Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

If overeating a symptom of getting off of this literal hell of a drug? I've gained almost 20 pounds since I started tapering off. I feel constantly hungry. If I don't eat, I then feel sick. And I've always hated my body and now I'm hating it even worse. I feel so trapped in my own skin.

Never stop taking it cold turkey EVER. You could be hospitalized even death can occur. I’ve seen to many people not take the seriousness and real dangers of quitting this medication. There have been some very lucky people here, Susie for one.
Effexor has a shot half life, probably the shortest of the antidepressants. Because of this the withdrawal symptoms can occur quickly. All this is affected by your metabolism, so if metabolism is slow your withdrawal symptoms will take longer to appear since your body will take longer to get rid of the medication. With a fast metabolism the opposite will occur. Many will have some symptoms if they miss just one dose, especially with a fast metabolism.
Effexor withdrawal symptoms varies from person to person but can take anywhere from 10 days if on a low dose and taken for a short time to a month and even longer depending on strength and time you’ve been taking it. It also depends on the person. If I were stopping it I’d only decrease my dose by 10% to an absolute high of 25% and if any of the multitude of symptoms showed up I’d immediately increase it and reduce the maximum to maybe 15%. Always take a dose every day. Never skip a day/days. And take your new dose at least 7 days before taking a lower dose. Some may have or want to take it longer. The point I’m trying to make is that you shouldn’t have ANY SYMPTOMS while stopping Effexor. And when you take your last dose you’ll be Effexor free and never have another symptom. If however you have been abusing it your outcome may not be as good and problems could possibly occur in the future.
Wishing everyone the very best of luck, and please remember small doses over a longer time is the key

Never stop taking it cold turkey EVER. You could be hospitalized even death can occur. I’ve seen to many people not take the seriousness and real dangers of quitting this medication. There have been some very lucky people here, Susie for one.
Effexor has a shot half life, probably the shortest of the antidepressants. Because of this the withdrawal symptoms can occur quickly. All this is affected by your metabolism, so if metabolism is slow your withdrawal symptoms will take longer to appear since your body will take longer to get rid of the medication. With a fast metabolism the opposite will occur. Many will have some symptoms if they miss just one dose, especially with a fast metabolism.
Effexor withdrawal symptoms varies from person to person but can take anywhere from 10 days if on a low dose and taken for a short time to a month and even longer depending on strength and time you’ve been taking it. It also depends on the person. If I were stopping it I’d only decrease my dose by 10% to an absolute high of 25% and if any of the multitude of symptoms showed up I’d immediately increase it and reduce the maximum to maybe 15%. Always take a dose every day. Never skip a day/days. And take your new dose at least 7 days before taking a lower dose. Some may have or want to take it longer. The point I’m trying to make is that you shouldn’t have ANY SYMPTOMS while stopping Effexor. And when you take your last dose you’ll be Effexor free and never have another symptom. If however you have been abusing it your outcome may not be as good and problems could possibly occur in the future.
Wishing everyone the very best of luck, and please remember small doses over a longer time is the key

So, I just finished this process with Zoloft (sertraline) and here are some things that worked for me. Your mileage may vary, but hopefully these are low risk for you to try.

1) You may need to ask your doctor for a slower tapering program than other patients. Some people are just more sensitive to dosage changes. Be aware that symptoms will get better, then may reappear each time you taper. AAFMA (practice group of family physicians) says that the symptoms typically last 1-2 weeks and as long as 4 weeks, so I just kept reminding myself that it was temporary.
2) Be watchful for things that make your symptoms worse. For example, caffeine seems to trigger the brain zaps for me (still, even after being off for several weeks), so I cut back my caffeine intake. I didn't give it up completely (because I still need to function), but cut back on how much real coffee I was drinking, mixed decaf with regular, and switched to tea sometimes. In the end, I probably cut my daily caffeine intake in half, and it did help quite a lot.
3) Ibuprofen or other pain reliever can help with the flu-like body aches.
4) Benadryl helped with the brain zaps.
5) Exercise helped with both. Even if I wasn't up to a run, a few blocks of walking would settle down the symptoms for a while at least. (Then, when they come back, just take another walk. We took a lot of walks for a while there).
6) Get enough sleep. As I came down off the meds, my normal sleeping patterns returned, which was great, but it did mean that I needed to plan time to let my body rest.
7) Pay attention to your diet. Your brain uses carbs to make seratonin, so now is not the time to go on the Atkins diet. Eat well and make sure you're getting enough healthy carbs. You may crave sweets; I certainly did. I tried to counteract this by having bananas, graham crackers, and other healthy things I could snack on instead of sticking my head in a birthday cake like I seemed to want.

No lie - it's a painful process, but this did really help make it easier. Also, at a certain point, when I was down the below the normal starter dose, I just ripped off the bandaid and went to zero. At that point, it felt like each taper was just prolonging the suffering. Don't just go cold turkey from your current dose, though, as that can be dangerous. Also, don't add any supplements or substitutes for the SSRI without talking to your doctor first (also dangerous).

And of course, watch for the return of depression / anxiety type symptoms. For a while it was hard to tell whether I was tired because of the change in meds or because my depression was returning. I figured as long as I felt okay enough to function and wasn't thinking about being harmful to myself or anyone else, I could play it out and see. It turned out to be the meds and on the other side, I can see that I was more worried about it than I needed to be.

I wish you the best of luck and a healthy life.

Mardee

I'm a seventeen year old girl who has been on Effexor for 3 years now. I'm down from 300mg to 37.5mg (300 to 225, 225 to 187.5, 187.5 to 150, 150 to 112.5, 112.5 to 75, and 75 to 37.5 and now 37.5 to 0). And the symptoms have never been this bad with any other decrease. I don't know what to do. I feel like a failure if I take it again, but it's so bad. I feel like I can barely stand. Like everytime I get up, I'm going to pass out. Everything hurts. Im so so tired. I just want to be done with this stupid medicine, but I don't know if I can do this last decrease from 37.5mg to 0mg. Why did they ever put a child on this medication? Knowing it would be terrible to miss a dose? And then terrible to get off of it?

I'm a seventeen year old girl who has been on Effexor for 3 years now. I'm down from 300mg to 37.5mg (300 to 225, 225 to 187.5, 187.5 to 150, 150 to 112.5, 112.5 to 75, and 75 to 37.5 and now 37.5 to 0). And the symptoms have never been this bad with any other decrease. I don't know what to do. I feel like a failure if I take it again, but it's so bad. I feel like I can barely stand. Like everytime I get up, I'm going to pass out. Everything hurts. Im so so tired. I just want to be done with this stupid medicine, but I don't know if I can do this last decrease from 37.5mg to 0mg. Why did they ever put a child on this medication? Knowing it would be terrible to miss a dose? And then terrible to get off of it?

I'm a seventeen year old girl who has been on Effexor for 3 years now. I'm down from 300mg to 37.5mg (300 to 225, 225 to 187.5, 187.5 to 150, 150 to 112.5, 112.5 to 75, and 75 to 37.5 and now 37.5 to 0). And the symptoms have never been this bad with any other decrease. I don't know what to do. I feel like a failure if I take it again, but it's so bad. I feel like I can barely stand. Like everytime I get up, I'm going to pass out. Everything hurts. Im so so tired. I just want to be done with this stupid medicine, but I don't know if I can do this last decrease from 37.5mg to 0mg. Why did they ever put a child on this medication? Knowing it would be terrible to miss a dose? And then terrible to get off of it?

I'm a seventeen year old girl who has been on Effexor for 3 years now. I'm down from 300mg to 37.5mg (300 to 225, 225 to 187.5, 187.5 to 150, 150 to 112.5, 112.5 to 75, and 75 to 37.5 and now 37.5 to 0). And the symptoms have never been this bad with any other decrease. I don't know what to do. I feel like a failure if I take it again, but it's so bad. I feel like I can barely stand. Like everytime I get up, I'm going to pass out. Everything hurts. Im so so tired. I just want to be done with this stupid medicine, but I don't know if I can do this last decrease from 37.5mg to 0mg. Why did they ever put a child on this medication? Knowing it would be terrible to miss a dose? And then terrible to get off of it?

I'm a seventeen year old girl who has been on Effexor for 3 years now. I'm down from 300mg to 37.5mg (300 to 225, 225 to 187.5, 187.5 to 150, 150 to 112.5, 112.5 to 75, and 75 to 37.5 and now 37.5 to 0). And the symptoms have never been this bad with any other decrease. I don't know what to do. I feel like a failure if I take it again, but it's so bad. I feel like I can barely stand. Like everytime I get up, I'm going to pass out. Everything hurts. Im so so tired. I just want to be done with this stupid medicine, but I don't know if I can do this last decrease from 37.5mg to 0mg. Why did they ever put a child on this medication? Knowing it would be terrible to miss a dose? And then terrible to get off of it?