Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

Incidentally, cutting out the ridiculous amount of sugar typical in an American diet is actually pretty easy if you just look at the packaging. OJ for example boasts a whopping 22g or sugar! But anyway, once you start noticing it, and needing to a program (I try not to go higher than 5g for snacking purposes) you’ll feel the effects immediately. Good luck!

My worse problem is Pepsi and lemon aid. I don't keep any pop at home but get a bottle when I'm town. But I always have a pitcher of lemon aid in the fridge at home.

Most of my sugar comes from coke. Then I eat a dessert nightly. I guess I could slowly switch to Diet Coke.

@babydoll
Switch to Diet Coke? That's crazy!

@falon
Good morning,
So now the question is have you contacted your insurance to see if they would pay for a compounding pharmacy to provide medication currently unavailable by the manufacturers? The compounding pharmacy I use is 430 miles away. It really is the best way to go when tapering provided your willing to invest the time necessary to hopefully have an uneventful taper. Just think of the potential withdrawal effects versus a little time to come of it safely and probably side effect free. I’d think it would be a NO-BRAINER to go SLOW, VERY SLOW and I’m not talking just slow, I’m talking SLLLOOOOOOOOWWW!!
Snail pace slow,
Many people may consider it pain stakinglee SLOW and so they speed up the process which they never fail to regret. Of course you could spend 10-20 thousand dollars and go to a rehab It’s amazing some take it for 10, 20, 30 years and they think nothing of it but suggest they spend a year or two getting off it and many people come unglued. I cannot comprehend what the hurry is to be miserable although that appears to be the most popular choice. The proof is in the thousands of posts. By going too fast your probably in for nothing but agonizing withdrawal symptoms and virtually guaranteeing defeat.
Please people, slow down, way down!!!
Wishing you all the best,
Jake

I know! Right!

It actually is crazy. Aspartame. Hey guys, just because something is legal and passed by the FDA, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have major side effects on our brains and livers. I used to drink Diet Coke in college until I learned about n a neurology class what it does to your brain. Stopped cold turkey. That was over 30 years ago!

I couldn’t do diet anyway, can’t stand the taste. I’d rather do water.

I got a question. I was off the effexor for a week and half how long should it take to get back into my system? I've been back on it for a week. Thankyou

@farmboy
I think you're really asking when you can expect the Effexor to be at a steady state.

Pfizer (mfr of Effexor) says of Effexor XR, "Dose increases should be in increments of up to 75 mg per day, as needed, and should be made at intervals of not less than 4 days, since steady-state plasma levels of venlafaxine and its major metabolites are achieved in most patients by day 4."
https://www.rxlist.com/effexor-xr-drug.htm#clinpharm--
"Steady-state concentrations of venlafaxine and ODV (its major active metabolite) in plasma are attained within 3 days of oral multiple-dose therapy. ...When equal daily doses of venlafaxine were administered as either an immediate-release tablet, or the extended-release capsule, the exposure to both venlafaxine and ODV was similar for the two treatments, and the fluctuation in plasma concentrations was slightly lower with the Effexor XR capsule. Therefore, Effexor XR provides a slower rate of absorption, but the same extent of absorption compared with the immediate-release tablet."
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)62919-4/pdf--
"The ideal antidepressant should have a half-life consistent with once-a-day dosing or a half-life of about 24 hours. The shorter half-life drug reaches steady state sooner than the longer half-life compound and also is eliminated quicker.

A pharmacokinetic rule of thumb is that it takes about 4 to 5 times the elimination half-life with a constant dosing interval to achieve steady-state levels. With a drug that has a half-life of 1 day, this steady state is reached after 4 to 5 days. For a drug with the elimination half-life of 4 days, the time to steady state with once-a-day dosing is 16 to 20 days.

Additionally, the phenomenon of cumulation, or accumulation occurs when a drug is given at an interval shorter than 4 to 5 times its half-life. In this case, the blood level at steady state is much higher than that after the first dose. This is because the drug is given at an interval that is shorter than the time necessary for the body to eliminate most of the previous dose.

Another pharmacokinetic rule of thumb based on the elimination half-life is that it takes about 4 to 5 times the elimination half-life to have more than 90% of the drug eliminated from the body after the medication is discontinued. Thus, a drug with an intermediate half-life shortens the time to steady state and shortens the time for elimination.

This knowledge is important when therapy is initiated, when dosages are adjusted, when a medication is discontinued because of an adverse effect, or when one drug is discontinued before another drug is initiated that might cause a drug interaction.

From a theoretical standpoint, the compounds with a half-life between about 17 and 36 hours can be given once per day to maintain good steady-state levels. Drugs with lesser half-lives must be given more frequently, and those with greater half-lives can be given less often than once per day, although this approach is generally not used. ...An extended-release form of venlafaxine allows once-daily dosing."