As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I was starting to wean myself off Effexor by taking it every second day. At the end of last week, I went off it completely. It was a good time to do it, because I would only start feeling the worst of the effects on the weekend, then although I had to work on Monday, I had Tuesday off for Canada Day. Then I only had three days to finish off the week.
I’m not going to lie. It sucked a bit. I felt edgy and that awful fluttery feeling in my chest wouldn’t go away. I felt ridiculously started whenever there was a loud noise (and it didn’t have to be all that loud, really). I was cranky and emotional, and I will admit that I was a little bitchier than normal. Stupid little things pissed me off or made me cry (or both).
I did find that being outside helped a lot. On Saturday, we hung around the house, but because it was a nice day, we were out in the yard a lot so that Claire could play with the little boys next door. On Sunday, we drove out to Clam Harbour Beach and spent the better part of the day there. I left work early on Monday, and Neal and I went to Finbar’s to share an appetizer and each have a beer (I had a Kilkenny – my god, I love that beer!). On Tuesday, we headed down to a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that has been around forever and is famous for their fish ‘n chips, John’s Lunch – we had never been there before so we wanted to try it out (it was quite good, but as I pretty much never get fish ‘n chips, I can’t really compare). Other than that, we just hung out in the yard, Claire played in her pool with the kids who live on the other side of us, we (the kids and I, that is) ran through the sprinkler, and just had a generally good time.
Through all of that, I experienced withdrawal, but I’m glad that I went out and did things rather than just sat around the house, hoping it would go away. I would have dwelt on how I was feeling way too much.
Things are much better now. I still have some of that fluttery feeling in my chest, but it isn’t as strong as it was. I’m not feeling as bitchy and cranky as I was before. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the Effexor, but I seem to be dreaming more (it would be highly coincidental if it had nothing to do with the Effexor because since I stopped completely, I have remembered my dreams almost every night whereas it was a very rare night for me to remember a dream when I was on the medication).
I’m looking forward to when I won’t feel any withdrawal at all. Of course, I don’t expect to be out of the woods then. I will still have anxiety, and now I will need to learn how to deal with it all on my own. But I am still proud of myself for having stopped taking this drug because after reading a lot of forums and talking to a lot of people, this is one hell of a drug to stop taking.
A few pictures from the weekend:
Clam Harbour - such a beautiful beach!
John's Lunch - the older man behind the counter is the owner
Wipe out!
