Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

So good to have this message from you. For some reason I thought you had retired. Glad to see you are still involved. You bring a wealth of knowledge and experience.

Namaste 🙏🏻

Glottis breathing. Amazing way to enervate the vagus nerve. Relaxes the whole body. Sounds like Darth Vader. 🙏🏻🌞

Were you ever successful in quitting?

I'm on Day 8 of going cold turkey after 20 years on that drug. I was taking Effexor and Abilify after a breakdown, and have still been suffering waves of depression and constant suicidal ideations, while feeling robbed of any good days. It has either been deathly depressed at worst, or emotionally flat at best. No joy. So I quit both drugs abruptly, partly out of anger, I'll admit. But more so because the prescriptions weren't working. Thus far I have not had much depression surface in the past few days. If anything I feel empowered. But the physical discomfort of quitting has been significant, especially the "brain zaps," which are deeply unpleasant and have left me wondering if I have caused long term changes in my brain chemistry by allowing myself to be put on Effexor in the first place. I'm feeling suspicious of this stuff despite the paucity of evidence about long term impacts. You shouldn't be able to "feel" your brain, but that's exactly what's happening. I don't want to go back on this drug after experiencing the withdrawal. So I'm wondering if others have been successful in pulling off of it, and if there are any hints. I know taper is what people say, but after more than a week off it, I'd rather try to ride this out. Any advice?

@depressedbutnotdead
You are very lucky. One lady here on Connect stopped Effexor abruptly and had a stroke. I stopped a seizure medication nearly 60 years ago and ended up in an 8-month-long induced coma with many complications. I took over 2 years to stop the seizure drug Klonopin and didn't have any withdrawal symptoms. You should only discontinue one medication at a time. Some people die stopping medication abruptly. We aren't here talking just to hear our heads rattle. I hope you never take a chance potentially endangering your life again. Your very lucky.
Jake

I could not find a documented case of death or even serious medical complications from quitting either drug, just serious discomfort with Effexor. The brain zaps, which researchers don't seem to have a confirmed explanation for, I find disturbing. If the mechanism causing them isn't understood, why isn't this a red flag on the drug? I am more concerned at this point by concerns about the physiological impact of having taken it for so long than I am about quitting it.

There is an enhanced suicide risk to abrupt withdrawal, but I was already dealing with that level of depression, and the drug combination was doing nothing to relieve it, it was only causing me to lose any joy in life. The bad days used to be balanced out by good ones. After treatment, the good days went away, but the bad ones didn't. The best I could hope for were flat days that I sleepwalked through. Five days after quitting the two drugs, I felt my sense of humor resurfacing after a long absence. Hopefully that's an indicator.

I just read this apologies for not reading the comments. I came on here because I can only take generic TEVA. Long story. To this
Person stopping Effexor on day idk 8 now. I hope you will succeed. When you hit in about a few weeks your withdrawals will quick in. And it’s not like withdrawing from alcohol where u need to be supervised (but for this drug I think everyone should be). This is like you will wake up with your heart pounding sweating just the worst feeling ever. Nauseated can’t eat, diarrhea, hurling, and panic attacks and your hyoerventilating . I’m sorry but someone here can vouch for this. ? I can go into detail. I can’t find my generic brand TEVA…that’s why I jumped on here. It was I believed the first generic for Effexor Dr. well I can’t get it anywhere. And if I can’t take the TEVA generic I go into withdrawals. And yes I’ve been in this drug for 20 years. Good luck sport guys I didn’t read comments. Im so mad my new mail order won’t request TEVA for me and they know my withdrawals. I’ve called 20 pharmacy’s in just fed up.

I am not familiar with that type of breathing. Please explain more. Thank you so much. Always remember that there are people in more serious illnesses than ours. That’s what keeps me going.

Cold turkey? What strength was your Effexor and were you on the extended release. I started my taper from 150mg, now down to 37.5, and this is the XR version.
Thank you for your post

Ask your doctor to put you on 10 mg of prozac. It has a much longer half-life than effexor. Take that with the effexor for about a week or two (however long it takes for the prozac to reach steady state - the pharmacist should be able to tell you), then quit the effexor. You should then be able to taper off the prozac by adding a day between doses (every other day, then every third day, etc.) until such time that you can quit taking that. It's the ONLY way I've ever been able to get off effexor or pristiq. I've tried slowly tapering off for months, and that was miserable. The prozac trick worked and was prescribed by my OB when I was pregnant. I've used it recently to get off pristiq, but I was surprised to learn that my PCP was unaware of it. No brain zaps with the prozac, and it took me about a month or so maybe two - to wean off both completely.

in reply to @jrbourquin Thank you! I appreciate this very much, as trying to count out the small beads in the capsules is futile, and sometimes I don't always get it right. The pharmacist did recommend going on the regular Effexor and tapering down with that, which I tried and failed. I have taken Prozac in the distant past, and it led to unexpected weight loss. an issue I still have as a result of multiple chronic conditions. It might be worth it in the long run to lose a few pounds but allow me to get off of this medication, without the undesirable side effects.
Enjoy your day and thank you again for this sage advice.