Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

@texasduchess Haha, I jumped on the birthday bandwagon too! Mine is July 30 by the way!
@brightwings so good to hear from you and to hear your experiences at the reunion. Your new course sounds like an amazing opportunity. I'm so glad to hear you're taking care of yourself. I started taking my CBD oil again, seems like it caused some anxiety which it's never done in the past. However, I think right now, everything I seem to do causes anxiety, you know, that deep underlying belief "this won't work. I'm damaged forever. Life is ruined, there is nothing to help me". My God, do I hate to slip into that mindset so quickly and insidiously! I count my blessings that there aren't a million other health problems I could be having! Why is it difficult to be grateful? I think the answer to that is because this medicine was working on our brains! And our brains are where our thoughts arise, obviously, so if our brains are in the process of healing, our thoughts will not always be the best. At least, that's what I hope! I want to emerge from this a better, nicer, more positive person!!
Today the NP said for me to stay on the vistaril. He also said I could start taking prozac if I wanted. I filled the prescription and will pray about it. I've read that one dose of prozac will end effexor withdrawal symptoms. So I'm back to the "what if I try and it doesn't work?" thoughts. Goodness, to have a sound mind would be a lovely thing!
Starting therapy Wednesday mostly so my husband will get a break from my incessant talk about withdrawal, and hoping to pick up some techniques to help me through this.
You all are a godsend to me! Just wanted you to know that.

@jakedduck1
I think @brightwings misread the post by @grandmar saying, "Happy Sunday!" My birthday's in April ... so y'all are either late, or very early! But thank you! I can tell you I remember watching the moon landing with the rest of the family.

@brightwings
I am so impressed by your willingness to put yourself out there (going to a family reunion very likely to have toxic relatives to possibly deal with and taking a cool shaman class to become a healer). Sorry to hear that your MS is acting up and some doors to the not so great past opening. Anne is a very good friend; you are so lucky to have her and her healing abilities. Can't wait to hear how your classes go.

Thanks Duchess,
Unfortunately the class is filled before we got the money in. So I am looking at Jan or February.
I had a huge melt down yesterday. Why? Cuz I finally rejoined Facebook. In 6 days I have 116 friends. I have felt so lonely yet all these people love me, or most of them. Really messed with my head.
Bright wings

I quit Facebook entirely and erased everything for several reasons.

A) politics just made me angry and I found myself ready to be a contrarian because I could understand all sides. But, on some months I would argue one-way and get upset, then other weeks differently.

I quit listening, watching and reading the news unless it was about science, nature or outside the us and didn’t involve topics domestically. But was ruining my days and those around me.

B) I have family who are in professions and are in a position to know what Facebook claims to do and really do. The most recent being obtaining s patent to evaluate your fb friends for credit evaluation. FB, once this was revealed, of course had no comment.

Time and time again they have claimed to have your interests at heart but then are caught in flagrante delicto to the opposite. Their very business model is at odds with their consumer protection claims. They ultimate are responsible to shareholders and that, like any company, is what drives them.

C) EVERYONE should understand that One of the biggest and most lucrative areas is data mining. Many companies do it and ones you’d never guess. Even more companies broker in the obtained data and countless buy and use it.

Apps on the phones are not far behind and a face recognition software app was put out by a Russian company. Well, you can begin to see how these pieces could potentially come together:

Facial software, credit information and patterns, and even finger print apps to open phones and you’ve got a clever firm to create a bogus loan, credit, medical history, and total identity using parts or all of your data. These activities are just as driven by profit as legitimate companies. Paranoid thinking? You bet, but when it comes to your finances, medical a personal information a little paranoia is justified as we keep finding out.

D) Another problem is that of Facebook and the friends angle. I cannot cite a study but could find it as you’ll you, but people tend to be more depressed with social media wen they get online and have no messages. For some, understandably, it’s one of the only ways to feel tethered to the world and get contact, of a kind.

My point here is that there are a lot of issues with Facebook that are far reaching and potentially harmful. The impact of these factors to individuals already prone to depressive disorders can be more serious than the average person, So beware. Alternatives, I honestly don’t know.

One of the news items you may have missed today is that the FCC JUST SLAPPED FB with a $5B fine for Privacy violations, USA TODAY news.

I only use FB to keep up with friends and family all over the US. Supposedly FB must update and adopt new privacy, security measures. You’re correct...it can be depressing when you see mainly happy news from those posting on FB. But to me the blatant lies posted by bipartisan political advocates are the worst. It isn’t so hard to discern what is true and what isn’t. Sadly, so many aren’t happy unless they are constantly ranting and roiling over something they can’t control.

I didn’t see it but it doesn’t surprise me. It goes to show that stated concerns for FB are for feel good consumption. For the longest time, I kept up with family and friends this way too. But when I found out about the credit scores and patents, and other info being harvested, I just said enough. When I deleted the account, I told them as much ‘the business model is at odds with their stated concern about privacy’.

Just think of Jack the Ripper saying that he won’t use knives on people because he cares. I think you’d be entitled to some skepticism.

Neat! I ordered a jar of empty gel caps. The approximately 20mg I took Friday afternoon is just now wearing off. (The tinnitus gets louder and is occasionally stopped by a short muffled explosion). So tfn around 18-20mg every other day. Continue with cbd to kill acute psychological distress in its tracks. Great. Thanks.