Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)

I certainly hope so ❤️💔. Yes cats and dogs "know" things about us. There are actually dogs who can smell cancer!! Crazy right? That's why they make such great service animals. ❤️🥰😊

You are so welcome. Keep me posted. Hope you feel better, as you speak up
for yourself & make progress with your health. I trust you will feel
better, because you partner with God & will find an authentic doc who
listens...

One can only hope...

I’m new to the Effexor tapering. Has anyone found a kit to divide the capsules or a small scale to weigh the 37.5mg so counting the beads is not necessary? Ie order from Amazon and what to look for? Thanks

I am there now, too. I was prescribed Effexor for hot flashes umpteen years ago. I weaned myself off once four years ago, I thought successfully--but after a period of weeks or months without it, I felt such overwhelming anxiety that I begged to be placed back on it. My mother had died, and I thought that was the reason for the anxiety; now, having weaned off Effexor a second time and feeling the same overwhelming anxieties with no real "excuse," I believe the anxiousness and feeling fear about every little thing was and is caused by the drug. I still had/have hot flashes--with and without Effexor. I think the hot flashes are better controlled by exercise and deep breathing/calming myself. I suffered many of the side effects of Effexor (muscle aches and pains, constipation, insomnia) without realizing that they were side effects. I still have tremendous trouble sleeping. I can't seem to turn off my anxious brain! I refuse to go back on Effexor. Would love to hear from someone who got past this horrible stage of withdrawal anxiety.

I can’t speak to this because I have the same problem. I’ve weaned off successfully once before and had to go back on months later. I want to wean off again and deal with the anxiety, but driving is extremely dangerous for me when in that state of mind.

I’ve been thinking about trying again and this time using Hydroxizine and Prazosin to help me cope. Maybe these are worth looking into.

All I want to say is that I wish you the absolute best. May you be well always.

Oh, thank you. This site helps me see that I'm "normal," not alone, and there is help out there. Blessings and best wishes to you, too.

I wonder if you would of got on another medication for anxiety if that would of helped? But I'm guessing you did not want to be on any type of anxiety medication. I am wanting to get off effexor and try cymbalta instead because I read the reviews on here and they were very good, people saying it helped with menopause sysmtoms , anxiety and pain! So if I can get off 2 meds (buspar and effexor) and replace with just one that can do it all then I'm all in. I just know it is not a quick thing to get off effexor

Hello all....
I am a breast cancer survivor of 12 years. When diagnosed, my dr. put me on Effexor 75mg/day and 37.5/night.
After several years on both, I decided with his approval to stop the 75mg. When I did this, I had no withdrawals at all.
Just this past year I decided to also stop the 37.5. NOT GOOD! I used the tapering off method, but then neuropathy started in my feet. So, then they prescribed gabapentin. I took that for a short while and as my PA and I were discussing me having this neuropathy and she said they also prescribe Effexor for patients with Neuropathy.
LIGHT BULB! So, this is what we know think....that I always had the neuropathy due to the strong chemo I had, but the Effexor masked it.
Anyone else have this situation?
I really am struggling with the neuropathy and I also feel like my whole body (skin) is on fire at times.
We decided I should go back on the 37.5 full time, which I did for a month. So far it's a good day/bad day. Today I have decided to go back to my original order of 75mg and 37.5 mg in hopes of feeling better. I'm going to give that a month or two and when I do (hopefully) feel better, I will drop the 75mg again.

Thoughts?

Thank you kindly

I’m a breast cancer survivor of 9 years. I was diagnosed Effexor for hot flashes like most of the people in this discussion. I believe at one time I was on 100mg/day. I decided about 11 months ago that it wasn’t really helping my hot flashes and I wanted to stop so I weaned off over approximately 4-5 months, stopping completely in April of this year with some physical withdrawal symptoms that last a few weeks. Since around that time I’ve been experiencing some psychological problems: feelings of depression, anxiety, worry…
I’ve always dealt with a certain level of worry but never feelings of depression and anxiety until recent months. I have known that something was not right but couldn’t figure it out until one day I thought “is it possible this is coming from Effexor withdrawal even though I didn’t take it to remedy depression?” I kinda thought this sounded ridiculous but after reading some of your posts I believe that is probably the root cause.
It makes me feel better knowing I’m not the only person to experience this.
I guess the reason for my post is two-fold-
1. I need some confirmation from some of you that you agree with my self-diagnosis
2. Any recommendations for a natural remedy? Serotonin maybe?
I don’t want to go back to Effexor!