Friday, March 02, 2007

Kleine-Levin Syndrome and Antidepressant Withdrawal

I like reading about weird medical stuff. Rare diseases.

I just read an article about Kleine-Levin Syndrome. No, I'm not gettin all hypochondriac like and thinking I have it... but it sounds SO much like what happens to me if I stop taking my Effexor, an antidepressant. There's a horrible withdrawal if I miss even a day. There's even a name for it -- Antidepressant Discontinuation Syndrome.

From an article on eMedicine: Characteristic symptoms include hypersomnia (100%), cognitive changes (96%, including a specific feeling of derealization), eating disturbances (80%), hypersexuality (43%), compulsions (29%), and depressed mood (48%).

Yeah, that's a pretty good description of what it feels like to go through Effexor withdrawal. For me anyway. The only thing it's missing is the "electric shocks" feeling. (A common symptom when people stop taking an antidepressant is these weird feelings like an an electric shock going through your body or head.)

Just interesting.