine, so it will all be worth it.

You aren't the only one on mumsnet who has been taking seroxat there is a more specific thread here , it would be good to hear all the latest form them as well actually.

What dose are you on btw?

[susanb]

Hi pie

I came off Effexor about 8 months ago after taking 150 mg for nearly 2 years. I'm afraid to say that I had rotten withdrawal symptoms when I attempted to come off it too quickly and I ended up reducing it over a matter of months. However, obviously in your situation you want to come off it quickly so you'll probably have to put up with some symptoms but within days these should pass. I remember feeling as though my head wasn't attached to my body; every time I turned my head it seemed to take the rest of me a few seconds to 'catch up'. I also felt sick, headachey, etc.

[pie]

Thanks Susanb, its an old thread been resurrected and I've actually been off totally for 17 weeks now. The only real side effect that annoyed me was the auditory hallucinations. But coming off 225mg in 4 weeks did do my nut