Rybee, did it work for you at all?. I mean that is a crazy high dose......I think if I got to 225 and still felt nothing after twelve weeks I would be on my way to weaning and trying something else.
Well I was diagnosed with both Major Depressive Disorder, and Generalised Anxiety Disorder and put on Venlafaxine to 'treat' both of these. Whenever I had a review and stated that nothing had improved I was told "that's fine - we just need to increase your dose." The doctor was so incompetent that they didn't realise that 300mg was regarded as the maximum dose, but an increase to 337.5mg or 375mg could be made in exceptional cases. Nevertheless, once I got to 375mg and things had still not improved, I got the same answer "that's fine - we just need to increase your dose." So I ended up on 412.5mg...
As for the depression? No it didn't do anything. For the anxiety, yes it did. But interestingly, both for the same reason.
At such a disgustingly high dose I slept for 20 hours per day. For the other 4 hours of the day I just sat there monged out not talking to anyone. I suffered from so much fatigue and lack of concentration that it wasn't safe for me to drive in case I fell asleep at the wheel. I had to withdraw from my degree because I couldn't study. I didn't have enough energy to even eat my breakfast/lunch/dinner so they ended up being swapped for high calorie soups, and sugary fluids so I could still get as much energy as possible.
When I was 'reviewed' for my MDD... and I say 'reviewed' - by this I mean I was given a
PHQ-9 Test to fill in. To which I scored 20-27 and was thus still given a diagnosis as 'Severely Depressed.'
When I was 'reviewed' for my GAD... and again, I say 'reviewed' - by this I also mean that I was given another, though slightly different,
GAD-7 Test to fill in. To which I scored 0-4 indicating that I was no longer diagnosed with 'GAD.'
To which, my doctor had proclaimed to have 'treated and cured' my anxiety looking around the room for my family to congratulate her and tell her how we would forever be in her debt. She acted as if she had cured terminal cancer.
She had no knowledge of MDD or GAD, she had no knowledge of Venlafaxine and how it works on different neurotransmitters at different doses. She had merely drugged a patient to death with a very dangerous drug to levels that would tranquillise an Elephant.
OF COURSE I no longer suffered with anxiety. It was impossible to feel any level of anxiety after being tranquillised by a drug at a dose that was prescribed above its licensed limit. She hadn't 'treated' or 'cured' anything. My depression had worsened, and my anxiety had lessened because the bitch had literally drugged me to death. And I say that not so lightly, because she also prescribed me Tramadol to use for migraines.
At the time I couldn't tell you my own name, I couldn't live my own life so I had no idea what I was taking, I trusted her judgement as a doctor. It is a massive rule of thumb not to prescribe Tramadol (which is effectively a Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor) to a patient who was already taking a Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor... i.e. Venlafaxine. Needless to say, at the disgusting dose she was drugging me at, after taking 200mg of Tramadol (as directed by her) I did in fact have a seizure caused by Sereotonin Syndrome.
Previous to all of this I lost my mother to cancer and wasn't so close to my father so he wasn't involved in my care much. He found it awkward to talk about and so did I so as long as he knew I was attending my appointments and being 'treated' by this doctor, he thought I was in safe hands.
After my seizure, he found out exactly how negligent she had been and he took me straight to a private Psychiatrist at a famous rehab clinic in London called The Priory, to see a Psychiatrist who specialised in treating unipolar depression and anxiety. As said, he immediately took me off of crazy dose of Venlafaxine which took 3 months with heavy use of Diazepam and Prozac to help with the withdrawals...
I know I've gone off on a tangent here but my case certainly isn't an isolated one. Speak to anyone who has withdrawn from Venlafaxine and they'll more than likely tell you that they'd rather stick needles in their eyes. If it works for some, hey, that's great. Depression robs you of your life so if it helps, I'm all for it.
But for the others... fuck me it's a nasty, nasty drug. I'll never take an SSRI/SNRI in my life ever again.
