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Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: 22 hours ago | Replies (6415)
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@texasduchess

@farmboy
Please keep communicating with and letting your doctor know you are having issues.

My withdrawal symptoms started with my having trouble sleeping–had fear/reluctance about going to sleep, circling thoughts wouldn't let me slip into sleep, couldn't sleep for very long and if I woke, the whole cycle began again–the fear, circling thoughts, difficulty dropping off. When I had a particularly distressing day of ever-increasing anxiety and akathisia, my doctor had me take three days off work and take a whole 5mg Valium twice each day to "get ahead" of the anxiety and akathisia and she prescribed 15 more tablets to use as needed although her "get ahead of it" strategy was pretty effective.

I did not want to rely on Valium and through trial-and-error came up with a number of supplements that help me and have listed the supplements I take in previous posts (click on my name to go back through and read). Ben*dryl helped me sleep and kava kava and GABA during the day helped with anxiety.

Weekends are still hard for me; I am not retired and find working keeps my mind off my physical symptoms. I believe you are not working right now, so find distraction in reading, hobbies, exercise, etc.; avoid frenetic, or over-stimulating tv shows/movies/books; and don't listen to atonal, off-key, or minor key music (these set me off). It also helps to be with other people–go out to dinner, play cards/board games, find a walking buddy to go around the block, etc. Also, very important–get exposure to natural light; light reaching your eyes will lift your mood.

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Replies to "@farmboy Please keep communicating with and letting your doctor know you are having issues. My withdrawal..."
farmboy | @farmboy | Mar 25, 2019

@texasduchess, i live in the country so I got a nice peaceful road to walk on,I spend a lot of time in my shop working on projects and I live about 5 miles from a small farm town. So I usually go there in the morning to get breakfast and go back to get lunch. I do that to get out and visit with the locals. It's the kind of town where everyone knows everybody. Good people

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Brightwings AKA Cute Susie | @brightwings | Mar 25, 2019

@farmboy
Ok, what you call circling thoughts, I call being on the merry go round. I had a sleep disorder for so very many years...I would just keep going round in my thoughts when I laid down to sleep for years.
I was finally taught how to get off the merry go round... It takes time and effort but YOU CAN DO IT.
When I found myself starting to repeat thoughts I had already been dwelling on, I was to tell myself OUT LOUD, Now is the time for sleep, and I would keep saying that quietly to myself. Now is the time for sleep, repeating it till you can fall asleep. Oh, don't kid yourself, this takes time but with all the repeating thoughts circling unchecked, I would never fall asleep until I was told I could control it.
I really didn't believe I could do it but do you know what???? I did learn to stop the merry go round and now I rarely, oh man, that is a lie....so much has been going on to harm me in the last months since Sept, yes I have had repeating thoughts......AND WHEN I RECOGNIZE WHAT I AM DOING, I TAKE CHARGE.
I see the t.v., I see the carpet, etc, etc, etc.
Recently I started mentoring someone from my tribe.... I realized I am an expert at giving myself endorphins, while I am also an expert at eliminating negative chemical dumps in my brain.
I will share some of them tomorrow cuz it's getting late.
Another thing I do is work off mottos. I will start sharing about those tomorrow also. I need to go to bed but first have to talk to someone in Kenya...I am one of the spiritual mothers of the world....just saying.
Bye, you will get past this...hold that in your hand tonight, Bright Wings says I will get past this...Now these are good circling thoughts and each time you repeat it, softly, out loud, it puts you in control and gives you a healthy dose of endorphins to boot...the feel good chemical.
How did it get to be past 1 am.????
You are not alone, bye, Bright Wings

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