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Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)
I have been taking Effexor/Venlafaxine for years and tried to get off it a few times but each time I try to give up the chemical withdrawal symptoms are a horror story and I give up giving up. Anyone got any tips or tried and tested strategies? Thank you
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Are you tapering under the supervision of a doctor. It MUST be done very very very slowly.
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2 ReactionsIn my opinion Antidepressants are just as bad as Benzos. Yet the docs want to take one off the benzo and shove those wicked antidepressants on you. And they are wicked!
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3 ReactionsThis is way too fast to taper. Your doctor doesn’t know how to taper. I can’t fathom how she decided this was the proper way to taper an antidepressant especially Effexor. It’s probably the hardest one to get off of.
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1 ReactionExcellent advice about the Prozac bridge.
@chicago1211
SLOWLY!!! SLOWLY!!! SLOWLY!!!
We’re talking infinitesimally small doses
If you taper slowly enough you probably won’t have any side effects whatsoever, although it is still possible but much less likely. if your brain hardly notices the difference in dosage you may very well nhot have any withdrawals whatsoever.
How much were you tapering at a time and how long had you been taking the medication prior to beginning your taper?
The longer you had been on this medication before the beginning of your taper the slower you’re going to need to go the longer you had been on this medication before the beginning of your taper the sloooooooooer you’re going to need to go. Some people have been taking this medication for decades but yet they want to get off of it in a matter of weeks are only a few months. That’s completely unreasonable and incomprehensible to me but virtually everyone goes off it t fast and comes back here and complains about their withdrawals.
If you believe you can do without the medication I hope you try it again but this time depending on how long you’ve been on your medicine reduce it by five or 10%. Don’t reduce by the same milligrams every time you decrease your dose and Stay on each does three weeks minimum.
Best of luck to you,
Jake
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3 ReactionsI appreciate your concern.
“It’s sucks so bad having to be medicated just to feel normal. I would do anything to be as happy as some people seem despite not being medicated”. So true. It’s hard for me to accept this reality so I went off.
I would have continued taking the meds if they’d helped me. But they don’t. Only the first 5-6 months I felt some improvements. Then they’ve become like one those life-sustaining devises. If you discontinue them you’re dead but with them you’re not “living” anyway. Well those devices don’t give you any side effects at least. But antidepressants have a full bouquet. Again, I will bear most of the side effects if I feel like meds are helping.
I haven’t tried CBD, not sure if it could help cause my worst symptoms are vertigo, nightmares, mood swings and absolute loss of coordination.
The shitty part here is that most of them are mental (except vertigo n dizziness) so I’m pretty sure my doc can’t prescribe anything but another dose of psychoactive drug. Check mate here.
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1 ReactionAdditional info to my post: First I’ve been tapering slowly and went down to 37.5mg without any symptoms. Then I went to 0 and got a mental breakdown. Then my doc prescribed me 60mg of Cymbalta and I’ve switched the drug (quit Ven). Have been taking Cymbalta for 20 days, 0 improvements whatsoever. So yes basically I’ve understood that if I continue I’ll just get further and further physically hooked on Cymbalta without getting any actual help from it. That’s why I went cold turkey. I didn’t want to feed my body with it, not another milligram, so my cells are less likely to develop dependence.
Oh wait. From which medicine am I experiencing withdrawal syndromes then. Venlafaxine? Cymbalta? I feel like SNRI in general. My body need to get used to not having any dose of SNRI. How? No clue. My doc seem to have no clue as well.
Hi, @chicago1211 – welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Discontinuing some antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications can be like going through hell, so to speak, and make you feel just awful. I had one withdrawal from an antidepressant that was evidently too fast, and I finally had to sit myself in the corner of my kitchen on the floor to make sure I didn't say or do anything I didn't want to be doing and asked my husband to please take me to urgent care immediately. They had to give me an antianxiety medication to take over the weekend to smooth out my taper and the side effects I was experiencing.
I don't know how serious you are about saying you want to kill yourself, but I do want you to meet @jimhd, who may have some thoughts to share with you. I also want you to know that this is a safe place to talk, even about tough stuff that can happen during a taper. Others who may identify with what you are experiencing right now and be able to provide some support include @brightwings @sandij @laujenkins @cp6401.
chicago1211, if at any point you start to feel like you may consider hurting yourself, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 for immediate help. Your safety is the most important thing to us.
Have you chatted with your doctor about your move off of this medication and how things are going? If so, what did she or he say?
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3 ReactionsI completely agree with @texasduchess! I believe you’d be better tapering, the yo-yo ing is so much for your body to handle and quite frankly, I don’t understand how someone can be successful doing every other day. It’s been a week an a half of my off Venlafaxine completely and I’m starting to feel great! I did it by tapering and yes, it was tough, but I feel like it was much more manageable than every other day. Again, I am NOT a doctor, but felt this was the best way for me to go about it!
Good luck! We are here for you! 💜
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4 ReactionsTell your doctor that you feel like you're going through hell and want to kill yourself. Read why and how better to get off Effexor here–https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/health/depression-withdrawal-drugs.html.
Yes, your "cells are craving" the Effexor–antidepressants are VERY powerful; Effexor affects your brain's neurotransmitters–serotonin and norepinephrine. While reducing, or after getting off Effexor, it takes your brain a while to figure out how to rebalance serotonin and norepinephrine.
OTC medications and supplements can help with some of the withdrawal symptoms. Ben*dryl, Bon*ine, or other seasickness remedies can reduce/minimize the dizziness/vertigo. Here's a good article re how to mitigate withdrawal effects with supplements–https://www.4mind4life.com/effexor-withdrawal-symptoms. (Fish oil may be more helpful than krill oil.)
There's a lot of info on this blog–it is worth your time to read it all. Also, you can click on anyone's name and read just their posts.
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4 Reactions@clg this is exactly what I did. It took me a month to get off Venlafaxine and this helped so much! The withdrawal was definitely there, but it was manageable!
All the best!
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2 ReactionsDid you try breaking open the Venlafaxine capsule and tapering your dose from 37.5mg? Each white tablet is 12.5 mg there’s 6 tablets in the 37.5mg capsule (this is for Venlafaxine not Effexor) once I got to one tablet I stopped taking it from there! It definitely sounds like you’re going through Venlafaxine withdrawal, maybe add a few white tablets in to help ease the symptoms?
This community forum is incredible and such a safe place to talk and discuss how your feeling! Know you’re not alone in this process! Share your thoughts and worries and we can support you on them! Most of us on here have been through it too!
Good luck & we’re here for you 💜
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