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Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: 4 days ago | Replies (6363)Comment receiving replies
I’m a breast cancer survivor of 9 years. I was diagnosed Effexor for hot flashes like most of the people in this discussion. I believe at one time I was on 100mg/day. I decided about 11 months ago that it wasn’t really helping my hot flashes and I wanted to stop so I weaned off over approximately 4-5 months, stopping completely in April of this year with some physical withdrawal symptoms that last a few weeks. Since around that time I’ve been experiencing some psychological problems: feelings of depression, anxiety, worry…
I’ve always dealt with a certain level of worry but never feelings of depression and anxiety until recent months. I have known that something was not right but couldn’t figure it out until one day I thought “is it possible this is coming from Effexor withdrawal even though I didn’t take it to remedy depression?” I kinda thought this sounded ridiculous but after reading some of your posts I believe that is probably the root cause.
It makes me feel better knowing I’m not the only person to experience this.
I guess the reason for my post is two-fold-
1. I need some confirmation from some of you that you agree with my self-diagnosis
2. Any recommendations for a natural remedy? Serotonin maybe?
I don’t want to go back to Effexor!
Replies to "I’m a breast cancer survivor of 9 years. I was diagnosed Effexor for hot flashes like..."
I just researched your #2 and found this under healthline dot com:
"If you’re looking for natural alternatives to help manage your depression or anxiety, tryptophan-rich foods may be helpful. Remember that these foods [eggs, cheese, pineapple, tofu, salmon, nuts and seeds, turkey] must be combined with healthy carbohydrates [rice, oatmeal, whole grain bread] in order to affect serotonin levels.
"Exercise, light therapy, and a high fiber diet are also good ways to naturally boost your serotonin levels and overall mood..."
My anxiety onslaught occurred during a week in which I was unable to do my usual exercise routine, so I think they could be related in my case.
Wishing you all the best.
KMART 720,
Hi, Qu, how long were you on EFFEXOR/ VENLAFAXINE?. As I have said before, I too, amongst many other side-effects, am suffering after stopping EFFEXOR. One positive marker, is that extreme heat tolerance issues with 30+ degrees of summer heat 2022 was , this summer, a bit better than last Summer when living thru a hot spell. So, not taking pills / titration by now - summer 2023 - has had some positive effect. But, hot body heat "flushes" , in any ambient temperature , continue. I stopped after a 2 yr titration Oct 22 from 75mg & 37.5 mg - then diluting reduced beads from 37.5 slow release. What would be good is for someone to feed back their long term, timeline resume, of ALL their Effexor / venlafaxine experiences , = post pill cessation to complete end of legacy side effects experience . My guess that all these issues (incl hot flashes etc), fall to the residue of the meds in your body. From what I can ascertain from (limited) feedback, this can take years to clear.
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I agree with you. I think my feeling of extreme anxiety/fear/worry now is a result of Effexor withdrawal because I did not have a problem with anxiety before I was prescribed Effexor for hot flashes. At that time, I wanted to avoid hormone replacement therapy. 75mg/day did not prevent hot flashes, by the way, but I thought it lessened them. Anxiety brings on additional hot flashes in my experience, so perhaps that is why Effexor is prescribed as an "off-label" treatment for hot flashes? It should not be--because withdrawal is worse than hot flashes, according to what we are experiencing. I weaned myself off 37.5mg/day Effexor by adding more hours and then days between doses, and experienced no negative results until recently--which mirrors my experience the last time I weaned myself off the drug. My pharmacist says 37.5mg/day is a mild enough dose, if I need to return to it--but I don't want to be dependent on it and I want to avoid its many negative side effects.