Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

Gotta agree with @nat31 that it's unlikely that you're over the withdrawal period.

Also, @sears and @jakedduck1 are giving good advice—reinstating NOW to at least 37.5 mg (or higher if that's what it takes) to reduce, or eliminate the uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms will allow you to FUNCTION normally.

@jakedduck1 mentioned using a compounding pharmacy to create other dosages. Also, venlafaxine is available in different capsule and tablet dosages. I personally was on 25 mg tablets (immediate release) that could be cut and as I tapered, I was able cut to the tablet into halves and quarters and shave off slivers to mix and match appropriate reductions.—
https://www.drugs.com/venlafaxine.html
https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/venlafaxine-hydrochloride-15-mg-ml

Do you think I could reinstate after 5 weeks off and a failed prozac bridge? I'm so miserable and the anxiety/restlessness is beyond manageable. I did taper for 6.5 months but seems that was too fast. 10 year user, 6 on 150mg and 4 years on 225mg

Yes 6.5 months was way too fast. I tapered Paxil over a nine month period. Was doing great for months then all hell broke loose and I wound up in the hospital. Effexor and Paxil are probably the two hardest to taper. You have to go extremely slow. Most doctors are totally clueless in regards to tapering. I still don’t understand why the doctors and pharmacists think these drugs are great and hand them out like candy. Every bit as bad as bad as a benzo in my opinion.

I know you’re excited to get off the drug, but please, please go slowly. Your brain will thank you.

It took me a year to slowly taper, I also cut my 25 mg. tablet into quarters. I am now on 12.5.

Yeah, I think your taper was too fast. Like you, I was on Effexor (venlafaxine) for a long time—18 years. I warn you, Effexor gets stored in fatty tissue all over your body I was only ever on 25 mg Effexor/venlafaxine (for hot flashes caused by breast cancer treatment); I didn't develop withdrawal symptoms until 6.5 weeks AFTER I slowly tapered off. I think it took those weeks for all my body stores to be used up.

I don't know if reinstating would help you, or not. You could try it for a couple of days and see. In my case, I went into the whole process of getting off Effexor without realizing how difficult it would be—my oncologist just said to cut my pills, take a quarter less for a couple of weeks and cut again by a quarter until I was off. I had what was left of a six-month supply and no prescription refill. I didn't know I was in trouble until 6.5 weeks after my last dose. I started researching Effexor withdrawal BECAUSE I was experiencing it. Once I read others' stories, I didn't think my reinstating after so long would do any good. What did help was to take a number of OTC supplements—GABA (a brain neurotransmitter) and ESPECIALLY, L-tryptophan, an amino acid which the body changes into serotonin. (NOTE to others reading this post who are still on Effexor—Do NOT take L-tryptophan, or 5-HTP while still on Effexor as this can trigger serotonin syndrome.) You can click on my name and go to Discussions to read my previous posts and see how much/how often I took the various supplements.

I'm sorry the Prozac "bridge" didn't work for you. Did your doctor cross-titrate between the two antidepressants (have you go down on the Effexor and go up on the Prozac), or did he just have you switch over to Prozac?—
(https://www.depressionforums.org/forums/topic/107532-coming-off-of-effexor-with-prozac-bridge/)

A commenter to the above forum wrote, "If you have issues with anxiety/irritability/etc., then you can take a benzo temporarily, like Xanax, Ativan (short-acting), Klonopin, Valium (long-acting), etc."
I can attest to the effectiveness of Valium for those issues. As well as my daily regimen of OTC supplements, my oncologist prescribed 5 mg Valium/diazepam to take as needed when my akathisia and/or anxiety got too bad. (I took those Valium sparingly, seldom more than a 1/2 tablet for a day, or two, as the prescription was for a small quantity of pills.) A couple of months later, I ended up going to Care Now after a particularly stressful Friday at work because my agitation was through the roof. The doctor I saw was familiar (very unusual!) with Effexor withdrawal. She had me stay home for three days and gave me prescriptions for l-methylfolate (an easily metabolized version of Vitamin B) and Valium. I was to take a whole Valium twice a day and rest. Her thinking was that I needed to use a significant amount of Valium to stabilize (she described it as "getting ahead of the anxiety") and then back off the drug.

Hope this helps.

When I got down to 37.5mg effexor the doctor added in 20mg prozac I took them both together for 3 weeks before discontinuating effexor and upping the prozac....epic fail! My doctor gives me 5mg valium but I have never took anymore than 2.5mg at a time and even then I didn't think it helped. I really am at a loss on what to do, I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

@nat31
It seems to me your going at this the hard way.
Although cutting down EXTREMELY SLOWLY isn't a guarantee you won't ever have side effects but it reduces your chances greatly but I do not doubt that it would be better than how you're going at it. Just my personal opinion but I'm not a fan of adding additional drugs into an already volatile situation however some disagree with me on this. Do we have your doctor to thank for the mess you are in?
I wish you the best of luck,
Jake

Yes these doctors are clueless, I'm in the UK and the mental health system here is unbelievable. Do you think going back on after 5 weeks off, stabilising then tapering super slowly would benefit me? I'm so miserable and barely functioning right now, the prozac definitely didn't help

@kbschoe
Dizziness is both a side effect and one a withdrawal symptom of Effexor so maybe a decrease in your taper will ease or get rid of the dizziness.
After being on this medication for such a long period of time I would taper very slowly.
Would you mind sharing what your dose was when you started tapering & your taper schedule?
Good luck,
Jake