In need of serious help (Effexor Venlafaxine)

[btrav77]

Hi, and thank you. My girlfriend recently began taking Effexor (Venlafaxine) 6 months ago and has turned for the absolute worst. All her life (she is 49 years old) she has suffered mental health problems, but NOTHING like this.

Upon starting on Effexor, she became a reckless/careless/destructive person. She managed to get her very first DWI of her life, and was caught drinking on the job also. She couldn't get through the day without guzzling alcohol, secretly or overtly, what I would classify in my opinion she became an almost over night alcoholic. She claims she feels an extremely intense craving for alcohol and that it helps her feel better (all of this began with Effexor). She will go to great lengths to get alcohol and to secretly consume it etc etc. She gained x body weight from beer, whereas the girl I knew before Effexor would obsess over staying thin and maintaining a perfect weight and "earning" her beers when she would want one by being healthy/exercising etc. Now she doesn't care one bit.

Secondly and most importantly is she began self harming, for the first time in her life.. She had been brought to the hospital after cutting her wrists on the playground of the school where she works, in front of the children! She has lost all sense of care/empathy/concern for others when this is occurring, as well as her DWI.

Then, just recently, after work she cut her wrists and drove 30 minutes home! She did not consider any of that danger for one minute.

She has expressed a tremendous idealization of suicide and has even spoken to me at night about suicide as though it's the greatest thing since sliced bread! And then she won't remember the conversations at all the next day!

As a close relationship partner of 4 years and knowing her life history like the back of my hand, I can say with complete confidence that this drug Effexor has been nearly killing my girlfriend and shutting down important faculties in her brain which are leading her to places she would otherwise never be. She is self aware that she hates the cutting, she expresses that this is "not her" and that she doesn't want to die, and that it makes her nauseous and she is afraid of these impulses which the drug seems to cause.

She has begun tapering off of Effexor with her doctor and is about halfway through the withdrawal period. I have been trying frantically to research, will this ever go away? If she stops the Effexor, will her brain recover? Will her faculties return to normal, her empathy, her compassion etc which all seem to be stunted or numbed out at the moment? She has been taken 75mg for 6 months, and began tapering off one month ago.

She has expressed a feeling that her empathy is gone, and that she feels numb all of the time, and mornings of SEVERE depression the likes of which she has never experienced before in her life.

She is no longer going to work, and I work full time with no one to watch her, so I am also frantically finding the best option for 24/7 surveillance over her and support without them pumping her full of drugs, and with someone who regards that she needs to be OFF of these drugs which are killing her! If anyone can provide ANY advice whatsoever in that regard, I would appreciate it greatly.

Are there any foods or supplements to help her brain to fight off the effexor numbing/carelessness/suicidal idealization? I am so afraid and overwhelmed, and I thank anyone for any support.

I am admitting her SOMEWHERE today but am seeking the best option first as I have been warned by neighbors and online reviews of some of the hospitals and what they may do to her (pump her full of drugs/sedate her etc) and I do not want this to happen! She was a million times better before this drug, and it is THIS drug Effexor that has caused ALL of this! Is there somewhere she can go where they will regard that and not their doctrinal protocols which will just increase her dosage and add more drugs!?

Thank you for any help and God bless you and others suffering with this kind of thing. -Brian

[one_step_closer]

That sounds like a very extreme reaction, I'm sorry that has happened. I was on Venlafaxine for about 7 years and came off it earlier this year. All I can say from personal experience is that the withdrawal effects were mostly physical feelings like dizziness and light sensitivity, and nightmares. I expected them to go on for ages due to what I had read on the internet but I noticed them getting stronger once I was completely off the meds but that only lasted for a few days and then I was ok. I don't know if anyone can tell you if she will go back to how she was before, it will take time and some behaviours may have 'stuck' but keep working with the people involved in her treatment to get through this period. I hope everything turns out ok. I'm sorry I didn't answer many of your questions.

[btrav77]

Wow. Your responses are, powerful for me to read, to say the least. THANK YOU for responding and doing what you could to provide me a little bit of support, being complete strangers.

Yes she also was recently diagnosed at a "Quiet Borderline", BPD, and also has PSTD and PMDD (and of course anxiety, depression).

Thank you so much for the information about inpatient.

We have decided it best to enter the hospital, tomorrow. She is going to self-admit herself and I am taking into account all that you have said. I have one major question if you could provide an answer:

She is tapering off of Effexor; if she goes inpatient, will they disrupt her morning routine of counting the granules etc?

I guess that is my biggest concern considering she has been dead set on getting OFF of this medication, and does not want them to decide for her what she is doing. Her doctor has told her to do this tapering and she is following the doctors procedure.

Thanks again guys.

[one_step_closer]

Will her doctor be sending any information to the hospital ahead of her going in? The hospital will only be able to prescribe medication at the dose it is stated in her notes which might mean she will be given a dose that she was on before if the records haven't been updated but often the hospital will contact the doctor to clarify what medication a patient should be taking.

[btrav77]

OK, thank you guys so much.

One more thing. Can she take supplements while in there? She has been taking Fish Oil, Vitamin D, Magnesium etc etc. Will they just cut this off or will I be able to give her those when I visit etc?