Venlafaxine detox – week 2

Day 10

A bit of mania today – nothing too much, just talking really fast and a sense of well-being… which may not, in fact, be mania.  Plus a few brain wobbles.  Knew I was feeling a bit hyped up, though, so bought a lavender candle to try and calm myself down a little.

Day 11

Could NOT sleep last night.  Woke up at least half a dozen times, fearful that there was someone or something in my room.  It was so annoying.  As a result, I am knackered today.  Ah well, at least its a travel day, so I can maybe get some sleep on the plane.  Got a bit of flu today as well, lots of sneezes and a stuffed up nose, flu-muscles and brain wobbles.  The brain wobbles are the worst.  It’s like everytime you move your head, you can feel your brain floating inside your skull, and if you turn your head rapidly (well, not really rapidly, but like actual movement of the head, not just flicking your eyes somewhere), it’s like it takes your brain a few seconds to catch up and your vision is a bit blurry for a second.  Then there’s the brain zaps.  Little almost-static-electricity-shocks at the back of the brain.  I wonder what the science is behind that?  Is it because that gland is trying to excrete seretonin on it’s own, and it’s not able to produce enough?  Strange.  Might have to do some research.

Day 12 and 13

The rest of yesterday was fine, though I can definitely say the night terror was strong these two days.  I still felt like there was someone in my room, even to the point of hearing voices that woke me up.  Head seems fine, though perhaps I was a little more emotional than unsual.  I was in Edinburgh these days, and I was in the city that my family name comes from, and I got quite emotional seeing my family name and crest everywhere.

The rest of the week… and part of week 3

Went really well.  I was doing a tour of the Scottish Highlands and the Republic of Ireland.  I can safely say that all of the brain-zaps are gone, and that I think the “someone in my room” thing was gone by day 14 or 15.  I had one instance in Ireland (I think that was day 14) where I thought I heard the voice of a child saying “boo!” and giggling, but that could legitimately have been a kid outside my room playing.

I’m off the benadryl entirely now – for those who find the brain zapping a pain, try taking the Omega 3 in the afternoon as well as the morning.  I’m down to just one capsule a day, plus the multivitamin still, but I think that’s probably good for my health in general so I’ll finish out the canister at least.

I think I’m through the worst of it.  I’m still pretty cranky, but that could be because today (day 20) has been pretty stressful… bad day today.  Got wind that my dog, who’s been my buddy for 15 years and still remembers me every time I go home and gets mad at me every time I leave, is probably not going to make it to September when I’ll be back in Australia; plus Skype and Chrome have been playing up today, when I’m trying to do stuff; two students emailed me needing help with a simple recount of an event, which would be fine except we’d been working on it for a week already which makes me wonder what they hell they were doing in class; and my housemate – a male Australian – was pissing me off again.  He does that.  Often just by existing, but this time it was because he was being all domineering and “I’m in charge here”, but then can’t get the shared groceries done for less than 40 pounds, even though I topped up the toilet paper and bin bags and cleaning stuff last week before I left.  I have noticed that I’ve been talking to myself a lot these past few days, which is a sign of stress for me.

Anyway, I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.