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01/20/2002 Entry: "Eric's meds"

Eric's doctor gave him a two week trial amout of Effexor. Now, his brother says it might take six weeks for enough to build up in his system to see a difference; will two weeks tell us much of anything?

In any event, yesterday was a good day, for a change; weekends are usually pretty terrible for us. Maybe just the idea that things will get better is helping?

Replies: 8 sandcastles

I took Effexor for more than a year, Carrie, and it worked wonderfully. My only thing is, I'm terrible with remembering to take things when I don't have a super strict schedule. In the past few months, since I only work 2 days and the rest of the week is play-time (heh-heh :-), I would forget to take it more often than I remembered. So now I take that Prozac Weekly which is also working well. Tell Eric to stick with it - it took 3 weeks for me to notice a difference with the Effexor *and* it's not addictive ;-)

Posted by Heather :-) @ 01/22/2002 05:10 PM EST

My husband is on Effexor during the day and Remerin at night. He noticed an improvement after only a couple of days.

Posted by janet @ 01/21/2002 03:04 PM EST

Thanks, guys. He has mixed feelings about it all; he hates the anxiety, "But I don't want to be on psychotropic drugs!" He hasn't had any side effects yet, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Posted by Carrie @ 01/20/2002 09:10 PM EST

I briefly took Zoloft a few years back, and I began feeling better within a week. Perhaps some of it was mental, but the fact that something was acknowledged wrong with me, and that I had a means to fix it or at least feel better, made a world of difference in my outlook!
Good luck to you all!

Posted by ashley @ 01/20/2002 02:59 PM EST

Effexor XR is what I am taking. I had a little nausea and intense thirstiness in the first few days, and it didn't really lift the depression for a few weeks to a month, but after about a week, it does make a little difference.. you can start to feel when something is going to affect you and hopefully remove yourself from the situation before it gets too bad.

Posted by Jade @ 01/20/2002 01:30 PM EST

I think the 2-week prescription is just in case he has some adverse reactions to it. If he hasn't had a bad side effect by the week and a half point, the doc will probably extend it.

Posted by sherry @ 01/20/2002 01:24 PM EST

When Will My Medication Start to Work?: Usually, you should start feeling better within one to three weeks, but it may take four to six weeks for maximum benefit. It may take longer to experience the full effects of Effexor, which depends on dosage and varies from person to person.

From www1.depressionclinic.com

Posted by mynx @ 01/20/2002 11:28 AM EST

When I started taking paxil, I noticed less anxiety after 3 weeks, I think... but I didn't really feel like the depression eased until after the first 6 weeks. Example - I had a dentist appointment that I was terrified about after taking it for a week... my hands shook and I was so shakey afterwards that I barely could stand.... then I had another dentist appointment 5 weeks into the paxil and my hand shaking was almost down to none, and even though the procedure was worse with that tooth, I walked out feeling much less stressed.
Anyhow, I just thought maybe some personal examples might help you guys know what to expect :)
have a happy sunday!

Posted by kristine @ 01/20/2002 10:50 AM EST