Anyone tapered off Effexor and used Prozac as a bridge?

How much Effexor were you taking with the Prozac 10mg. What was your schedule?

Trying to wean from 75 mg Effexor XR. Doc says to drop from 75 to 37.5 XR tomorrow with 10 mg Prozac. No weaning. Since slow weaning is so important, will I have terrible side effects?

Hello @rmce72a and welcome to Mayo Connect. I can certainly understand your concern about the side effects of reducing Effexor. Did your doctor indicate that the Prozac bridge is supposed to lessen the effects of the withdrawal? Have you discussed your concerns with your doctor?

If your doctor has not explained this process in detail, you might consider talking with your pharmacist. Many people are not aware of the value of a talk with a pharmacist. Pharmacists are of course very knowledgeable and can often be a great resource when you have questions regarding medication side effects and changes.

I would be interested in hearing from you again. Will you consider a conversation with your doctor or your pharmacist and let me know how you are doing?

You haven’t seen your doctor in 20 years? He just continues to prescribe without ever seeing you?

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your message. Even though I am working with my GP and a therapist, neither is knowledgeable in the area of antidepressants. I have seen a person on staff who is supposed to be knowledgeable in anti d meds, but I find she is not very knowledgeable. (When I mentioned bead removal as a tapering technique, she said she had never heard of it.) It was she who suggested trying Prozac as a bridge, but Prozac is in the red area of the gene test she did. Frankly, I don't think any of them knows about withdrawal, just prescribing. Thank you again and I will be in touch with you if you don't mind.

Hello again, @rmce72a,

I can tell that you are working on finding an answer. I'm pleased that you are advocating for yourself in this way. From what you've said in this most recent post, it sounds as if you have had the gene test to determine what meds would be the best. That's just great.

Have you considered talking with a pharmacist? I look forward to hearing from you again.

Hi Teresa. With all due respect I have never had any luck with pharmacists.I live in a large city, I’ve talked to pharmacists at all the large chains from time to time. I can ask about antibiotics, muscle relaxers, etc. they all seem knowledgeable. Start getting into the Benzos and antidepressants and they’re pretty much clueless especially when it comes to tapering. They seem to just refer me back to the doctor. Maybe they just don’t want to get involved in the messes the doctors have created for us? This may not be everyone’s experience but it has definitely been mine.

@sears

I'm sorry to hear that you've not had success discussing these types of issues with a pharmacist. Have you found anyone who is helpful?

Not really. I’m doing fine on my own though. I’m just happy to have a doctor that writes my scripts for Valium and let’s me taper at a pace I’m comfortable with. Other than that he’s not very interested. I was lucky to find him after being abandoned by my original prescriber. It took me months to find him. All this time my anxiety and depression was building. Was anyone going to help me? Most wanted nothing to do with another doctors benzo patient. I don’t really blame them. Benzo tapering patients are a pretty sad group.

Doctor wants me to drop from Effexor XR 75 to Effexor 37.5 XR adding Prozac 10mg. I don't want Prozac because I have heart rhythm issue. I will ask about Zoloft instead because it gets positive reviews (mostly.) What has been your experience doing this?