Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)?

@sallyo420 hello i have heard that getting off prozac is also pretty difficult. Do you have any more information on this?

For me, I have gone off Prozac a number of times with no problem whatsoever. Every doctor I have spoken to agrees that Prozac has a long 1/2 life which makes it much easier to go off of. Effexor has a short 1/2 life which is why it is so hard to go off of. For me, if I missed a dose, after 6 hrs. I would start feeling dizzy and nauseous. I have never found a source saying Prozac is difficult to get off of. I would question your sources.

@sallyo420 If you "have gone off Prozac a number of times," then that implies you returned to the drug for some reason--which is not the same as a successful discontinuation.
There are plenty of reliable sources which indicate that Prozac requires tapering to stop; it can be difficult for some.

@sallyo420 no I had no trouble coming off of Prozac either.

@sallyo42yes Drs dont seem too concerned ...maybe thats why they rather you stay on them! Effexor is apparently similar to coming off of Pristiq, according to local pharmacist. He said have compounding keep making lower doses. Dont go slowly from 50mg to 5mg then stop after few weeks.....go to 3.75mg. Who'd want to be on this stuff again! Expensive too, compounding.

@cas2001 From hat I read, Pristiq has similiar side effects but Effexor is more difficult to get off of. I'm sure most Drs have not gone through withdrawals so don't really understand how horrific it is. I agree that if I bring using Prozac they don't seem concerned and they agree with me that prozac, with it's long 1/2 life is quite easy to get off of. They are just not going to offer and I'm sure it is for liability reasons. I found even going off just 5mg of Effexor is going to cause very uncomfortable symptoms. I replaced 37.5 Effexor with 20-40mg of Prozac which worked like a charm and caused no side effects.

@sallyo420
That's good to hear, big help to others too. There must be some people going through hell with no forums like this to turn to. I remember being on nortryptaline, not sure thats spelt correctly, tapering off and I was with my GP talking about a friend of mine who was going through a sad time. I became a bit teary so my GP thought that I should go straight back on the meds to which I agreed.....looking back isn't that a natural reaction to feel sympathy and only a few tears....or maybe a withdrawal symptom. At that rate Id never get off of any drug!!! Mustn't show emotion 🙄 Really!

Has your prescriber been involved in your efforts to get off? I’m on it and it is working well for me but if I decided to lower my dose or get off I would work closely with my Dr to do it hopefully with no or little withdrawal.

The withdrawal is horrible which doctors don't tell people when they start them on Effexor. It is one of the worse to withdrawal from. I went off 225mg of Effexor in January and I had studied about it on the internet and learned about people using a Prozac bridge. I had tried to go off it before and it was impossible. I told the doctor that is what I wanted to do. She prescribed me 37.5mg and I slowly switched over to Prozac. I would take away a 75mg and replace it with a 37.5mg and 40mg of Prozac. I had no withdrawal and was off the Effexor in 3 weeks. I stayed on the Prozac for 3 months for residual withdraw from the Effexor. It worked like a charm. I don't know any Doctors who tell patients about the Prozac bridge but they are all aware of it. Good luck. The withdrawal is no joke.

I just started tapering off venlafaxine sept 2, went from 150 down to 112.5 and added 20mg of prozac. (Thanks for the recommendation Sally)
Am getting heart flutters and the odd brain-zap. Extremely tired but that's nothing new as I'm sleeping about 12hrs a day anyway. Any more and I may as well get ready for the box! haha. Noticing an increase in anxiety.
Nothing major so far altho its early days.
I'm giving the so-called prozac bridge a go 'cos coming off the other way is extremely difficult - I've done it but I was so worn down by the end that my resistance was very low and I went back on it defeated.
I really want to get off it this time but I'm afraid that I don't have the courage so I pray for it and dig deep.