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Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: 2 days ago | Replies (6449)Comment receiving replies
I've been reading a lot here lately about some of you folks getting off of your medication, and the ways you are trying to do it. I just have a question ... why are you doing this? Has your doctor advised it (if so, he would also tell you how to do it), or is this just something you want to do? And if you just want to do it, without your doctor's advising it, the question becomes "why?" If it's not working your doctor should know and he could help you switch to something that would work better for you. But going off of it "just because ........" isn't wise at all. Just what I've observed over the passed 20 years.
abby
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@amberpep
I was put on Effexor (25mg)18 years ago when I began having hot flashes while on Tamoxifen for breast cancer; I cannot take hormones as my breast cancer (then) was hormone-driven. My hot flashes were minute-to-minute freezing (teeth chattering) to I'm so hot, I've got to take my clothes off--not a situation I could have sustained for long without going crazy. After 18 years, I was pretty sure the hot flashes were a thing of the past and I thought it was silly to keep taking a drug for no reason. AND I had realized pretty quickly when I began taking Effexor that if I missed a dose, I'd have a headache the next day. If I had known even after slowly tapering off this small dose, I would have these withdrawal symptoms begin 6.5 weeks later and continue to today (six months later), I would NOT have stopped the Effexor. I had no idea how much Effexor messes with your brain chemistry and how long it can take to get it back to functioning normally.