@dhoward1

I'm very surprised that your doctor told you to stop cold turkey. In my non-medical and humble opinion, you should consider taking it until you have that strongly worded conversation. Maybe it's not a medication he works with as a rule, so doesn't know the protocol for tapering off. If he insists that you stop, my recommendation would surely be to speak with another doctor or the pharmacist.

Good luck.

Jim

The dr is actually a fill in for my regular gynecologist because mine had an accident and is out till end of February so I’m just tapering myself and I think I’m doing ok. I have been on a lot of meds in my life and I’ve never had any problems stopping them so this is the first time I’ve had to taper off one. I’ll monitor myself closely but so far had only had a little nausea and headache and tired but I had those on the med too so who knows but thanks for reading my post. I appreciate it.

Jim, I agree completely. About 20 years ago, a psychiatrist told me to abruptly switch from Effexor to Wellbutrin. I endured a horrible withdrawal but had no idea why. In those days, the pharmaceutical companies insisted that their antidepressants were not addicting and had no withdrawal effects. (Whether they knew and didn't disclose is another story.)

@lukekee it sounds as if you are doing the right things. I hope you can continue to taper and not have any seriously difficult symptoms.
JK

@gagelle

I have never given much thought to my own experience with Effexor. I started taking Celexa in 2002 or 03, and after awhile I asked the doctor if there was a cheaper alternative, which began a 3 year journey of trying one antidepressant after another. During that time, depression spiraled downward. I tried Effexor in 2005, but didn't think it had any effect on me, so I moved on to the next one on the list of antidepressants, which was Wellbutrin, and I felt that it was helping. Unfortunately, at the time, during the last half of 2005, I began attempting suicide and admitted myself to a facility for people who have attempted suicide and survived. The psychiatrist on duty switched me back to Effexor for some still unknown reason. I was there for around 6 weeks, and when I went home, I went back to Wellbutrin. I have since wondered how much effect trying all of those antidepressants for six weeks each had on my worsening mental health. I didn't at the time have any understanding about the effects of stopping each one cold turkey and starting the next with no consideration of tapering on and off. That was going on when I lived in a very remote place with no access to mental health professionals. All I had was my pcp, whom I really liked, and who really cared about what was going on with me. But he wasn't trained to treat mental illness.

When I left the facility, I was required to start seeing a psychiatrist, which I did, and I began the long, difficult journey out of the black hole of depression. I know that I'm alive today because of the people who cared for me, and saw me as more than another loony patient. I'm pretty sure I would have committed suicide long ago if it weren't for some good therapists and doctors I've had over the past decade.

Enough rambling.

Jim