Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

@teachols
I forgot to mention a couple things.
First, if money is no problem you might want to investigate using a compounding pharmacy. Insurance might pay for it. I use one for an injection type med that isn’t covered by insurance and it isn’t cheap.
Also, some members take out so many beads every so often. Hopefully they will offer some advice.
Health and happiness,
Jake

Thanks @jakedduck1. I did try taking out a certain number of beads awhile ago. I forgot about trying that. My brain isn't functioning very well! I think that could work to make it slower!

I started taking out beads about a week ago. I'm down to one 75 mg capsule so I took out 10 beads (there are about 90 beads in one capsule). Seems to be fine. I did taper pretty quickly from 225, I just began the process in September. But some withdrawal is inevitable, in my experience, as long as its bearable I'm ok with it. Good luck!

I don't know if this will be helpful, but here are some numbers from my taper, which I did by counting beads (I found a site online that gave me the number of beads in the capsules; it gave 486 beads for 150 mg, so I used that). I used beads instead of mg as the basis for my taper because it was simpler -- that's the form my medication came in.
I don't have the number of beads for all of my taper, but here's what I do have: 60 mg - 195 beads; 44.75 mg - 145 beads; 29.32 mg - 95 beads; 13.89 mg - 45 beads; 9.26 mg - 30 beads; 7.7 mg - 25 beads; 6.17 mg - 20 beads; 4.62 mg - 15 beads; 3.1 mg - 10 beads; 1.54 mg - 5 beads. I know the mg numbers are odd, but once I got to 195 beads, I was cutting down by 50 beads per week, and then I cut down by fewer beads as I got to the end of the line, in order to make that final bit of tapering off very gradual.
I started my taper by taking out 10 beads from the 486 and doing that for two weeks, then 10 more for two weeks, etc., but I figured out very quickly that it would take me close to two years at that rate, so I said ``the hell with it'' and dropped down by 50 beads per week. Counting out those damn beads was incredibly tedious!!! For a while I was removing the necessary number from my scrip capsules, but it got to be easier, as the number went down, to use gelatin capsules and put the right number of beads into them.
I never had brain zaps, but I had sleep difficulties (for which I took 3 mg time-release melatonin when I couldn't sleep and allowed myself to sleep for long stretches when I could; I'm retired, so I have that luxury), temperament difficulties (flashes of strong anger especially) and other discomfort, but nothing that overwhelmed me. I tried to walk regularly, I watched my sugar and caffeine intake, I ate enough protein and good carbs to keep my blood sugar stable and I took lots of high-potency supplements of various vitamins plus fish oil, turmeric, CoQ10, zinc, potassium and calcium.
The process was not easy, but I wanted so much to be free of venlafaxine that I was determined to do it.
As I've written recently, I wanted off the drug because it wasn't working for me and I didn't want to go to a higher dose, plus I hated the brain zaps if I missed even one day. If it had still been working, I'd have stayed with it; it wouldn't even have occurred to me to quit. After being off for 4 months, the depression and especially the anxiety returned. I tried meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy, water soluble CBD and exercise, but I wasn't able to get rid of them and was exhausted from trying, so I'm now on Wellbutrin (I'm still taking the CBD) and it's making a huge difference. I hope that continues. If it doesn't, I'll try another drug -- but no SSRIs because my body doesn't like them at all. I've learned by trial and error -- and accepted -- that my brain needs the help, and that's OK. Best of luck to all of you!!

Congratulations of all the wonderful news!!!!!

My functional medicine doctor recommended this supplement. @kbmayo did you try a supplement with any of these ingredients?
I'm just so nervous about making things worse. The last 2 days have been bad.

Thank yo very much GrandM

Than you Ronnie and Mary for good advise. Assisted living. No. Not at this time but certainly will be something to think about if I win the lottery. I also have thought about the "Please help I'm falling" pendant because I do take walks by myself and drive many places alone. My son used to tell me that especially when I took the dogs for a walk. I do need to be more proactive. I will start taking my cell phone and my glasses to see the cell phone to bed. I also read that you should keep your cars keys besides you so if you hear something or see someone outside you can push the panic button and wake up your neighbors. This can get you help from your neighbors or scare someone off.

@summertime4- Yes, there you go! All great suggestions! I do think that wearing an alarm is a great idea. I'm very glad that you are getting out! We all need to be proactive because no one else will do it for you!

@teachols
I would NOT take this supplement while on venlafaxine (generic name for Effexor).

RxList says, "St. John's wort oral, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-htp) oral and venlafaxine oral increase affecting serotonin levels in the blood. Too much serotonin is a potentially life-threatening situation. Severe signs and symptoms include high blood pressure and increased heart rate that lead to shock."

I experienced serotonin syndrome when both my regular doctor and breast reconstruction surgeon ignored that I was on 25mg of Effexor and had me take other drugs that interacted with Effexor (dextromethorphan and fentanyl). It took a couple of days of being on all these drugs at the same time for the whammy to hit me, but the worst aspect of this was the extreme fear of any and everything (I knew there was nothing to be afraid of, but knowing made no difference) and agitation/restlessness/unable to keep from pacing (akathisia). I had no idea that these drugs interacted with Effexor and I suspect that my doctors thought since I was only on 25mg that interaction was unlikely!

Your taper is too much too fast. Try going back to the higher dose and see if your withdrawal symptoms ease. Stay there for a while (couple of weeks?) before tapering again to not so much less and stay there for some weeks before tapering again. You can also ask your doctor about a "Prozac bridge."

You can click on my name to read my previous posts about the Prozac bridge and to see the supplements I am taking (but I did NOT start any of these until I was OFF Effexor completely; the Lidtke tryptophan I take is definitely NOT something to take while on Effexor).