Brain zaps coming off Effexor XR

I have used the tapering suggestion that was offered by another member, and it has worked well for me. I am currently on 37.5mg, and have been at this dose for quite some time. Over the past few days I tried emptying some of the medication out of the capsule and adding it to my coffee in the morning. I tried this over the course of a few days, and noticed that I was feeling much more tearful than usual. Granted, I have recently undergone a horrible and traumatic experience, and this may be a contributing factor, but the depth of my sorrow was so great that I surprised myself. Is this a common reaction? I will certainly ask my neurologist about this on Wednesday, but wondered if anyone has had a similar response. As a side bar, since tapering off of this drug, I am sleeping better and having less headaches, which is a very good thing. Thank you very much for all of your help.

I have used the tapering suggestion that was offered by another member, and it has worked well for me. I am currently on 37.5mg, and have been at this dose for quite some time. Over the past few days I tried emptying some of the medication out of the capsule and adding it to my coffee in the morning. I tried this over the course of a few days, and noticed that I was feeling much more tearful than usual. Granted, I have recently undergone a horrible and traumatic experience, and this may be a contributing factor, but the depth of my sorrow was so great that I surprised myself. Is this a common reaction? I will certainly ask my neurologist about this on Wednesday, but wondered if anyone has had a similar response. As a side bar, since tapering off of this drug, I am sleeping better and having less headaches, which is a very good thing. Thank you very much for all of your help.

I have used the tapering suggestion that was offered by another member, and it has worked well for me. I am currently on 37.5mg, and have been at this dose for quite some time. Over the past few days I tried emptying some of the medication out of the capsule and adding it to my coffee in the morning. I tried this over the course of a few days, and noticed that I was feeling much more tearful than usual. Granted, I have recently undergone a horrible and traumatic experience, and this may be a contributing factor, but the depth of my sorrow was so great that I surprised myself. Is this a common reaction? I will certainly ask my neurologist about this on Wednesday, but wondered if anyone has had a similar response. As a side bar, since tapering off of this drug, I am sleeping better and having less headaches, which is a very good thing. Thank you very much for all of your help.

in reply to @ave13 Thank you! I failed to mention the nightmares because I thought they were unrelated, but now that you have shared this information, everything is making sense in terms of the tapering. Young? Well, I suppose at 62 I am young, but I do have a very old soul.
Thanks again

I have used the tapering suggestion that was offered by another member, and it has worked well for me. I am currently on 37.5mg, and have been at this dose for quite some time. Over the past few days I tried emptying some of the medication out of the capsule and adding it to my coffee in the morning. I tried this over the course of a few days, and noticed that I was feeling much more tearful than usual. Granted, I have recently undergone a horrible and traumatic experience, and this may be a contributing factor, but the depth of my sorrow was so great that I surprised myself. Is this a common reaction? I will certainly ask my neurologist about this on Wednesday, but wondered if anyone has had a similar response. As a side bar, since tapering off of this drug, I am sleeping better and having less headaches, which is a very good thing. Thank you very much for all of your help.

I have used the tapering suggestion that was offered by another member, and it has worked well for me. I am currently on 37.5mg, and have been at this dose for quite some time. Over the past few days I tried emptying some of the medication out of the capsule and adding it to my coffee in the morning. I tried this over the course of a few days, and noticed that I was feeling much more tearful than usual. Granted, I have recently undergone a horrible and traumatic experience, and this may be a contributing factor, but the depth of my sorrow was so great that I surprised myself. Is this a common reaction? I will certainly ask my neurologist about this on Wednesday, but wondered if anyone has had a similar response. As a side bar, since tapering off of this drug, I am sleeping better and having less headaches, which is a very good thing. Thank you very much for all of your help.

in reply to @kelvinthomas Thank you very much. I am working on tapering from 37.5 mg downward. I tried weighing the small "pebbles" inside the capsule on my kitchen scale, but they did not register. My next option will be to add them to a 1/4 teaspoon and try to decrease a little each day. Interestingly enough, I am still having nightmares, even when I went back to the 37.5 mg, ones that I wish I did not remember, as they are so real and relate to the recent horrible experience of a couple of weeks ago. I did discuss all of this with my psychologist who also is a MD, and she cautioned me to go very slowly because this medication is "all time awful." I had no idea that at one time it was pulled from the market, and suppose I should not be surprised that my doctor prescribed it in the first place. I know I no longer have a "chemical imbalance" in terms of my depression, as it is primarily the consequences of living with a chronic, incurable illness, When I tapered from the 150 mg to 112.5 mg I had no serious side effects, just sort of feeling "out of it" for the first week or so. After a few weeks I went down to the 75mg as described on this platform, then finally to the 37.5mg where I am at present. Yes, I am still young, but even still, I feel the relevance of coping with my ever changing physical maladies, if you will. I am still determined to remain strong and active as I possibly can, even if it makes me feel worse on some days. I really wish sometimes I were wired to curl up in a ball and feel what people have called, "immobilized." But I just cannot give in. Doctors understand so little today as it is, and I have found a way to navigate the system to the best of my ability, even if that means going against the advice of my doctor. Thank you for telling me about the nightmares, as I have never experienced such vivid ones in the past that actually wake me up.

Weighing did not work for me either. I found it worked well to open capsule and remove and throw away 2 white pebbles/spansules out of each capsule for the next month.
After that month take out 4 white pebbles from each capsule for the next 30or 60 days.
Then when you feel level and adjusted. Take out 5 out of each for next month and so on and so on. It takes many months to wean down but it’s better than experiencing the withdrawal symptoms. Have patience.

If you look at the research, you are decreasing the dose in the wrong direction. One should start by removing more beads in the beginning (no more than ten percent) and reduce by fewer and fewer beads over time. If you think about it, this makes sense because removing more and more beads would mean you are decreasing the dosage by a larger percentage of the drug, which is not what you want to do. See this link for a better explanation:

I had very good success tapering by measuring beads. Purchased jewelers scale and capsules. Weighed beads in original capsule. Set up schedule by reducing bead weight by 10% each month based on previous month. Doing the same now with Temazepam (powder in capsules). Good luck on your tapering program. You can do it!