Long term effects AFTER withdrawing from Effexor

Since I am beginning to view my abdominal problems differently (body inflammation) and reading about your symptoms, this sounds like your body is in a state of inflammation; too acidic. I just did a search on venlafaxine and inflammation. Low and behold there was a study done in 2015 which shows that venlafaxine has an anti inflammatory component that eliminates or greatly reduces inflammation!!!
Do a search of: The anti-inflammatory effects of venlafaxine. It was done at
ncbi.nim.NIH.gov

Glad to hear Benadryl helped. I wonder by what cellular mechanism..? I'd be interested.

Oh, of course. Did all of that, thanks. Low dose made me so nauseous, I couldn't eat, then made headaches worse. I am a retired PhD biologist, so I should have put 2&2 together and figured it was the Effexor withdrawal...but I was not thinking along those lines. Now I have my primary care doctor, an internist, a psychiatrist, and a therapist. But my main complaint has always been Status migrainosus, with which I'm still dealing.

The average doctor is not at all familiar with physchiatric drug withdrawals. I could almost guarantee he won’t find anything physically wrong with you and will not believe your problems are Effexor related. Be prepared to stand up for yourself. The doctor will try to make you think you’re crazy. Don’t let he/she put this BS on you.

Thank you. I will have the bloodwork done, explore all possibilities for my abdominal symptoms. I do believe it is related to stopping the meds. I found additional info, today, on the anti inflammatory effects the drug has on the body. That is where my focus is now. Reducing the inflammation that I now believe is the root of my symptoms, as well as others who are suffering.

I pray you find relief.

Hi 4cat, I noticed that you wanted to post the URL to research. You will be able to add URLs to your posts in a few days. There is a brief period where new members can't post links. We do this to deter spammers and keep the community safe. Clearly the link you wanted to post is not spam. Please allow me to post it for you.

- The anti-inflammatory effects of venlafaxine in the rat model of carrageenan-induced paw edema https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26351555/

Please note that this study was conducted on rats and not humans.

I joined this page just to comment. I am in absolutely horrific pain and the muscles in my neck and shoulders are in constant spasm after being on Effexor for many years. I have been off since Jan 2019 and I see no end in sight of the pain.

Hi I'm on 75mg an 37.50 mg a day of venlafaxine I'm on it 6months it has made me worse how can I get off it an will withdrawal be bad. I have done cold turkey with another antidepressant an do not want to go through that again it was hell.. Can anyone give me some advice. Thank you

You can find a lot of tips, strategies and advice on another Mayo Clinic thread—"Tips on minimising withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)." It's a long thread, but well worth reading ALL of it.

You can click on my name and go to Discussions to read my previous posts.

Things to be aware of—

1) "Cold turkey" stopping Effexor/venlafaxine can be dangerous—another commenter to the above thread did this and had a stroke. Folks who taper off the drug are usually more successful at getting off it.

2) Skipping doses, or days puts you into withdrawal because Effexor/venlafaxine is a very short-lived drug in the body.

3) Slowly taper—reduce by no more than 5–10% each drop. If you drop the same amount at every taper, that drop is a bigger percentage each time (75mg – 12.5mg to 62.5mg is a 16.7% drop; 62.5mg – 12.5mg to 50mg is a 20% drop; 50mg – 12.5mg to 37.5mg is a 25% drop, etc.).

4) Stay at each new level for weeks (even months) AND stabilize BEFORE dropping again. This is a very powerful drug that affects your brain's neurotransmitter levels—it takes time for your head to recalibrate these without the drug, or at lower levels of the drug … hence, withdrawal symptoms (nausea, dizziness, insomnia, anxiety, etc.) when you taper too fast.

5) OTC medications and supplements can help with some of the withdrawal symptoms. Ben*dryl, Bon*ine, or other seasickness remedies can reduce/minimize the dizziness/vertigo. Here's a good article re how to mitigate withdrawal effects with supplements–https://www.4mind4life.com/effexor-withdrawal-symptoms. (Fish oil may be more helpful than krill oil.) Do NOT take l-tryptophan, or 5-HTP while still on Effexor (can trigger serotonin syndrome).

6) Your doctor can prescribe a different formulation (I was on 25mg regular-release tablets that could be cut), or he could specify a certain brand of capsules (@farm_mom found Teva had the most consistent size and number of beads within a capsule–helpful to those counting and throwing out beads to taper–see @sandij, or @doorman on how to do this). Or your doctor can write a prescription for a compounding pharmacy to make tapered doses for you (the extra cost may well be worth it because you can glide down in incremental amounts, rather than make rather large jagged drops).

Ask your doctor about a "Prozac bridge"–essentially, the Prozac cushions the effect of no Effexor and lets you "ride out" the withdrawal process.–https://natashatracy.com/treatment-issues/withdrawal/antidepressants-effexorpristiq-venlafaxinedesvenlafaxine/. See also https://www.depressionforums.org/forums/topic/107532-coming-off-of-effexor-with-prozac-bridge/.