Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

So, I just finished this process with Zoloft (sertraline) and here are some things that worked for me. Your mileage may vary, but hopefully these are low risk for you to try.

1) You may need to ask your doctor for a slower tapering program than other patients. Some people are just more sensitive to dosage changes. Be aware that symptoms will get better, then may reappear each time you taper. AAFMA (practice group of family physicians) says that the symptoms typically last 1-2 weeks and as long as 4 weeks, so I just kept reminding myself that it was temporary.
2) Be watchful for things that make your symptoms worse. For example, caffeine seems to trigger the brain zaps for me (still, even after being off for several weeks), so I cut back my caffeine intake. I didn't give it up completely (because I still need to function), but cut back on how much real coffee I was drinking, mixed decaf with regular, and switched to tea sometimes. In the end, I probably cut my daily caffeine intake in half, and it did help quite a lot.
3) Ibuprofen or other pain reliever can help with the flu-like body aches.
4) Benadryl helped with the brain zaps.
5) Exercise helped with both. Even if I wasn't up to a run, a few blocks of walking would settle down the symptoms for a while at least. (Then, when they come back, just take another walk. We took a lot of walks for a while there).
6) Get enough sleep. As I came down off the meds, my normal sleeping patterns returned, which was great, but it did mean that I needed to plan time to let my body rest.
7) Pay attention to your diet. Your brain uses carbs to make seratonin, so now is not the time to go on the Atkins diet. Eat well and make sure you're getting enough healthy carbs. You may crave sweets; I certainly did. I tried to counteract this by having bananas, graham crackers, and other healthy things I could snack on instead of sticking my head in a birthday cake like I seemed to want.

No lie - it's a painful process, but this did really help make it easier. Also, at a certain point, when I was down the below the normal starter dose, I just ripped off the bandaid and went to zero. At that point, it felt like each taper was just prolonging the suffering. Don't just go cold turkey from your current dose, though, as that can be dangerous. Also, don't add any supplements or substitutes for the SSRI without talking to your doctor first (also dangerous).

And of course, watch for the return of depression / anxiety type symptoms. For a while it was hard to tell whether I was tired because of the change in meds or because my depression was returning. I figured as long as I felt okay enough to function and wasn't thinking about being harmful to myself or anyone else, I could play it out and see. It turned out to be the meds and on the other side, I can see that I was more worried about it than I needed to be.

I wish you the best of luck and a healthy life.

Mardee

Hi all. It’s me again. I had a scare on Saturday morning. I was in the shower and all of a sudden couldn’t see well. I had terrible spots in my vision and everything was very bright. I yelled for my husband (who was actually home thank goodness) and we decided together to go to the ER. Shortly after my vision went spotty I got the worst headache I’ve ever had. So I thought, maybe a migraine. Once I got to the hospital they acted quickly. Gave me three injections. One for nausea and two more for pain. It knocked me out. I don’t remember much. But on the discharge papers the ER doctor diagnosed me with discontinuation syndrome... and advised I see an eye doctor regularly to keep my eye pressure in check. My husband said my eye pressure was 23 when they checked it. Which is apparently high. This medicine is EVIL. I don’t know if anyone else has had a similar experience, but I thought I’d share. I have an appointment tomorrow with an opthamologist to assess the damage this medicine has caused to my normally 20/20 vision. I’ll update.

OK...going to take a plunge....Went from 75 to 37.5, sat there for about 10 days and was finally feeling pretty good. Dropped last week to half of that(approx 19mg and each day took a little less than the last. Friday I would estimate my dosage was around 12-15mg. Have not taken today. Feeling the fog in my head a bit and some headache. Not nearly as bad as when I dropped to 37.5. I'm countering that with Omega 3, 5-HCL, St. Johns Wart, L-Tri and because I am actually ADHD, I take Lemon Balm (calming/focusing) every morning and Valeria Root at night (helps the sleep). Every time I take a step down, I come out the other side in a few days with more energy than I've seen in years. Been on Effexor XR 75mg for 10 years for anxiety that I was experiencing while living overseas during the war. Hmmmm....just a little anxiety with hubby never home, two babies in the house, me alone in a village by myself and noone to talk with from the American community and relying on public transportation....

Anyway, I'll get back to ya'll with an update as I progress through the day. I have a backup dosage of about 12 mg sitting in a glass ready in case it just gets to be too much, but if I can push through today, tomorrow will be a step better. Oh, have to ask about weight gain. In the past ten years, I've put on about 80 lbs and it just NEVER comes off. Should I be expecting weight gain or loss coming out of this mess? For the better of me, I'm accept if weight gain is part of the side effects, but my appetite seems weird. Sometimes I'm not hungry at all...other times, I'm beyond starved then end up over eating and feeling like I ate three Thanksgiving dinners in one sitting. Anyone else have this?

OK...going to take a plunge....Went from 75 to 37.5, sat there for about 10 days and was finally feeling pretty good. Dropped last week to half of that(approx 19mg and each day took a little less than the last. Friday I would estimate my dosage was around 12-15mg. Have not taken today. Feeling the fog in my head a bit and some headache. Not nearly as bad as when I dropped to 37.5. I'm countering that with Omega 3, 5-HCL, St. Johns Wart, L-Tri and because I am actually ADHD, I take Lemon Balm (calming/focusing) every morning and Valeria Root at night (helps the sleep). Every time I take a step down, I come out the other side in a few days with more energy than I've seen in years. Been on Effexor XR 75mg for 10 years for anxiety that I was experiencing while living overseas during the war. Hmmmm....just a little anxiety with hubby never home, two babies in the house, me alone in a village by myself and noone to talk with from the American community and relying on public transportation....

Anyway, I'll get back to ya'll with an update as I progress through the day. I have a backup dosage of about 12 mg sitting in a glass ready in case it just gets to be too much, but if I can push through today, tomorrow will be a step better. Oh, have to ask about weight gain. In the past ten years, I've put on about 80 lbs and it just NEVER comes off. Should I be expecting weight gain or loss coming out of this mess? For the better of me, I'm accept if weight gain is part of the side effects, but my appetite seems weird. Sometimes I'm not hungry at all...other times, I'm beyond starved then end up over eating and feeling like I ate three Thanksgiving dinners in one sitting. Anyone else have this?

So, I just finished this process with Zoloft (sertraline) and here are some things that worked for me. Your mileage may vary, but hopefully these are low risk for you to try.

1) You may need to ask your doctor for a slower tapering program than other patients. Some people are just more sensitive to dosage changes. Be aware that symptoms will get better, then may reappear each time you taper. AAFMA (practice group of family physicians) says that the symptoms typically last 1-2 weeks and as long as 4 weeks, so I just kept reminding myself that it was temporary.
2) Be watchful for things that make your symptoms worse. For example, caffeine seems to trigger the brain zaps for me (still, even after being off for several weeks), so I cut back my caffeine intake. I didn't give it up completely (because I still need to function), but cut back on how much real coffee I was drinking, mixed decaf with regular, and switched to tea sometimes. In the end, I probably cut my daily caffeine intake in half, and it did help quite a lot.
3) Ibuprofen or other pain reliever can help with the flu-like body aches.
4) Benadryl helped with the brain zaps.
5) Exercise helped with both. Even if I wasn't up to a run, a few blocks of walking would settle down the symptoms for a while at least. (Then, when they come back, just take another walk. We took a lot of walks for a while there).
6) Get enough sleep. As I came down off the meds, my normal sleeping patterns returned, which was great, but it did mean that I needed to plan time to let my body rest.
7) Pay attention to your diet. Your brain uses carbs to make seratonin, so now is not the time to go on the Atkins diet. Eat well and make sure you're getting enough healthy carbs. You may crave sweets; I certainly did. I tried to counteract this by having bananas, graham crackers, and other healthy things I could snack on instead of sticking my head in a birthday cake like I seemed to want.

No lie - it's a painful process, but this did really help make it easier. Also, at a certain point, when I was down the below the normal starter dose, I just ripped off the bandaid and went to zero. At that point, it felt like each taper was just prolonging the suffering. Don't just go cold turkey from your current dose, though, as that can be dangerous. Also, don't add any supplements or substitutes for the SSRI without talking to your doctor first (also dangerous).

And of course, watch for the return of depression / anxiety type symptoms. For a while it was hard to tell whether I was tired because of the change in meds or because my depression was returning. I figured as long as I felt okay enough to function and wasn't thinking about being harmful to myself or anyone else, I could play it out and see. It turned out to be the meds and on the other side, I can see that I was more worried about it than I needed to be.

I wish you the best of luck and a healthy life.

Mardee

@shaker1956

You’ve been delt a stressful blow buddy. I think your insomnia was inevitable.
How about some over the counter sleep meds.
Hang in there.
Jake

@shaker1956

You’ve been delt a stressful blow buddy. I think your insomnia was inevitable.
How about some over the counter sleep meds.
Hang in there.
Jake

@shaker1956

You’ve been delt a stressful blow buddy. I think your insomnia was inevitable.
How about some over the counter sleep meds.
Hang in there.
Jake

@shaker1956

You’ve been delt a stressful blow buddy. I think your insomnia was inevitable.
How about some over the counter sleep meds.
Hang in there.
Jake