Psychotropic medication discussion thread

Tyler Anderson12 said:Greetings.

I started taking Faverin four days ago to manage my OCD (50 mg at bedtime). Since then, my appetite has vanished, I feel completely disoriented and exhausted, and the frequency and intensity of my obsessive thoughts have actually spiked. On top of that, my mood feels significantly lower.
To put it bluntly, things have taken a turn for the worse. 😢

Has anyone here dealt with Faverin before? Is this kind of volatility typical during the initial weeks, and did you push through the side effects or stop?

🤷

electrichound3 said:I had the exact same experience. I also started on 50 mg... then my doctor bumped me up to 100. I managed to hang on for about a month and a bit, but eventually, I just couldn't take it anymore and they discontinued it. I was losing weight rapidly, and the fatigue was unbearable. No matter how much willpower I tried to summon, getting out of bed to actually get things done was impossible. Plus, it triggered depression in me, which wasn't even an issue before. At the very beginning, I also had this sensation like my lungs were burning—this chest heat and a sort of whistling in my head. It mostly happened at night before sleep, so if you start feeling that, don't panic. It was prescribed to me for anxiety. You really just have to push through this initial phase to see if it settles down. I assume they gave you some benzodiazepines to help you cope with the side effects? I was prescribed Xanax 5 mg to take before bed because I couldn't sleep, though I didn't take any other sleeping pills. You'll see how it goes over time... hang in there.😉

Tyler Anderson12 said:It's the same story here. I’ve been lying in bed with my laptop since morning, completely unable to get up to shower, eat, or even take a walk. This isn't who I am at all.
Well, I suppose we'll find a way to endure...
Thanks for the support, and I hope you managed to find a treatment that actually works for you in the meantime.🙂

electrichound3 said:At least you can still type... honestly, I couldn't focus on a single thing back then. I finally switched over to Effexor and it picked me right up after just a few days. My energy levels finally came back because Faverin was absolutely crushing me. But hey, everyone is different... good luck.🙂

quietwalker5;51348997 said:Are you taking anything else besides Effexor? What's your dosage, and how's your sleep? I'm not on anything else. I just take some B-complex from Nature Made and some magnesium citrate, and honestly, I’m sleeping great. I hit the sack at the same time every night and I don't wake up in the middle of the night anymore—which used to be a huge problem. I refused to take any pills just to help me sleep, even though I gained some weight; I wanted to see if I could handle it without the meds, and I actually did it. I'm not going to start relying on those either. My dose is just 37.5 mg of Effexor twice a day in the morning. Oh, one thing though: if I have a little too much coffee, I feel the anxiety creeping in immediately. Effexor and caffeine are definitely not best friends, at least not for me. It triggers my arrhythmia and I've been sweating a lot more since I started the medication.

electrichound3 said:I had the exact same experience. I also started on 50 mg... then my doctor bumped me up to 100. I managed to hang on for about a month and a bit, but eventually, I just couldn't take it anymore and they discontinued it. I was losing weight rapidly, and the fatigue was unbearable. No matter how much willpower I tried to summon, getting out of bed to actually get things done was impossible. Plus, it triggered depression in me, which wasn't even an issue before. At the very beginning, I also had this sensation like my lungs were burning—this chest heat and a sort of whistling in my head. It mostly happened at night before sleep, so if you start feeling that, don't panic. It was prescribed to me for anxiety. You really just have to push through this initial phase to see if it settles down. I assume they gave you some benzodiazepines to help you cope with the side effects? I was prescribed Xanax 5 mg to take before bed because I couldn't sleep, though I didn't take any other sleeping pills. You'll see how it goes over time... hang in there.😉

electrichound3 said:I don't take anything else. I just use B-complex from Natural Wealth and some foaming magnesium, and my sleep is great. I go to bed at the exact same time every night and I don't wake up anymore, which used to happen. I didn't drink anything to help me sleep even though I wanted to. I wanted to try life without those pills and I succeeded. I won't depend on those either. My dose is just 2x37.5 mg of Effexor in the morning. Oh, one thing—if I drink a little too much coffee, I feel the anxiety starting to hit me immediately. Effexor and caffeine aren't a good match, at least for me. I also deal with arrhythmia and increased sweating since I started taking it.

restlesstiger49 said:In the spirit of sharing experiences, I can definitely confirm what was bolded. Right now, the depression is absolutely killing me—something I never dealt with before starting Faverin. I ended up stopping after about two months as well. Honestly, those side effects are brutal for a healthy person, let alone someone already struggling with mental health issues.

quietwalker5 said:Forgive me if I am being a nuisance. It is my 10th day. My mental state is better, but the tremors are still bothering me (did you experience that?) and I have the usual trouble falling asleep and waking up during the night, just like before the Effexor. I take 37.5mg in the morning and evening, and I get the impression it makes me sleepy at first. Then, after about an hour, the tremor kicks in. After how much time did you feel the side effects subside and realize this was just the new normal?

Thank you for the response...

electrichound3 said:I don't recall having tremors... though my sleep was a disaster for about three months. I was waking up constantly, and every morning I'd be hit by this intense anxiety. I eventually told my doctor, and they switched me off the nighttime dose of Effexor. For me, the side effects started tapering off after four months. I've been on it for nine months now and I'm doing alright; the depression is gone, though there's still a lingering bit of anxiety and some memory issues. My worst symptom was that "lump in the throat" feeling—it was incredibly distracting at first, but that cleared up after three months. Are you dealing with anything else?

quietwalker5 said:I have a headache today, the first one since starting Effexor. Perhaps it is due to the weather changes🤷. But the tremor is constant. It subsides slightly before I take my dose at 8:00 PM. Thank you for sharing😉

Was the evening dose scheduled because of the nighttime waking or the morning anxiety?

Mark Nelson said:Is it actually possible for birth control pills to mess with your period?

fadedbear92 said:Yeah, absolutely.

Certain medications

Any drug involving hormones—whether we're talking about thyroid hormones or antipsychotics,—can definitely impact your cycle. It’s important to remember that no single hormone operates in a vacuum. They all work in sync and travel through your bloodstream; they're all interconnected, even if they're produced by totally different glands.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/hormonal-cycle

Elevated Prolactin Levels: The pituitary gland produces prolactin, which is responsible for stimulating milk production. However, high levels of prolactin in women who aren't pregnant or breastfeeding can actually inhibit ovulation, leading to amenorrhea. High prolactin levels might also point toward a pituitary tumor. If you experience milk production when you aren't pregnant or nursing (a condition called galactorrhea), that's a symptom of elevated prolactin that needs medical attention. Some medications, such as oral contraceptives and certain antipsychotics, can also bump up those prolactin concentrations.
http://www.webmd.com/women-s-health/hormone-disorders

3. Medications

Specific drugs can cause periods to stop entirely, including several types:

Antipsychotics
Chemotherapy drugs
Antidepressants
Blood pressure medication

http://www.healthline.com/medications-and-treatment

Mark Nelson said:Does Seroquel fall under that category? My cycle has been totally wonky since my doctor bumped up my Seroquel dose, even though I’ve been on it for three months already without noticing anything... until now. Should I be calling my doctor right away because of this, or is it fine to just wait until my scheduled appointment?*

Thanks for the detailed breakdown 🙏

Edit- *my appointment isn't until late September.

Tyler Anderson12 said:Greetings.

I started taking Faverin four days ago to manage my OCD (50 mg at bedtime). Since then, my appetite has vanished, I feel completely disoriented and exhausted, and the frequency and intensity of my obsessive thoughts have actually spiked. On top of that, my mood feels significantly lower.
To put it bluntly, things have taken a turn for the worse. 😢

Has anyone here dealt with Faverin before? Is this kind of volatility typical during the initial weeks, and did you push through the side effects or stop?

🤷

quietwalker5 said:When are you heading to the shrink? How are you holding up today?

Michael Hill2 said:I’ve been on it for three and a half months now for anxiety and intrusive thoughts. I actually detailed my whole experience a few pages back if you want to give that a read.😉

I also had zero appetite for a good two or three weeks, and the obsessive thoughts were absolutely killing me. Honestly, things felt twice as bad when I first started taking Faverin compared to how they were before.

Just try to hang in there for about a month while your body gets used to it; eventually, everything should level out.

The lack of appetite usually clears up after two or three weeks. If Faverin works for you the way it did for me, food will start tasting incredible again—it’ll be like I haven't eaten in 33 years. :-D

Someone mentioned earlier that it helps to use an anxiolytic like Xanax or something similar in the beginning, just to take the edge off those intrusive thoughts until the Faverin actually kicks in.

In my opinion, Faverin is best suited for severe anxiety and obsessive thoughts because it has a slight sedative effect. My anxiety was so high that I didn't even notice the sedation, not even the fatigue.

For depression specifically, I don't think it performs quite as well since it acts more like a stabilizer compared to some other SSRIs.

If OCD is your main issue, Faverin should help. Just be patient.

After all these years, I finally have some peace and quiet in my head. No more internal dialogues, no constant overanalyzing... I honestly feel like I'm on vacation from myself.🙂

Lucky darling🙂

restlesstiger49 said:The sooner, the better!!!🤣 I actually gave Rebel a call earlier today to beg for the earliest available appointment.
On a side note, the withdrawal symptoms are starting to taper off. My stomach finally settled down this morning, and my anxiety feels a bit more manageable...
If I end up starting a new antidepressant, I really hope I can come back here and write a positive review.