@lisa0878
From 37.5 to 0 is a BIG drop. Logically, you would think the hardest part is over and that jumping off at 37.5mg would be easy ... but this process of getting off Effexor isn't linear--the withdrawal symptoms can get much worse when reducing at lower levels, especially if you make large reductions. You've worked hard to get down to 37.5; getting impatient now isn't usually successful AND can be unpleasant.

Here're some thoughts by a frequent poster to this thread, @jakedduck1, "I’d reduce [your] current dose by 5-10% every 2-4 weeks. 37.5 -10% = 3.75 to 33.75mg, then 10% of 33.75 [33.75 -10% = 30.38mg]. Don’t decrease by the same original amount [3.75] because that will increase the percentage of the taper the closer you get to zero and that’s when the taper should be at an even lower percentage especially if there are any side effects .... Maybe you could taper faster, who knows? Even a 5-10% taper isn’t a guarantee that withdrawal symptoms will definitely be avoided, but the chance is greatly reduced."

I personally was on tablets--they were tiny, but easy enough to chip off slivers at the beginning and the end of my taper and cut into halves and quarters in the middle. Other folks count the beads in their tablets and guesstimate how many to remove at each taper. You can look for a compounding pharmacy to make specific tapered doses; a commenter on another site who was getting off Ativan used Johnson Compounding and Wellness in Waltham, MA.

Even though you have klonopin on hand, mixing drugs willy-nilly is not a good idea. Can you go to your doctor and ask for tapering help? You would need a prescription if you want to use a compounding pharmacy, or you can ask about a "Prozac bridge" to soften the blow when withdrawing from a short half-life drug like Effexor.

P.S. You don't mention how long you were on Effexor. Be aware that this stuff gets stored in your body fat. If you've been on it for years, the more you've tucked away in nooks and crannies. Your body will find those stores and use it--so once you've tapered off, you might think you're off Effexor completely, but you're really not. This is another good reason to go really SLOOOOW during the final stages of tapering.

Jump to this post