Please do a lot of research on Effexor before you try it. It can be really hard to get off. I had too many side effects to continue it past a few days, I might have been able to tolerate it after a while as side effects are supposed to lessen, but it affected my vision and scared me. I also did not like what I was reading about it- some people, a small percentage but not insignificant, are never able to discontinue the drug. It is very powerful.

It sounds as if the Gabaoentin is helping you.I am confused myself as to whether it is helping with much more than sleep, and want to try tapering to less. The R-Lipoic Acid seems to be helping my skin burning. I notice if I forget to take it. Hope it lasts.

Thank you so much for posting the information about Gabapentin. That is very sobering. I think I would take the memory loss over constant pain, which can also cause cognitive issues, but there is a cost benefit ratio that is very personal for everyone. I hope that you find a satisfactory solution. Most research on antidepressants and neuropathy assume they are combined with anti-seizure medication. Many doctors prescribe them together. I know there is research supporting combining long acting morphine and Gabapentin which I am taking.

That's great (that it's working)! FWIW, it's still working so far. At first I would notice if I forgot to take it too, but it's been a few years now. I forgot to fill my vitamin tray this past week, so no RLA in 7-10 days, and (so far) no return of the burning. For all I know, some healing may have occurred or something else changed. The stuff is a great antioxidant anyway, so my intent is to continue it.

Adding B5 (pantothenic acid) seems to have first reduced—and now eliminated—the shocks & needle jabs, and significantly reduced the cramps/spasms.

I still have some pain & sensitivity, intolerance to cold, numbness, folded sock, but these have pretty much (with time) been reduced to 'nuisance' status.

Doc

I took pantothenic for a while but It was not helping me. I still take it once in a while though.
The intolerance t cold that you mentioned, what is it exactly that you feel? i have this very unpleasant sensation in my legs that it feels like goose bumps when i feel cold...its painful. I know when my skin is very sensitive because anything cold I touch, it will trigger the unpleasant sensations but only in my legs.

The same sensations I used to feel as a kid when I was out playing in the snow for too long and my feet got frozen/numb and began to hurt (just short of getting frostbite)—but now it can happen indoors on a cold day with my socks & slippers on.

One thing I've found is how important it is to keep our feet dry during this weather. Our (everyone's) feet sweat normally. Sweating is the way the body cools itself by evaporative cooling. When the weather is cold, we tend to dress more warmly, which can cause our feet to sweat even more. The evaporation causes our feet to cool down more than other parts of our bodies. When coupled with low/poor circulation, this can result in cold feet! keeping feet dry—especially in cold weather, can keep them warmer and less painful.

Doc

Thank you Susanne about the side effect of Effexor on your vision. I have some vision and hearing problems as side effects of my lung treatment. So, adding a medicine that could potentially affect the vision should be ruled out.

I am taking the R-lipoic for over 2 years now and I really do not know if its helping me but since its a good antioxidant I am taking it just the same. What is really helping me now is the pain cream prescribed to me last Dec. It makes me function everyday. It makes my pain tolerable.....

I am glad the r-lipoic is helping you..... we always welcome any relief!!! :-)

Mary

The Effexor dilated my pupils so that everything was "whited out", like being out in a snowstorm. It was very unnerving. I did not stay on it long enough to see if that side effect would pass, after two days of it I was very upset. I also had constant yawning, which is a known side effect, and "brain freezes" where I felt these shivers all over my scalp. I have had them when I had migraines as a kid, but not often and this was constant. All in all, it was not a good few days.

While I was trying it I started to research the drug and was very upset at what I read. I am surprised at the article in general as some of those drugs do not seem to me to belong on the list and some would be hard to justify discontinuing. I do think that tranquilizers are over prescribed for the very elderly, but I have also seen my mother completely overcome by anxiety, a shaking, irrational mess, and I cannot imagine a doctor not giving her Xanax.

Effexor is the only medication I have ever taken where the drug companies hunt you down and try to get you to refill that prescription. I received mailings from them for about a year asking why I wasn't refilling and urging me to do so. I suspect there is a lot of profit in there.

I felt that there were a few prejudices in the article, but all in all we are as a society over medicated. Of course I feel myself to be an exception and my medication to be totally justified! I just don't get the author's affection for Effexor.

My husband and I play strategy games daily and he is under orders to tell me if I start slipping mentally. My brains were really my only asset and I can't afford to lose them.

So much for doctor/patient (or pharmacist/patient) confidentiality, eh?

I suspect you suspect correctly. Unless you used some kind of coupon when filling the prescription, I gotta wonder how they even got your name—much less addy, etc. Did you fill it at Target?

More likely his/her affection for filthy lucre.

Now THAT'S cool (the playing games part—not the slipping mentally part ). I can empathize. I believe/feel being experimented upon like a guinea pig (gabapentin, antidepressants, others) cost me an unacceptable/unconscionable measure of my faculties. Worst still is knowing when I know the word I'm searching for and not being able to... (can't think of the word... dammit ) evoke/retrieve(?) employ/utilize(?) it. That's why my writing style has devolved into this interminable sequence/succession of slashes; sometimes I'm trying to convey the standard "either/or" but mostly I just can't decide/settle on which word I mean/want to use (see?) Believe it or don't, it's as/more aggravating to me than to readers. I'm frustrated/mad as heck about it—HECK I TELL YOU! I didn't used to be/write this way. Some of my vocabulary is returning—slowly—with practice/use, but it's HARD—much harder than learning & honing it all the first time.

Doc

Susanne...Were these letters/calls a while ago? Before Effexor went generic?

Before Hippa started, there were many companies who did what was called "compliance" reminders. RiteAid was big on this.

They would do it for various blood pressure drugs that were soon going generic etc. I believe they paid RiteAid for that privilege too.

But I don't think that is happening now. Effexor went generic before I retired.

I am getting compliance calls for refillable medications at CVS but those come from the pharmacy itself. I haven't had one in a while though. It has been my experience that patients DO NOT LIKE these calls and find them intrusive and obnoxious!

Here is a fairly recent discussion about "compliance" reminders for refills.... Seems like they still allow them.

http://www.policymed.com/2013/11/hit...nications.html

I will say, that when we were on vacation 2 summers ago, I did not refill my generic lisinopril, and the insurance carrier called my doctor! Who then called me in astonishment! So it is difficult to say, who is doing the calling...the insurance company on a "maintenance" drug or the manufacturer.

Yes, it was a while, four years ago,before I was on any of my current pain medication, and yes it was Rite-Aid!
I think at that time there was a generic but not for the extended release.
I very much resented it. I was also very surprised that it persisted so long.

Many of us have to dance with the devil to some degree to navigate severe pain management and quality of life, and I am all for what works, at a cost that can be borne mentally, physically, financially. I was just really shocked at some of the issues with Effexor in particular and perplexed that the author of the AARP article endorsed it several times as a panacea. I do not want to discourage anyone from trying something which may relieve the severe pain Idiopathic suffers, but it is a drug that requires a very informed patient. I am often too opinionated.

Has anyone heard of it working for neuropathic pain? I could not find any real studies that were more than anecdotal. When my PCP prescribed it, the neurologist thought it was a strange although acceptable choice, but she had no interest in pain management.

If that's a sin, we're all in DEEP DOODAH!

Doc