My doctor put me on 37.5 first but I have been seeing a lot about starting at even lower doses. He said that the first initial dose is already pretty low. Idk what to do- is it better to microdose?
IMHO microdose the extended release. That is what i did and that is what Dr.Hain recommends.
I agree.
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I agree, I moved up low and slow
‘pretty low’ compared to what would be my question? He’s thinking pretty low compared to the much higher doses used to treat depression, doses of maybe 350mg but he’s no proof you’d tolerate that anyway. My doctor made exactly the same comment. Trouble is few medics appreciate that MAV hypersensitivity exists and not only that it exists but that it commonly extends to hypersensitivity to drugs. I’d not hesitate to say follow Dr Hain’s protocol. Better that than fail a drug that in a while might just give you your life back. You said you were anxious about taking meds so make life easy on yourself, go slow and low. Why wouldn’t you.
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Hi Annae
I am now at 150mg Effexor extended release. I started at 12.5mg and increased by 12.5mg each week. To be honest I did not have any trouble increasing until I got to 82.5mg and even then it was very manageable - at 82.5mg I felt worse (unsteady and a bit drunk) for a few days but this disappeared after about 5/6 days and I just kept going. At 82.5 I really started to notice a huge improvement in my symptoms and this spurred me on to keep going. Everyone is different and the only way to know is try - at the lower doses it’s hard to know if you are feeling “off” due to MAV itself or whether it’s the meds. I had been so ill and tried so many meds for almost 3 yrs that I was so desperate I just kept pushing onwards with the dosing saying to myself I will give it one more day to see if it improves and thankfully my gamble paid off…I am way way better than I was. When I got to 150mg I still did not have full symptom control and so my neuro added in a beta blocker also (80mg half beta prograne) and I have felt additional benefit since adding this in. I still have a way to go before I can say I have full symptom control - next step is to increase the beta blocker in next 2 weeks.
Hope this helps
Mav
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I did not microdose at all when started taking it, but I was already in a very bad stage physically and mentally. I did microdose when I taper off it. I went up toe 150 mg in 4 months and stayed there another 10 or so when I started the taper, that took me another 4 months.
Good luck!
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