Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

As someone who has followed the healthcare industry for a zillion years, clinical trials are incredibly rigorous in the US (at least for initial approval)....but trials and the approval process can't cover all patients and all settings....again particularly in the US. We have an incredibly diverse population and physicians can prescribe drugs as long as the drugs have been approved. It is once he drugs are in the general population that unanticipated problems occur (but I will be quick to add unanticipated benefits as well).

Effexor and the SSRIs have helped a tremendous number of people over the past 25-30 years....they are a huge improvement over older class antidepressants...and the combination of efficacy and low risks (and good marketing) - made them very popular. I believe that most are prescribed by primary care docs - and often to patients who can't or don't want to see a psychotherapist or psychiatrist. If you can think back to the mid-to-late 90s - the SSRIs were heavily promoted and many people would ask for them simply because they felt like they might be depressed.

Then consider that the SSRIs have been so widely prescribed - we find that the drugs have different effects on people based on race, gender, age and co-morbidities (other medical issues and prescriptions - and stuff that isn't prescribed). This is something that no clinical trial could ever account for.

The SSRIs were never really designed for long-term use....and how many on this board can say that they've been taking them 5, 10, 20+ years....I'm in the 22 year boat myself (until 8 days ago). So one thing the clinical trials (even phase 4 which is post approval monitoring) can't account for is the impact of being on these medications for very long periods of time. If issues come to the surface, it is usually found in the clinical setting.

Add to it - anyone who has been on these meds for a long time is a lot older than when they started. I'm 54 and started the SSRIs when I was 32ish. I am physically not the same person - not because of Effexor - but because I am 20 years older.....nothing works as well as it used to...so lots of things I used to enjoy simply don't work for me anymore.

Medicine will always be a balancing act...and it is constantly evolving. Think of all the breakthroughs in treatments found by physicians who looked at a drug and then said, "Let's try this and see what happens." - i.e. off-label use. That willingness to try things in a clinical setting has shown that certain drugs can have benefits in other conditions....that's a good thing.

In the end, we can say that, yes Effexor (and some of the other SSRIs/SNRIs) is really difficult for many people to discontinue. At the same time, many of us also benefitted from the drug for years....and maybe didn't stop sooner because if it ain't causing problems - why change? It is a miserable taper - and that is something that clinicians now know - luckily it is generally not dangerous to the patient (as say tapering from a benzo) and depending on your sense of humor - the pain of the taper means you can spread the "love" you've neglected to give all those people who make ones life miserable. : )

Hi. I was also prescribed Effexor for perimenopause. It helped with night sweats and palpitations , but only a few weeks in I started to experience extreme ear pressure, ear infection and inflammation. Now tapering off and wow it’s awful. Sweating, brain zapping, vertigo, nausea... and I was only on 37mg. Worst part is both my family and Gyno doc say NONE of it is from Effexor. Ear pressure reduced only day two of weaning, and slowly other symptoms slowing with second week of tapering down. Coincidence, I think not.

@kaykay22
Your doctor and family members are mistaken. You can find more information in the book The Antidepressant Solution by Dr Joseph Glenmullen. This is a very well-written and carefully researched book about the overprescribing and side effects of anti-depressants. It is also an extremely helpful guide to getting through the tapering process. I highly recommend it. So does my husband who has been supportive of me throughout my 5 month tapering process but became much more so as a result of what he learned by reading this book.
Hang in there!

Its one thing to say your family is wrong. But it takes a lot to say your Doctor is wrong. Please be careful of the advice you give in here people. W are humans after all!!!!!!

Doctors do not know everything. There are good doctors, bad doctors and many who are in between. They are human beings with their own schedules, priorities, etc., and they are fallible. There are innumerable instances of them being ignorant, too. This blog is filled with examples of people whose doctors have been completely ignorant of the horrid effects of trying to get off Effexor and doctors who've been completely unsympathetic/unbelieving when their patients told them what they were experiencing. I believe in taking some responsibility for my own well-being, which means I read a lot on issues that affect me. I always consider the source since some are reliable and some aren't. I got on this blog and stay on it because I trust the Mayo Clinic (for the most part). But I am not about to accept my doctor -- who's a very good one, in my experience -- as the be-all and end-all for my medical well-being.
And the Glenmullen book, IMO, is an excellent resource!!

I really recommend it, too. It's even-handed and the approach is both compassionate and knowledgeable. Much good, helpful information in there.

I have a question regarding long term use of Effexor. I started a different Seritonan uptake inhibitor when I entered perimenopause for the mood swings I was experiencing. I could not afford to become the raging person I wanted to be at ,my office. Plus, we had 2 children at home and I did not want to be a mad person with children. Once I was on Effexor the night sweats, anger, emotionalism decreased to the point of ‘normal’. I live in Montana where the winters are long and dark and I was not exercising or gettting outside enough to counteract the seasonal affect of dark days and sedentary days. Now, I’m long past memopause but still taking 75 mg of it; not certain if ER or not. This weekend I forgot my pills at home and by the second day off them, was dizzy, somewhat nauseous and emotional, but the nightmares were bizarre!!! I don’t have any side effects from taking the pills daily other than I can’t seem to lose weight. I don’t think I would be anxious, or have panic attacks if I went off, but I don’t want to be anymore forgetful than a ‘normal’ 66 would be, or short tempered. We’re headed into winter now, so I’m reluctant to start weaning myself off ; I don’t want to be ‘blue’ and directionless. I am working out 3 days a week and trying to get outside more. Any thoughts? Also, what is the down side of taking the bills indefinitely?

According to the books I've read, the clinical trials that didn't produce the results were withheld for the most part and in some of them the results were rephrased to make them appear more favorable than they were. The ones that also used placebos are especially interesting. I respect your experience following the health care industry for many years, but I also know that their motives are mixed at best, that their testing protocols were changed during the GHW Bush administration, that there's much reliable information which they don't provide and that antidepressants have been and are an endless source of huge profit for the companies that make them. They're not about to bite the hand that's feeding them.

Andrew is correct. The only painless way to withdraw from Venlafaxine is to use the "Prozac Bridge." Stop Venlafaxine and start Prozac immediately and then withdrawing from Prozac is quite easy. But do this under the supervision of a doctor.

Taking Prozac did NOT help me when I was tapering whatsoever