How did you cope with Effexor discontinuation symptoms?

My story is much like yours. I had a physchiatrist who told me I needed Xanax and Paxil for over 25 years. I suffer from debilitating anxiety and panic. No known reason. I’m 67. Last year when the Xanax “turned on me” the best way I know how to put it, LOL, I expressed my desire to discontinue and begin tapering. To make a long story short my doctor totally abandoned me, refused to take my phone calls, office staff was hanging up on me, etc. etc. I had no prescriptions left and even though I live in a very large city couldn’t find a new doctor willing to take on another doctor’s benzo addict. I wound up in the hospital and was put on all kinds of crazy physch meds when in actuality I was in withdrawal from the abrupt cessation of the Xanax. No physchiatrist at a very well known hospital here would acknowledge or admit I was in withdrawal. Another long story short after leaving the hospital with about 5 different meds making me horribly worse I did find a compassionate, caring doctor who is now helping me out of this mess. This has not been a good year! Thank God I have a loving husband of 48 years and two great sons. Doing pretty darn good now.

That sounds horrible! What’s wrong with some doctors! Glad you are doing better. You should stay away from benzos if you can. Good luck.

My goal is too be completely off Benzos. I was doing really well with a switch over from Xanax to diazepam
and then beginning a complete taper off the diazepam as it is a longer acting benzo and for a lot of people much easier to taper. I’m taking much less now. My doctor put my taper on hold due to Covid. My anxiety is through the roof.

Hi
Not sure why a doctor would put you on hold for tapering. Hopefully is working out. I am new to this process
and I am off tapering off Xanax and Lortab. Seems Xanax is the most difficult. I have gone from 8 Lortab per day to 1 and 3 MG or 3 Xanax per day to 1 or 1 mg. The withdrawal is so difficult at this point. I would like to know a few things since I am new to all that is involved. How do you find a good doctor to help you through this all ? Is anyone using cannabis for withdrawal? I am finding it helps especially at night to aid in sleeping.
I am only at 7 weeks of tapering and I am at the very painful point. I understand this will be a long process to going off Benzo’s. I am open to all suggestions and encouragement

My doctor put me on hold also due to Covid. I switched from Xanax to Valium for my taper. He asked if I wanted to hold due to my heightened anxiety due to Covid and the lifestyle changes it has brought. I said yes as I want this to be a successful taper. You may find that switching to Valium may help. Research the Ashton Method. This is what we are using. I have gone from 3 mgs. Xanax per day for 25 years to 10 mgs. of Valium per day. That is equivalent to approximately one half mg. of Xanax. The method has thus far been working well.

@yellowmoon Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect, a place to give and get support.

You have already connected with members such as @sears and members like @kevk74 @doorman @jimk849 @cim37343 @elwooodsdad @dryrun50 @cb772 @mariajean03 have discussed this topic in the recent past.

You have are taping off of Xanax and Lortab very quickly and that sounds extremely difficult. Do you think you are suffering unnecessarily? Have you due to tapering too quickly? Have you discussed the side effects with your provider?

Hi Erika and others
Yes I am suffering a great deal. It’s getting too much. Today was the worst since the beginning. Perhaps I am tapering off two meds too quickly as I am starting to realize. I don’t have a provider helping me at this moment. I am trying to line up some solid help
If I can find it. I know I am trying to do too much, too fast. It’s very painful and I am fearful. The pain clinic wants patients off one or the other and they don’t seem to have a program to get and taper off meds. The Xanax is provided to me by another doctor that is a Mental health provider. I have an appointment with him in twelve days.
Come up with a plan I can handle hopefully. I may have to add in a bit more meds for now until I see him
He is not aware I started already on my own.
Do you think that would be appropriate at this time to adjust a bit more meds as I don’t think I have a choice
I had no idea what I was up against.
Thanks for your advice and encouragement I am open to all suggestions.....from anyone that wishes to comment

Yellowmoon. Yes adjust your meds until you see your doctor. There is no reason for you to suffer. That’s ridiculous. We don’t let dogs suffer. It is absolutely imperative that you do a very very slow taper. If your doctor is not willing to listen to you and your body google the Ashton Method. You can do it yourself without a doctor as long as you can get your prescriptions. Most doctors taper their patients much too quickly so they can get us out of their hair. It’s a sad state of affairs. They put us on these meds with no idea how to take us off. It’s a crime in my opinion. So far there is nothing legally we can do to these doctors. Hopefully we’ll see a change on this in the future.

@yellowmoon I'm sorry you are suffering.

No, you should not adjust your medications on your own. Some medications can cause seizures and long-term effects if not tapered correctly. It becomes even more complicated when there is more than 1 medication in the mix. If I had a quarter for every person I've seen that unsuccessfully tapered off their medications, I'd have a small fortune. I have education and a lot of experience in mental health and I have seen serious lifelong issues arise, unnecessary inpatient hospitalizations, and people sabotaging their work and personal life in an attempt to taper themselves. I know some have done it successfully, I'm aware of that too but I don't think you have enough information to make that call.

Do you have someone that can help you advocate? It's important that you exhaust all avenues before giving up. I know it's hard and I know it's easy for me to say this because I'm not going through it. I just don't want to see you hurt yourself, like I've seen so many others.

Regarding advocating, have you called and talked to the provider's nurse you will be seeing in 12 days to ask them what to do? Have you asked if you can be seen on an emergency basis or put on a waiting list? Have you called the hospital and asked if you could be seen by another provider on an urgent basis? Would urgent care or the ER be applicable here? I know if you visit these departments sometimes they can help get you into see a provider more quickly. I'm sorry for the battery of questions. Will you give us an update?

I have been off effexor now since March 5th. I had a Dr. tell me it should be completely out of my system by now.. Does anyone know if that is correct. I am not depressed but still feeling nauseous.