Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

I have been taking 75 MG of effexor for about 5 years and then increased to 150 mg as I didn't feel it was working effectively anymore and was on that for a year before I consulted with my doctor to try something else. I started taking wellbutrin and we tapered myself down from the 150 to 37.5 over the duration of 6 weeks and that went relatively smooth (minus some moodiness and extra anxiety that I could handle) Once I started the 37.5 dose one day and nothing the next is when I started having severe issues. Word would not come to me, I had dyslexia with my numbers, I couldn't multi-task ( I work in a fast paced environment and require attention to detail). The brain zaps were increasing and the ability to function normally was not an option. I saw my doctor who offered for me to stay on 37.5 MG without weaning off anymore, which I didn't want to do, or stop taking the medication as the every other day was not working for me. I chose to stop taking the medication and take the rest of the week off of work to push through it. I have increased my omega 3s to 300 mg, am taking prenatal vitamins for the extra vitamins, magnesium, and benadryl (to sleep). I also take Epson salt baths every other day..I am on day 5 of no effexor. Day 4 was almost constant brain zaps and headache. I woke up today feeling OK and with hope. Since I was feeling ok, my husband and I went to supper and walked around home depot for an hour and my brain zaps and headache were back tenfold...once I got home and laid down without movement, they aren't bad again.
Is there anything else I can do to decrease the brain zaps? I feel I will be ok cognitively but I am not sure I can function at work for a full day with the brain zaps and I only have one more day off before they are expecting me back. Any advice is appreciated!!

So, I just finished this process with Zoloft (sertraline) and here are some things that worked for me. Your mileage may vary, but hopefully these are low risk for you to try.

1) You may need to ask your doctor for a slower tapering program than other patients. Some people are just more sensitive to dosage changes. Be aware that symptoms will get better, then may reappear each time you taper. AAFMA (practice group of family physicians) says that the symptoms typically last 1-2 weeks and as long as 4 weeks, so I just kept reminding myself that it was temporary.
2) Be watchful for things that make your symptoms worse. For example, caffeine seems to trigger the brain zaps for me (still, even after being off for several weeks), so I cut back my caffeine intake. I didn't give it up completely (because I still need to function), but cut back on how much real coffee I was drinking, mixed decaf with regular, and switched to tea sometimes. In the end, I probably cut my daily caffeine intake in half, and it did help quite a lot.
3) Ibuprofen or other pain reliever can help with the flu-like body aches.
4) Benadryl helped with the brain zaps.
5) Exercise helped with both. Even if I wasn't up to a run, a few blocks of walking would settle down the symptoms for a while at least. (Then, when they come back, just take another walk. We took a lot of walks for a while there).
6) Get enough sleep. As I came down off the meds, my normal sleeping patterns returned, which was great, but it did mean that I needed to plan time to let my body rest.
7) Pay attention to your diet. Your brain uses carbs to make seratonin, so now is not the time to go on the Atkins diet. Eat well and make sure you're getting enough healthy carbs. You may crave sweets; I certainly did. I tried to counteract this by having bananas, graham crackers, and other healthy things I could snack on instead of sticking my head in a birthday cake like I seemed to want.

No lie - it's a painful process, but this did really help make it easier. Also, at a certain point, when I was down the below the normal starter dose, I just ripped off the bandaid and went to zero. At that point, it felt like each taper was just prolonging the suffering. Don't just go cold turkey from your current dose, though, as that can be dangerous. Also, don't add any supplements or substitutes for the SSRI without talking to your doctor first (also dangerous).

And of course, watch for the return of depression / anxiety type symptoms. For a while it was hard to tell whether I was tired because of the change in meds or because my depression was returning. I figured as long as I felt okay enough to function and wasn't thinking about being harmful to myself or anyone else, I could play it out and see. It turned out to be the meds and on the other side, I can see that I was more worried about it than I needed to be.

I wish you the best of luck and a healthy life.

Mardee

It’s imperative to taper this drug very slowly. It may be impossible for you to work while tapering. I would tell you to speak to your provider but it would probably be to no avail. If I were you I would go back to the dose that make the side effects go away and then search for a doctor that may be able to help you taper properly. This isn’t a race, it’s your brain and well-being.

I have been taking 75 MG of effexor for about 5 years and then increased to 150 mg as I didn't feel it was working effectively anymore and was on that for a year before I consulted with my doctor to try something else. I started taking wellbutrin and we tapered myself down from the 150 to 37.5 over the duration of 6 weeks and that went relatively smooth (minus some moodiness and extra anxiety that I could handle) Once I started the 37.5 dose one day and nothing the next is when I started having severe issues. Word would not come to me, I had dyslexia with my numbers, I couldn't multi-task ( I work in a fast paced environment and require attention to detail). The brain zaps were increasing and the ability to function normally was not an option. I saw my doctor who offered for me to stay on 37.5 MG without weaning off anymore, which I didn't want to do, or stop taking the medication as the every other day was not working for me. I chose to stop taking the medication and take the rest of the week off of work to push through it. I have increased my omega 3s to 300 mg, am taking prenatal vitamins for the extra vitamins, magnesium, and benadryl (to sleep). I also take Epson salt baths every other day..I am on day 5 of no effexor. Day 4 was almost constant brain zaps and headache. I woke up today feeling OK and with hope. Since I was feeling ok, my husband and I went to supper and walked around home depot for an hour and my brain zaps and headache were back tenfold...once I got home and laid down without movement, they aren't bad again.
Is there anything else I can do to decrease the brain zaps? I feel I will be ok cognitively but I am not sure I can function at work for a full day with the brain zaps and I only have one more day off before they are expecting me back. Any advice is appreciated!!

@sherry47
Stopping your medication completely is not a wise move. One lady stopped all at once and had a stroke so be careful. I’m willing to bet your taper was too fast even before your discontinuing it. One problem with doing it like your are is that you may start withdrawl symptoms down the road. Is there a reason why you can’t taper more slowly? Whats the rush. The slower your taper the better your chances are of not suffering the miserable withdrawls youve been going through.
One way I equate Effexor and the brain is that our brain needs a regular supply of glucose (it’s primary food source, around 20%) to function properly.
If you take Effexor your brain also depends on a regular dose of the medication. If you taper slowly enough your brain is more unlikely to notice the difference in taper amount. You mentioned taking it every other day and being off it for days. I wouldn’t recommend that. One problem is Effexors short half life, about 3-5 hours. I’m a strong believer in the 5-10% method. If your insurance will pay for a compounding pharmacy and your physician is willing to put you on a VERY SLOW taper maybe 10% you likely won’t even notice the taper changes every 2-3 weeks.
Good luck,
Jake

Jake,
Unfortunately, this is how my doctor advised me to taper. I understand I did it wrong, but now that I have done it wrong and have been off if for 6 days now, I am hesitant to start taking it again if I am almost over the withdrawal period.

Jake,
Unfortunately, this is how my doctor advised me to taper. I understand I did it wrong, but now that I have done it wrong and have been off if for 6 days now, I am hesitant to start taking it again if I am almost over the withdrawal period.