Effexor and waking up early/nausea/shaky/headache

[palar]

Anyone else experience this? I'm on Effexor, and usually if I wake up "too early" and don't manage to get back to sleep, I have nausea/shakiness/mild headache/sometimes teeth hurting/anxiety/frustration/strong heartbeat/cognitive issues (or fog)/difficulty remembering words/weird feeling that is sort of like shortness of breath or drowning in part of my head, but is not physical and has a weird chemical tinge to it which persist all day, albeit getting better throughout the day. Does not resolve on taking meds. Was much worse on a higher dose, kind of mild to moderate now (this is why I say it's linked to Effexor--dramatic improvement coinciding with the dose going down from 200 -> 137.5). Has a strong connection to sleep issues, plus if I do get back to sleep it goes away, but if I don't, I'm dealing with at least mild symptoms all day... and many days I don't get any of this and I feel great.

If I sleep without the machine, this set of symptoms is pretty much guaranteed (haven't done that in a long time). Needless to say, I look forward to getting off Effexor or at least switching to something different.

(I am considering other causes in case the Effexor connection is some sort of bizarre coincidence, or there's a chain of things... e.g., a lot of those symptoms sure sound a lot like low blood sugar during the night, but why would they resolve just on sleeping more? Anyway, I'm working with my doctor on this too, but I thought I'd ask here...)

[Julie]

Google "Effexor Side Effects"

Read everything...

[Hosehead4ever]

Hi. I have some experience with Effexor. Years ago, but I experienced some of the issues you mention. Fogginess, headache, etc if I don't get enough sleep. Have you considered transitioning to Lexapro? They are close enough chemically that it is easy to switch from one to the other without fully weaning off the Effexor. So no brain zaps that so many people experience when coming off Effexor. If you haven't, it might be worth mentioning to your pdoc.

[palar]

Yeah... so my current psychiatrist is a pretty good guy (also he's not the person who put me on the Effexor--that was years ago), so hopefully he can do something helpful here. I'm also on Tegretol.. he says that the Tegretol has a lot of potential side effects and is not useful for me right now. I agree--it was an experiment during a much earlier time, different doctor, different theory about what was wrong with me (we thought it might be treatment resistant depression or bipolar II, ended up being PTSD...which talk therapy helped, but as far as I can tell, meds never helped).

Anyway, he wants to take me off the Tegretol, and I agree, but I'm starting to think we should address the Effexor issue before that. I'm aware that going off Effexor is very hard, having gone from 200 -> 137.5, so I'm open to doing it slowly, using a substitute, whatever... just right now these symptoms are bugging the hell out of me on the days they happen, so I'm kind of upset and I'd like to do something about them.

More comments/experiences still welcome. I have noticed, in the short term, that getting the best quality sleep possible keeps all this at bay--and it's forcing me to have very strict sleep hygiene, go to bed at the same time every night, almost no naps, etc.

[49er]

Yeah... so my current psychiatrist is a pretty good guy (also he's not the person who put me on the Effexor--that was years ago), so hopefully he can do something helpful here. I'm also on Tegretol.. he says that the Tegretol has a lot of potential side effects and is not useful for me right now. I agree--it was an experiment during a much earlier time, different doctor, different theory about what was wrong with me (we thought it might be treatment resistant depression or bipolar II, ended up being PTSD...which talk therapy helped, but as far as I can tell, meds never helped).

Anyway, he wants to take me off the Tegretol, and I agree, but I'm starting to think we should address the Effexor issue before that. I'm aware that going off Effexor is very hard, having gone from 200 -> 137.5, so I'm open to doing it slowly, using a substitute, whatever... just right now these symptoms are bugging the hell out of me on the days they happen, so I'm kind of upset and I'd like to do something about them.

More comments/experiences still welcome. I have noticed, in the short term, that getting the best quality sleep possible keeps all this at bay--and it's forcing me to have very strict sleep hygiene, go to bed at the same time every night, almost no naps, etc.

Hi Palar,

You might find this site helpful regarding tips for tapering Effexor very slowly.

http://survivingantidepressants.org/ind ... nlafaxine/

Best of luck.

49er

[Elle]

If you're diabetic you might have "dawn phenomenon" and need a better bedtime snack. Blood sugar dips in the early hours so the body compensates with extra hormones and liver pumps out glucose. You could try eating something around 3 or 4 in the morning to see if it changes.

[Julie]

I would want off the Tegretol asap as it may definitely act like a sedative (you probably know it's prescribed for seizures... though is rather an 'old' drug now). But the combo of that plus Effexor has got to be really affecting your sleep, let alone apnea and/or Cpap, so I'd definitely talk to your docs about everything as one problem, rather than one thing at a time.

[winnie]

Do you take the Effexor once a day? I take Effexor morning and evening. If I forget the evening dose I usually have strange dreams that night. I haven't noticed any of the symptoms you mention.

[palar]

Re the Tegretol... so maybe that's why my psychiatrist wants to try removing that first! It's the least likely to cause further problems by being removed, and interacts with everything....

(I added a symptom I forgot to mention to my original post--the weird shortness of breath feeling, except not shortness of breath, just reminds me of it and/or drowning somehow, but it's more mental than physical, and has a weird chemical tinge to it.)

Dose of Tegretol is 550 mg/day, btw. We had already gone from 600 -> 550 around November but I hit some more depression probably as the result of lowering the Effexor lowering my emotional numbness revealing more issues to process in therapy (which brought me out of it again, really glad I am doing therapy again). I take Effexor twice a day; at 9:35 PM and 7:10 AM, equal doses, 68.75 mg (half a 100 and half a 37.5 each). Tegretol is 200 at 7:10 am, 150 at 3 pm, and 200 at 9:35 PM.

As to glucose.. I have noticed the "syndrome" gets worse if I switch from regular eating to low carb, or low carb to regular (I don't do low carb any more--seems to fog my head too much for the time being), so... maybe considering glucose as a factor is worthwhile. I'm not diabetic (and I get regular medical screenings including blood sugar, etc). I'm thinking of getting a blood pressure meter and glucometer just to see what's going on when I wake up, more data for doctors. The only real issue with doctors is that they seem kind of puzzled by the thing as a complete piece, and are helpful with making incremental helpful changes (and I think maybe my psychiatrist is on to something with peeling away some complexity, I just wish this stuff didn't take so long), but.. yeah.

[Julie]

Tegretol side FX -

clumsiness or unsteadiness
constipation
dizziness
drowsiness
dryness of mouth or throat
hair or nail changes
headache
increased sensitivity of skin to sunlight (skin rash, itching, redness, or severe sunburn)
increased weight
loss of appetite
memory loss
nausea
red eyes
ringing in the ears
sexual problems (males)
taste changes
vomiting
weight increase