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

Effexor is the first SNRI out.... Cymbalta is similar. The only difference is that Lilly did studies on pain...and Wyeth did not. It is the studies that the FDA then allows for certain pain conditions. But Effexor should work also. The "mixed" norepi/serotonin reuptake inhibitors work best in the brain pain loop.

Savella is also similar but has stronger norepi reuptake features of the 3. Many people cannot tolerate Savella, and drop off it.
It was mainly targeting fibro patients. It was available first in other countries, then came here later, after the other two. Cymbalta is going generic and may have already done so. There will be less push for it then. We may see more Savella posts in the near future therefore.

I was thinking that if norepi/serotonin reuptake helps with the pain, maybe gabapentin can be tapered. my only reservation to taking the anti-depressants for the long haul is --- my mother in law and cousin in law who are both taking antidepressants for the longest time were sick arguably due to the long termed use of anti-depressants. My mother-in-law has problems with falling without no reason. Sometimes she cannot get up. My cousin-in-law had severe kidney problems because she stopped peeing. When asked, she said she could not feel any urge. The doctor said that her organ stopped communicating to her brain.

I exercise my brain by memorizing at least 3 telephone numbers every day; addresses; identify faces on television. I just do simple exercises. My brain cannot take so much load :-)

I used to have very good memory. When data were not yet stored in the computer, I had the reputation as a walking filing cabinet. Those were the days...:-(