Effexor Withdrawal Side Effects

I am in a similar place as you. I tapered from 225 to 75 over 4 weeks. I need to discontinue effexor because it caused my liver enzymes to get extremely high, and the doctor is concerned about my liver.
The first drop from 225 to 150 put me in the ER. Too much! My Dr. knew nothing about possible severe withdrawal symptoms. I sat there for two weeks. I decided the next reduction should be smaller, from 150 to 112.5. This was much better, with a few manageable side effects. That was one week. This week, I reduced from 112.5 to 75, and the anxiety has been awful. I'm exhausted, but can't sleep because my body and mind won't settle. I have burning nerve pain, tremors, and some nausea. Like you, my emotions are dysregulated, especially in the late afternoon.
I'm hoping my latest blood test shows some improvement in my liver enzymes, so I can at least feel like all the suffering has been for something.
I, too, would like to hear some success stories. I have a great support system, and talk to a therapist once a week. I'm lucky that I'm newly retired, so I can stay home to deal with this.
I hope things improve for all of us soon. It's all very scary because of all the unknowns.

I forgot to mention that I was prescribed Gabapentin off-label for the anxiety. I take 300 mg twice a day, and 600 mg to help with sleep at night. This has taken the edge off a bit. It's not perfect, but I'll take any relief I can get right now.

I've been in a similar position as you, however I wasn't on Effexor nearly as long. It's a nasty beast to come off of at any rate, however. The only thing that helped me was when a doctor prescribed me a 30 day regimen of Prozac. After taking it for 3 days my symptoms subsided, and when the 30 days of Prozac was done I discontinued it with little to no side effects. I'm so sorry you're going through this, and I hope that you're able to find a solution.

Gabapentin has some pretty wicked side effects on its own. I discontinued using it for anxiety when I started getting tremors in my hands. I started on Guanfacine (for ADHD and Anxiety) which worked much better with little to no side effects for me. I hope you find peace and happiness.

Thank you for sharing. I am so sorry for what you are going through. I hope your liver enzymes show positive progress.
No one can imagine the side effects of this med and the withdrawal symptoms when we taper. Yesterday afternoon though I finally felt reprieve and was able to make dinner and eat it without feeling nauseous. It lasted throughout the evening. I'm calling it a tiny miracle because it is the best I have felt in a long time(this is at approximately 9 weeks post tapering). This morning again, I feel anxious. But, I wonder if some of it I brought on myself because I was expecting to feel what I'm calling the effexor yuck. I am hoping to see a therapist soon. The one referred to me I'm still waiting to call me back, but it is the holidays.
I wonder if anyone can say at what week/month they no longer had side effects? Or was it a few good days and then a few bad days yo yo.
I have been discussing right knee replacement surgery but I'm thinking of putting it off because I don't know how the pain meds will interact with what is already going on in my body/brain.

Thanks for the information about the prozac. I'm so glad it worked for you. How many weeks/months were you post tapering off the effexor? Thank you for the encouragement.

Thank you for your comment. I'm so sorry this is such a difficult trip for all of us. There has got to be a better way. I guess sharing info such as this will hopefully give info to the researchers to take into account when developing such meds and when trying to find ways to get off of them. Good luck with your journey. Praying for all who suffer from this. Glad you have some good support.

I am now down to 55 mg effexor (weighing the beads), and the horrible burning sensations are stronger than ever. It even feels like my heart is burning. My NP is looking into Prozac, hoping it will help with the withdrawal, both physically and emotionally.
Would you mind telling me more about your experience with prozac? Was it a cross taper, where you overlapped the two meds? Dosages? Did you have worse symptoms before they got better? Any details you can provide would really be appreciated.

I’m so sorry for your struggles with discontinuing an SSRI. Hang in there as it will get better.
I am 70 years old and have been prescribed Paxil (40mg) for 15 years. My depression is serious and Honestly it was a life saver! Last summer my physician let me know that studies indicate this drug could cause - or worsen - dementia and it was time for me to stop. I began researching withdrawal side effects and was not happy as there were horror stories.
My MD wanted me to decrease by 10mg for 2 weeks then another 10…
I insisted that I would take it much more slowly starting with a 5mg reduction for several weeks.
I read one story where it took someone a year to completely discontinue an anti depressant so I felt encouraged by that.
My point is just that - don’t rush! I am down from 40mg to 15mg and feeling good. It might take 4 or 5 more months to complete and that’s okay.
Good luck and just know you are not alone.

I was dropped from 75mg to 37.5 with a mood stabilizer. It wasn't intended as a tapering move, just a medical adjustment. I had made one near suicide attempt, and my psychiatrist was trying to adjust my drugs because she felt I was "flat" (her word). A few weeks later I went cold turkey in another suicidal fit (I do not recommend this, but in my case it proved to be a very good move). As I've mentioned in other threads, I subsequently learned that the drug itself was what was making me suicidal. A rare but documented phenomenon. After seeing how dramatically and rapidly I had changed, my psychiatrist agreed that I had been hit with this reaction. I went from daily thoughts of suicide for about three years to flat none for almost a full year now.

The primary side effects I experienced when I quit were vertigo, nausea, and the dreaded brain zaps. I found what helped the most was getting out every day and walking. I was doing about three miles. This really cleared my head and raised my energy level. The worst of the symptoms took about a month to lighten up. Then the emotional gushes set in about a month later. Those lasted well into the summer (I quit in February of last year). I had gone through a brief period when every member of my birth family except myself had died, however, and there was a lot of unresolved grief that I feel the drug had kept me from processing and that finally came out. So this was largely a good thing. Sometimes I could also be brought to tears by hearing about something good that had happened to someone. But for me this was evidence that I could feel things again.

Getting off of that drug was physically difficult, but by leaps and bounds the single best medical decision I ever made, even if I initially did it for all the wrong reasons.