Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

Oh wow! You’re even more like me than I thought! Zero libido is a side effect. Weight gain is a side effect. Change in eating (craving carbs whereas I used to crave meat. And I now crave meat again now that I’m off! Sadly, still working on libido. Still get along with my husband. He’s wonderful, but it’s literally been years!! Sorry for the TMI!)

My psychiatrist thought it was weird when I told her 1. I was no longer hypoglycemic and 2. I craved pasta and rice and breads!

I thought it was just my age.

Oh! And I was always constipated too!

Look, I was on them for a lot longer. Was on Zoloft for a couple years then, after 911, I got switched. Long story.

The 37.5 mg capsules I took about 18 mo the to ween off. It was worth it and literally the only way to avoid symptoms. Then when I was down to taking 5 small balls from the inside of the 37.5 capsules, I went cold turkey. I still had dizzy spells but no zaps. I still experience phantom smells. Get anxiety and depression. But my last dose was February. As always, go easy on yourself. That’s the main thing.

Meditate or practice mindfulness. It helps significantly.

I appreciate your candor! You do t sound like a kook. To me you sound like a survivor. Very strong despite your feeling of being raw. I get that.

Hang on and drink in the golden sparkles.

@elaine0 you are in the right place! Welcome to the group that nobody wants to be part of, like @brightwings said in an earlier post.

I was on effexor 225 for many years and decided to taper off in September 2018. I tapered relatively fast, going from 225 to 150, and then from 150 to 75. After starting to count beads when tapering from the 75 capsules that I have, I got sick and tired of being on this drug and feeling like it was controlling me. So at the dose of 67 mg I jumped off. My last dose was on April 17. I had the dizziness, nausea, and anxiety for several days and I took benadryl to help. I've also been on CBD oil for a long time, and continued my regimen of vitamin D, omega 3, and other unrelated supplements. Things have been well since then.

May I suggest you take a look at this website which is the best explanation of protracted withdrawals:
https://npanth.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/waves-and-windows-in-ssri-withdrawal/
With that being said, I am stepping back from this forum for a bit. I am doing really well and although I know exactly what MAY be expected from conducting my taper the way that I did, I am not going to live my life in fear of the next wave, IF it comes, I am confident that I am equipped to deal with it. I can look back at the experience that I had when I cold turkeyed neurontin (not really by choice) and that, by far, was worse.
There will be those that say I haven't experienced the worst, that the worst is coming, that withdrawal may not hit me until the drug leaves my fat stores, it may be six months later, etc etc. While that may be true....guess what? It might NOT happen.
I appreciate all of the reminders and advice on this forum to take it slow, to decrease by very small amounts, etc. But at this moment I have to move on from that...not that it is negative, as I said, they are all good reminders, but I'm choosing to place all my focus on the positive aspects in my life and have gratitude for the place I am in. I'll continue to check in from time to time, but I need to be surrounded by success stories right now in order to level up.
See you all on the other side!

@sandij
Well, I am so proud of you! You came, you learned, you listened and your choices lead you to this point, this moment!
Hurrah for you for taking charge of your life..
Sending bunches of love...and a bucket of love to share and use...you deserve the best life has to offer and you will find it cuz you don't give up...smiling at you...
BW

@elaine0
Your doctor is woefully unknowledgeable about getting someone off Effexor. Just advising you to “drink more water” is poor patient care, if not outright patient neglect. Your first doctor wasn’t much better (ill-informed and sexist)—mood numbness, lowered libido, weight gain ARE all reported Effexor side effects.

Withdrawal symptoms can get much worse when reducing at lower levels, especially if you make large reductions—going from 37.5 to 0 is a BIG drop. Getting impatient now isn't a good idea—as you are experiencing, it can be VERY unpleasant, sometimes dangerous (your blood pressure can drop dramatically, etc.) and worse, rushing the tapering process sets you back.

“If someone discontinues Effexor after daily long-term use, the brain continues expecting Effexor to be delivered …. neurotransmitter activity throughout the brain becomes chaotic as a backlash-type reaction to not delivering the drug that it had adapted itself to. It is the chaotic neurotransmission throughout the brain … that is likely responsible for Effexor withdrawal symptoms. Until the brain manages to re-learn how to function without Effexor’s presence, withdrawal symptoms will probably persist.”
—https://www.4mind4life.com/effexor-withdrawal-symptoms

Help your doctor learn about this issue—print out the articles I cite here for your doctor to read. You can ask your doctor about a "Prozac bridge" (softens the blow when withdrawing from a short half-life drug like Effexor)—essentially you take 10–20mg Prozac (fluoxetine) for a short period (weeks, a month) until your WD symptoms resolve, then taper off the Prozac over 2–3 weeks.

Why taper?
Besides minimizing withdrawal effects, tapering off an antidepressant decreases the risk that depression will recur. A Harvard Medical School study of nearly 400 patients were followed for a year+ after they stopped taking antidepressants prescribed for mood and anxiety disorders. Participants who discontinued rapidly (over 1–7 days) were more likely to relapse within a few months than those who reduced the dose gradually.
—https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/going-off-antidepressants

NOTE—You say you weren’t ever depressed. Be aware that quitting Effexor (and other antidepressants) can cause the very issues they were designed to treat as a backlash effect; your brain has to reset itself and learn how to act without the drug influencing it. Effexor makes profound changes to how our brains balance the neurotransmitters needed to function. When you stop, or significantly lower your Effexor, the brain has to wake up and start working by itself. The time this takes varies enormously.

How to taper—
Reduce your dose in increments (only 5–10%, or even less if you get withdrawal symptoms) and allow 2–6 weeks between dose reductions; if WD symptoms occur, go back to the dose where you didn’t have symptoms, stay there for some weeks, then try tapering again. I was on 25mg 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 capsules and guesstimate how many to remove at each taper. You can look for a compounding pharmacy to make specific tapered doses (may not be covered by your insurance and costs $s).

@mammy
How are you? Did you get your chest pains checked out? Let us know.

@elaine0
No you shouldn’t face this the next month because it will be a prolonged process. People are usually in a hurry to get off it and end up suffering the consequences. Some patients who have taken this medication 10, 20 or 30 years believe 1, 2 or 3 years is too long to wait to get off and usually pay the price of withdrawal symptoms. If you decrease too quickly then you may very well face similar issues the next month if not earlier depending on your taper rate and length of time between taper dosages.
Most doctors seem to have checked out of hotel reality when it comes to discontinuing this medication successfully. My suggestion would be to lower your dose by no more than 10% per current dose (3.75mg to 33.75mg then 3-4 weeks later decrease 10% again 3.375mg to 30.375mg) and use a compounding pharmacy. Getting your medication from this type pharmacy will take out any guesswork and assure you of getting exact dosages from start to finish. You’d never be able to get exact percentages or dosages by cutting or decreasing beads. If affordable compounding is the only way to go. Find a non-sterile compounding pharmacy. I’d also suggest lowering your dose below 10% as you get closer to zero to increase the probability of not having any symptoms. SLOWLY is the only way for most people to defeat this monster. Just use common sense and patience. I suppose it just depends on the level of discomfort your willing to tolerate. Personally I will do whatever it takes to avoid withdrawal and have successfully done so.
However you choose to proceed I wish you luck and hopefully an uneventful taper. Withdrawal free taper is possible but it’s not quick.
Good luck,
Jake

I started my attempt at quitting today. I was down to 37.5 mg every other day but didn’t want to have to break the capsules open. I get the brain zaps and that causes me dizziness and a little nausea but I haven’t tried quitting since I was taking a higher dosage. My doc gave me some things to help with the nausea and possibly help the brain zaps. Either way, I am sick of taking them and being stuck so I am doing this no matter what. I am hoping since I had my dosage so low that it won’t be as bad this time around. Do you think the CBD helps with the brain shivers?? That to me is the biggest side effect.

I too am trying to quit. I started 8 years ago when I found out my pregnant wife was having an affair. Yeah, you read that right!! Needless to say, I am remarried and extremely happy with my life. The Dr. at the time didn’t tell me about Effexor and I didn’t ask. I worked my way down over the last few years to where I am taking 37.5mg every other day. I have gone without before for several days back when I was on higher dosage and I felt horrible with the brain shivers and nausea. I’m hoping this will be better since I had reduced so much. I took my last pill 2 days ago and I can tell it’s past time to take it cause my body tells me. I am done with them though. I am going to get through this whether I have the brain shivers or not. My new Dr prescribed me some phenogren and benztropine to help with the withdrawal symptoms but I’m not sure I want to mess with it. I took a 25mg Benadryl just to see if it eases up the brain shivers I can feel coming on.
Good luck to you.

@elaine0
Welcome to our group. You are certainly in the right place!
All of us are dealing with Venlafaxine (Effexor) in one way or another.
We are here to help you, support you and advise you (if we can).
I am not in the medical field in any way, just an Effexor user, so anything I say is based on my own experiences, research or things I've read.

First off, 'slowly' means a lot of different things to different people.
In addition, you did not mention what dosage you were on just before starting your reduction.
Lastly, most, not all doctors know how to give good advice when it comes to weaning off this drug.

All that being said, let me tell you that slow can mean days, weeks, months or even years.
I was on 300 mg a day (2-75mg in the morning and evening).
I started with my evening dose in November.
It took me until the end of April (or so) to make a total reduction of just 20%.
I now take just 1-75 mg pill in the evening.
I've been at this level for about a month.
It is my intention to wait until after the summer to begin to reduce my morning dosage to 1-75mg, too.
Waiting serves ME a couple of things.
I don't have to worry about what will happen over the summer while I plan to do trips and second, it is giving my body (and mind) an opportunity to become accustom to the dosage.

What you are explaining in your post is withdrawal.
Yes, withdrawal, just like you hear about with illegal drugs and opioids!
Your brain chemistry changes from the Effexor and reacts when it doesn't get the drug.
Although some of our members were warned about the difficulty of coming off the drug, I do not believe anyone was warned just how hard (and dangerous) it could be!!!
I, myself, am in no rush since I do not have any intention of coming off of it 100%.
It has been the only drug that has helped me!
My first goal was to reduce my evening pill by one.......DONE!
My second goal will be to reduce my morning pill by one.
MAYBE I'll go down to 37.5mg at some point, I'll see.

It is VERY important not to only go slowly, but to READ YOUR BODY.
You body will tell you if you have reduced too much.
It will tell you if you need something else to help you along with the process (even to go back to your last dosage).
DO NOT REDUCE ANYMORE UNTIL YOUR BODY SHOWS SIGNS IT IS READY!
GO VERY, VERY SLOWLY!!!

Good luck!
Ronnie (GRANDMAr)