Only do it under a doctors care...some people who have been on narcotics for a long time have to detox safely...call your doctor and ask him how and if you can cut your meds down...

On all the opana, oxymorphone AND effexor i was totally on my butt yesterday!!! I can't keep that up, so I reduced the opana by 1/3 and I have only needed 1 breakthrough this afternoon after a lot of activity ( i had been averaging 3-5 a day). All in all it works out to something close to but maybe not quite half...mostly, I was really surprised by the amount of pain relief so quickly.


It should be OK, as I have been slowly reducing over the past two weeks..if anything feels funny I'll give the good Dr J a call. thanks for the concern

I have bee taking Effexor (venlafaxine) 37.5mg BD along with my other cocktail of meds. I was put on it as it had less cardiac effects than amitryptilline. I was on the Amytyptilline to help curb migraines but coould not tolerate a dose higher than 10mg as I developed tachycardia and breathlessness. Anyway so on Effexor and well with the other meds the electric tingling pains have settles down but still have symptoms 2 years on as in pins and needles have returned and my pain has gotten worse in the last 3 months to nausea inducing level.

All I can say is that my doc says that finding the correct combination of meds is difficult as neuropathic pain tends to be resistant . Anyway cannot say had any extra side effects taking the effexor as I have wierd dreams etc with the ketamine.

Take care.
Hx

SO...i finally had a moment to look up something I have been wondering...

YES effexor is one of the A/D's often prescribed for ADD, which I also have, and have never been treated for....! Maybe that's why I feel so CALM...

To update, I am not feeling remotely loopy anymore on it, that went a way in a few days. Also, after two weeks I noticed the pain relife started to drop off so I did decide to up to the 75mg like I was supposed to in the first place. When I did, all the pain relife came back. Not sure how long it will last, something to talk to Dr J about when I see him next, like when i get to the right dose will it stay, or will it never be quite as good as it was in the beginning?

In any case, I can't believe how much better I feel. I don't think I have had an outburst at my hubby or any of my kids since I started the stuff, and I have definitely noticed how much more clearly I have been able to think (which is why i was wondering if this was one of the ones frequently prescribed for ADD).

Most of all, being able to hold my baby girl again has made me very very happy. Makign sure not to do it *too* much, but really really savoring every second of it.

It isn't all the meds, as I have been seeing Joyce and feldenkrais PT, and really working hard to recover from my surgery, but what an amazing difference for me. WOW.

I think this is the part where I write:

I my Effexor


That's pretty corny, huh? I hope someone manages a tiny laugh out of it

not corny at all. that's great news. it must feel so good to have her in your arms.
btw-i had the experience of plateauing on an AD and needing more and more for pain control. but it wasn't in 2 wk increments, more like 2 mos or more. i wonder if there is a way to avoid that or if there is one that doesn't lead to that plateau effect on pain relief.

i'd imagine it is like any other chemical...your body gets accumstomed to it and then you need more, but i 'd theink there is also a point where that effect would level off, too...or the needed increase would be less.

i supposed time will tell....

JKat - I'm glad you can hold (and ENJOY holding) your baby girl! I know how important and happy that is!

I have been on Cymbalta for about a month now... didn't notice much of a change at first, but everyone around me did. When I went from 30mg/day to 30mg 2x daily, I noticed a change. Feel calm AND happy... keep in mind that during the month I was "terminated" and am still looking for work. Also, I think that some of my nerve pain has decreased.