Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

I tried to take a half a dose yesterday...BIG mistake. I barely made it to the chair beside me.

@gailb or anyone else with experience, would you feel the need to consult with your doctor before taking CBD? Also, does anyone know if this is something that people on immunosuppressants can take? I have a tiny prescription for lorazepam (my doctor gave me an Rx for 10 over a year ago and I still have a couple left) that I use when I have anxieties at bedtime, which due to some family situations has been somewhat frequent recently, but I have tried to go without the lorazepam. Perhaps the CBD would help with that.
JK

Third day without Effexor. Ran out.

Thanks for posting this! My mental health care provided (not my regular doctor) weaned me off Effexor in 6 weeks. I felt fine until a day after the day of my last dose. The provider didn't give me any insight whatsoever and I ended up doing most of my own research and luckily found this group. He had another antidepressant prescribed to start right away even though I told him I was taking a break, so I am not taking anything new. Maybe I should check with my regular doctor on the melatonin for anxiety. I have never experienced anything like getting that drug out of my system! Now, I am still going through some of the side effects, but not as bad as it was. I am hoping that some of the depression, confusion, anxiety, etc. I have been feeling are still the residuals of the Effexor. I am a little scared because I don't know when the after effects of the drug will be done and my feelings that are no longer masked by a drug will resurface.

@lovetheocean That's great, but perhaps you should keep some on hand, just in case. Is the prescription refillable?
JK

I don't have any and no way to get any. I live in a rural area and no pharmacy delivery. Didn't want to rag about my situation. My prescription is still active. I slept well after waiting a long time for sleep to arrive. I need and want to rediscover the real me without antidepressants. Thank you for your response.

@lovetheocean I can certainly understand your desire to get off antidepressants, from what I hear on here. As long as your prescription is still active so you could get some if you found the need to, then I would think you are all set.
I really hope you have continued success in being off of these drugs.
JK

I've been posting pretty regularly here since I started my withdrawal from 150 mg back in January. This is my second attempt at getting completely off of Effexor. The first try came in 2013 at my then doctor's encouragement. He thought I had been on the drug too long and he was right. Ten years was too long. Unfortunately, this doctor was not very well versed in this drug and how to guide a patient through the wean down process. After a very bumpy road, and six months into trying to withdraw, I ended up in the emergency room in the throws of the worst panic attack of my life. Diagnosis was "withdrawal" and I was encouraged to get back on the drug and I did. In retrospect, that recommendation was wrong, wrong, wrong. I was down to 10mg and if I had a doctor who knew what the hell was happening I could have gotten past that downslide and off the drug instead of back where I started. Five years after that incident and still taking Effexor, I was back in another doctors office. He also encouraged me to wean off the drug. He, like the other guy, didn't have any better insight into how to do it except to try to put a day between dosages. No, no, no.....wrong again. You can't skip a day without adding some Effexor to your diet. This time I felt I would be my own best advocate and I started with this forum. Somewhere here (don't quite remember who it was) I read that people were opening the capsule and removing the little beads in slow degrees until you've reached the ultimate goal of zero. Now, that seemed logical to me. That's how I started to do it. I got myself down to 75mg and then down to 37.5 with very little consequence. By the way, my doctor was completely against my doing it this way, but his way was too painful, so I took things into my own hands. I continued to open the capsule decrease the beads until I had 10 little beads left in the capsule. This was two weeks ago. It's here where I started to have a few problems. I started to have horrific nightmares, some dizziness and nausea and weird feelings in my head . The nightmares are the worst part. Two days ago I quit completely, zip, zero, nothing. Today was a bit better than yesterday and I hope that the nightmares start to subside but as long as I have my husband beside me to hold me during the night I'm going to see it through. I'm sitting here now with a glass of wine at my side....definitely helps....and the feeling that no matter what happens I will get on the other side of this. It bothers me that the medical profession, full well knowing how powerful this drug is, does not know how to help their patients to a successful result. Why do we have to suffer to achieve this end.
P.S. I want to note that I read that Fish Oil supplements are helpful with this process. I do take fish oil and maybe that's why I've gotten this far, but it's just a guess and after all, it doesn't hurt to try.

Liked reading about your journey. It helps to read the sensations you have had while weaning yourself off this drug. I have not had any for six days. Being gentle with myself. Resting, resting and more resting. Lots of water and some simple food. Walked my dog only. No great heroics in the activity department. Getting on the drug was extremely helpful ten years ago. Now I am ready to try a different life without it.

Day six without the 150 mg a day. Ten years. So far my reaction has been brain zaps, not constantly, but definitely annoyingly there. Getting some body aches and low back pain, but that is probably due to resting so much. Some fear of the future. I do not know many people. Have kept my almost-adult kids in the loop. Weird almost-but-not-quite noises that are more of a sensation than a sound. Onward.