Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

Hi there! I am new to Connect, but hopefully can offer some insight. I DID go off 150 Effexor XR (name brand) COLD TURKEY on January 2016. I survived it, but will never in my life EVER go off ANY antidepressant cold turkey. I had taken Effexor for at least 8 years, Zoloft prior to that and and Imipramine (sp?) as the first antidepressant (in all 25+ years on antidepressants.) It all started with running out of meds over a long weekend and deciding it was time to try to get off antidepressants to see how I would do. Since I had recently retired from teaching, thought this would be an ideal time to give it a go. In addition, Effexor just wasn't helping all that much anymore (I thought.) The first 3 days I felt like I was going to die! When I realized that I wasn't dying, decided to keep going to get it all over with. In addition to the symptoms you have heard about, I had deep bone/joint pain that felt like I was being pinched with clamps. Also had skin sensations and peeling, and noticed a strange smell on my skin. Each day got a little better and by the 3rd week started to function a bit more normally. I was very emotional, however, which caused my family great concern. Well, to make a long story short, the depression crept back in full and I am still trying to get my life back. I did everything I could to stay stable, including herbal supplements and took a vacation where I hiked 6 miles daily for 9 days on hilly, rocky terrain. I finally had to accept that I'm a person who will need antidepressants for the rest of my life. With the help of a PCP and counselor, I am on my 3rd antidepressant & may need to resort to going back on Effexor, because nothing seems to be working. All in all, in my opinion, the chronic depression is worse than the withdrawal symptoms that do eventually end. If you are a person with situational depression, you may be successful weaning off Effexor gradually. If I were to do it again, that's what I would do (while replacing Effexor with something else.) Here are the things that helped me with the physical withdrawal symptoms:
1. Get plenty of sleep/rest.
2. Eat a very well-balanced diet (this is not the time to worry about your weight.) Lots of soup & easy to digest foods the 1st few days.
3. Drink plenty of water, including coconut water.
4. Have a glass of wine in the evening (if advisable.)
5. Get outside and walk or other excersize (the warm sunshine will feel good!)
6. Hot yoga 3-4 times per week. Stay in class even if you feel nauseous & can only do a few postures.
7. Soak in a hot tub (with bath salts if available.)
8. Use a good moisturizer on face & body several times per day.
9. Get several professional massages.
10. Take Tylenol for muscle pain, if OK on your stomach.
11. A heating pad is also helpful at bedtime or during naps.
12. If you are single & live alone, make sure a few trusted friends/family members know what you are doing.
13. In general, be kind & gentle to yourself.
14. NEVER give up! Keep going, even when you don't feel like it (which will be often.) YOU ARE WORTH IT!!!

Hi, @lalyfa. Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Sounds like quite a journey with this withdrawal. I moved your post over here to this existing discussion because I know there are many members here who have had similar experiences with coming off venlafaxine (Effexor). Hoping you can all meet up here and they will have some thoughts for you.

Do you perhaps have another friend or relative who could be a support for you in this withdrawal process?

Hi, @lalyfa. Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Sounds like quite a journey with this withdrawal. I moved your post over here to this existing discussion because I know there are many members here who have had similar experiences with coming off venlafaxine (Effexor). Hoping you can all meet up here and they will have some thoughts for you.

Do you perhaps have another friend or relative who could be a support for you in this withdrawal process?

Hi, @lalyfa. Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Sounds like quite a journey with this withdrawal. I moved your post over here to this existing discussion because I know there are many members here who have had similar experiences with coming off venlafaxine (Effexor). Hoping you can all meet up here and they will have some thoughts for you.

Do you perhaps have another friend or relative who could be a support for you in this withdrawal process?

Hi everyone. I tapered off Effexor, and I will share how I did it and how it went. The way I see it is that the main problem on why so many people need to talk about this online is that most doctors I have visited just don't know how to taper antidepressants well. They do it way too quickly and each person is different and it is a slow process, but the turtle wins this race! I am going to share my own personal experience so please take this with a grain of salt as it is not meant to be medical advice in any way. You should always consult your doctor first and exercise your own judgment on what level of tapering you need. I was on Venlafaxine SR the generic form of Effexor SR. I was on the SR (slow release) so it wasn't a tablet but a capsule full of granules. I tapered over about 6 months and was only on 75 mg. It took me that long to taper without going totally crazy, and I still experienced strong side effects so please pay attention to my advice. I am troubled there are people on this feed that went cold turkey off of an SSRI. It is dangerous and you will feel like you are dying - you could put your life, job and relationships in jeopardy doing that so please be careful. Here was my gameplan. I dropped 10 granules about every 2-3 weeks depending on how I was feeling. I did this process for about 6 months or so. I literally did this down to taking 2 granules! I'm not kidding. I would open up the capsule and remove the amount I didn't need in a bowl and set it aside in an old pill bottle or Ziplock bag (just for backup if I needed it). This was the only way I was able to taper off this drug, and I still had some rough days but I was able to function through them. During my second to last month, I had vertigo and experienced some nausea as well! I was in a Pilates class and the room wouldn't stop spinning, so that week I had to take it easy. I also had some crying fits (I was numb on the drug, couldn't shed a tear) and it felt like the floodgates opened when I got towards the last two months of tapering. I cried and had some depression and anxiety. I had to talk myself down off the anxiety. I found an app called Abide that had a talk on anxiety that gave me great tools. It was a psychotherapist teaching about worry and anxiety and how to target it. I worked on that through the process. I also prayed or called friends to process when I was feeling depressed. During the entire experience, I did notice I had some restless leg syndrome and achy muscles. I've read about this elsewhere with people having withdrawals from this drug. I'm hoping it goes away. I took my last dose of this about 4 weeks ago. I'm doing ok. I'm out of a job right now so that's a tad depressing BUT I am functioning. I'm journaling and targeting my anxiety by having talks with myself on what is really bothering me - my struggle with depression and anxiety, in general, are dramatically linked. Usually, when I target one the other one chills out more. For somebody who's been out of work as long as I have, I shouldn't even be functioning but I am. I don't believe I would be in such good shape had I gone cold turkey. I think I would have gone mad! I am trying to eat many vegetables each day, and I am trying to exercise. I also started probiotics about 6 months ago and did research on gut health and depression. I believe our diet and food are a huge part of our problem and exercise and stretching can really help you out. I will say that out of all the antidepressants I've been on, Effexor has given me the most side effects during regular dosage and tapering afterward. I had better experiences on Celexa. My main problem is that they all make me super tired, and I just want to sleep. When I was on Effexor, I took two-hour naps every day and it was the same when I was on Zoloft. I just would turn into a zombie, but not all people experience that and many people do very well on SSRIs and these drugs have saved lives. I originally went on Effexor after a major trauma happened in my life. Several years later, I felt it was time for me to try to taper so I did, and it worked so far. Slow slow slow - that's all I can say! And, if it doesn't work for you, there is no shame in taking antidepressants just make sure you are eating well, exercising and providing self-care tools too. Good luck!

Hi everyone. I tapered off Effexor, and I will share how I did it and how it went. The way I see it is that the main problem on why so many people need to talk about this online is that most doctors I have visited just don't know how to taper antidepressants well. They do it way too quickly and each person is different and it is a slow process, but the turtle wins this race! I am going to share my own personal experience so please take this with a grain of salt as it is not meant to be medical advice in any way. You should always consult your doctor first and exercise your own judgment on what level of tapering you need. I was on Venlafaxine SR the generic form of Effexor SR. I was on the SR (slow release) so it wasn't a tablet but a capsule full of granules. I tapered over about 6 months and was only on 75 mg. It took me that long to taper without going totally crazy, and I still experienced strong side effects so please pay attention to my advice. I am troubled there are people on this feed that went cold turkey off of an SSRI. It is dangerous and you will feel like you are dying - you could put your life, job and relationships in jeopardy doing that so please be careful. Here was my gameplan. I dropped 10 granules about every 2-3 weeks depending on how I was feeling. I did this process for about 6 months or so. I literally did this down to taking 2 granules! I'm not kidding. I would open up the capsule and remove the amount I didn't need in a bowl and set it aside in an old pill bottle or Ziplock bag (just for backup if I needed it). This was the only way I was able to taper off this drug, and I still had some rough days but I was able to function through them. During my second to last month, I had vertigo and experienced some nausea as well! I was in a Pilates class and the room wouldn't stop spinning, so that week I had to take it easy. I also had some crying fits (I was numb on the drug, couldn't shed a tear) and it felt like the floodgates opened when I got towards the last two months of tapering. I cried and had some depression and anxiety. I had to talk myself down off the anxiety. I found an app called Abide that had a talk on anxiety that gave me great tools. It was a psychotherapist teaching about worry and anxiety and how to target it. I worked on that through the process. I also prayed or called friends to process when I was feeling depressed. During the entire experience, I did notice I had some restless leg syndrome and achy muscles. I've read about this elsewhere with people having withdrawals from this drug. I'm hoping it goes away. I took my last dose of this about 4 weeks ago. I'm doing ok. I'm out of a job right now so that's a tad depressing BUT I am functioning. I'm journaling and targeting my anxiety by having talks with myself on what is really bothering me - my struggle with depression and anxiety, in general, are dramatically linked. Usually, when I target one the other one chills out more. For somebody who's been out of work as long as I have, I shouldn't even be functioning but I am. I don't believe I would be in such good shape had I gone cold turkey. I think I would have gone mad! I am trying to eat many vegetables each day, and I am trying to exercise. I also started probiotics about 6 months ago and did research on gut health and depression. I believe our diet and food are a huge part of our problem and exercise and stretching can really help you out. I will say that out of all the antidepressants I've been on, Effexor has given me the most side effects during regular dosage and tapering afterward. I had better experiences on Celexa. My main problem is that they all make me super tired, and I just want to sleep. When I was on Effexor, I took two-hour naps every day and it was the same when I was on Zoloft. I just would turn into a zombie, but not all people experience that and many people do very well on SSRIs and these drugs have saved lives. I originally went on Effexor after a major trauma happened in my life. Several years later, I felt it was time for me to try to taper so I did, and it worked so far. Slow slow slow - that's all I can say! And, if it doesn't work for you, there is no shame in taking antidepressants just make sure you are eating well, exercising and providing self-care tools too. Good luck!

Hi everyone. I tapered off Effexor, and I will share how I did it and how it went. The way I see it is that the main problem on why so many people need to talk about this online is that most doctors I have visited just don't know how to taper antidepressants well. They do it way too quickly and each person is different and it is a slow process, but the turtle wins this race! I am going to share my own personal experience so please take this with a grain of salt as it is not meant to be medical advice in any way. You should always consult your doctor first and exercise your own judgment on what level of tapering you need. I was on Venlafaxine SR the generic form of Effexor SR. I was on the SR (slow release) so it wasn't a tablet but a capsule full of granules. I tapered over about 6 months and was only on 75 mg. It took me that long to taper without going totally crazy, and I still experienced strong side effects so please pay attention to my advice. I am troubled there are people on this feed that went cold turkey off of an SSRI. It is dangerous and you will feel like you are dying - you could put your life, job and relationships in jeopardy doing that so please be careful. Here was my gameplan. I dropped 10 granules about every 2-3 weeks depending on how I was feeling. I did this process for about 6 months or so. I literally did this down to taking 2 granules! I'm not kidding. I would open up the capsule and remove the amount I didn't need in a bowl and set it aside in an old pill bottle or Ziplock bag (just for backup if I needed it). This was the only way I was able to taper off this drug, and I still had some rough days but I was able to function through them. During my second to last month, I had vertigo and experienced some nausea as well! I was in a Pilates class and the room wouldn't stop spinning, so that week I had to take it easy. I also had some crying fits (I was numb on the drug, couldn't shed a tear) and it felt like the floodgates opened when I got towards the last two months of tapering. I cried and had some depression and anxiety. I had to talk myself down off the anxiety. I found an app called Abide that had a talk on anxiety that gave me great tools. It was a psychotherapist teaching about worry and anxiety and how to target it. I worked on that through the process. I also prayed or called friends to process when I was feeling depressed. During the entire experience, I did notice I had some restless leg syndrome and achy muscles. I've read about this elsewhere with people having withdrawals from this drug. I'm hoping it goes away. I took my last dose of this about 4 weeks ago. I'm doing ok. I'm out of a job right now so that's a tad depressing BUT I am functioning. I'm journaling and targeting my anxiety by having talks with myself on what is really bothering me - my struggle with depression and anxiety, in general, are dramatically linked. Usually, when I target one the other one chills out more. For somebody who's been out of work as long as I have, I shouldn't even be functioning but I am. I don't believe I would be in such good shape had I gone cold turkey. I think I would have gone mad! I am trying to eat many vegetables each day, and I am trying to exercise. I also started probiotics about 6 months ago and did research on gut health and depression. I believe our diet and food are a huge part of our problem and exercise and stretching can really help you out. I will say that out of all the antidepressants I've been on, Effexor has given me the most side effects during regular dosage and tapering afterward. I had better experiences on Celexa. My main problem is that they all make me super tired, and I just want to sleep. When I was on Effexor, I took two-hour naps every day and it was the same when I was on Zoloft. I just would turn into a zombie, but not all people experience that and many people do very well on SSRIs and these drugs have saved lives. I originally went on Effexor after a major trauma happened in my life. Several years later, I felt it was time for me to try to taper so I did, and it worked so far. Slow slow slow - that's all I can say! And, if it doesn't work for you, there is no shame in taking antidepressants just make sure you are eating well, exercising and providing self-care tools too. Good luck!

Hi everyone. I tapered off Effexor, and I will share how I did it and how it went. The way I see it is that the main problem on why so many people need to talk about this online is that most doctors I have visited just don't know how to taper antidepressants well. They do it way too quickly and each person is different and it is a slow process, but the turtle wins this race! I am going to share my own personal experience so please take this with a grain of salt as it is not meant to be medical advice in any way. You should always consult your doctor first and exercise your own judgment on what level of tapering you need. I was on Venlafaxine SR the generic form of Effexor SR. I was on the SR (slow release) so it wasn't a tablet but a capsule full of granules. I tapered over about 6 months and was only on 75 mg. It took me that long to taper without going totally crazy, and I still experienced strong side effects so please pay attention to my advice. I am troubled there are people on this feed that went cold turkey off of an SSRI. It is dangerous and you will feel like you are dying - you could put your life, job and relationships in jeopardy doing that so please be careful. Here was my gameplan. I dropped 10 granules about every 2-3 weeks depending on how I was feeling. I did this process for about 6 months or so. I literally did this down to taking 2 granules! I'm not kidding. I would open up the capsule and remove the amount I didn't need in a bowl and set it aside in an old pill bottle or Ziplock bag (just for backup if I needed it). This was the only way I was able to taper off this drug, and I still had some rough days but I was able to function through them. During my second to last month, I had vertigo and experienced some nausea as well! I was in a Pilates class and the room wouldn't stop spinning, so that week I had to take it easy. I also had some crying fits (I was numb on the drug, couldn't shed a tear) and it felt like the floodgates opened when I got towards the last two months of tapering. I cried and had some depression and anxiety. I had to talk myself down off the anxiety. I found an app called Abide that had a talk on anxiety that gave me great tools. It was a psychotherapist teaching about worry and anxiety and how to target it. I worked on that through the process. I also prayed or called friends to process when I was feeling depressed. During the entire experience, I did notice I had some restless leg syndrome and achy muscles. I've read about this elsewhere with people having withdrawals from this drug. I'm hoping it goes away. I took my last dose of this about 4 weeks ago. I'm doing ok. I'm out of a job right now so that's a tad depressing BUT I am functioning. I'm journaling and targeting my anxiety by having talks with myself on what is really bothering me - my struggle with depression and anxiety, in general, are dramatically linked. Usually, when I target one the other one chills out more. For somebody who's been out of work as long as I have, I shouldn't even be functioning but I am. I don't believe I would be in such good shape had I gone cold turkey. I think I would have gone mad! I am trying to eat many vegetables each day, and I am trying to exercise. I also started probiotics about 6 months ago and did research on gut health and depression. I believe our diet and food are a huge part of our problem and exercise and stretching can really help you out. I will say that out of all the antidepressants I've been on, Effexor has given me the most side effects during regular dosage and tapering afterward. I had better experiences on Celexa. My main problem is that they all make me super tired, and I just want to sleep. When I was on Effexor, I took two-hour naps every day and it was the same when I was on Zoloft. I just would turn into a zombie, but not all people experience that and many people do very well on SSRIs and these drugs have saved lives. I originally went on Effexor after a major trauma happened in my life. Several years later, I felt it was time for me to try to taper so I did, and it worked so far. Slow slow slow - that's all I can say! And, if it doesn't work for you, there is no shame in taking antidepressants just make sure you are eating well, exercising and providing self-care tools too. Good luck!

Hi everyone. I tapered off Effexor, and I will share how I did it and how it went. The way I see it is that the main problem on why so many people need to talk about this online is that most doctors I have visited just don't know how to taper antidepressants well. They do it way too quickly and each person is different and it is a slow process, but the turtle wins this race! I am going to share my own personal experience so please take this with a grain of salt as it is not meant to be medical advice in any way. You should always consult your doctor first and exercise your own judgment on what level of tapering you need. I was on Venlafaxine SR the generic form of Effexor SR. I was on the SR (slow release) so it wasn't a tablet but a capsule full of granules. I tapered over about 6 months and was only on 75 mg. It took me that long to taper without going totally crazy, and I still experienced strong side effects so please pay attention to my advice. I am troubled there are people on this feed that went cold turkey off of an SSRI. It is dangerous and you will feel like you are dying - you could put your life, job and relationships in jeopardy doing that so please be careful. Here was my gameplan. I dropped 10 granules about every 2-3 weeks depending on how I was feeling. I did this process for about 6 months or so. I literally did this down to taking 2 granules! I'm not kidding. I would open up the capsule and remove the amount I didn't need in a bowl and set it aside in an old pill bottle or Ziplock bag (just for backup if I needed it). This was the only way I was able to taper off this drug, and I still had some rough days but I was able to function through them. During my second to last month, I had vertigo and experienced some nausea as well! I was in a Pilates class and the room wouldn't stop spinning, so that week I had to take it easy. I also had some crying fits (I was numb on the drug, couldn't shed a tear) and it felt like the floodgates opened when I got towards the last two months of tapering. I cried and had some depression and anxiety. I had to talk myself down off the anxiety. I found an app called Abide that had a talk on anxiety that gave me great tools. It was a psychotherapist teaching about worry and anxiety and how to target it. I worked on that through the process. I also prayed or called friends to process when I was feeling depressed. During the entire experience, I did notice I had some restless leg syndrome and achy muscles. I've read about this elsewhere with people having withdrawals from this drug. I'm hoping it goes away. I took my last dose of this about 4 weeks ago. I'm doing ok. I'm out of a job right now so that's a tad depressing BUT I am functioning. I'm journaling and targeting my anxiety by having talks with myself on what is really bothering me - my struggle with depression and anxiety, in general, are dramatically linked. Usually, when I target one the other one chills out more. For somebody who's been out of work as long as I have, I shouldn't even be functioning but I am. I don't believe I would be in such good shape had I gone cold turkey. I think I would have gone mad! I am trying to eat many vegetables each day, and I am trying to exercise. I also started probiotics about 6 months ago and did research on gut health and depression. I believe our diet and food are a huge part of our problem and exercise and stretching can really help you out. I will say that out of all the antidepressants I've been on, Effexor has given me the most side effects during regular dosage and tapering afterward. I had better experiences on Celexa. My main problem is that they all make me super tired, and I just want to sleep. When I was on Effexor, I took two-hour naps every day and it was the same when I was on Zoloft. I just would turn into a zombie, but not all people experience that and many people do very well on SSRIs and these drugs have saved lives. I originally went on Effexor after a major trauma happened in my life. Several years later, I felt it was time for me to try to taper so I did, and it worked so far. Slow slow slow - that's all I can say! And, if it doesn't work for you, there is no shame in taking antidepressants just make sure you are eating well, exercising and providing self-care tools too. Good luck!