Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

First, I’m sorry for what your going through however you shouldn’t be at all surprised. Contrary to what you may believe there was nothing “slow” about your taper.
I’m no doctor and definitely not a mathematician but If I’m correct you reduced your first dose by 20% which is twice as much as I’d do but maybe you would have succeeded if you had continued at 20% of your new lowered dose. If you wanted to continue to decrease by 20% your next cuts should have been 60mg then 45mg then 30mg, 15mg, 7.5mg etc. you should have probably taken the same dose for a month or so. But because you chose a specific milligram instead of a percentage and continued tapering 75mg per dose the actual percentage of your taper increased dramatically from 20% to 50% and eventually to 100% which in my opinion is why your feeling so awful now. I wouldn’t expect it to get much better very soon according to posts I’ve read here over the past year. There are some here who may have some helpful tips on how to make your withdrawal symptoms milder.
It’s very important to understand you took this medication for a very long time. It is unrealistic to believe after taking something for 120 or so months you could stop it in one and half months. Although I didn’t do the calculations to figure out how long your taper should take it probably should have taken you 12-18 months.
When I discontinued taking the Benzodiazepine Anticonvulsant Klonopin I was taking near immeasurable doses but my taper was uneventful without any problems except when I thought I was close enough to zero to just quit. To totally avoid any withdrawal I chipped off extremely tiny pieces. I never imagined such a tiny chip could make such a dramatic difference. I have never had withdrawals going off any medication.
Obviously the word slow is open to interpretation. Perhaps I should say infinitesimally small and not just small. Even if you reduced your dose by only 10% per month even that is no guarantee you won’t have some degree of withdrawal symptoms. It just depends on the person, medication, dose and length of time it’s taken. But your chances of no or mild symptoms are greatly increased the slower you go. I strongly suggest you redefine your definition of slow.
I wish you the very best,
Jake

@canadaanj
Forty-five days to taper off 375mg is NOT slow! Especially when you've been on Effexor for 10 years. I took 2.5 months to taper off 25mg; it was NOT long enough.

Numerous folks getting off Effexor have said during the process that they felt they had changed and that the world had become vague, dreamlike, less real, lacking in significance, or that they were outside reality while looking in (i.e., depersonalization). If you're feeling weird, terrible, awful, etc., it's a pretty safe bet that you're experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

Here are two sites where you can find WD symptoms listed--
--https://www.recoveryconnection.com/substance-abuse/medication/effexor/#4
--https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/effexor-addiction/withdrawal-detox/

Since your last dose was just four days ago, you can probably get relief by reinstating Effexor to a level where you don't have this symptom. Then, you stay there for some weeks (or even months) before attempting to decrease your dose again. Each time you taper, you don't drop by such large amounts.

Tapering in just weeks can be very uncomfortable and often unsuccessful. Read why and how better to get off Effexor here--
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/health/depression-withdrawal-drugs.html

@canadaanj
Hello!
First, let me say how sorry I am for how you are feeling.
When your head feels all the things you describe, that feeling of depersonalization could be a part of that.

I hate to break this to you, but you did NOT taper off slowly.
As a matter of fact, you did it very quickly, which is why you are having the withdrawal symptoms.
I started at 300 mg, too.
I started to taper down in November.
About 3 weeks ago, I got down to my first goal.
I tapered down ONLY 25%.
That's right, only 24% since November.

I am NOT a medical person, but I am a person dealing with Effexor.
I am sure all you are feeling is the withdrawal.
For some, it is immediate, others within weeks and yet others within months.
You may need to add back some of the Effexor for a while then wean back down MUCH, MUCH SLOWER!

Good luck!
Ronnie (GRANDMAr)

@searchgirl I know that speaking with a pharmacist about medications has gotten me better results than discussing it with a doctor. a pharmacist is patient and kind.

@canadaanj
Welcome, I too came here months after my plan to get myself off this drug cold turkey didn't work. Silly me... And if I might kindly say, silly you.
This is one of the many many groups at mayo clinic connect that is very active because so many folks have difficulty getting off it.
I got here about a year ago. There were only 141 pages back then. One year ago........
You are in the right place. As a result of the nightmares associated with the withdrawal, I had a full on drag your foot to the door, left hand clenched tight, drooling, as a result of my withdrawal.
I did that to myself cuz of my stupidity. I have since fully recovered but it has been slow to get my complete life back.
So you see, there are worse consequences of withdrawal than depersonalzation.
Now, lots of wise folks have answered you. I am wondering what you are getting out of this support.
You need to develop a plan. I do not regret getting off Effexor but I am still missing many, many brain cells that I will never find again. It's manageable but it still sucks.
It would be helpful to us if you could kind of repeat what you are keying into from the responses given.
We are with you. Being where you are sucks. So what is your new plan, cuz without taking an action you will not get your life as you know it back. Smiling at you, Bright Wings

I realise my dose is much less than many people, and I was not on for long (1 year), but I found weaning off Effexor the first time (10 years ago) unproblematic - the doctor worked out an 8 week schedule to wean from 75mg. This time around (Day 3 here) with a different doctor in a different country and a different decade we’re doing it over 6 weeks, mostly because of the available dosages. Both times though, we’ve used alternating schedules. So this time, for 2 weeks I alternate daily between 75 and 37.5 mg capsules. The next 2 weeks it is a daily 37.5mg. The final two weeks are alternating days of nothing and 37.5mg. The first time, because of available smaller dosage tablets we alternated daily for 1 week, then did the lower dose for a week, then alternated the lower dose with a slightly lower one for a week etc. I’m hoping things will go as well this time. Good luck to everyone going through the process.
Edited for spelling

@canadaanj- Welcome to Connect. I understand your fear and frustration. The mind/body connection is so complex it is very tough to figure things out. I call this the "What works for some people doesn't work for others" syndrome. It's so complex that it doesn't make it easy to figure things out, eve for doctors sometimes. It sounds as if you are having a mixture of reactions to your withdrawal. And I do think that you withdrew way too quickly. Remember that as you withdraw the feelings that you had before will return and are in a combined with withdrawal symptoms.
@jakedduck1 - Can you help @canadaanj come up with a better schedule for her? Thank you.
Feeling of Depersonalization are very very common for anxiety and depression. I sometimes get it even without withdrawing from any medication. I have a much longer history of anxiety and depression than 10 years. I think that you mean unreality and this fits in with the Depersonalization.
May I ask why you have been on an anti-depressant 10 years ago? Was there a major event that happened? I feel these feeling because I have PTSD. Might you have it too?

Yeah, I’ve often wondered about some symptoms coming from this drug. One of the reasons I started this is I was having crying jags, confusion, and I started getting anger episodes for reasons I could not explain. It was then was certain the drug wasn’t working again and my doc was going to raise it again. I’m fresh in retirement, so I decided to taper it out of my life. Little did I know the complexity of this process. This place rocks!! I’m feeling more confident coming here for help. I’m flip flopping around methods before I start my long journey and I’m getting close!!

We are here for you!
Ronnie (GRANDMAr)

@searchgirl
Good for you...healthy attitude.
Now quit flip flopping, decide on something and do it. If that doesn't work, do something else. It's only an action that change things.
Encouraging you, Bright Wings
.
Have you tried CBD yet. My guts say this will help. We have a group here for that too.