Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

Sundance, we are alike, I NEVER GIVE UP EITHER!

bw, you are so correct about how to face Life everyday. I understand how hard it must be for you right now! Interesting how life comes in stages! In the last three months I have lost two of my "Forever" Best Friends! Then another Best Friend lost his mother!
It's hard sometimes to pick up the pieces! Now Especially!
But as my mother said when I lost my first girl Friend, I thought the Love of my life, "Buckle up kid, the sun is going to rise in the morning and Life will go on"!
Richard(Sundance)

I have been helping folks heal since I was 5.
That's not about me!.
Death is hard to deal with for anyone.
Yet, I have somehow been insulated from personal deaths. And have been very thankful for that.
My son had an almost life long addiction to heroin, later oxy's and again heroin.
He dropped me from his life 5 years ago.
As I went to see his photos, yes I can see why. I knew that look in his photos of needing another fix.
His choices.....
They were not about me.
I was an addiction RN for 6 years.
He just couldn't pull himself out of it.
That was not about me.
Sigh, we can want the best for folks but they have to do the work.
I thank you all so much. Bright Wings.
Off to go hug some trees on our Tribal Land.

Such a tragedy. Those who are left behind have the difficult thoughts to continue to face. Please know we care.

Love and prayers...maybe you can find some peace today and in the days to come. 🙏❤️🙏

Hello JK. Well 75 mg of Effexor helped me tremendously with anxiety and depression for many years, but about 6 years ago I started to develop high blood pressure. Then, lots of stress hit and I had a coronary artery dissection causing a heart attack. I really feel the Effexor contributed to this mix of problems. Now, I'm withdrawing and my blood pressure has spiked so severely I thought I would have another dissection. Just be sure your loved ones consider many factors before taking it and before withdrawing. I felt this was the right time for me to taper off it and then Covid19 hit.

Hi @basil and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I'm tagging @contentandwell JK to make sure that she sees your very helpful response to her query made a while back.

Basil, did you decide to continue with 75 mg until post COVID to taper with your doctor?

@basil, I too welcome you to Connect. I do not often participate in this topic because I have no experience with Effexor. The person I mentioned is not on Effexor, he is on different anti-depressants but it seems that people want to get off any medications of this type.
Do your physicians feel that Effexor could have contributed to your heart attack? If your BP is spiking can that be helped with a BP medication?
Thank you for the cautionary advice, and thank you, @colleenyoung for tagging me.
JK

Hello I'm new. Not sure how to just post anything so I clicked reply button. I have stopped taking Venlafaxine since Thursday. I went from 2 pills daily to 1 a day to 1 every other day for about a week each drop but today has been the worst feeling. All symptoms people mentioned mostly. Brain zaps are seriously messed up and these feelings never felt before. I went from a couple anti depressants to this one and really didn't seem to help any and actually felt worse and worse. I have only been on this last one for a few months. I will not be taking crap like this again. I can't believe so many people are taking this although it might be affecting others differently but I'm not going to just be a guinea pig for pharmaceuticals anymore.

Hello Colleen Young. I have appts. this week to discuss all of this. I plan to ask if it's prudent for me to replace the Effexor with a little something because of this added angst of Covid19. Maybe this isn't the best time to go off an anxiety medication, but I just want to get beyond Effexor, especially if it's indeed true that it has contributed to high blood pressure. Thank you!