Avoiding discontinuation syndrome during removal of Venlafaxine XR

Posted by h8fxr @h8fxr, Oct 14, 2018

Hi Everyone,

AFAIS, Venflafaxine immediate-release tablets are not available in Canada. That would have been my plan A to use to taper off slowly Plan B was to open the generic Sandoz Venlafaxine capsules; they don't advise: but I did.

There are no beads! Shocker. There are mini-tablets packed in the gelatin capsule. The 150mg capsule contains 3 three 50mg tablets. The 75mg capsule cobtains two smaller 37.5mg tablets and the 37.5mg capsule contains just one of these.

My Question is this: DOES ANYONE HERE HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH THESE MINITABS? It stands to reason that in between the doctor's suggested drop from 112mg to 75mg you could plunk a 100mg in by taking 1 50mg minitab out of the 150mg capsule. It doesnt seem like a big deal

But WHAT ABOUT CUTTING THE MINITABLETS IN HALF OR QAURTERS, OR MIXING A 50MG MINITAB WITH A 37.5MG MINITAB IN THE SAME CAPSULE? Safe? Does the extended release still work? I think the sustained release works because the venlafaxine is embedded in a non-soluble matrix and its not due to some coating. Please share you ideas, opinions or experience on tapering with mini-tablets from generic venlafaxine XR

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mariaelena97 | @mariaelena97 | Jul 19, 2023

In reply to @samrichardson "❝ Capsules should never be split. Removal of beads from capsules to accomplish titration is not..." + (show)

What did you end up doing? My doctor advised that i take the 37.5 mg every other day for 2 weeks but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that. Whenever i would miss one pill the symptoms were horrible so it just didn’t seem like the right way to do it. Im a week into tapering down by removing beads. Im down to 6 beads removed and I dont notice any symptoms yet but i am nervous for the weeks to come. I also do not know when it would be safe to just stop taking it all together or do i just keep removing beads slowly until like 10 mg..

dfb | @dfb | Jul 20, 2023

I have been on Venlafaxine for over thirty years, 450mg a day. I can not tolerate even the slightest reduction 37.5mg without immediate onset of withdrawal. Unfortunately, the drug accounts for at least part of a terrible sleep pattern, three two hour chunks a night.

Sedatives trigger depression for me so something has to give.

I’ve recently gone on Latuda in the hope that I can reduce the Venlafaxine and Wellbutrin(yeah I’m on 450mg of that too) enough to sleep.

I’ll let you know how it goes. Any other ideas and I’m all ears!

Thanks