Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

The last few years on Effexor I roll out of bed long enough to go pee, feed my cats and drink a slug of almond milk. I used to have so much energy, b4 I was deemed crazy and put on meds. My question is this:
How can I get up enough energy to physically workout to renew my brain? I used to feel on top of the world, have so much energy. Used to work out at least 5 days a week, about 1.5 hours a day at a local gym. I looked so good, felt so good. Now I'm tired and look so old.

Please call your doctor and ask for advice. You can not do this cold turkey without messing you up

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

Thanks for this. Withdrawal side effects can be scary when alone. Not feeling so alone now.

The last few years on Effexor I roll out of bed long enough to go pee, feed my cats and drink a slug of almond milk. I used to have so much energy, b4 I was deemed crazy and put on meds. My question is this:
How can I get up enough energy to physically workout to renew my brain? I used to feel on top of the world, have so much energy. Used to work out at least 5 days a week, about 1.5 hours a day at a local gym. I looked so good, felt so good. Now I'm tired and look so old.