VENLAFAXINE WITHDRAWAL

Dear Donnaturn, I was waiting for feedback on this issue. Since titrating down & off of VEN 75mg XR, for over 2 years and stopping 2 years ago, I have since experienced a multitude of legacy toxicity issues. This included severe pain in fingers. I never had any issues before - I am 66 years old.
Interested to see what other reports you get. my regards

@donnaturn That's interesting and something I was unaware of. Carpal tunnel has been a thing for me going back decades. It's never been enough to justify surgery, but it's there. I've been off of Effexor for a little over two years, and I have noticed an increase in it. It woke me up just last night.

@dmbwa99362 yes I agree. My doctor didnt tell me either it’s so frustrating getting off this. Im at 37.5mg mon wed fri sat and 75mg the other days so have a long way to go to finally free myself from it. The weird dreams and lethargic feelings etc are hard. It’s so unprofessional of them to not advise the withdrawal effects. I wish I’d researched more before I agreed to take but was feeling pretty desperate at the time.

I wholly agree with you. I was put on 300mg Effexor by my psychiatrist some 4 years ago. No consultation, no advice, no warning. It’s been hell getting off it. Have managed to bring it down to 150mg after two months of weaning, and so far so good. But I know this second half will be a lot more challenging. But U’m utterly determined to rid my body of this terrible drug. Patience and faith in the process! Keep you eyes on the end product and keep going!

I get down to 37.5 capsules , cant get tablets here in Australia how do u get off capsules , sheesh

I just went off Effexor starting Jan 1 with very little problem. I was on 225 mg for over 20 years. I did some research and decided to use a Prozac bridge. I called my psychiatrist and told her that is what I was doing so she gave me 37.5mg Effexor and 20mg of Prozac. I was on 75mg and took that to 37.5 and added 40mg Prozac. I had no withdrawal symptoms. I stayed on that for around 5 days. I then dropped the 2nd 37.5 and added another 20-40mg of Prozac. I did the same thing with the next 2, 75mg of Effexor and changed to Prozac. I ended up on 40 mg of Prozac and I stayed on that for a few months because there are some residual withdrawal symptom. In the 3rd month, for 3 days I had migraine headaches that started at 5pm to 11pm. The next day it was 5pm-8pm and the last day the migraine started at 5pm and ended around 6pm and that was it. They then went away. Then a week later I was having trouble with my being able to remember things which was scary and that happened for 3 days, too, and then went away?! As the brain readjusts strange things can happen. I am fully off the Effexor and Prozac and feel better than before so far. I had diarrhea for at least 2 years and couldn't figure out why. Drs. did all kinds of tests and it turned out the Effexor turned on me and when I was down to 75mg of Effexor the diarrhea stopped!! I was on it so long I didn't suspect it was the cause of the diarrhea. I was also on Trazadone to sleep and immediately started being able to sleep when I was off the Effexor?? It feels like the Effexor was revving up my whole system. You can get off Effexor without suffering.

I'm about 6 weeks post taper myself, done by myself because no one would listen to me. My pristiq destroyed my metabolic system. Raised my cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure and messed with my exocrine insufficient pancreas to the extent I might be diabetic now.
18 years of this medicine, 100 mg. This is the hardest withdrawal or thing I've eliminated from my life but I'm hopeful that my physical health will return, somewhat and am looking forward to giving Esketamine/Spravato a try. Never ever ever again will I put an oral antidepressant into my body again, I'd sign up for a lobotomy before even considering such a thing.
Your post made me feel so validated in my decision and also reaffirmed how crappy the withdrawal really is.

What's in the capsules? Tiny beads?

@cistus yes