Photo credit: Oscar Sansom~~><~~
i have had absolutely no zaps, pings, charges since the day before yesterday, around noon. for this reason alone, i can safely say it would be my choice to remain on this medication the balance of my days.
however, something disturbing happened last night. i awoke at around 1:15 a.m. after sleeping pretty soundly for three or so hours. i have been prone to insomnia for years so this part did not disturb me, but when i attempted to fall back to sleep, i had unusual things happen: each time i was about to drift off, i felt as though my breathing was stopping and i bolted upright on the couch. this happened on at least five occasions. i couldn't take air in - i felt as though i was under water. the last (5th) time was "it" and i went back up to bed to tell my husband what was happening. he reassured me i would not stop breathing and that i would be fine, but it happened once more before i finally fell back to sleep, exhausted, at 4:00 a.m.
an internet search did not reveal these types of occurrences as any kind of side-effect (closest thing i saw was "yawning") but if it happens again tonight and tomorrow night, i will call my doctor on friday (since tomorrow is thanksgiving) to see what he says.
one of the thoughts i had was i was entering into panic attack phase again -- i used to have panic attacks, but they would occur during the day, never at night. this was suffocating and startling and not something i would enjoy having happen with any type of regularity.
if anyone who is reading is an Effexor user, please ring in. it would be appreciated.
