Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

I have posted extensively about titrating off of several medications. Unfortunately despite my best efforts, daily vigorous exercise, and a very clean diet, I can not shake the discontinuation effects of venlafaxine. About a month after stopping venlafaxine I stopped sleeping more than two hours at a time. I fell into a suicidal depression that no amount of less dreadful medication would lift me out of. On Friday my provider put me back on venlafaxine.

I was on 450mg daily for fifteen years and I believe it is accountable for a lot of the issues I had over that time. My provider just started me at 75mg to be increased to 150mg this week. I am hoping the discontinuation effects will subside without having to go back to 450mg. Right now the situation is bad. I am still not sleeping despite my provider having tried all the usual suspects. Worst of all I am profoundly depressed and hanging on by my fingernails.

Had I done more research I would not have stopped this medication as fast as I did. It seems it can take people years to titrate venlafaxine. Given the length of time I was on it and the very high dose I took, four months was too fast. It is maddening that my provider still believes it was out of my system quickly.

It takes weeks to ramp up and changes the way the brain functions, but after fifteen years it was out of my system in a couple of days. That makes no sense. Maybe it was out of my system fast but the changes it made to my brain could be permanent.

I have talked to an attorney friend of mine about suing the doctor who put me on it. It is easier said than done. My current providers believe I was misdiagnosed and should never have been put on the drug to begin with. Proving that is another matter. The mental health industry is well protected. Every possible side effect including suicidal actions is disclaimed. That we take these medications anyway is an indication of how badly people with mental illness are suffering. What is lacking is informed consent. That is the avenue I am trying to take. It doesn't look promising.

Discontinuation effects are seldom studied; after all who is going to pay for a study of what happens when a patient stops taking a drug? Certainly not the drug companies. I did find an article on Psychiatrist.com about suicidality emerging as the result of rapid discontinuation of venlafaxine, but everything else I've found is anecdotal. It took a decade of patients reporting brain zaps for the mental health industry to acknowledge their existence. Hopefully, it won't take that long for the profession to realize how hard it is to get off this medication.

In the meantime, people suffer and sometimes worse.

I hope everyone lives in good health and peace.

Has anyone had issues getting off of Cymbalta

Hi Frances007. I recently mentioned a lawsuit in a post. For me, filing a lawsuit is not about money. It’s about accountability, and hoping that even one person does not have to suffer as I have. Kelvin Thomas responded to you that a lawsuit is futile. When I feel helpless, I feel better doing something than nothing.❤️

I am optimistic that your withdrawal symptoms will subside well before you reach your original 450 mg dosage. I would imagine that you will feel better fast, provided it's a withdrawal issue and not a depression issue. I say that because withdrawal symptoms should subside once given the drug again. On the other hand, if you relapsed into depression, then it may take awhile for the drug to work again. At least, that's how my pharmacist explained it to me. Hoping for the best for you. Please keep us posted on your progress. I've learned a lot from your posts, and wish you well.

I was on 450mg of Venlafaxine, 450mg of bupropion, 900mg of lithium, 150 of Seroquel, 20mg of Latuda, and 3mg of lorazepam and I was still profoundly depressed. My doctors had tried ECT and Ketimine, but nothing worked. I decided to change my diet and begin exercising. I started titrating meds. Seroqua and Lorazepam were the first to go as I realized they added to my depression. I felt better immediately

Next up were Venlafaxine, Lithium, and Bupropion. The focus was on Venlafaxine because of all its side effects. Once I finished with the Venlafaxine I was still on 150mg of Bupropion and 300 of Lithium. It took about thirty days for everything to go to hell. Before stopping the Venlafaxine I was feeling the best I had in two decades.

They now have me back on 600mg of Lithium, which I think is adding to my depression. 20mg of Buspirone, for newfound anxiety, though they're taking me off of it now that we've restarted the Venlafaxine at 150mg. I'm also still taking 150mg of Bupropion and .5mg of Lorazepam as needed, no more than twice a day.

I am suicidally depressed. I still don't sleep (they've stopped trying to address that) and I now have crippling anxiety. They don't really, know what to do and neither do I. I feel hopeless and just want to end my life. The only thing that stops me is I do not have access to a quick and certain means to do so.

I had two good months out of fifteen years and am not hopeful that I can get back there.

I'm sorry to be so negative. I've been dealing with whatever is going on with me for a long time. I've wanted my life to end for a long time. I am tired of fighting for something I don't even want.

Thanks for listening.

I wish everyone peace and good health.

What kind of doctor or doctors are helping you with this, if you don't mind my asking?

Hello. I am so very sorry for what has happened to your life. I don’t know your financial situation, but if you have the means, I would try Traditional Chinese Medicine. I find acupuncture helps my anxiety. As my finances are limited, I hope to start with herbs next. Good luck. I wish I could take away your pain. ❤️

A psychiatrist started all of this fifteen years ago. He prescribed what I call the big dogs, 450mg, of buproprion and venelafaxine along with 900mg of lithium. I had never been on meds before and these were my starting doses.

I became manic, got arrested. The jail took everything away cold turkey. After nineteen days I got out and went to a hospital where the psychiatrist put me back on the same meds. Two additional psychiatrist maintained the same meds.

The people treating me now, a local Mental Health clinic added the extra stuff and ordered the ECT and Ketamine treatments. My provider there is a psychiatric nurse and a therapist. In June I told them I wanted off the meds, they agreed to help.

Initially I got a lot better, the best I'd been in decades. It lasted two months. Ultimately when I stopped the venlafaxine the bottom dropped out and I've been in hell ever since. They are now bring drugs back online, albeit slowly and painfully.

I don't know what is happening. Am I feeling discontinuation effects, the reoccurrence of symptoms or both? One thing is for sure I came off the medication way to fast and am paying the price for it.

I despair that I will ever be well.

Thank you for your kind words!

Yes, it is an FDA approved drug, but the way it has been prescribed for those of us on this website is outrageous, and that does not mean we have no recourse. I would urge anyone who so desires to file a report with the FDA, which I just did. It took awhile to write all the details, but one can "save and exit" the report in order to continue it later.
This is the emailed response I just received: Thank you for submitting your report to MedWatch, the FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program.
This acknowledgment confirms that your report was received. Reports are added to a post marketing safety database with similar reports and reviewed by the FDA's post marketing safety staff. Voluntary reports are essential for ensuring the continued safety of FDA-regulated products. One or two well documented case reports may provide an early signal of unexpected problems and lead to additional evaluation. This may result in FDA regulatory actions that improve the safety of the products used in patient care each day.