Hope you are all well & staying safe in these strange times
Currently taking 225mg of venlafaxine for MAV I would say in the last 8-12 months I have noticed as massive downturn in my condition and the only thing I really think is my medication it’s either really not working or it’s the different brands the pharmacy keeps giving me,
Over the last 8-12 months a noticed every time I collected my medication i was give a different
Brand when I question it I was told they could not get my previous brand anymore which has
Been fine for 3+ years. I have tried using 3 different pharmacies even tried using a online chemist and keep getting told they can only get hold of a brand called torrent.
I have added an extra 37.5mg to my dose which hasn’t really helped? Has anyone else having this problem or am I loosing my mind?
Do rest assured. You are definitely not losing your mind. It happens. I spoke to @Jojo65 65 a long time back on the same subject. All Venlafaxine tablets are obviously not created equal. Same applies to other meds too. Bearing in mind Mavers are generally hypersensitive to many things, meds included it is no surprise they notice differences with different brands. Then there is sometimes the added complication of original or generic. Here in UK doctors are able to detail specific brands in the issued prescription. Mine has. How well that subsequently works however can vary, more particularly in the current crazy World situation, but it is worth a try though be prepared for your doctor to question your reasons for such a request. I have always found a pharmacist much more likely to already appreciate your problem. I am unsure of what country you are living in. In UK I’d always assumed smaller independent pharmacists could pick and chose brands but apparently the exact opposite is true. The big chains have the preferential contracts(not exactly sure how that works) but may be more likely to keep you on a specific brand if formally requested. The independents just get what’s left over or so I was told by a locum pharmacist based in Birmingham who works all over the country.
Whether the constant change of brand is actually affecting your condition can be difficult to establish. Jo certainly found she felt much better on some than on others. MAV in itself is such a rollercoaster sometimes it can be hard to tell. I’m not a medic but maybe you have reached a stage where the introduction of a second drug might be more beneficial rather than further increasing the Venlafaxine. Who knows? Might be worth discussing with your medical provider though. Helen
PS: apologies it wasn’t til I logged out cos system so slow I noticed the ‘UK’ in your thread title.
Thank you for your response,
I am located in Cheshire I have tried 3 of the major pharmacies in my area and a online company. The doctors were more than accommodating to update my prescription with the chosen brand, but the pharmacies keeping telling me they can only get the one brand that I struggle with. I am still awaiting more an appointment with Dr S but as of last week for the 4th time my appointment has been cancelled with is really frustrating as I have been waiting over 12 months.
This was the main reason for the post as I am really running out of ideas and because my GP’s haven’t got a clue I really feel like I am banging my head against the wall
I have no idea how the current virus situation is going to affect such hospital appointments. Perhaps you should try to speak to the consultant’s admin and find out.
I think all MAV treatment is much like banging heads against brick walls. It seems to just be that way. All else I would suggest failing your appointment materialising might be to ask your own doctor to add in another drug to see if that helps. Many long suffering MAVers seemed to find they end up needing two different class drugs to get a grip on it. Propranolol seems a popular second with Venlafaxine. Do not be put off by its blood pressure lowering capability, which isn’t that great, before you have tried it yourself. Of course your doctor might come up with some other alternative they prefer you to try.
Hi dizzy mind
Can you say which symptoms have worsened? I ask because I too take Venlafaxine 150mg XR and while it did wonders for my drunk floaty fleeting it didn’t eliminate it completely and I suspected that was because I still had a lot of head pressure and facial pressure - indicating that the migraine activity wasn’t fully under control. In Jan my neuro added in Propanolol 60mg slow release and I titrated up to 160mg Propanolol. So now the combo has made a massive difference to my symptoms. Might be worth thinking about.
My anxiety has got really bad again, I really struggle with driving, my brain seems to struggle working out moving objects whilst I am moving, I.e if I driving on a motorway and I come up to a bend my mind goes into panic because my eyes don’t want to focus on the corner.
It just feels like my eyes are working fine but the brain behind goes into melt down which the causes massive panic attacks
I am sorry this is a rubbish description, it’s hard to explain
No need to apologize, we understand. It’s all hard to describe. I remember looking at a license plate in front of me as the car drove away and I felt like I was in the middle of a horror movie - something was terribly wrong, but it wasn’t a conscious thing that involved my mind, it was just an awful feeling which caused instant panic. I hope you get some relief soon.
Not really sure whether they are able to obtain reimbursement for their time, they always request your name but I think this is now a source about to dry up considerably. When I phoned one during my recent GERD response to Venlafaxine after answering one question he was quick to come up with ‘but you didn’t obtain that prescription through us here’ to which I could truthfully reply ‘oh but I did early last year’ which I had. He seemed very surprised I could have kept it unopened for months before use though my point is, are they getting canny about issuing advice despite here in ‘I/k at least all the press coverage advising people to use them as first line approach rather than overburden doctors and A&E?