Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

At the risk of sounding obsessive

Has anyone used trazadone for sleep whilst withdrawing from Effexor? Although I’m over a 1.5months off Effexor XR I’ve been prescribed (and accepted) trazadone 50mg for sleep. Since this was originally an antidepressant at higher doses back in the day I’m concerned that it’s stunting or extending my overall withdrawal. So if it naturally takes me 3/6/12 months to get off, With no aid, I’m just resetting my tapering schedule to 0 every time I use it and that it’s going to be yet another drug I need to get off of and go through this whole process again.. aarrrgg ..because as we know, when you ask a doctor with help with symptoms, you get a drug. And I am trying to do this as holistically as possible. (Haven’t needed Ativan in over 5 days)...

Another thing that bugs me is that if I have a good day, it’s the drug, not “I’m finally starting to feel good and seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Does this make any sense to anyone ?

Thanks for reading

I think its probably ok. I think it works on different receptors. I'd rather be on trazadone for sleep than on effexor lol. Keep up the great work!

And you're having good days because of the work you are doing. Good for you that you haven't needed the ativan.

I take either 25 or 50 mg seroquel for sleep depending on how many hours I can get. In other words I only take 50 if Im going to bed early or can sleep in. My problem with it is similar to what I experienced with ambien which is sleep internet shopping and sleep eating. But with ambien I did not gain weight. With seroquel since December I have gained 20 pounds and I can't blame it all on the extra food, its also a side effect of the med. @secretwhitepop have you gained? I take adderall which should help keep the weight off. I'm taking vraylar which makes all my muscles hurt making it harder to want to exercise (of course the extra 20 pounds doesn't help my body either). Its horrible because I've never struggled with my weight before and it adds to anxiety and depression for me. And it frustrates me because psychologically I'm doing much better than I was than being in wd and now its like my body won't cooperate! I'm also back down to 75 mg effexor and looking forward to eventually being off. I think the vraylar will take care of mood stabilization, so if I can do the prozac bridgewheb I reach 37 5 of effexor I'm hopeful I can stop. The good news is that I have a psychiatrist and a psychiatric NP who are both very helpful. It took a long time to find them.
I look back at how I was last summer and its honestly hard for me to see how I even survived those days. I was a comoletely different person then. My father put it well, he said that now its like Im waking up.

Makes much sense. How does one tell what is working and what isnt? Is one “healed” because they have accepted their current state, whatever that is?

well i think acceptance has alot to do with it. Especially with DP/DR.. it's everything actually.

Yes, I have gained weight on seroquel and Zoloft, however, during my 6 month stint med-free I had lost almost 20 pounds due to anxiety! I’m sure I put it all back on but I’m not feeling like weighing myself. What did NOT come back, however, was the slightly high BP. It hovered just a bit above normal and I’m the type that was always low... so now it’s back to low Normal.

I’m also “med-shy” so, while I upped my dose of zoloft to 100 mgs daily (which was necessary and is effective) I cut my Seroquel in half. Half a 25 mg dose. If I take the whole pill I’m groggy all day the next day. If I take less than half, by the third day my anxiety creeps up. I’m still feeling it out but this is seeming to work with me.

Ha! And happily (I know it sounds strange) I cried the other day. I truly thought that since going on zoloft nothing affected me much anymore - but I was wrong :). It’s not the depression, it was just a sad and stressful thing.

Hello All,

I am so pleased to have found a site like this where I can read about other people going through the same experiences as myself, right now! This is my second stab at becoming free of Venlafaxine forever... and I am trying so hard but the side effects are unbearable for me too :-(.

I suffer from chronic migraine (managed with Propranolol and Tryptans) and have done since I was about 18 years old (I am now 44 years young); since then I have had depressive episodes intermittently over the years and have been successful with Citalopram to overcome the feelings. I have been lucky in that I have never had suicidal thoughts, self harmed or anything too serious... just felt down, angry, irritable, sad, had social phobia... that sort of thing. Taking Citalopram over a couple of years put me back on track until the next episode, but I could live with that and I didn't suffer terribly tapering up/down off the drug either, apart from a little anxiety. All in all, I knew a suffered from time to time, but life was kind to me.
5 years ago I lost my nana, my world, my everything... one of the most special people in my life in the most cruellest of ways and my world crumbled... I can't hold back the tears still as I type. I had a breakdown and totally withdrew from life. My GP put me on Venlafaxine 3 x 37.5mg per day and I took it gladly, knowing that I just needed a little helping hand while I came to terms with my situation, I would soon be feeling okay, back on track and then I could drop the drug.
Tapering up - hallucinations were the most disturbing thing for me. I felt rubbish anyway so I didn't complain, I told my GP at the time but he was not concerned. I heard voices regularly but it was the spiders... oh my the spiders, they were enormous!! Casually watching the television with my husband and they would appear, begin multiplying and dropping off the TV onto the floor... running around the walls etc... luckily I am not scared of spiders... but my husband is (lol). I began to realise it was all in my head and didn't vocalise when I saw them after a while (for the sake of my husband!).

Tapering down I have come to realise, is not nice at all! I read something similar a little further back, given we are in this awful situation where we have to isolate, I too am working from home. I thought what better time than to finally drop this this last 37.5mg? I must say that I went cold turkey about 2 years ago when I couldn't get hold of my prescription and I literally thought I was dying, Monday couldn't come soon enough for me to replenish and within a couple of hours of taking the drug I felt vaguely 'normal' again! That is when I realised I needed to get off this nastiness that is keeping me on an even keel, I didn't want to have to rely on a drug that could make me feel so bad if I didn't get it, it didn't feel right, I wanted out.
With support from my GP I have tapered since. I was at 37.5mg for about 6 months, I wanted out but I was scared because I knew what was coming. Nevertheless, this time is right and I am day 5 of no drug... whoop... I feel proud that I have gotten this far! The constant nausea, diarrhoea, fogginess; the scary brain zaps, lack of sleep and crying over the slightest of things (happy or sad) are becoming unbearable. I've worked out, based on the half life, how long it would take for the drug to be negligible in my blood plasma and the calculation tells me 3 days tops, it's not the reality though, and you guys have articulated that too clearly also... I think it's making me anxious at the thought.

I can't give up, I won't give up... I can do this (I keep telling myself)... I just hope these effects don't last months like some posts I have read. I have read elsewhere that Benadryl (antihistamine) helps with the symptoms, I looked up a scientific paper and read how it contradicts Venlafaxine, hence why you should never use it whilst taking the antidepressant... I'm going to give it a go, along with the vitamins and omega supplements mentioned earlier in the thread. Thank you so much for the release in words, it really helps. Good luck in your journey everyone, and stay safe xxx

Again! Effexor should be taken completely off the market and doctors need to admit the harm they’ve done to people after prescribing this drug. The doctors are absolutely clueless as to how to successfully taper a patient off this. Yet they’re held accountable for NOTHING!

Hi and welcome.
Don’t give up, it may get a little worse before it gets better, you are doing great!