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(no subject)
Dear readers, people who clicked on my name on network, etc,
Today my neurologist decided she really wanted to be able to make triptans accessible to me because of concerns about my abortive therapy availability. This means she has proposed switching from escitalopram, the 6th in a series of antidepressants I've taken for a long time and failed, to effexor, which ... I only trialed for three weeks and then got switched and was about sixteen at the time.
Because it's not an SSRI it's apparently triptan-friendly.
I'm confident I'd stay on Wellbutrin because I need that for executive functioning things too, the escitalopram is largely there just to counter the anxiety that the Wellbutrin makes worse, but --
But, I know quite a few people who read my DW at times take venlafaxine, so please tell me what you think of it, what the onset period was like, how it works in comparison to other things, &c? Much appreciated in advance!
Today my neurologist decided she really wanted to be able to make triptans accessible to me because of concerns about my abortive therapy availability. This means she has proposed switching from escitalopram, the 6th in a series of antidepressants I've taken for a long time and failed, to effexor, which ... I only trialed for three weeks and then got switched and was about sixteen at the time.
Because it's not an SSRI it's apparently triptan-friendly.
I'm confident I'd stay on Wellbutrin because I need that for executive functioning things too, the escitalopram is largely there just to counter the anxiety that the Wellbutrin makes worse, but --
But, I know quite a few people who read my DW at times take venlafaxine, so please tell me what you think of it, what the onset period was like, how it works in comparison to other things, &c? Much appreciated in advance!
no subject
- onset period was actually better, for me, than any of the other ones were. On the flipside withdrawal symptoms kick in VERY fast if I am even too many hours late with a dose, and are gnarly. For me.
- It's worked better than other things, but on the other hand that's kind of damning with faint praise? It's followed the same general pattern everything else has, which is a marked improvement for about half a year and then a slow slide back to Really Bad, which is where I'm kind of at now. But the fact that that's happened with four different antidepressants now is, I think, kind of indicative: this is apparently a trick my brain pulls, and will not necessarily have any bearing on what it does for you?
no subject
Effexor was for some reason totally not covered in any of my eight psychopharmacology classes so this is the one I'm kind of considering more blindly than all the stuff I've read tons of research on. And I've had the same backsliding experience with everything eventually, hence all the drug changes in the past ... while lexapro is still working I'm scared to go off it, but also kind of willing to consider.
Faint praise is higher than no praise, and so far no one has said DON'T DO IT IT HAS HORRIBLE SIDE EFFECT X THAT EVERYONE GETS so, thank you ♥
no subject
Its weird quirk is that it functions the same as an ssri at lower doses, then at medium/standard doses inhibits reuptake of both serotonin and norepinephrine, and then at high doses adds dopamine.
It's possible that a higher dose is the answer for me, but I'm at the point where my GP isn't comfortable going higher and I'm not interested in fucking around with meds anymore without having a psychiatrist monitoring it so I'm waiting for my referral to go through. Sigh.
Also it's one of those pain in the ass things where it is shown by studies to both significantly decrease migraines . . . in some people, and trigger more of them in others. Which, like: in the people that it TREATS migraines in, it does as well as a lot of the actual designated treatments! But I'm concerned that it may be increasing mine. *headdesk*
no subject
I don't know that it did a lot with my executive functioning; I was then and am still absolutely balls at doing anything until it becomes so urgent I have no choice, etc etc. But that also wasn't a thing I even knew wasn't normal back then, and wasn't on my medical radar at all.
I hope it works out well for you!
no subject
onset side effects were non-existent for me, which was a first. i actually never experienced any side effects whatsoever OTHER than the worsening of my migraines and the worsening of my menorrhagia, which WOULDN'T have occurred if i hadn't gone off birth control, so.
it did not cause me the things that a variety of others (incl. wellbutrin, which, yeah, ANXIETY) did, such as urine retention or tachycardia or worsening crazy. it DID make my migraines worse, but, again, like ~recessional said, it can also make them better! being able to take triptans was a plus. it made my PTSD liveable, at any rate. it also ensured that i had more energy. it made me slightly twitchy, which went away after i stopped taking it.
the flipside is that, yeah, like ~recessional said, it has a half-life of 12 hours and some of the most unpleasant withdrawal symptoms i've ever experienced. they're not dangerously bad, just painful--shocks, nausea, blurred vision, dizziness, hot flashes, etc. if nothing else it reminds you to take it...
i stopped taking it because it was...working, and i assumed i no longer needed antidepressants, and, again, i had nothing to counteract the menorrhagia. once i DID stop taking it, i tapered slowly by 1/4 doses and had no withdrawal symptoms.
no subject
It did help my migraines but it didn't help my mood enough, and at the time I was very bad at getting my refills on time, so going through the withdrawal for a couple days most months was ultimately not worth it, even though it was probably the best thing I had ever found for my migraines. If you're good about taking your meds regularly/getting refills in a timely fashion, there's no reason it should be a problem for you though. And good luck, I hope you are one of the people that it helps you with your migraines too.