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Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: 4 days ago | Replies (6299)Comment receiving replies
Hi there. Well, the original psychiatrist moved on over 20 years ago. I had just been on a maintenance dose of only 75 mg for years, and then I slowly went down to 37.5 under the observation of my current GP at the time. It was under this GP as well as a acupuncturist that I decided to go off altogether, albeit VERY slowly.
During this time, life got intense. (My dad got sick and passed away). Here’s something else... I went on a spinny ride at a carnival. When the ride stopped I couldn’t get off. I was dizzy for several days! Then it went away. And about a year later here I am with dizziness.
I have too many extenuating circumstances to know what, exactly, is the reason for my dizziness. My PT says it’s PPPD and I agree in part. I also may have one of those crystals AND I definitely have vestibular nerve damage.
Honestly, I chalk most of this up to the extreme stress me and my family have been under. Slowly I am handling the dizziness, however I’m am concerned since the ENT and the PT say I should be better by now.
The fact that I am slowly getting better is encouraging. It’s no fun seeing doctor after doctor while trying to have a life. And most times folks get better whether or not they see a doc. 🙂
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So I was only ever on 37.5 mg for 2 years, intended only to help hot flashes. Had to go to hormone patch anyway (FYI, best decision ever!). I fainted out cold one night and husband called ambulance. Determined it was vaso vagal syncope (plain old fainting). Checked heart, did monitor to make sure as was having some heart racing episodes too. Did brain MRI to rule that out. All good. Stopped Effexor thinking it may be contributing to these things. Had "boat head" dizziness regularly and brain zaps and pulsitile tinnitus. It's been now increasingly getting worse. The boat head dizziness is terrible and worse with fatigue/work pressures. Head feels "full" too. Driving is bad. Have to lean my head on headrest to feel stable and not get nauseous. This is CRAZY. ENT doctor ran all the inner ear vestibular testing. All good. My husband is more and more convinced it's all stress/fatigue related. So got lowest dose of Xanax. First day with just the one dose daily was the best day in a long time. It SEEMS to be somewhat better, but still having the dizziness maybe not as bad. I do have concerns about Xanax - son was on this when he was 20 and OD'd (ended up ok then sought treatment for marijuana addiction which is what was really making his anxiety worse.) Have appt with neurologist tomorrow to see if there's any issue there. Fyi....I never had anxiety before which is why I keep obsessing about possible medical reasons 🤔