Restarting Effexor and Struggling

Agree about the darn benzos.

@doorman that is great to hear that you are starting to feel better after 6 weeks. historically for me when i get on meds the first 2 weeks where you get none of the benefits and all of the side effects are at the edge of what i can bear, its been like that every time. thankfully im one weekend away from that 2 week period being over. i am avoiding benzos this time around, i know they help, but last time it was harder to get off the benzos than it was to get on the effexor. im coping by lots of walking and deep breathing.

I’ve been on it 6 weeks. At first, it INCREASED my anxiety. But it’s now ramping down. Sometimes it takes 8 weeks or LONGER to help. In the meantime, do you have any benzos?

I’ve been on it for 7 weeks. Just now starting to feel a bit better. No side effects. Taking .25 mg Klonopin once or twice a day, just to take the edge off. I will stop the Klonopin soon. Will see how I feel after 8 weeks. Hang in there. It gets better.

@doorman thanks for the support, i emailed my doc on sunday telling him how im feeling and he is coaching me to be patient, that i should be feeling some improvement every week going forward after 2 weeks, and i do have to say yesterday was a little better. your success is inspiring, thank you for sharing it.

Hi everyone, today is the first day of week 3 for me on 75 mg effexor. Week 2 was really hard but I made it thru with the help of 2 therapy sessions and a lot of support from my wife and you guys too. Still can't say I am really feeling any better, I emailed my psych to update him on my struggles havent heard back yet, my next appt is not for 2 1/2 weeks. Yesterday was really hard because we saw for the first time one of our friends who has breast cancer and just finished chemo and lost all her hair, I felt really weighed down with sadness for her and sadness in general. Anyway, anything you guys can say to cheer me on would mean a lot, back to work on Monday morning and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Thanks. 🙂

@njp1013 - just wanted to let you know that I moved all your posts about restarting venlafaxine (Effexor) here to the same place so other members could read all your reports and the comments from others in one place.

What would you say was most difficult about week 2 of restarting this medication?

hi @lisalucier thanks for organizing these, for me the most difficult parts of week 2 are the waking up really early around 330 or 4, and trying to work and take care of the kids thru alot of agitation and distress, i get very impatient wanting to feel better and feel a return to normalcy. being patient with this is very hard

Would like to update everyone. I'm almost thru 4 weeks now. On Tuesday I upped my dose to 150 mg and added .5mg of klonopin twice a day. Since then things have gotten a bit better. I would say I've gone from 20% better on 75 mg to 50% better now after 3 days of the new dosage and the klonopin. still feeling very fragile though i guess as the shadows of the really hard times recede hopefully that will go away, just trying to enjoy the bit of relief for now. my psych sounds confident that in another month i should be feeling much better, for now i hope the worst is behind me.

Did it get better? I restarted 12.5mg after being off it for 3 months and having severe withdrawal. Not working yet after just over a week. I'm scared.