Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

I had the same experience with Wellbutrin. Of course the doctor insisted that it wasn't the cause of my panic like attack. They wanted to blame it on a ministroke. All of the testing done after did not identify a medical problem. I have had reactions to other prescription drugs in the past as well, but conventional doctors take my complaints as being a figment of my imagination. I am so sick of having drugs thrown at me to mask the symptoms and never identify the root cause of the problem. In my opinion, antidepressants, in some cases cause more problems than they solve. The horror of withdrawal doesn't sink in until it happens to you.

How long did your symptoms last before subsiding? I am starting to feel better very gradually. I still have to rest about 3 hours in the afternoon and avoid much of any activity after 6:30PM. It is a long healing process and I never want to go through anything like this again.

You don't know how helpful your post has been to me. Thank you so much. I am so sick right now on the 37.5 mg that I am stuck in my recliner. It's the only place where I'm reasonably okay. As long as there is no motion. Even watching the movement on the TV makes me dizzy. I notice that everything sounds loud. I'm trying very hard to rid this poison from my system. Both of my Doctors are very knowledgeable about how hard the withdrawals are with Effector so that is a help. Again thank you so much for your post.

It is so comforting to know that others know what I am going through. Thank you for your post! 6 weeks of this though might do me in. LOL

The one's I did try all seemed to help for awhile....Zoloft was the first....I found I needed more & more of it over the years in order to feel ok.....I also lost my sense of humor while on Zoloft & felt sort of zombi ish often while taking it....I believe next I went to Lexapro & stayed on that one for several years......lots of weight gain, but maneageable mental health through the trauma I was dealing with throughout so many years.
And just to reiterate, after sharing my own experiences and asking lot's of people many questions, I did learn that some people were taking welbutrin and it worked for them in whatever capacity it was perscribed to them. The reaction I personally had with welbutrin was quite intense and included overwhelming anxiety for several days from my personal experience. One more experience I have not had is being prescribed different psych medicines together and having the psych doc try different mixtures of this or that medication. Each time I was prescribed a new antidepressant, I stuck with just that medication alone. I did began taking ativan in 2003 to manage anxiety and anger I was having and continued taking that once or twice a day as directed by doc through 2012 when I decided to stop that med after experiencing withdrawal symptoms after skipping days of it.

@poisonivy15 I, too, too Effexor for many years....divorce after 31 years of marriage, then five years later I lost my son to PTSD related suicide. I was basically a zombie for 15 years. I gained over 50 lbs and have literally laid in bed for the past 6 years since losing my son. I was a mess. I was having horrible back pain so my PCP did a urine culture and found "considerable" amounts of blood in my urine. It scared me to death. That's what prompted me to do a TON of research on the Effexor. Yes, Effexor is poison and it was killing me one organ at a time. Back in October I talked to my psychiatrist about getting off of the Effexor not only because of the problem with my kidneys but I had severe gastric problems as well. We started reducing the dosage by 1/4 each WEEK. That was way too fast. I should have known better than to start the weaning process so close to the holidays because that's when I really tank. I miss my son so badly. On New Year's Eve Day I called 911 because I was so weak from all of the vomiting and diarhea. I was severely dehydrated and had the worst panic attack I've ever had in my life. My lips were drawn as were my hands and arms. I thought I was having a stroke and so did the EMTs. Once I got the hospital they filled me full of liquids and gave me a Xanax for my anxiety but it didn't help. I ended up getting something through the IV for the anxiety. I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. When they released me I came back home and literally didn't have the strength to even make myself something to eat. The gastric issues persisted. I sweated gallons of sweat, literally, and continued the vomiting and diahrea. I called my doctor that evening and told the doctor on call I didn't think I was going to survive. She called in a prescription for Gabapentin for the anxiety. I truly don't know how I drove to the pharmacy to pick it up but I didn't have anyone to get it for me. Once I got that in my system the panic attack subsided and I finally fell asleep. My dr. moved me on to Prozac while weaning me off of the Effexor but I told her that wasn't working. She changed it to Lexapro a month later and I have dropped 35 lbs since January. I have no appetite and the thought of food makes me gag. I am seeing a gastroenterologist to see what's going on in my stomach and bowels. The weight loss has been great as I needed to lose the 50 lbs I gained, but not being able to eat is horrible. I tried to go out for my daughter's bday and took three bites of a nice dinner and couldn't eat any more. My staple food is Cheerios. That's the only thing I can tolerate. I'm having a colonoscopy and endoscopy next week to see why I can't eat and the weight continues to fall off. I truly think that the Effexor is still in my body as I have read sometimes it takes 6 to 8 months for it to be totally expelled from the body. I know I will struggle with depression from the many losses I have had in my life but don't want to depend on pharmaceuticals to keep me alive. I am hoping the weather here in Ohio breaks soon so I can get outside and walk or do yard work. But these past 6 months have been a hell I never want to go through again. My biggest problem right now is anxiety and I HATE taking the Xanax as it's just another drug I will have to worry about getting off of. The Gabapentin helps with the anxiety but puts me to sleep. I hate that we all are experiencing such catastrophic events weaning off of this poisonous drug. And, in my opinion, it truly is poison. My recommendation to anyone thinking about weaning off of it is to to take it very, very slowly. Maybe reduce the dosage a month or two apart. But reducing the dosage weekly is a sure plan of disaster....best of luck to everyone out there who is struggling....keep putting one foot in front of the other and pray to get to the other side of this....

It is not just the physical withdrawal that is horrible. It is also the mental and emotional part of it. The withdrawal of this drug messed with my head and brought me to dark places more than once and tried to keep me there......mostly it was taking place at the beginning of each taper down. I began to question my mental state a few times and obsess about my life. It was very negative. On top of this, I became agitated and aggressive. Everything was making me so angry....the smallest things and things that do not even matter in life were irritating me. I was angry at my husband a lot. At times, there was nothing he could do to make me happy and I was mean sometimes and I am not a mean person!! I was angry at the world. Driving and dealing with traffic and the public even at the grocery store was difficult. I became agitated at everything. I cried often and questioned my thinking, I kept pushing through each day no matter what symptoms I was having believing that I could get through it. Everything that you read that everyone is dealing with this drug is spot on for me so do not discount any of it. Take the best physical care of yourself that you can. Try to make yourself feel as comfortable as possible physically and emotionally, whatever that means to you. I ate a lot of ice cream and starchy and sugary foods throughout the tapering. I didn't want to move off of the couch. I did not want to go outside often. My husband was a saint. He just loved me through it. I was overwhelmed with fear to reach out on a website such as this going through it but I kept reading and reading. Now I do not have those unrealistic fears. There is always hope. There is so much information online now and groups and threads like this are here to help. I am glad you are in awareness of the situation.

I agree with you. Just my opinion also....there are PCP s out there, one of them was mine....who let me know at one point he thought it would be a good idea to go up from a 150 mg dose of Venlafaxine per day to a 300+ mg dose per day. I believe I actually tried it for a couple of days.....did he take Venlafaxine ever? Doubtful. That was when I started doing a little research.

Yes and that Welbutrin.....I recall calling the pharmacist on a Saturday because I was having full blown anxiety where I could not function after starting it....I remember the script for welbutrin from my PCP said you should start feeling better within one week so I kept ingesting my prescribed dose for 4 to 5 days until that day I called the pharmacist and HE instructed me TO STOP TAKING IT IMMEDIATELY.

@sadiesmom1 thank you so much for your story here..... you are a very brave human being. I commend you for sharing your story.
Much love to you. You are helping people more than you will ever know. Unfortunately, I do not believe that the doctors have ANY idea of the withdrawal effects of these hardcore designed chemical legal prescribed drugs such as Venlafaxine. If they did, true caring doctors would not prescribe them to their patients. The drug pharmaceutical companies selling the products to them may or may not be aware of the indications. Plenty of people/patients are coming forth worldwide about their own withdrawal symptoms surrounding this drug. There are also concerns about repercussions from long term and short term usage of the Venlafaxine/Effexor drug. A psych nurse I found to help me do the taper off of Venlafaxine/Effexor admitted to me she does not prescribe the chemical drug to any of her patients anymore because of the horrible withdrawals and less mentioned studies regarding repercussions on the body from ingesting this and other man-made chemical drugs. I have a question. If there are so many designed chemical drugs and antidepressants on the market that help people, would it be that difficult for the pharmaceutical companies to design withdrawal medications? There are people who claim they have become suicidal and/or homicidal at times on these medications and withdrawing from some of these medications. I am so glad you are in awareness of the situation. Yes very very very slowly with the tapering otherwise it will jolt your entire being physically and mentally and make you a total nonfunctioning wreck. I was so afraid to go through another taper down with Effexor I stayed on the 37.5mg dosage for about a full year because I knew from my previous tapers that another tapering down period of withdrawal could again affect my life, my career, my marriage, my physical and emotional wellbeing, other's wellbeing around me....Each time I would put in my script at the drug store, that small dosage was not available for a week. I kinda got a chuckle out of that. It told me that not many people take that small of a dose of Venlafaxine. I am truly thankful that this website and others have set up forums for us to speak safely and directly about our concerns for ourselves and for others who have true and factual experience with this. These places will hopefully help another human being to journey through it a little more gently knowing that there are others who have beat it and that it is indeed possible to withdraw and recover successfully.

I am sooooo sorry to hear about you....my heart goes out to you and I COMPLETELY understand. I hope the taper was not too large of a jump @poisonivy15. If you are feeling it was, you can discuss this with your doctors again and reevaluate choices. Yes sounds like you are in the throws of your last taper down. Yes noises sound louder and I actually heard some voices or like someone was calling me from another room a few times. Others have said this as well. The dizzy vertigo thing is the worst.....one time I got it when I was hiking in high mountains after missing a dose.....scary. I watched a lot of dark documentaries for awhile for some reason. Then I switched to building cabin type shows and nature documentaries....anything except the news. I ate lots of sweets and candy....my body craved all of it....and fast food etc. Thanks for the thank you. Now that I am feeling better and almost all of the way through it....I just want to make sure I show up for others. I think popsicles and ice cream helped a lot.....lots of cold things and anything that makes you feel comfortable... take care. I'll keep checking back.