Hi all,
I am currently on 37.5mg of Effexor. I had high hopes but am honestly not sure how well it is working for me. It’s been really hard to focus recently and visual symtoms feel off. The first drug I took (Amitriptyline) made me feel better for some time. Do you think it’s any use to add it back into the mix or to take it again all by itself?
Sorry I don’t have experience with Effexor but I feel you’re frustration. You’re not alone. I’m about to start another medication and am unsure of what to do between 2 choices. I am also very frustrated with this condition and tired of dealing with it and thinking about it. And, I am getting new symptoms all the time and I am worse than I was even since December and January.
I have tried Amitriptyline 3 times but only lasted 2 days each time as it made me dizzier, but that was all 2 years ago. I am considering trying it again. Why did you stop taking it, if you don’t mind me asking? I know it’s very popular on this site but there are those that can’t tolerate it. I’m not sure which category I am in with it. I know I need to give it a longer trial than 2 days but at the time (or ever, really!) I was not prepared to feel dizzier and having to function alone during the day (it was all I could do to walk to the bathroom).
I came after Ami because my body started to get used to it so I wanted to try something else. However, the Effexor makes me not want to do anything and it’s also affecting my sleep. @Jess09 how many medications have you tried?
@Camille_Chaf I wasn’t aware that the body could get used to Ami, but I guess that can happen with any medicine. Did you find it worked less or did you hit a plateau with it?
I have tried many medications but only lasted on most of them 1-2 days, so I am about to embark on re-trying some and trying to last longer. I am extremely sensitive to the smallest of doses. In the beginning (almost 7 years ago now, yikes) I was able to tolerate Zoloft for 3-4 months but felt nothing beneficial or side effect wise. The med that has helped me the most is Xanax, as it’s a vestibular suppressant, but it was really just a band-aid that allowed me to work a few years and then I got much, much worse. It doesn’t work as well now but I refuse to increase the dose (only on 0.5 mg 2x/day) as I have already tried to taper off once and my body has become physiologically addicted to it and the withdraw feelings (only got 25% lower) were the worst thing I’ve experienced in my entire life. I was on Prozac a few years during the vestibular migraines but it was prescribed to help out the Xanax, the doctor said it would increase the effectiveness of the Xanax, who knows. The Prozac did help a little with my light and sound sensitivity, which I didn’t notice until I was taken off of it. I lasted 6 days on Remeron, a newer class of anti-depressant that’s neither SSRI/SNRI or tricyclic, not typically used for vestibular migraine treatment. I am also on an extremely low dose of Gabapentin currently but haven’t been able to increase as the nausea was too bad for me (and that was generally considered an “easy” medication to take, sigh)
Others that I lasted 1-2 days on were: Propranolol, metoprolol, verapamil, klonopin (I may have lasted a week-ish on that) amitriptyine, nortripyline (my worst side effect experience), Lexapro, and Topamax.
In the next few days I need to decide if I want to try Amitriptyline for the 4th time, or an anti-anxiety/sleep aid, extremely low dose of Seroquel. Seroquel won’t help the vestibular migraines but I am having major insomnia issues as well as increased anxiety (mostly because I probably need to take more Xanax otherwise and have inter-dosing withdraw/anxiety going on, as well as medication anxiety). I have been literally 50/50 on these two meds for a few weeks now, and my weekend to try one is upon me. Ugggh to decisions about medications and this horrible beast!