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

@sallyo420 Hi - are you still taking Prozac?

No I am not taking Prozac now. I stayed on the Prozac for 3 months after stopping Effexor because Effexor has long term withdrawal symptoms. I stopped in March with no problem. The Effexor had actually turned on me so I was just feeling so much better. I am not taking anything now but I have done a great deal of therapy so I now have a lot more skills and have healed a lot of my unconscious pain and trauma.

@dfb I gave been on meds for 26 years for bipolar 1. I have had manic episodes EVERY-Time I stopped. .
O had a really bad one five years ago. I wouldn’t take my meds either and it lasted 1 1/2 years. I was forcibly hospitalized 4 times during that period. They gave me a month long shot of the meds in the hospital. I was not healthy enough after discharge to understand or follow any direction.
Anyways 41/2 years later I have my children back. My finances aren’t a mess my house is clean and I have my brain back. I was psychotic when I was manic. It was awful and I do believe that the manic episode caused sone brain damage.
My problem which I will discuss with my dr today is that the Seroquel has destroyed my teeth because of the dry mouth. I am currently having massive dental work done to the tune of 30000$ to save what I can of my teeth. They are almost all frowned from going through the same thing 8 years ago with my teeth. The decay gets under the crowns.
Seroquel causes the saliva gland to not work .
I don’t know if I can switch to another drug without having a manic episode and sleep problems. I will talk to my psych dr today about it.
As far as meds, if I lived 50 years ago (maybe more) before these meds were discovered to work, I woukd pfobably be permanently in a osvchiatric hospital so I am very grateful for them
You are very fortunate that you have not had a manic episode after stopping your meds. I pray all is good for you going forward

This is in reply to richyrich. I never had a problem getting off Effexor because I always replaced it with another antidepressant. I was on 150 mg for several decades because my main problem was anxiety which it solved. I kept switching to others because of the inability to enjoy sex. At 80 yrs old I have little interest in sex and am on 75 mg plus a natural antidote to anxiety that works well. I am not bipolar, but I am answering you because I have found by taking a small dose of Xanax, while reducing Effexor, I had little problem...mostly just brain zaps which are common to most people going off antidepressants. You might ask your doctor about this help. Xanax is quite addictive but in small amounts over a short period, is safe. Another benzo which might even be better is Valium. Good luck.

Hi, I'm new here. Want to taper off but constantly dropping the same amount of beads, I fear it will catch up with me and give me brain zaps etc.
Was planning to go down 5 beads a time till I have taken 40 beads out of 220 (= 75mg) (so 8 drops, holding each for 2 -4 weeks) .

New plan in decreasing steps of: 5,4,3,2,1 beads (holding on each for about 2 weeks). And to do this about 5 times so:
1st mini taper: 5, 5+4, 5+4+3, 5+4+3+2, 5+4+3+2+1 = ending: 15 beads.
After which I return to taking out: 5+(15), 5+4+ (15) etc
So you could say: a taper within a taper.
Anyone done such a method?
Thanks

@upstairsad it’s crazy how addictive brain meds are!!! Very dangerous!! Be careful, I have a close friend who got addicted to Loraapam and tried to taper stop by self and the side affects were worse. His psychiatrist would not listen and kept prescribing because it would make him feel better all while changing other anxiety meds constantly each month because he wasn’t getting better. Now he is in a treatment facility being medically/professionally weaned off. Sad news is her never had taken anxiety meds for 60 years until he got buyers remorse from buying a commercial building, which doing that turned out to be a good thing but the all drugs and changes along with consistent low dose lorazepam made crazy thoughts get worse. Always be aware before taking anything and really weigh your potential outcome. I am an extreme advocate of healthy lifestyle and talk therapy.

I have just signed up to this site to post the below tapering method to another thread. This has worked very well on me, I hope people can also benefit from it just as I did.

I have been successfully tapering off of a 150mg a day prescription of Effexor (Venlafaxine) with a geniunely well scribed plan. The gist: You need to get the liquid form, and proper syringes to effectively apply the plan. I have tapered down to step 30 as of today, and I did reduction every week as opposed to waiting for 2-4 weeks. Do not even think about halving the tablets, or combining stuff. It mostly boils down to reducing to 90% of the last dose you got at each couple of weeks until its super small. You will also see that the effect of the drug on smaller doses is still very potent, and thats why the jump from the small to smaller and to smallest doses matter MUCH MORE than doing 2 pills and then doing 1. I am shocked that 300mg vs 75mg differs only 5% in occupancy, but a 10mg to 5mg differs by 16%.

Seeing a lot of people struggle with getting off of this, I have created an account here just to post this to help people who are dealing with this. I hope you make it as well as I did so far. Also recognize that the suggested timespan for getting from 300mg to 0mg is between 2-4 years.

The below guide is the excerpt from the research my doctor has brought about and suggested we start on. Use the "ml" values for checking your dose.

VENLAFAXINE TAPER – TABLE C (SLOWER TAPER)
Each step decreases SERT (serotonin transporter) occupancy by 2.5 percentage points.
Make one reduction every 2 to 4 weeks.
RO = receptor occupancy

Step | RO (%) | Dose (mg) | Volume
1 | 88.4 | 300 | Use tablets/capsules
2 | 86.7 | 150 | Use tablets/capsules
3 | 85.7 | 112.5 | Use tablets/capsules
4 | 83.6 | 75 | Use tablets/capsules

--- Switch to venlafaxine 7.5 mg/mL solution* ---
5 | 81.5 | 55 | 3.67 mL (twice daily)
6 | 79.8 | 45 | 3.00 mL (twice daily)
7 | 77.6 | 37.5 | 2.50 mL (twice daily)**
8 | 75.7 | 30.4 | 2.03 mL (twice daily)
9 | 73.7 | 26 | 1.73 mL (twice daily)
10 | 71.7 | 22.6 | 1.51 mL (twice daily)
11 | 69.7 | 19.8 | 1.32 mL (twice daily)
12 | 67.7 | 17.5 | 1.17 mL (twice daily)
13 | 65.7 | 15.6 | 1.04 mL (twice daily)
14 | 63.7 | 14 | 0.93 mL (twice daily)
15 | 61.7 | 12.6 | 0.84 mL (twice daily)
16 | 59.7 | 11.4 | 0.76 mL (twice daily)
17 | 57.7 | 10.4 | 0.69 mL (twice daily)
18 | 55.7 | 9.4 | 0.63 mL (twice daily)
19 | 53.8 | 8.6 | 0.57 mL (twice daily)
20 | 51.8 | 7.8 | 0.52 mL (twice daily)
21 | 49.8 | 7.2 | 0.48 mL (twice daily)
22 | 47.8 | 6.6 | 0.44 mL (twice daily)
23 | 45.8 | 6 | 0.40 mL (twice daily)
24 | 43.8 | 5.5 | 0.37 mL (twice daily)
25 | 41.7 | 5 | 0.33 mL (twice daily)
26 | 39.8 | 4.6 | 0.31 mL (twice daily)
27 | 37.8 | 4.2 | 0.28 mL (twice daily)
28 | 35.7 | 3.8 | 0.25 mL (twice daily)
29 | 33.9 | 3.5 | 0.23 mL (twice daily)
30 | 32.0 | 3.2 | 0.21 mL (twice daily)

--- Switch to venlafaxine 0.75 mg/mL dilution* ---
31 | 30.0 | 2.9 | 1.93 mL (twice daily)
32 | 27.9 | 2.6 | 1.73 mL (twice daily)
33 | 25.6 | 2.3 | 1.53 mL (twice daily)
34 | 23.5 | 2.05 | 1.37 mL (twice daily)
35 | 21.3 | 1.8 | 1.2 mL (twice daily)
36 | 19.5 | 1.6 | 1.07 mL (twice daily)
37 | 17.5 | 1.4 | 0.93 mL (twice daily)
38 | 16.0 | 1.25 | 0.83 mL (twice daily)
39 | 14.4 | 1.1 | 0.73 mL (twice daily)
40 | 12.7 | 0.95 | 0.63 mL (twice daily)
41 | 10.9 | 0.8 | 0.53 mL (twice daily)
42 | 9.1 | 0.65 | 0.43 mL (twice daily)
43 | 7.1 | 0.5 | 0.33 mL (twice daily)
44 | 5.1 | 0.35 | 0.23 mL (twice daily)

--- Switch to venlafaxine 0.075 mg/mL dilution* ---
45 | 3.0 | 0.2 | 1.33 mL (twice daily)
46 | 1.5 | 0.1 | 0.67 mL (twice daily)
47 | 0 | 0 | 0

I was first prescribed Effexor some five years ago. Began at 150gm and soon went up to 300, where it remained until early this year. I put on c30lbs very quickly and no manner of diet or exercise managed to shift it. Meanwhile I began to research the drug’s impact on other (múltiple) users and decided the time had come to wean myself from it. To my great dismay I read just how addictive Effexor is and how difficult the weaning process would be. With the support and guidance of my wonderful GP, I started the process in late January 2026 - alternating each night between 300 and 225 for about two months. Then remaining on 225 for another month. Then dropping another 75gm - alternating each night between 225 and 150 for two months. And so on. At the moment am at 75gm for two months and then the next drop to 37.5 following the same pattern. At this rate am hoping to be fully rid of this terrible drug by early to mid 2027. The whole journey will have taken between 12-16 months’ long.

Am glad I didn’t realise just how difficult this journey would be at the start. There have been days when I simply couldn’t manage to get out of bed, however hard I tried. And then the symptoms ease for a while, only to return with a vengeance when you least expect it.
I know I will see this through no matter what. But I do urge anyone embarking on this journey to make sure your GP is fully on board and you have a tight circle of family and friend support. Not for the faint hearted!
I wish you all the best and keep your eye on your final goal!

I am withdrawing from a maximum dose of 75mg Effexor. After almost two years, I am at 9mg--after using 25mg tablets, a liquid solution supplied by an independent pharmacist, and now portioning beads from 37.5mg capsules. I recently learned of an aid to calculate lower doses. Please search online for Tapermate, or try this link: https://calculator.tapermate.com.au.
If dividing capsule contents, I suggest you verify the manufacturing source of those capsules, and be sure you have a drug made in the US for improved quality consistency. https://projects.propublica.org/rx-inspector/guided-search/

I was taking Venlafaxine 150 mg for 20 years mi have over two years weaned myself off going down to 0.4mg using liquid solution
I finally stopped and I seemed ok
But now getting marked depression
Any ideas how to deal with this ?
I am reluctant to restart drug