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Ihateeffexor: Kindling/symptoms are back after drinking alcohol


Ihateeffexor

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MOD NOTE:  Ihateeffexor created a membership and another person helped her to type the first couple of posts.  Ihateeffexor is now able to post for herself.

________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Hello, 

I am actually writing on behalf of my friend who is in a very bad shape right now. She was on effexor for 1,5 years and tapered for 3 months 45 mg to 0. She had really bad withdrawal symtoms for 2 months after the last pill but then started to feel better. A couple of weeks ago she had some alcohol and partying with friends and ever since her symtoms has come back and they are much worse now. She was ok for 3 months but the alcohol seems to have made the symtoms come back, the day after she was drunk. Is this what you call kindling? And is there a chance she will recovrr from this? She is bedridden atm.

 

Thank you all! 

 

Edited by ChessieCat
Added Mod Note

- I was on Effexor from September 2015 - April 2017 (exactly one and a half year).

- I was on 75 mg the first 6 months and then 37,5 for a whole year. I tapered down 37.5 to zero in 2 months after which I had horrible wd symtoms for 2 more months.

- After 2 months I started to feel better and was recovering from symtoms - this period lasted 3 months until I drank some alcohol with friends and now all symtoms are back, 10x worse. 

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Hi Ihateeffexor,

 

Welcome to SA.  Your friend is lucky to have someone who cares about them like you do.  However, it is very difficult for us to help other people through someone else.  Because we are making suggestions which concern a person's health and well being and there may be things that you don't know about the other person we recommend that the person needing assistance joins SA so that we can support them directly.

 

I will, however, give you some information which you could pass on to your friend.

 

SA recommends tapering a psychiatric drug by no more than 10% of the previous dose followed by a hold of about 4 weeks which allows the brain to adapt to not getting as much of the drug.  If we go too fast off a drug we experience withdrawal symptoms.  When we taper slowly we may still experience withdrawal symptoms, but they are usually mild and don't last for long.

 

When we are tapering, even when we are doing SA's recommended tapering, we need to take care of ourselves and not do things (eg too much exercise, expose ourselves to stressful situations), eat certain things or drink certain things (caffeine, alcohol), which can upset our central nervous system and can make our symptoms worse.

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Dr Joseph Glenmullen's WD Symptoms Checklist

 

Withdrawal Symptoms - Delayed Onset

 

Brain Remodelling


Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery 

 

Please tell your friend about SA and suggest that they join.  We can then discuss with them about reinstating a very small dose of Effexor, to reduce the withdrawal symptoms.  They would then be able to taper off the drug more slowly.

 

 

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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  • ChessieCat changed the title to Kindling/symptoms are back after drinking alcohol

Hi ChessieCat. 

 

First of all, thank you for replying to the previous post I appreciate it very much.  It is now I who is talking while my friend is typing because I am not capable of doing it myself at the moment. 

 

I understand that I must have tapered to fast when I decided to quit effexor. The thing is that, after the horrible months  after the last pill, I was feeling good  functioning well enough so that I could work. My symtoms started to go away after 7-8 after the last pill and I feeling ok/good and improving for 3-4 months til now. I drank alcohol a couple of weeks ago and all the symtoms came back. Now I am feeling terrible but the fish oil is helping me a little.

 

I am very worried that might have done something terrible to my brain because I feeling worse every day and hour. Could I have made some permanent damage/changes to my brain? 

 

Is there no other way than to start effexor again? 

 

Thank you once again, 

 

 

- I was on Effexor from September 2015 - April 2017 (exactly one and a half year).

- I was on 75 mg the first 6 months and then 37,5 for a whole year. I tapered down 37.5 to zero in 2 months after which I had horrible wd symtoms for 2 more months.

- After 2 months I started to feel better and was recovering from symtoms - this period lasted 3 months until I drank some alcohol with friends and now all symtoms are back, 10x worse. 

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  • Moderator Emeritus

You are welcome.

 

We understand that sometimes people are embarrassed and don't  provide us with the real situation. 

 

The moderators of SA are volunteers and we are experiencing our own withdrawal and life situations.  One withdrawal symptom which many of us experience is cog fog.  We moderate on this site because we want to help people.

 

So that we don't get confused we need to sort this out right at the beginning.  I am not being accusatory when asking this question, it's just that if we don't get it worked out at the start it can become very complicated.  I hope you understand why I am asking this.

 

Q:  Is the person who signed up with the name "Ihateeffexor" really the friend of a person who went off the drug?

 

If the answer is Yes, then Ihateeffexor's friend please sign up as a member and start your own Intro topic here

Introductions and updates

 so we can support you using your own member name.

 

 

If the answer is No, please be honest so that we can start helping you directly without the complication of a "friend".

 

Thank you.

 

Once we have the answer to this question we will be able to support and provide suggestions for the person who came off the drug.

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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Hi ChessieCat. It is now I who is directly writing you. I suffering from symtoms and my friend was only helping me with the previous posts because it is very hard for me to use a computer now. You can speak directly to me now. I apologize for the confusion. 

- I was on Effexor from September 2015 - April 2017 (exactly one and a half year).

- I was on 75 mg the first 6 months and then 37,5 for a whole year. I tapered down 37.5 to zero in 2 months after which I had horrible wd symtoms for 2 more months.

- After 2 months I started to feel better and was recovering from symtoms - this period lasted 3 months until I drank some alcohol with friends and now all symtoms are back, 10x worse. 

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Thank you for clarifying.  I am pleased that you are able to "talk" with us directly now.  It will make it so much easier. :)  Welcome to SA!

 

I will add your member name to this topic and move it to the Introductions area.

 

The first thing we ask all members to do is to create their drug signature.  This is so we can see your drug history whenever you post.  This information will help us be able to make suggestions about your own situation.  Please follow these instructions:

 

A request: Would you summarize your history in a signature - ALL drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly?

  • Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses.
  • A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs. 
  • Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years.
  • Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago)
  • Spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct."; 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as Jan. 9, 2016 or Sept. 1, 2016.
  • Link to Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

 

Once we have this information we will be better able to answer your questions.

 

This is your own Introduction topic where you can ask questions and journal your progress.

 

Edited by ChessieCat

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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  • ChessieCat changed the title to Ihateeffexor: Kindling/symptoms are back after drinking alcohol

Hi ChessieCat. It is very hard for me to even look at my computer screen so I'll fill in that info when I can. Right now I am just worried about my health. I am so scared that I have messed something in my brain after I drank alcohol. I am suffering terrible symtoms and I don't know what to to. I was fine for 3 months before this. I was recovering. 

- I was on Effexor from September 2015 - April 2017 (exactly one and a half year).

- I was on 75 mg the first 6 months and then 37,5 for a whole year. I tapered down 37.5 to zero in 2 months after which I had horrible wd symtoms for 2 more months.

- After 2 months I started to feel better and was recovering from symtoms - this period lasted 3 months until I drank some alcohol with friends and now all symtoms are back, 10x worse. 

Link to comment

Hi everyone. I was in recovery and feeling better for 3 months til I had some alcohol (4-5 glasses of wine) with friends and all my symtoms came back. I am feeling worse every day now and scared to death that I might have done some permanent damage? I didn't know the alcohol would affect me this much. Am I screwed or can I stay hopeful that I'll recover? 

- I was on Effexor from September 2015 - April 2017 (exactly one and a half year).

- I was on 75 mg the first 6 months and then 37,5 for a whole year. I tapered down 37.5 to zero in 2 months after which I had horrible wd symtoms for 2 more months.

- After 2 months I started to feel better and was recovering from symtoms - this period lasted 3 months until I drank some alcohol with friends and now all symtoms are back, 10x worse. 

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2 hours ago, Ihateeffexor said:

Hi everyone. I was in recovery and feeling better for 3 months til I had some alcohol (4-5 glasses of wine) with friends and all my symtoms came back. I am feeling worse every day now and scared to death that I might have done some permanent damage? I didn't know the alcohol would affect me this much. Am I screwed or can I stay hopeful that I'll recover? 

so sorry to hear I wish I can help.hoping it turn around soon for you.

JOINED THIS BOARD AUGUST 27, 2017

 

 

250mg trazodone

250mg   Aug 21, 2017  tapering before I found SA

200mg -  Aug 21, 2017 to Aug 25, 2017 tapering before found SA

225mg -  Aug 26, 2017  updose holding

November 26, 2017. I reinstated my original dose of 250mg  trazodone..planning on holding for a very long time. No more withdrawal

June 14, 2020  at 10% 507  My first start of my trazodone 250mg  taper

6/16/20  90 mgai    7/26/20   81 mgai    9/6/20  72 mg ai 10/17/20- updose to 77 mgai  11/11/20- updose to 81 mgai  

 

 

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Here are some discussions about alcohol:

 

alcohol-withdrawal-syndrome

 

beer

 

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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  • Moderator Emeritus
49 minutes ago, powerback said:

stay away from the alcohol and learn the non drug techniques and give yourself time ,I know its  painful but don't loose hope ,you will get there .

PB

 

Here is the SA topic:  Non-drug techniques to cope

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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  • 2 years later...

Ihateeffexor, how are you doing now? Hoping the best for you.

PRN = as needed; WDR = withdrawal reaction; ADR = adverse reaction

2007: Started BC pills  2008: Prozac 0 --> 80 mg  2010: Tapered Prozac 80 --> 0 mg  2015: LSD/shrooms/MDMA once; Xanax 0.25 mg PRN; Prozac 0 --> 40 mg; Lamictal 0 --> 150 mg  2018: Tapered Prozac 40 --> 0 mg (WDR); Klonopin 0.125 mg PRN  2019: DC'd BC pills (WDR); Klonopin 0.125 mg PRN; tapered Lamictal 150 --> 35 mg (WDR); Trileptal 0 --> 4 mg   2020: Jan: one BC pill (ADR + hormonal effects); Apr-Jun: curcumin cream daily + Elidel cream PRN (ADR + hormonal effects); Oct: started melatonin 0.375 mg; Nov: acupuncture treatment (ADR + hormonal effects); Dec: tapered off melatonin 0.375 mg  2021: Jan: benzoyl peroxide cream (ADR); Feb: started probiotic; Mar: tapered off probiotic; May: Trileptal 4 mg --> 0.4 mg (ADR); Nov: Trileptal 0.4 mg --> 0.3 mg  2023: Nov: Prednisone 60 mg

Current medications: Lamictal 35 mg, Trileptal 0.3 mg, Prednisone 60 mg

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  • 1 month later...

How are you feeling now? / I’m in a similar situation with withdrawal that was made worse by alcohol. It’s really scary. 

2012-2019 Nardil/phenelzine (maoi) - 45MG

2019 Xanax - 1.5MG

(I went cold turkey off both in August 2019)

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Same experience here- one glass is not a problem, but getting drunk means a few days of much worse wd symptoms like anxienty and tinnitus. Do not get drunk while tapering, you gonna regret it the next day 😕

admike's Intro topic  and admike's drug history

Cipralex (lexapro) 2009-2009

Velaxin 75mg XR (venlafaxine, effexor) 2009-now

anxiety got worse during treatement

cold turkey 2019, reinstated after 4 days, developed persisting tinnitus

tapering since 2019 (current dosage about 15mg) 

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