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Effexor Withdrawal Side Effects

Posted by vicdenlee @vicdenlee, 5 days ago

I need encouragement and hope from those who have experienced side effects from tapering off effexor and how long you were on it, how long it took to taper and how long it took for all side effects to go away!
I am struggling to stay motivated and encouraged to push myself to move through the day! I am anxious when I wake and anxious when I go to bed. I am journaling, praying and trying to use MUSE for relaxing/calming my breathing due to anxiousness. I have an appointment with a psychiatrist, but it is a month away due to availability.
I discontinued the effexor after tapering off 75mg after 17 years due to some increased side effects I was concerned about. I was originally put on it when I experienced some peri-menopause symptoms--extreme night sweats, moodiness, anxiety and panic attacks in my late 40's.
After the last day of tapering(a very short taper unfortunately as the doc I saw convinced me my dose was so low all these years that the side effect would be minimal if non-existant.). I experienced terrible flu symptoms--nauseousness, chills, sweats, dizziness, headache, lack of concentration, etc. Luckily the headaches went away and after 8 weeks I now feel like I can concentrate some better. The chills and sweats are lighter and not as frequent. The nauseousness is not good. My husband baked oatmeal scotchies this morning and the sweet surgary smell made me gag! I am mostly anxious--what will go wrong, how to relax? I feel like I need something to tone this down but not sure what to ask for. Doc suggested yesterday, I combined hydrochloride and busipar to relieve the symptoms. Not sure I trust him since he said I wouldn't have any side effects and didn't want to listen to my concerns about withdrawal side effects in the first place. Even the pharmacist I spoke with indicated my dose was so low it would be really easy to taper off. I am sleepy but don't want to go to sleep during the day so I can make sure I sleep at night.
I was crying quite frequently at almost anything sad, even thinking anything sad. Emotions are dysregulated. I am trying to exercise more, drink more fluid, take my vitaming D which is extremely low due to being on the effexor so long.
Today, I filled out a bunch of paperwork and felt pretty good glued to the chair and concentrating on getting it done, but the minute I knew I needed to make lunch or get up to interact with others, or just think about the symptoms of this withdrawal, I become anxious and lose concentration.

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mmsm | @mmsm | 4 days ago

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.

REPLY
3 replies
mmsm | @mmsm | 4 days ago
In reply to @mmsm "I am in a similar place as you. I tapered from 225 to 75 over 4..." + (show)
@mmsm

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.

Jump to this post

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.

REPLY
1 reply
smugzs | @smugzs | 3 days ago

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.

REPLY
1 reply
smugzs | @smugzs | 3 days ago
In reply to @mmsm "I forgot to mention that I was prescribed Gabapentin off-label for the anxiety. I take 300..." + (show)
@mmsm

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.

Jump to this post

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.

REPLY
vicdenlee | @vicdenlee | 3 days ago
In reply to @mmsm "I am in a similar place as you. I tapered from 225 to 75 over 4..." + (show)
@mmsm

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.

Jump to this post

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.

REPLY
vicdenlee | @vicdenlee | 3 days ago
In reply to @smugzs "I've been in a similar position as you, however I wasn't on Effexor nearly as long...." + (show)
@smugzs

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.

Jump to this post

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.

REPLY
vicdenlee | @vicdenlee | 3 days ago
In reply to @mmsm "I am in a similar place as you. I tapered from 225 to 75 over 4..." + (show)
@mmsm

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.

Jump to this post

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.

REPLY
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