Hi everyone!

I'm new to this forum and just stared tapering off of Venlafaxine 300 mg. I wanted to document and share my experience. Maybe it helps someone 🙂 (Also I have major brain fog, so it's good for me to write it down along the way).

It's been a ride to admit needing help, find the right therapist and the right medication. I've been prescribed different drugs in different dosages and then some others to combat the side effects of the anti-depressants while being in therapy. Some worked okay, some did nothing and others made me feel terrible. At times i felt like i was just a test dummy: "Pop in a drug and see how she turns out. Did it not work? Just try another!" But at the time I felt so low that I accepted that trial and error was the only way to find what worked for me...
Sidenote: I'm a 29 y/o female from in Netherlands. I am curious to hear about other people's experience with being prescribed different mental health related drugs.

I've been on Venlafaxine/ Effexor for over 6 years now for anxiety, depression and dysthymia. Before that, other antidepressants. I wanted to lower my dosage a few years ago, but the psychiatrist at the time said something that held me back. Over the years we've established that I experience a lot of side effects when changing meds/ dosage. Therefore, the psychiatrist told me that I'd basically have to schedule a month off work etc., to be able to cope with the withdrawal symptoms. In this month, his plan was for me to lower my dosage with 75mg each week.
Even though I wanted to lower my intake, taking a month off seemed impossible (in my mind I went "in THIS economy?" :') ). I was scared to lose my job and even more so, what withdrawal would do to my mind and my body. This held me back for a loooong time.

Fast forward some years later to the present. I'm doing better. I moved cities and therefore had to find a new doctor as well. I talked to the new doctor about wanting to taper off. I don't want to have to take this drug, solely because lowering it seems impossible. I don't think I need as high a dosage as I needed 6 years ago. Besides, I'd love to experience less side effects from the Venlafaxine.
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Now, let's get to the tapering off part:
She suggested lowering my dosage by the smallest dose available here (which is 37,5 mg) every two weeks. Check in with her every two weeks if needed.
So for the past two weeks I've been taking 262,5 mg daily, instead of 300 mg. After that, 225 mg for two weeks. Then 187,5 mg for two weeks and so on. It is not necessarily my goal to be completely off the drug (tho I'd love it if that's possible!). I just want to start by taking less.

- Week 1, 262 mg:
The first few days I've noticed nothing out of the ordinary. No changes in my mood. I mainly felt happy and almost excited to finally lower this stuff. Just the occasional headache and fatigue, but I thought that was just stress. I also feel a bit slow in processing information, communicating and slower in thinking in general.

Week 2, 262,5 mg: I am not sure if this is because of the withdrawal, but for the past few days I've been extremely tired. Not able to get out of bed when my alarm clock goes off-tired. Barely able to keep my eyes open-tired. The headache got worse and causes me to frown and squint all the time. I cannot stand loud voices or noises in general. It's like my brain fog has turned into brain smog: much more sense and heavy and a struggle to navigate in. It costs a lot of energy to engage in anything and conversation doesn't come naturally anymore. I feel nauseous and have trouble eating enough, though I try to do so.
Again, not sure if it is withdrawal or if it's just a bad cold/ flu... Has anyone else experienced this several days after lowering?

Later this week I'm supposed to lower the dosage again from 262,5 mg to 225 mg. Maybe for week 3 I can try 262,5 mg on Sat, Mon, Wed, Fri and 225 mg on Sun, Tue, Thu, Sat to taper off more gradually. Week 4 can be 225 mg.

I'm open to hear anyone's experience and advice 🙂