Weaning off Effexor with CBD Oil

Posted by melanier @melanier, Dec 27, 2018

After having my son last year, I had really bad postpartum. I talked to my doctor and she prescribed me Effexor. I started out with 75mg, it wasn't enough, so the doctor prescribed me 150mg. I was on that for awhile, but the side effects were interfering with my libido, so the doctor suggested I wean off of Effexor and start Wellbutrin. As I was weaning, I had the worst withdrawal symptoms. The symptoms were too much, so I quit trying to wean completely off of the Effexor, and was taking the 75mg of that and 150mg of Wellbutrin. It helped, a little, but my goal was to get completely off of Effexor so I'm trying again. And now my goal is to get off of the Effexor and Wellbutrin completely and try something natural like CBD oil. It's so hard dealing with the withdrawal symptoms, I'm trying to tell myself that this is a temporary thing and it'll be worth it in the end. Any advice for the symptoms? And has anyone had success with CBD oil for helping to wean, and using that for depression and anxiety?

Thanks!

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@kieren09

I’m wondering if anyone has or knows of anyone who has managed to come off Effexor?

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And how did they achieve it?

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@gingerw

@kieren09 @amandajro Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I do not have any experience with Effexor, so cannot offer you any tips or information. I do use CBD tincture or capsules, for help with pain control or depression maintenance. Usually I start at 30 mg and will go up to 60 mg.
Ginger

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Thank you. Cbd oil will be my next step but I would need to come off Effexor first and I am very sensitive to it and finding the withdrawals unbeatable.

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@kieren09

I’m wondering if anyone has or knows of anyone who has managed to come off Effexor?

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@kieren09
Hello!
It has never been my intention to come off Effexor completely.
I tried several meds to deal with my anxiety and nothing worked as well as Effexor.
However, although I did not come off completely, I did reduce my dosage substantially without any side effects.
It did take me a long time to complete the process, but I remained patient.
I was on 300 mg of Effexor (150 in the morning and 150 in the evening).
At that dosage, my memory (which isn't great to start with) got worse and I always felt I was walking around in a fog.
MY PROCESS:
I started with my evening dosage (I took 2-75 mg tablets to equal the 150 in the evening).
It was my goal to cut my dosage in half (to 1-75 mg at night).
As I said, this was a VERY SLOW process.
1. Cut 1/4 off ONE of the pills. (1-3/4 pills in the pm)
2. Took the full dosage EVERY OTHER night and the half dosage in-between.
3. I did the EVERY OTHER NIGHT dosage for 3 weeks.
4. Since I felt good after the 3 weeks, I continued.
5. I now took the NEW dosage EVERY NIGHT for 3 weeks. (1-3/4 pills)
6. Since I felt good after the 3 weeks with the new dosage every night, I continued to reduce.
7. I cut another 1/4 out of the pill.
8. I took the previous dosage (1-3/4 off a pill) EVERY OTHER NIGHT). i took the NEW dosage (1-1/2 pill) in between.
9. I did the EVERY OTHER NIGHT for 3 weeks.
10. Since I felt good after the 3 weeks, I continued.
11. I took the 1/2 pill EVERY NIGHT for 3 weeks.

I continued this process of reducing the dosage by 1/4 first every other night and then every night.
I did this until I hit the desired dosage, which for me, was 1 pill a night of 75 mg.
When I got down to the dosage, I lived with it for a few months before I started the process again.
This time, it was to reduce the morning dosage.
I followed the SAME EXACT PROCESS of reducing by 1/4 at a time until I reached the desired dosage.

In all, I reduced my complete dosage by 1/2.
I did allow for an extra week at each step SHOULD I HAVE ILL EFFECTS, but I didn't.

As I said earlier, It was NEVER my intention to come off completely.
I AM CONSIDERING reducing my dosage a bit more, but I'll see.

If I can give you any more info, I'll be happy to.
Good luck!
Ronnie

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@kieren09

Thank you. Cbd oil will be my next step but I would need to come off Effexor first and I am very sensitive to it and finding the withdrawals unbeatable.

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The only way to manage the withdrawals is with a therapeutic dose of prozac and ween off the prozacc10 mg for a week. 5 mg for a week. Then done. I promise you this will save you.

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@lisalucier

Hi, @ang811, and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I moved your message to this existing discussion, "Weaning off Effexor with CBD Oil," so that you can connect with members who are also talking about this topic. Hoping they will have suggestions and provide some support for you.

If you click on VIEW & REPLY in your email notification, you will see the whole discussion and can join in, meet, and participate with other members talking about their experiences.

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I would like to connect with people using cbd while tapering off Effexor.

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@prisa

I would like to connect with people using cbd while tapering off Effexor.

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Hi @prisa, how is your tapering off Effexor going?

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