Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

Hi 👋🏻 I’ve weaned myself off 225 mg of Venlafaxine over the last two months. I have been completely off for the last two. I am now experiencing sweats and weird budding in my head. I really don’t feel well. Any suggestions?

Just to let you know...I think working is the best thing. It keeps you busy and your mind off Yourself! If you don't taper too fast, hopefully you won't be too anxious and work will help. Exercise also helps. Since I am feeling better (90 percent better than the hell days) I am hoping to get back to work some. I still have bad days...but I'm more hopeful now.

Just to let you know...I think working is the best thing. It keeps you busy and your mind off Yourself! If you don't taper too fast, hopefully you won't be too anxious and work will help. Exercise also helps. Since I am feeling better (90 percent better than the hell days) I am hoping to get back to work some. I still have bad days...but I'm more hopeful now.

I have been on Venlax for close to 10 years. I have had so many issues with feeling like I'm a walking zombie and my head feels like it's full of fluff and trying to taper down makes me have diarrhea and nausea and feel like I have the flu. Does anyone else get the diarrhea part? I have gotten down to 75, but I want to get off. I am going to try getting down to 37.5, and I guess I'll have to take Diarrhea medicine. I take prescription nausea medicine when I get that. I started taking CBD recently and take the Montkush brand. It is actually advertised on tv because the man who started it purified it so that he could try it with his autistic daughter who didn't speak and he said it has worked wonders. I do find that it takes the edge off. It has .3 THC so it does show up in a drug test. They have some gummies that are .5 THC that help you chill. I am going to try to use these more to taper off. This is a horrible medicine. CBD has helped me with headaches and joint & muscle pain too. It's a blessing. Love & hugs to everyone.

Hi nonnie!

Wow that's a short amount of time! It could be withdrawal symptoms as you're body's trying to adjust to being without it.

When experiencing these symptoms, it could be a sign from your body that you may have tapered too quickly. I've read that in order to minimise these symptoms, it's suggested to taper more slowly and in smaller steps. That way your body has more time to adjust to it.

Right now I'm experiencing headaches (with a buzzing drum in my head almost?) and flu like symptoms. I am tapering Venlafaxine as well. Reading more and more about it, right now I'm preeettty sure these symptoms are withdrawal symptoms.
Also thank you @keppraeffect for making me think that it is probably good to taper down more slowly!

Can you talk about these symptoms with your doctor? I hope they can help you at least lessen the symptoms since you're already off the venlafaxine.

All the best!

Hi there!

Sorry to hear that you are experiencing all these symptoms 🙁 I commend you for continuing to taper and I hope you feel better soon!

In an older comment someone also mentioned diarrhea as a result of an antidepressant so you might be right that the Paxil is causing it. I think they considered taking medication for it...

Dang it's not okay for your doctor to not warn you about withdrawal symptoms 🙁
It also pains me to hear when (mental) health care systems are "overburdened" in other countries too (I'm not sure if I'm using the right word here, but I mean when there are too little professionals available to the many people that need help, causing these waiting lists. ) So I am glad to hear that you finally have a therapist after waiting for so long!

Having a connection with and talking to the right person about it can sometimes do wonders. That being said, thank you for sharing your story and advice!! You're absolutely right about not needing to be in a rush.

It's funny since I'm currently on a slower tapering plan then the first doctor suggested, so I automatically thought this would be "slow enough". But my body and brain agree with you that the adjustment feels to fast, so I will slow down the tapering plan 🙂

I hope this next taper goes a bit more smoothly for you and you have kind people around you too support you (in any way possible 🙂 )
All the best!

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.
_____________________________________
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 🙂

This has been hell. Was off for seven weeks but my body and mind couldn’t do it anymore. Was pure hell. Anyone else experience this horror.

I started trying to withdraw from Zomorph (morphine), some months before Christmas 2023, having been on a daily dose of 160mgs for 10+ years. Everything seemed to go so well, (by this time I was on 8mgs daily), that I decided to start reducing my Venlafaxine, (aka Effexor) - (I had been on 300mgs daily for 15+ years). I started getting the usual withdrawal symptoms but coped well with them until I was on only 37.5 mgs Venlafaxine and 30mgs Zomorph daily. At this point everything fell to bits. The withdrawals expanded to include: nausea, headaches, dizziess, high blood pressure, feeling freezing and shivering, feeling boiling hot and sweating, terrible stiff neck, severe aches and pains especially in back and legs, dry mouth, feeling as though needles were being stuck into me, crawling skin, brain zaps, ‘rushing’ sound in head, irritability, mood swings, tiredness and extreme lethargy, involuntary movements of eyelids, incredibly vivid dreams (so that I don’t know what is real and what I’ve dreamed), insomnia, lack of appetite, unsteadiness, fatalistic, reduced level of concentration, impatient, now lack of sweating…The final thing, although by no means the least, is the way my skin has been affected. It exudes a liquid (?) which combines with my skin, and then hardens. Some of it makes very small areas of my skin look grey/black, brown, and some looks shiny as though ‘cling film’ (saran wrap) has been stretched over, and moulded into it. I feel as though I have a rigid mask on all the time. As it hardens, it also tightens, which pulls at the skin. It also feels as if there are ‘bubbles’ under the skin in some places. Occasionally some peels off, but then reappears. It started in patches on my face, then spread all over it. It’s now all over my scalp, in my ears, up my nose, and I think it’s literally all over everywhere else. I have tried to get it off, but it’s like trying to prise concrete off your skin; your flesh feels bruised underneath, and your skin can actually tear off with it. If I manage to break a small area up, my skin plus the ‘stuff’ is like very tough, sharp sandpaper which shreds the skin from my fingertips. My doctor has prescribed Epimax paraffin lotion and Eumovate steroid ointment for my skin; and a coal tar shampoo and Betacap steroid lotion for my scalp. None of it seems to be doing any good, and in fact all the problems seem to be getting worse. My questions are:
(1) Should I be having any treatment for any of these withdrawal symptoms?
(2) Has anyone else had this awful skin condition?
(3)If do, how did you get rid of it?
(4) Any comments please?

I started trying to withdraw from Zomorph (morphine), some months before Christmas 2023, having been on a daily dose of 160mgs for 10+ years. Everything seemed to go so well, (by this time I was on 8mgs daily), that I decided to start reducing my Venlafaxine, (aka Effexor) - (I had been on 300mgs daily for 15+ years). I started getting the usual withdrawal symptoms but coped well with them until I was on only 37.5 mgs Venlafaxine and 30mgs Zomorph daily. At this point everything fell to bits. The withdrawals expanded to include: nausea, headaches, dizziess, high blood pressure, feeling freezing and shivering, feeling boiling hot and sweating, terrible stiff neck, severe aches and pains especially in back and legs, dry mouth, feeling as though needles were being stuck into me, crawling skin, brain zaps, ‘rushing’ sound in head, irritability, mood swings, tiredness and extreme lethargy, involuntary movements of eyelids, incredibly vivid dreams (so that I don’t know what is real and what I’ve dreamed), insomnia, lack of appetite, unsteadiness, fatalistic, reduced level of concentration, impatient, now lack of sweating…The final thing, although by no means the least, is the way my skin has been affected. It exudes a liquid (?) which combines with my skin, and then hardens. Some of it makes very small areas of my skin look grey/black, brown, and some looks shiny as though ‘cling film’ (saran wrap) has been stretched over, and moulded into it. I feel as though I have a rigid mask on all the time. As it hardens, it also tightens, which pulls at the skin. It also feels as if there are ‘bubbles’ under the skin in some places. Occasionally some peels off, but then reappears. It started in patches on my face, then spread all over it. It’s now all over my scalp, in my ears, up my nose, and I think it’s literally all over everywhere else. I have tried to get it off, but it’s like trying to prise concrete off your skin; your flesh feels bruised underneath, and your skin can actually tear off with it. If I manage to break a small area up, my skin plus the ‘stuff’ is like very tough, sharp sandpaper which shreds the skin from my fingertips. My doctor has prescribed Epimax paraffin lotion and Eumovate steroid ointment for my skin; and a coal tar shampoo and Betacap steroid lotion for my scalp. None of it seems to be doing any good, and in fact all the problems seem to be getting worse. My questions are:
(1) Should I be having any treatment for any of these withdrawal symptoms?
(2) Has anyone else had this awful skin condition?
(3)If do, how did you get rid of it?
(4) Any comments please?