Connect
← Return to Effexor Tapering Off and Side Effects
Discussion
Effexor Tapering Off and Side Effects
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Sep 14 4:21pm | Replies (376)Comment receiving replies
Hi everyone, hope you all are doing well. I am wondering if anyone has similar experiences and suggestions that may help, thanks!
I started to take antidepressants in 2012 when I was 13 because my mood was unusually low for long periods of time and sometimes felt tearful. I was first put on Zoloft for a year and then switched to Effexor. The dosage was 75 mg for most of the time. Since 2016 I also started to take Depakote, a mood stabilizer, because I was suspected of bipolar disorder (which was likely not the case in hindsight), and stayed on it because the doctor thought it could enhance the effect of Effexor.
For me, a palpable unwanted effect of these medications is emotional blunting. I consider myself a likable, confident, and sociable person by nature. I have always wanted to have a romantic relationship but have never been able to. The sexual attraction is there but my emotional responsiveness is just too low to develop the attachments needed for either friendships or relationships. In fact I think despite the sexual attraction I stopped having crushes (which I think are a sustained emotional effect) on girls since I started to take antidepressants. The emotional blunting made me mostly stay in a not-fully-conscious mental condition in the past 10 years.
I made several attempts to go off Effexor. For me, each time I reduce the dosage, after about 2 months I would start to feel tearful. Then, I had to go back on the old dosage, and the tearful feeling would be resolved almost immediately. Recently I tried to wean off Depakote. But the robot-like state worsened after I stopped.
Any comments would be helpful, thanks!
Replies to "Hi everyone, hope you all are doing well. I am wondering if anyone has similar experiences..."
I take 450 mg of Effexor, it has a ton of side effects for me. That said getting off of it has so far been impossible for me.
I am going to need a lot of medical help to get off of it. It’s possible I will be on it until I die.
I wish you all best with whatever challenges you face.
I have taken several antidepressants and other psychiatric meds over the years (especially when I was late teens / early 20s). Effexor was by far the hardest to withdraw from. You absolutely need a solid plan between doctor and pharmacist to taper off very slowly, and strategies for coping with the withdrawal. Do not wait for your medical providers to help you - be your own strongest advocate. You deserve to be supported by your care team during this. I found Effexor to be very effective, but the side effects were just too much. Especially if I ever missed a dose, I went into a tailspin. I also recommend (if you don’t have it already) finding a therapist you feel comfortable talking about emotional attachments to. They can help you dig into that a little and look at your thinking around it. I definitely think antidepressants play a role in this, but examining some of those thoughts and feelings with another person (a safe person, therapist) could really help you process and build some tools moving forward. If you’ve been on these meds for a lot of your formative years you may have some learning to do in how to function in a healthy relationship. Maybe not 🙂 just a thought… I just had a similar experience and a therapist helped me guide myself out of some unhelpful thinking patterns I was stuck on. Good luck!
Connect
Why are trying to go off Effexor??
If I read this right when you tried to go off it, you went into a tearful depressed state, and went back on it.