Thank you for your comment. What I have done. 5/6 weeks ago I started tapering off, 25 mg at a time and I got down to the last 25mg on apr 20th. I posted in that group and everyone went nuts! and said it was to fast. I started to notice horrible side effects and brain zaps. So I started upping the dose and I am at 3 x 37.5 mg. I am planning to get fully back onto the 150 mg. Is this safe? What I am afraid of is months down the road and feeling worse if I tapper too fast now. I went through some terrible things with Lyrica in the past and getting off of that. I am so scared to get off of this. Now is not the time. Now during covid I feel like I need to be mentally and physically at 100% and weaning now can't let me do that. So my question is… Is it ok to go back onto 150mg/day. I am now at 112.5 mg/day. I just upped this morning 37.5 m to get to 112.5 mg/day. Maybe if I give this 2 weeks can I up again to the full dose.

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Thank you for your comment. What I have done. 5/6 weeks ago I started tapering off, 25 mg at a time and I got down to the last 25mg on apr 20th. I posted in that group and everyone went nuts! and said it was to fast. I started to notice horrible side effects and brain zaps. So I started upping the dose and I am at 3 x 37.5 mg. I am planning to get fully back onto the 150 mg. Is this safe? What I am afraid of is months down the road and feeling worse if I tapper too fast now. I went through some terrible things with Lyrica in the past and getting off of that. I am so scared to get off of this. Now is not the time. Now during covid I feel like I need to be mentally and physically at 100% and weaning now can't let me do that. So my question is… Is it ok to go back onto 150mg/day. I am now at 112.5 mg/day. I just upped this morning 37.5 m to get to 112.5 mg/day. Maybe if I give this 2 weeks can I up again to the full dose.

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I quit smoking last October then, this last February started weaning myself off effexor (which I have been taking since 2004). I've gone from 150 mg to about 25 mg since Feb. It's been okay–my only concern is mood swings. However, I feel smoking pangs all of a sudden. I wanted to be off both smoking and effexor. Now I feel like I should have done it the other way around. I feel like I should smoke until I'm off the effexor for a month or two then quit smoking again. What are your thoughts?

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I have been thru a few therapists, and got off effexor by myself. I am on no drugs, but feel i could use something. 2 psys prescribed without knowing much about me. I was refered by my therapist pf 2 yrs.

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Thank-you both for advice. My kids are noticing that my mood swings a lot. If I start talking about something it can turn into a full out rant. The thought about retaking up the smoking for a bit is to take the edge of my effexor tapering and, since quitting smoking wasn't extremely hard, I thought I could take it up again until a put a month or two between me and my last effexor tablet. Here's the thing though; I'm not sure if I trust myself. In terms of smoking, my mind will play tricks on me to convince myself to start smoking again. Also, with this whole COVID nightmare, it's not the best time for a 55 year old man to start smoking. I just love it so much.

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Thank-you both for advice. My kids are noticing that my mood swings a lot. If I start talking about something it can turn into a full out rant. The thought about retaking up the smoking for a bit is to take the edge of my effexor tapering and, since quitting smoking wasn't extremely hard, I thought I could take it up again until a put a month or two between me and my last effexor tablet. Here's the thing though; I'm not sure if I trust myself. In terms of smoking, my mind will play tricks on me to convince myself to start smoking again. Also, with this whole COVID nightmare, it's not the best time for a 55 year old man to start smoking. I just love it so much.

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The big tipoff that you are tapering too fast is withdrawal symptoms. It is not uncommon while tapering off Effexor to drop too fast and have anxiety and rage–often flash rage—going from mildly annoyed to I-want-to-throttle-you in seconds. Rather than taking up smoking again (you've been off six months!), you can get relief from your withdrawal symptoms by reinstating your Effexor, going back to a dose where you didn't have any WD symptoms (you might even need to up your dose some). You stay there for some weeks to stabilize before attempting ANY more tapering. When you do begin tapering again, only reduce 5–10% (or even less) and wait weeks before reducing again. With all the stress we're under with COVID-19, maybe just forget about getting off Effexor for the time being.

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The big tipoff that you are tapering too fast is withdrawal symptoms. It is not uncommon while tapering off Effexor to drop too fast and have anxiety and rage–often flash rage—going from mildly annoyed to I-want-to-throttle-you in seconds. Rather than taking up smoking again (you've been off six months!), you can get relief from your withdrawal symptoms by reinstating your Effexor, going back to a dose where you didn't have any WD symptoms (you might even need to up your dose some). You stay there for some weeks to stabilize before attempting ANY more tapering. When you do begin tapering again, only reduce 5–10% (or even less) and wait weeks before reducing again. With all the stress we're under with COVID-19, maybe just forget about getting off Effexor for the time being.

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