1. < Depression & Anxiety

Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

Posted by richyrich @richyrich, Nov 2, 2016

I have been taking Effexor/Venlafaxine for years and tried to get off it a few times but each time I try to give up the chemical withdrawal symptoms are a horror story and I give up giving up. Anyone got any tips or tried and tested strategies? Thank you

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mmsm | @mmsm | Apr 7 4:01pm
In reply to @larrypains "4 years? Something wrong with that. That would make it the worst drug in the world..." + (show)
@larrypains

4 years? Something wrong with that. That would make it the worst drug in the world BY FAR!! You needed something to go along with your withdrawal process.. boy I am sorry!!! That's horrible!!! Iwas taking 150 mg for 12 years. In 2 weeks I went to 75 mg no problem. Then to 37.5, that's when the problems started. Stopped there and went back to 150. I needed to take something anyway
Now I've been switched to pristique 50 mg. Switch took 3 days and no withdrawal. Now coming off the pristique I don't know. But at least it's only 50 mg. We'll see maybe.

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I know this is an old post, but could you provide an update? Did the pristiq help with anxiety? Did you ever get withdrawal from effexor? I'm cross-tapering right now, and am not sure if the pristiq is helping. It's almost been two weeks on it.

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1 reply
larrypains | @larrypains | Apr 7 6:44pm
In reply to @mmsm "I know this is an old post, but could you provide an update? Did the pristiq..." + (show)
@mmsm

I know this is an old post, but could you provide an update? Did the pristiq help with anxiety? Did you ever get withdrawal from effexor? I'm cross-tapering right now, and am not sure if the pristiq is helping. It's almost been two weeks on it.

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I'll tell you the move from effexor to pristique was seamless. And the. Dosage is lower. 1st 2 days I took 50 MG of pristique along with my normal dosage of effexor 150 MG. 3rd day NO effexor and up to 100 MG of pristique for 3 weeks. No idea I had changed anything. 4th week I moved down to 50 MG pristique and added 2.5 MG the lowest dose of zyprexa. Week 5. No pristique only 2.5 MG of zyprexa. 3days after the last pristique was no fun!!! But 1 month I'm off effexor. I'm so sensitive to meds too. I still suffer from depression and anxiety so I stayed on the zyprexa. It wasn't a nightmare and didn't have to count beads. Pristique is a tablet. But. 1st week I questioned the move. But 22 days off effexor and do feel alot better. No more SNRI FOR ME!!

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angel70 | @angel70 | 5 days ago

I am going cold turkey off of venlafaxine xr 225 mg. Its been 5 days I do take trazodone 25 mg to help sleep. What can help with the physical symptoms please ?

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1 reply
mialucy123 | @mialucy123 | 5 days ago

Not a good idea to go off Effexor cold turkey. Talk to your doctor and taper very very slowly.

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depressedbutnotdead | @depressedbutnotdead | 5 days ago

Daily walks definitely helped. And it's a good routine to have no matter what.

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j67topher | @j67topher | 4 days ago
In reply to @secretwhitepop "I’ve been diagnosed with something called PPPD. And I want to say Mayo Clinic is studying..." + (show)
@secretwhitepop

I’ve been diagnosed with something called PPPD. And I want to say Mayo Clinic is studying it as well. Unfortunately I’m at work (with kids) and can’t remember what PPPD stands for... but the last work is dizziness.

Vertigo stinks! And anxiety plays a role.

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Do you still have PPPD? Have you found anything that works? I was diagnosed with it back in 2023. So far nothing works. I just received 31 Botox injections around the crown of my head yesterday and they say it will take 2-3 weeks to see any results. Fingers Crossed!!

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Mentor
Teresa, Volunteer Mentor | @hopeful33250 | 4 days ago
In reply to @angel70 "I am going cold turkey off of venlafaxine xr 225 mg. Its been 5 days I..." + (show)
@angel70

I am going cold turkey off of venlafaxine xr 225 mg. Its been 5 days I do take trazodone 25 mg to help sleep. What can help with the physical symptoms please ?

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Hello @angel70 and welcome to Mayo Connect. As was mentioned by @mialucy123, it is not a good idea to go off Venlafaxine cold turkey. I would encourage you to contact the doctor who prescribed this medication and ask for a titration schedule to reduce the amount you take over several weeks.

You mention having "physical symptoms." Can you explain what those are? Have you contacted your doctor yet?

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anita293 | @anita293 | 2 days ago
In reply to @coloradogirl "So, I just finished this process with Zoloft (sertraline) and here are some things that worked..." + (show)
@coloradogirl

So, I just finished this process with Zoloft (sertraline) and here are some things that worked for me. Your mileage may vary, but hopefully these are low risk for you to try.

1) You may need to ask your doctor for a slower tapering program than other patients. Some people are just more sensitive to dosage changes. Be aware that symptoms will get better, then may reappear each time you taper. AAFMA (practice group of family physicians) says that the symptoms typically last 1-2 weeks and as long as 4 weeks, so I just kept reminding myself that it was temporary.
2) Be watchful for things that make your symptoms worse. For example, caffeine seems to trigger the brain zaps for me (still, even after being off for several weeks), so I cut back my caffeine intake. I didn't give it up completely (because I still need to function), but cut back on how much real coffee I was drinking, mixed decaf with regular, and switched to tea sometimes. In the end, I probably cut my daily caffeine intake in half, and it did help quite a lot.
3) Ibuprofen or other pain reliever can help with the flu-like body aches.
4) Benadryl helped with the brain zaps.
5) Exercise helped with both. Even if I wasn't up to a run, a few blocks of walking would settle down the symptoms for a while at least. (Then, when they come back, just take another walk. We took a lot of walks for a while there).
6) Get enough sleep. As I came down off the meds, my normal sleeping patterns returned, which was great, but it did mean that I needed to plan time to let my body rest.
7) Pay attention to your diet. Your brain uses carbs to make seratonin, so now is not the time to go on the Atkins diet. Eat well and make sure you're getting enough healthy carbs. You may crave sweets; I certainly did. I tried to counteract this by having bananas, graham crackers, and other healthy things I could snack on instead of sticking my head in a birthday cake like I seemed to want.

No lie - it's a painful process, but this did really help make it easier. Also, at a certain point, when I was down the below the normal starter dose, I just ripped off the bandaid and went to zero. At that point, it felt like each taper was just prolonging the suffering. Don't just go cold turkey from your current dose, though, as that can be dangerous. Also, don't add any supplements or substitutes for the SSRI without talking to your doctor first (also dangerous).

And of course, watch for the return of depression / anxiety type symptoms. For a while it was hard to tell whether I was tired because of the change in meds or because my depression was returning. I figured as long as I felt okay enough to function and wasn't thinking about being harmful to myself or anyone else, I could play it out and see. It turned out to be the meds and on the other side, I can see that I was more worried about it than I needed to be.

I wish you the best of luck and a healthy life.

Mardee

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This is great thanks for sharing. A symptom diary can be very helpful also

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anita293 | @anita293 | 2 days ago
In reply to @njoys "It is possible to do. Be aware that the beads inside a capsule may differ in..." + (show)
@njoys

It is possible to do. Be aware that the beads inside a capsule may differ in number, they also differ in size. It is tedious to count them, and to return them to empty capsules before taking. But it is possible if one is sufficiently motivated.

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You can weigh them with a jewellery scale that weighs in milligrams

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zainahelizabeth | @zainahelizabeth | 2 days ago

It really is not a good idea to just stop taking (cold turkey), venlafaxine. I tried to gradually stop taking over a year ago, for the first time. Despite the fact I was doing do gradually, I had a few days when I felt really depressed, and was afraid that I was going back to it. I also had horrible brain zaps, and pains all over the place. There didn’t seem to be anything I could do that would help. My G.P. simply said that I knew more about the process of reducing the dose, but that she would be happy for me to stay on it permanently. In the end, the last straw came when, having reached a daily dosage of 75 mgs, (I had originally been on 300 mgs), I took a 75mg tablet on alternate days. I later found that this was the worst thing I could have done. I came out with the most horrible skin condition, all over me - literally. It was in my ears, right down inside my ear canals, up my nose, etc. I’ve had this condition ever since. However it started to improve, and I decided to go ahead with my second attempt to reduce the dosage, having had to go back to my original dose. Everything is now going well. I would really recommend that you buy the book ‘The Maudsley Hospital Deprescribing Guidelines for Anti-Depressants, Benzodiazepines, Gabapentinoids, and Z-Drugs’.
This book is by Horowitz and Taylor. I don’t get anything for recommending this book, it’s just brilliant, and guides you how to successfully reduce your dosage. Venlafaxine is one of the ‘highlighted’ medications in the book. The two authors have now written the Prescribing Guidelines book, and quite honestly, every G.P. surgery should have a copy of each. Good luck!

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