There are many stories regarding Venlafaxine. This drug may have helped some people, but for the most part it has had a negative affect. I started on Effexor in about 2005. I started with celexa prior to that. Due to uncomfortable physical symptoms from celexa, the doctor put me on prozac. Having taken prozac for a period of time, I wanted to stop due to feeling blah and unemotional - zombie like. She put me on effexor. At that time, I still trusted and believed what big pharma said about these drugs. In between prozac & effexor, the doctor put me on wellbutrin. I ended up in the er with stroke like symptoms. I had several tests done in an attempt to discover what happened with no clear answers (I did not have a stroke). I continue to believe that I had a serious reaction to wellbutrin. In 2012, I attempted to quite effexor. My symptoms included dizziness, extreme fatigue, constant chills. I thought that I had a serious health problem. I went to the doctor and had several blood tests done, an upper GI, and a stress test. All tests were in the "normal" range. The doctor said I needed to go back on the effexor and of course I took her advice. Problem solved. In 2016, near the end, I decided that I needed to get off effexor as I was having health issues that I thought were related to using this drug. I started titrating down. I spent 10 months decreasing the dosage on a weekly basis. Fortunately, I never took a stronger dosage than 75mgs. Even so, the withdrawal symptoms hit. Not wanting to go to the doctor that recommended staying on effexor, I did this on my own. Searching for help with withdrawal, I found information about SAMe. Unfortunately, I did not do enough research. After taking 400 mgs. daily for about 3 weeks, I started having anxiety and insomnia. When I dug a little deeper, I discovered the possibility of numerous side effects from SAMe. I quit cold turkey. Now, not only was I having withdrawal from effexor, I was having it from SAMe too. Horrible withdrawal. Extreme emotions, shivering, anxiety, extreme fatigue, need for deep breathes. I didn't know where to turn as I knew with traditional medical doctors, they would just want to throw drugs at the problem instead of finding the cause of the problems. I made an appointment to see a naturopath. My appointment is tomorrow and I'm hopeful. I have felt better the past 2 days and I may soon get past this. I have relied on prayer, a good diet, taking supplements and moderate exercise. I have avoided taking any of the amino acids recommended to increase serotonin as there can by significant problems as a result.

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