Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

@dickeygray- From a long time east coast surfer just wanted to say "Thumbs up and keep your tip up". It's been many years since I last gave it a try, but that simple move of dropping in and popping up was way more difficult than I ever remembered! Watch out for those monkeys in CR! They love to steal your stuff on the beach. 🙂

@jk, I think that you're right JK. Sometimes I a doctor looks at me like I'm a miracle because I know who to ask questions or know the name of an organ, lol.

@merpreb I have had some doctors who would seem to prefer that their patients remain ignorant! I figure they must be very insecure.
JK

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

Your post has given me some hope. I am on my second day of lowering my dose of Venlafaxine. I have been on 600 mg of Venlafaxine a day for about two years now. In 2016 I went through a terrible episode of depression. I have been doing well on the 600 mg. But now insurance has denied this amount of medication. They will only cover 325mg or less per day. My doctor had me start on 300 mg yesterday. Today has been bad. This morning I was dopey, lethargic, and nauseous. This evening it has really hit me. Extremely nauseous, diarrhea, tired, and the tears have started. Kind of scared. Need advice.

Your post has given me some hope. I am on my second day of lowering my dose of Venlafaxine. I have been on 600 mg of Venlafaxine a day for about two years now. In 2016 I went through a terrible episode of depression. I have been doing well on the 600 mg. But now insurance has denied this amount of medication. They will only cover 325mg or less per day. My doctor had me start on 300 mg yesterday. Today has been bad. This morning I was dopey, lethargic, and nauseous. This evening it has really hit me. Extremely nauseous, diarrhea, tired, and the tears have started. Kind of scared. Need advice.