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  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | paranoid android

effexor made me go berserk

D

Delphinia

Greenlighter
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Messages
13
Location
Seattle, WA
to help me deal with my anxiety, my psychiatrist gave me venlafaxine, an SNRI. I told her about my failed history with SSRIs and about the horrible anxiety they gave me for the first two weeks, and she gave me enough clonazepam for two weeks.. I am to take .25mg 2x daily.

I took the effexor yesterday morning, a starting dose of 37.5mg. This was about three hours after I took .25mg of clonazepam. In about 15 minutes I started to get a feeling I remember well from SSRIs. It starts my scalp tingling, hairs stand on end. I feel something terrible bubbling up inside me. Then I cannot sit still. I mean... I CANNOT sit still. I'm in a frenzy at this point... walking from room to room, picking things up, putting them down. I felt like I was all eyeballs. I begin to feel agitated. Not just in my mind, but I am sweaty and hypersensitive. Before long I am so worked up in a rage I am swearing and screaming. I throw books and other objects against the wall. Then, and this is really hard to say now, I picked up a pair of tweezers and started stabbing myself in the leg.

When I caught a breath, I realized this wasn't normal and I chewed up 1.5mgs of clonopin. I was still agitated for awhile, but I gradually calmed down, and I still couldn't sit still for the rest of the day.

Today I am very unnerved. I was absolutely out of control. Thank God no one was home. I see the cuts and bruises all over my leg. What the fuck was that about? I have never cut myself in my life, never had an inkling to. Was this some kind of psychotic episode? Like Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons would say... Worst. Episode. Ever.

I have another meeting with my psychiatrist next week, and I really don't want to go, but I feel like I should tell her.

Has anyone else ever had an experience like this or even heard of something like this? Effexors side effect list doesn't include going bat-shit crazy.
 
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Effexor made me go absolutely nuts. I was put on it for major depression about 9 or 10 years ago now i guess which was before i was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder. These days the only anti-depressant i take is wellbutrin (bupropion) as it is the least likely to cause mania. It's no good for anxiety though as it is a stimulant more or less. I also take clonazepam 4-6mg's a day along with other meds to control my bipolar.

Anyway my experience is similar to yours. Maybe the second day on it i noticed that i became very agitated and was flying off the handle over nothing. I threw a coffee jar threw the wall because my room mate left a few dishes in the sink. I remember looking in the mirror and my pupils where dilated so much that it looked like i was on shrooms ffs. At work i damn near got myself arrested because i took offense to some remark (i forget what it was) my cunt of a boss said to me and i made a go at him. If it was not for my friends that where there that grabbed me before i could get a punch in i most likely would not only have been fired but arrested as well :\

Given the reaction you got from effexor i would definitely recommend seeing your doctor before continuing on with this treatment. All anti-depressants (ateast the SSRI's, SNRI's and other newish ones) have a black box warning on them warning people of the potential to cause mood swings, thoughts of suicide and other lovely things. Effexor seems to get a worse rep for this then many other anti-depressants and if you happen to be bipolar like me it can lead to disaster.
 
Delphinia said:
wow. thanks for sharing that, paranoid android. Now I don't feel quite so crazy :)
Click to expand...

It sometimes helps to know your not the only one that has gone through shit like this :\ . Out of all the anti-depressants i have tried which would be effexor, amitriptyline, wellbutrin and Remeron (mirtazapine) the only ones that didn't cause bad reactions for me here wellbutrin and amitriptyline. However it is important to remember that everyone is different in regards to how medications affect them. Tricyclics for instance are generally considered a big no no by psychiatrists in people who have bipolar disorder due to the risk of mania yet i don't think i got any bad reaction from amitriptyline.

When it comes to psych meds it's a crapshoot on what works and what doesn't for a particular person so i wouldn't get discouraged because of a bad reaction from one medication. Your psychiatrist should be monitoring you pretty closely during the start of treatment on any medication really.
 
Effexor made me go from bad to worse (150mg/day) . i started on 75mg a day , and have just gotten worse, mood swings, emotional tears, rage, but the worst was no sex drive/couldnt cum- but could maintain an erection easliy.....Ive since been swapped to peroxatine/aropax 60mg /day to try help with my OCD aswell as depression. Im also on Zyprexa/Olanzapine 20mg/day and feel alot better. I am able to do multiple tasks , function and keep calm at work , and if things go a bit pear shaped ive always got xanax/alprazolam on standby.

sorry to say but im glad someone else has experienced effexor to be nasty. These werent common side effects as Ive been on many anti depressents, and one stage of my life effexor helped, but 12 months later after trying it again -its the devil. If you feel you have OCD tendancies and bit agressive id hit up aropax . goodluk with it all!
 
Delphinia said:
to help me deal with my anxiety, my psychiatrist gave me venlafaxine, an SNRI. I told her about my failed history with SSRIs and about the horrible anxiety they gave me for the first two weeks, and she gave me enough clonazepam for two weeks.. I am to take .25mg 2x daily.

I took the effexor yesterday morning, a starting dose of 37.5mg. This was about three hours after I took .25mg of clonazepam. In about 15 minutes I started to get a feeling I remember well from SSRIs. It starts my scalp tingling, hairs stand on end. I feel something terrible bubbling up inside me. Then I cannot sit still. I mean... I CANNOT sit still. I'm in a frenzy at this point... walking from room to room, picking things up, putting them down. I felt like I was all eyeballs. I begin to feel agitated. Not just in my mind, but I am sweaty and hypersensitive. Before long I am so worked up in a rage I am swearing and screaming. I throw books and other objects against the wall. Then, and this is really hard to say now, I picked up a pair of tweezers and started stabbing myself in the leg.

When I caught a breath, I realized this wasn't normal and I chewed up 1.5mgs of clonopin. I was still agitated for awhile, but I gradually calmed down, and I still couldn't sit still for the rest of the day.

Today I am very unnerved. I was absolutely out of control. Thank God no one was home. I see the cuts and bruises all over my leg. What the fuck was that about? I have never cut myself in my life, never had an inkling to. Was this some kind of psychotic episode? Like Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons would say... Worst. Episode. Ever.

I have another meeting with my psychiatrist next week, and I really don't want to go, but I feel like I should tell her.

Has anyone else ever had an experience like this or even heard of something like this? Effexors side effect list doesn't include going bat-shit crazy.
Click to expand...

Hey, same stuff happened to me but not quite as bad. I basically went crazy for the 4 days i was taking it and felt like i was on some sort of amphetamine, but it did not feel good might I add.
 
prozac made me do that same shit i was cutting my wrist and tried to choke out my roommate didn't go well i was stopped by a third party
 
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