Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

If something works for you don't fix it.

For me and for many others the side effects of Effexor are intolerable.

I won't list them here but a very brief review of the side effects via a simple Google search provided me an explanation for many of the debilitating primary and secondary negative effects I experience for years.

For me venlafaxine was the worst of the fourteen meds I was taking the drugs negative effects were worse than even ECT.

Study after study made it clear that many of the supposedly systemic health problems I was having can be laid at the feet for Effexor/Venlafaxine.

Again for me the proof is in my actually lived experience. The medication is gone and so are the side effects. More telling the primary mental health conditions that the drug was prescribed for are also not present in anyway. Either I am cured, I should have never been put on them in the first place or should get and an Academy Award.

It's not just the me saying this but the doctors reporting it to my parole officer. Did I mention if I screw up I go back to prison.

What makes a deferential diagnosis of mental illness so difficult is that symptoms of mental illness are the same as problems created by the average American lifestyle.

We complain they give us pills to shut us up. Those pills create more problems requiring more costly interventions and medications. The only benefit is to the bottom line of companies and institutions seeking to hold power in the pursuit profits.

I ask myself if the current system worked so well why are there 65,000,000.00 people with diagnosed with mental illness in the United States. That's just those with a diagnosis.

Milton Friedman, the eminent economist whose theories shaped our current economic world stated unequivocally, that "the only duty a corporation has is to its shareholders".

That is to profit.

I believe I have been nothing more than a drug addict looking for a fix that Big Pharma was happy to provide.

Sadness and grief are not depression they are appropriate feeling in response to the suffering we see all around us. I took pills rather than feel those feelings.

If something ain't broke don't fix it.

I'm glad you are at peace. Life it to short to spending it suffering all the time.

Thanks so much for your answer. I've worried about venlafaxine from time to time mainly because I know it works by slightly altering my brain chemistry which is alarming but then again my brain chemistry was faulty to begin with. People react very differently to chemicals. Add in that some doctors may see the drug as an easy way to solve any problem a patient presents and bad outcomes are the result.

Good luck to you! You have amazing inner strength! I know that I don't have what it would take to quit venlafaxine.

Thank you for your kind words.

Please know that I do not have “amazing inner strength”. I have done horrible things to those I love and for years wanted to escape my consciousness by killing myself.

I’m just an average sixty year old white guy who was and is desperate enough to ask questions.

Venlafaxine and other psych meds do not alter the brain slightly the effect of these medications go beyond anything that science fully understands. This is not my opinion it is the state of the current science.

The information was always there I just never bothered to check.

Further the science is clear that the effects are not confined to the brain but are throughout the patients body. Whoever thought science could mess with the brain, the organ that controls everything, and not affect the body makes Victor Frankenstein look sane.

Providers; beware hubris!

There may not be anything at all wrong with your brain, at least not before venlafaxine.

The science is now also pretty clear that much of what we call mental illness would be better described as metabolic illness.

I try not to tell people what to do but I will make an exception; anyone suffering from mental illness should read “Brain Energy” by Dr. Palmer. He is the head of psychiatry at McLean/Mass General and a professor at Harvard. In short, kind of the top of the pile in mental healthcare.

This book saved my life. I was about to blow my head off with a shotgun when I decided to mow the lawn instead, go figure.

I had downloaded this book to listen to one day.

My journey to wellness began that day.

If you have time you can review my post and see how unlikely of a candidate I was to make it to the next day let alone have a life of peace and joy.

My parole officer commented at our last meeting, that she never new if I would live to the next months meeting.

I hope you find the peace you deserve.

I'll order the book today! I read a book recently about using your mind to change the neural pathways in your brain. The idea is that certain "negative" reactions become the paths of least resistance. Say something bad happens like I forget an appointment. This triggers a ridiculous reaction in my head where I feel I'm just so stupid and worthless and never get anything right which is silly. But the mental anguish once started is the same as if it were justified and I can't get out of it. If I immediately step back, realize that forgetting is something everyone does, it just happens, I can stop to some degree the avalanche of negative feelings. The idea is that the negative neuronal pathway is also the path of least resistance; it's a reaction that has gotten to the point where it's become hardwired. The book I read posited that with conscious effort, mind over brain, one can gradually activate other, more positive reactions, literally rewire the brain connections to produce a more "sane" outcome. I'd give you the tile but I leant the book to my son-in-law who has a touch of OCD and was fascinated by the concept. I"ll be over there today and will get the title/author from him.

I have also spent many years degrading myself with words and deeds.

I believe our biology accommodates our environment. If I speak harshly to myself my Brian and Body take it personally.

I try very hard not to do that anymore.

When I do speak harshly to myself I try to remember to apologize just as I would to anyone else.

Be well.

I hope you find peace.

We speak thoughts into reality.

The bad news is, we can create a world of misery for ourselves by being merciless towards others and ourselves.

The good news is, we can turn that around. Words of compassion, forgiveness, and gratitude make the world around us better. Don't believe me? Try it.

Forgiveness starts at home. Be brave -- do something radical and unexpected -- forgive yourself.

The time is now.

I came back here to ask this same question. Reading response.
Thank you

A beneficial read: https://www.madinamerica.com/2023/10/may-cause-side-effects-radical-acceptance-psychiatric-drug-withdrawal-brooke-siem/

How are you doing??

Two years?? I cannot wake up with this anxiety for the next two years. 3 months so far and I can't take it.