I've been reading through the mostly bad reviews for effexor and wanted to add my experience and see if anyone had tips on dealing with the sleepiness.
My doctor prescribed 37.5 mg daily a couple of months ago to deal with anxiety and a second medicine for as needed anxiety attacks.
I've always been "high strung", people have said I never relax. Massage therapists have trouble with me, I can very rarely "pop a joint" like I see people do with their fingers and such because I stay tense and alert. I'm a morning person and find my brain functions best early and I like to have everything accomplished before most people are awake in the quiet of the dawn. I plan and organize everything, and already have back up plans so I can shift seamlessly.
I did not plan for my husband's heart attack and congestive heart failure. Having nightmares about him having a stroke when I was the only one in the room and I hit that code blue and stood in the corner helpless while they worked on him.
Burning myself out at work being our only income at the time, juggling pet care and hospital time. Putting every safeguard I could think in place for when he got home since he'd be alone during the day while I was at work. Juggling all his medications, calling doctors and figuring out soooo many appointments.
The tension in the back of my neck was so bad I could barely turn my head. Then about a week after he came home from the hospital he asked me a question that I didn't immediately know the answer to about his meds and I just broke down in tears. My heart felt like it was beating in my ears and like someone had a vice grip on my chest.
Then he jumped in as caregiver, making sure my vitals were stable because I thought my blood pressure was up and it was fine. I described what I was feeling and the tension in my neck, constant headaches, insomnia, and I kept doing things like forgetting my wallet or to take morning meds and that's very unlike me. He's the first one that said I think you're having an anxiety attack. Verified a couple of days later by our doctor, and PTSD from almost losing him in the hospital.
I just had an appointment a couple of days ago and we discussed how I'm doing, besides being sleepy I feel normal. I was taking my meds in the morning and I told the doctor I can feel that they're wearing off when I wake up. She said that's a good thing because too much I'd be a zombie. She suggested I start taking it at night to deal with the sleepiness, I've done that twice now and feel sleepy right now like I did when I first started but I'm hoping that will level off once I adjust to the new time. I have normal emotions, but I'm no longer hyper focused during the day worrying about him while he was home alone.
It's hard to focus on myself with him going through so much, I mean he just had a heart attack and I'm supposed to be taking care of him and I'm over here having a nervous breakdown.
It's making me tense up to write about all this but not to the extreme level like it was before. Going by the discussion with my doctor that's right where I should be.