1. < Depression & Anxiety

Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

Posted by richyrich @richyrich, Nov 2, 2016

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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sears | @sears | Jun 11, 2023
In reply to @dfb "I have been on 450 mgs for almost thirty years( I know that’s crazy), after 20..." + (show)
@dfb

I have been on 450 mgs for almost thirty years( I know that’s crazy), after 20 years I wanted off. No doctor would even try. So I did it myself. I instantly developed psychosis. Ultimately I lost all concept of reality and ended up breaking the law for the first time in my life. I ended up in prison where they put me right back on it.

I did a short sentence but my life was destroyed. I lost my family, my business, the respect of the community and any resources I had.

I am still at 450 mgs and still no doctor will touch it. If I miss one day the next day I start to withdraw. 7 plus doctors have continued to fill this prescription.

I will likely be on it until I die, which at times seems like it is taking forever to happen.

If you can get off it my recommendation is to do so. If you are considering it let my story inform you. I had the American Dream Venlafaxine contributed to me losing everything. I now live with consequences

I’ve been told Prozac can help with the withdrawal. I just need to find a doctor willing to take it on.

Good luck to everyone and do your own research. The medical profession doesn’t even no what causes depression but they have hundreds of drugs to treat it.

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My physchiatrist no longer prescribes Effexor or Paxil due to the fact it is so fact it is so difficult to discontinue.

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susanh824 | @susanh824 | Jun 11, 2023
In reply to @dfb "I have been on 450 mgs for almost thirty years( I know that’s crazy), after 20..." + (show)
@dfb

I have been on 450 mgs for almost thirty years( I know that’s crazy), after 20 years I wanted off. No doctor would even try. So I did it myself. I instantly developed psychosis. Ultimately I lost all concept of reality and ended up breaking the law for the first time in my life. I ended up in prison where they put me right back on it.

I did a short sentence but my life was destroyed. I lost my family, my business, the respect of the community and any resources I had.

I am still at 450 mgs and still no doctor will touch it. If I miss one day the next day I start to withdraw. 7 plus doctors have continued to fill this prescription.

I will likely be on it until I die, which at times seems like it is taking forever to happen.

If you can get off it my recommendation is to do so. If you are considering it let my story inform you. I had the American Dream Venlafaxine contributed to me losing everything. I now live with consequences

I’ve been told Prozac can help with the withdrawal. I just need to find a doctor willing to take it on.

Good luck to everyone and do your own research. The medical profession doesn’t even no what causes depression but they have hundreds of drugs to treat it.

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Now I’m really scared. I have taken 225 mg of Effexor daily for about ten years. It was originally prescribed by a psychiatrist, and my Internal medicine specialist just kept prescribing it after the psychiatrist moved to another practice. For me, it has been a wonder drug - the first antidepressant that has truly worker for me, after trying 7-8 others.

Now i’m on a long waiting list to see a new psychiatrist. Guess I will be on Effexor for life! I’m almost 65.

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dfb | @dfb | Jun 11, 2023

I’m my experience it worked so well I asked for more. If it works well for you and the side effects are tolerable then don’t give it another thought. Lots of people take drugs till they, most probably.

For me the side effects became intolerable.

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dianecostella | @dianecostella | Jun 12, 2023

I was on it for a year and it stopped working and caused extreme anxiety. I went on short term disability when I weaned off. I had a tragic loss before weaning off and the effexor didn’t help at all that’s how I surmised it wasn’t working and made my anxiety worse. I weaned off too quickly and had the worse side effects. I was vomiting and had absolutely no filter. I was saying things to people that I would never had said otherwise. I couldn’t sleep it was the worst. My psychiatrist wanted me to go back in a low dose and I refused as I would never go back on it. It took a couple of weeks and it finally passed but during those few weeks it was extremely hard.

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jewelina | @jewelina | Jun 12, 2023

I was on Paxil for at least 15 years. It was very difficult to go off of. I switched to Luvox which is an antidepressant that helps anxiety more than depression. It took months to adjust to the change. Recently I started treatment with Spravato. That has helped my depression immensely. Please don’t give up. ♥️

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iunderstand | @iunderstand | Jun 25, 2023
In reply to @alispalmer "I started tapering off of Effexor a couple of weeks ago and recently found myself besieged..." + (show)
@alispalmer

I started tapering off of Effexor a couple of weeks ago and recently found myself besieged by the most terrifying symptoms. I was sobbing last night in my boyfriend's arms saying, "I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid...." I can't believe the anxiety that I feel; it is unlike anything I've ever experienced in my whole life. I can't go out because the idea of being social terrifies me. I'm in a constant state of barely contained hysteria and fear. Of what? I don't know. I've even thought of going into the emergency room today and just collapsing there...begging for someone/something to mitigate my symptoms. I feel like I'm dying. I get so hungry that I feel nauseated, and if I can't eat right away, I start crying (this from an eating disordered person who used to fast all day long for years). I'm so tired and everything overwhelms me. All behaviors that I formerly used to do to "power through" feelings of depression are useless to me...good and bad. Exercise, drinking, overeating, self-help, being alone and reading to "recharge" my batteries...nothing works; I've exhausted all methods of coping and have never been so scared in my life. Luckily, I talked to a friend who said she's had a similar event in her life, which made me feel better. I've felt so alone, putting on a brave face, going out and trying to be social, going to work and trying to be productive, dragging myself to the gym....all the while feeling like I'm going to break in a million different pieces. I didn't know who to tell because I didn't think anyone would understand, but she made me realize that there is something very wrong in my body/brain (perhaps hormonal in addition to the withdrawal symptoms as I am 48 years old) that is not uncommon and can be fixed. Just knowing that this may have happened to others makes me feel better...again, the barely contained hysteria at trying to seem "normal" has only exacerbated my feelings of desperate helplessness. I think of suicide all of the time...not because I'm sad necessarily, but because I just want to stop feeling this way. I just want to be me again...regular, old, fucked up me...not this helpless, scared, child that I've become. Sorry to write so much, but this has been hell. I hope it helps someone else get through to the other side. As for me, I've put in my second call to my prescriber begging for help. My next stop is the emergency room if I have to, but feeling better just getting it out in the open anyway...all the best

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I’m checking to see how you are. It’s now 5 years later but I’m currently where you were then….. it makes my heart hurt to know someone else is where I am now - yet I somehow feel like less of a weirdo.
Please let me know you’re alright and loving your life again ❤️

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1 reply
haneskay1 | @haneskay1 | Jul 5, 2023
In reply to @sadiesmom "I'm not sure what you mean about "supplement regimen"? I went from 150 mg to 75mg..." + (show)
@sadiesmom

I'm not sure what you mean about "supplement regimen"? I went from 150 mg to 75mg then down to 37.5. Week by week by week. I think the decrease was too fast. I have taken it for such a long time, my body needed more time to "detox" from each decrease. These drugs are nothing to take lightly, let me tell you. The side affects and anxiety will just about kill you....tread lightly and ask your doctor LOTS of questions and don't hesitate to question their suggestions. You know your body best....good luck.

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I am considering going off of my 150mg of Effexor. I have taken it less than a year. It was prescribed while I was being treated for breast cancer to help with hot flashes and night sweats; it has not helped at all. I am not sure how to go about tapering since it is a capsule. Do you open the capsule or start taking it every other day? I am using some of the supplements and am going to add the fish oil. Can anyone tell me how to go about this?

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2 replies
gardener82 | @gardener82 | Jul 6, 2023
In reply to @haneskay1 "I am considering going off of my 150mg of Effexor. I have taken it less than..." + (show)
@haneskay1

I am considering going off of my 150mg of Effexor. I have taken it less than a year. It was prescribed while I was being treated for breast cancer to help with hot flashes and night sweats; it has not helped at all. I am not sure how to go about tapering since it is a capsule. Do you open the capsule or start taking it every other day? I am using some of the supplements and am going to add the fish oil. Can anyone tell me how to go about this?

Jump to this post

You need to get a plan to taper from your doctor. They make smaller capsules but your doctor needs to send a new prescription to your pharmacist (they can’t just give it to you). It is VERY important you do this and don’t try to taper on your own. Even with a good taper I had rough withdrawal symptoms for a couple weeks. (Effexor is one of the worst, you don’t even want to miss a dose)

The withdrawal was partly emotional / psychological but also physical (felt like weird electric pulses in my brain, trouble with my body temperature, couldn’t sleep, it was really disorienting and uncomfortable, and this was with a doctor ordered taper plan over several weeks)

Good luck! I hope you feel ok when you do yours! (Also do it in the summer, don’t wait for the depths of winter like I did!)

REPLY
kral | @kral | Jul 6, 2023
In reply to @haneskay1 "I am considering going off of my 150mg of Effexor. I have taken it less than..." + (show)
@haneskay1

I am considering going off of my 150mg of Effexor. I have taken it less than a year. It was prescribed while I was being treated for breast cancer to help with hot flashes and night sweats; it has not helped at all. I am not sure how to go about tapering since it is a capsule. Do you open the capsule or start taking it every other day? I am using some of the supplements and am going to add the fish oil. Can anyone tell me how to go about this?

Jump to this post

You can get tablets or capsules prescribed in 75 and 37.5 mg doses and decrease by breaking tablets or reducing by 37.5 mg increments with capsules. I am currently weaning off 150 mg Effexor that I have been taking for at least 20 years. My doctor has prescribed Prozac 10 mg to ease withdrawal symptoms. I have finished my first week reducing by 37.5 — so I am currently on 112.5 Effexor along w 10 mg Prozac. So far my symptoms are a little nausea and insomnia.

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1 reply
mjfisch | @mjfisch | Jul 6, 2023

I started seeing a psychiatrist 4 months ago and a therapist at the same nonprofit, tho a few weeks longer. this doctor ran blood tests, the results of which prompted her to put me on P5P and Zinc picolinate (sp). She asked, after several weeks' trial, if I was remembering dream more. I was not. So she suggested using SAMe. That stuff works (fingers crossed fingers crossed...)! I feel good. I am in the middle of a very stressful down-sizing move from a home my spouse and I love dearly. I feel good! I can think constructive thoughts without being dragged down by sadness about the state of the world and my part in it. I'm not in constant worry-mode. I want to follow up on this post to give a report on how the substance is doing; will I remember??

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