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Anyone reinstate Effexor (Venlafaxine) after 9 weeks off to taper more
Hello š¤
I was on Effexor (Venlafaxine) ER in January 2025, with my highest dose being 225 mg. I didnāt feel like I was getting much improvement with Venlafaxine, so I eventually tapered down gradually and slowly to 75 mg. Since the ER is a capsule, I asked my doctor to switch me to the IR so I could taper more even slower. Per her taper recommendation, I stayed at 25 mg for about 2 months, then went down to 18.75 mg for about 4 weeks and 12.5 mg for another 4 weeks and went down to 6.25 mg for another 4 weeks. Since I couldnāt cut the dose any lower, she recommended taking 6.25 mg every other day for about 2 weeks and then stopping. I stopped completely on June 4th.
Iām now 9 weeks off, and my doctor believes Iām still experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Since June 10th, Iāve felt keyed up much of the time, with adrenaline rushes, nervousness, rapid heart rate, and waves of anxiety. Iām also really sleepy, sluggish, and feeling wiped out. Even after sleeping 7ā8 hours, I still wake up feeling like I havenāt slept. The symptoms continue from morning through the evening and are really affecting my quality of life. My doctor also prescribed Prozac to help with the withdrawal symptoms, but it didnāt help, so I stopped taking it. I take 10mg of propranolol in the morning to help with some of the anxiety symptoms.
I met with her last week and she said she did some research and also talked with some of her colleagues about my symptoms and they recommended that I reinstate at a very low dose and then taper much more slowly. One option she gave me was to restart with a 75 mg Venlafaxine XR capsule and count the beads, taking 10 beads (about 5 mg) to start. The plan would then be to gradually reduce the number of beads: 10 ā 8 ā 6 ā 4 ā 3 ā 2 ā 1 ā 0, staying at each dose for 2ā4 weeks or longer if needed. She also found a compounding pharmacy that can make liquid Venlafaxine IR, which would allow for even smaller dose reductions, but I am really hesitant to restart Venlafaxine. I worked hard to get off of it, and it wasnāt really helping the anxiety symptoms when I was taking it. I also donāt want to go through withdrawal again after I eventually stop.
Has anyone else been in this situation? Were you still having significant withdrawal symptoms 8ā10 weeks after stopping Effexor (Venlafaxine)? Did you decide to reinstate and taper more slowly? If you did, did it help? If you decided not to reinstate, are you still having withdrawal symptoms, and have they started to improve with more time? What did you do that helped?
Iād really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through something similar because Iām really struggling š. Thank you
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Good for you that you were tapering with your doctor's guidance. Getting off any antidepressant, including Effexor (Venlafaxine), can be a real challenge. I can see, then, that being asked to reinstate venlafaxine, even allowing you to taper more slowly, might come with barriers for you.
What symptoms are affecting you today?
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1 Reaction@lisalucier Hi - I have low energy, nervousness, excitability, anxiety, irritability, head pressure, emotional, sleepiness even after sleeping for 7-8 hours a night, and feeling wiped out.
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1 ReactionI was on 50 for couple of years. Decided I wanted to be off of them, gained only 7kg but still wanted them gone! I started cutting the tablets in half, then called a compounding pharmacist who Id had other products from. He told me they have a lot of requests for lower doses of this drug. Stayed on 40 for 6 weeks then I wanted a lower dose so went back to cutting 50 in half. Compounding pharmacist felt it was ok to do that with a really sharp knife. Stayed back on 50, cut in half, so 25s. My psych could see I was doing fine so gave me a compounding script for 10s....I think its too much of a jump down, didnt feel good at all so went back to 25 (50 cut in half) then decided to cut again so would be on 12.5. Dont feel good, emotional, now Im not sure what to do. Maybe take 2 of the 10 capsules so Im then on 20 a day. Your Dr is amazing the way that shes so helpful in lowering your dose so gradually. Id go back on a low dose if I was you but stay on it for 3 months. Im def not taking another med while Im coming off of this awful drug. Good luck. You'll get there. I will too. We've come this far.
@cas2001 Hi there! Thanks for replying. I have been off of the Venlafaxine now for 10 weeks. Iām just concerned with restarting it at a lower dose of what I ended with and then tapering down like the doctor recommended and then once I get down to stopping it all together. I have the same withdrawal side effects I am having now that I have had for 8 weeks š¢š¢. When you decided to come off of Venlafaxine, did you get off completely and then restart to taper slowly?
As I've written elsewhere on this forum, I feel strongly that any medication intended to treat depression that is this difficult to cease taking should be called into heavy question by the medical field. I've read story after story about the extreme difficulties people experience when they decide they want to go off of Effexor, either for personal reasons or due to its ineffectiveness at lowering their depression, as well as bad reactions to it. People talk about needing months and sometimes years to taper down to nothing. Some simply cannot get there. For those already struggling with depression or anxiety, this can only compound their conditions, not improve them.
I wasn't properly informed about the potential side effects of coming off the medication if it didn't work for me, and if I had been, I doubt I would have started it. It was prescribed by my doctor, not a psychiatrist and I actually flipped on it; one the rare but documented cases of bipolar 2 patients being driven into dangerous levels of depression by Effexor. I had my own battle getting off of it (I now do see a psychiatrist; I wasn't diagnosed bipolar until well after I went onto the medication). I was able to ride it out, I wasn't on a high dose to begin with, but plenty of people are on high doses and go through hell getting free of it. This isn't right.
My feeling is that the sheer number of threads on this forum posted by people wanting to be off of this drug and unable to do so supports my conclusions about it. Effexor withdrawal needs to be seriously studied. I'm sure it helps many people, but the impact on those who are not helped by it but stuck taking it strikes me as an indication that it might need to be taken off of the market.
Just my opinion.
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2 Reactions@depressedbutnotdead Thanks for your reply. Are you still on Venlafaxine or are you currently tapering off? If you did come off of it, please share what helped you during the symptoms of withdrawal.
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1 ReactionHi, no I haven't come completely off. Ill try to go down to 10 again but staying on 25 (50 cut in half) for while longer. Ive come off of other meds, reducing myself, but this one is worrisome!
@wynnaa I went cold turkey, but was on 37.5, so a quick drop. I had been on it for quite few years however. It still sucked badly for about four weeks, then the symptoms receded for maybe two more before I didn't notice them anymore.
Brain zaps are what lasted the longest. Initially I had nausea and a lot of vertigo, but those resolved fairly quickly.
Over time Effexor slowly flipped me until it began making me suicidal, which is a known response with young people, but highly uncommon at my age (I was 59 when I stopped). I had only begun seeing a psychiatrist a few months prior to stopping, this after a trip to the psych ward and a late-in-life bipolar 2 diagnosis (I believe it's correct, as it explains pretty much my whole life). I needed to flat get off of it. I have repeatedly told friends and family if I hadn't stopped it when I did I would have followed through by now. I'm 100% convinced of this. I was tail-spinning fast.
That was two-and-a-half years ago.
I found a study right in that period that I've been unable to relocate. It was about a correlation between bipolar 2 patients, antidepressants, and suicide. I wish I'd bookmarked it. It was NIH or some other reliable source; I'm real careful about where I get medical information. It described the previous three years of my life up until then like a biography. Daily suicidal thoughts, uncontrollable anger, eating and sleep disorders, and on and on. The study noted that Effexor was the antidepressant most frequently associated with this reaction.
I actually found it on my own, realized that I'd likely found the cause, said "I'm done," and quit. My psychiatrist knew about the study but was skeptical that this was what had happened to me until I went in two weeks after quitting and she recognized immediately that my whole demeanor had shifted for the better. It's rare. She'd never seen it before. She has since told me she's using what she saw in me as a reference for what to look out for with future patients.
My therapist saw the sudden shift as well. I went from evasive and monosyllabic for months to being unable to shut up. One week I was as unreachable as ever. I'd quit the day before but didn't tell her. Two weeks later at my next appointment (I'd informed her by then that I'd stopped the medication and that my psychiatrist knew) I was prattling like crazy before I even sat down. The only time in my life I've ever made someone's jaw drop. She just stared at me stunned for almost a minute before she could think of something to say. From there on out (I'm still in therapy) I've been pretty talkative.
Saved my life getting off of that pill. I'm taking Lamotrigine now, which has kept me pretty stable.
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1 Reaction@cas2001 yes it is. Are you tapering off of Extended Release or Immediate Release? I was on the extended release capsule and since it couldnāt be reduced any lower, I switched to immediate release since it is a pill. I cut the pill every 4-6 weeks and then once I couldnāt cut it anymore, the doctor said to take it every other day for 2 weeks and then stop. Looking back, I wish I had been given the option to bead count to taper off slower š
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Im in Australia so 50 is the lowest available, disgusting really. Ive know idea what others do to come off of them over here ā¹ļø. It was my idea to get in touch with my compounding pharmacist, splitting the tablet not the best way to go but with sharp knife, not too bad. He gets lots of scripts for lower doses, hard drug to come off! Ive never opened a capsule yet, assuming tiny sand like beads? Maybe not.
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@cas2001 yes it is. Are you tapering off of Extended Release or Immediate Release? I was on the extended release capsule and since it couldnāt be reduced any lower, I switched to immediate release since it is a pill. I cut the pill every 4-6 weeks and then once I couldnāt cut it anymore, the doctor said to take it every other day for 2 weeks and then stop. Looking back, I wish I had been given the option to bead count to taper off slower š
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