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Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: 5 days ago | Replies (6299)Comment receiving replies
Hello, I just found this group today, 2 weeks too late to save me some misery. I've been on and off anti-depressants for many years and I'm a pro at weaning off. I thought I was anyway. This has been a scary and humbling process. Since I was only on 37.5 to supplement my Wellbutrin I didn't think going to every other day for a while then stopping would be a big deal. This is day 4 without and I still want to crawl out of my skin. I just gave in and took one with the plan of calling my Dr in the morning and confessing to doing this without his knowing and give him this list of symptoms.
Abdominal upset & diarrhea
Night and periodic daytime sweating like hot flashes
Inability to concentrate
Loss of memory
Deep sadness
Intensified and different reaction to alcohol
Severe brain shivers
Muscle and joint pain
Intense craving for sugar and carbs like pasta
Deep sense of overall shame and repeating tapes of things I said and feeling deeply ashamed. I don’t think these things warrant this reaction, time will tell. Example: telling dinner companions about the string of tragedies I had in a very matter of fact way during a light-hearted dinner, making them uncomfortable I’m sure.
Hopelessness with no sense of why
Dizziness
“out of body” feeling
Facial features drastically changed, not recognizable by my iphone
I'm very grateful that you all took the time to share here, it made me feel not so alone and ashamed. God bless you all!
Replies to "Hello, I just found this group today, 2 weeks too late to save me some misery...."
We have all had some of the symptoms you listed. I hope your doctor tells you to stay at the 37.5 dosage for a while and then you can begin taper. You will get through this--it can be rough, but at least you know why you had the symptoms. Best wishes for you!!!
Omg I thought it was just me with the out of body experience...I hallucinated while taking my mom to the drs and couldn't keep my eyes open on the road and almost killed us. It was a horrible day that day...I got lost in the dr office. I was playing with stuffed animals in the gift shop. I scared myself and my mom so bad!!!!! My mom thought I was on drugs...lol....I SWEAR I WASNT..I have no idea why this happened and it didnt happen again. I'm finally feeling better now. I think it's been 3weeks maybe a month since my last effexor I'm gonna have to check a calendar because it feels like forever ago because I was like another person going threw my withdrawls...I never told anybody what happened that day because it sounds so crazy. I am just glad to hear somebody else has experienced this.
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@wrkingitout
Okay, you apologize for sharing too much and say that you had an unexpected reaction to a medication change.
Dinner was a faux pas--you didn't kill anyone and the hopelessness and feelings of not being worthy ARE withdrawal symptoms as are the other things you listed.
Talking with your doctor is a very good idea.
So was reinstating Effexor until you connect with your doctor.
You didn't say why you thought you'd quit Effexor ... if you felt it just wasn't helping you, or if you had side effects you weren't willing/able to deal with anymore. You found out that dropping from 37.5mg to zero AND taking this drug every other day is TOO much of a taper ... your doctor can help you taper off Effexor and onto a different medication if one is necessary, or to help ease you off Effexor (a Prozac bridge). He can prescribe a different formulation--changing from extended-release to regular release, or from capsules to tablets (I was on 25mg tablets that could be cut), or specifying a certain brand (@farm_mom found Teva had the most consistent size and number of beads within a capsule--helpful to those counting and throwing out beads to taper). He can write a prescription for a compounding pharmacy to make tapered doses for you.