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Feeling stupid after calling paramedics

Posted , 7 users are following.

Belinda7168
Belinda7168

Hi, currently sitting here in the middle of the night after waking from nightmare!

My gp is currently weaning me off venlafaxine, was 75mg am and 75mg pm, I'm currently on 35mg once a day and due to stop next week!

Last night I felt so bad I called the out of hours surgery, who sent out paramedics.my body was shaking, my heart rate was 168pm, blood pressure 210/180. The paramedic requested blues n twos to hospital but after a couple of hours, my heart rate lowered and I was sent home with the diagnosis of apparently having some sort of anxiety attack!

What's that all about? Never experienced one before and feel that I'm not the type to have one! How much worse will this get next see when I stop the venlafaxine? I feel so embarrassed

1 like, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • m89928
    m89928 Belinda7168

    Posted

    Hi Belinda,

    I don't know how long you've been on 35mg after taking 150 mgs of venlafaxine, or how long you took the 150mg dose,  but this seems like a large and rapid dosage decrease. It took me about 8 months to taper off venlafaxine after taking 75mg daily for a number of years.  I had to literally open the capsules and count out the beads, decreasing by just one or two per week.  Even at that I still had anxiety, nausea, difficulty focusing etc.  The anxiety and heart racing does eventually decrase (it took some weeks) and was usually worse early morning or late at night for some reason.  I tried a natural remedy and that seemed to help somewhat as did Omega 3.  However, if you took 150 mg for very long, I would recommend a much slower taper to avoid the worse side effects of brain zaps, bad nausea, headaches etc.

    Take care!

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  • betsy0603
    betsy0603 Belinda7168

    Posted

    Your doc is getting you off ven WAY TOO FAST!  Nightmares are a withdrawal side effect along with heart rate and blood pressure increases.  Did you go straight down to 35/day from 150/day?!!

    Ven has horrific withdrawal symptoms and must be tapered more slowly.  The ideal is 10% per month to minimize harm.  People who go faster think they will get done with withdrawal fast, too, but that is NOT the case; withdrawal can be drawn out for a very long time.

    I went off of 75 mg much too fast last year and ended  up in protracted withdrawal for 10 months before reinstating 35 mg.  Within an hour of taking that first reinstatement dose I felt dramatically better, a sure sign of dependence!

    What was your taper, how long at what dosages before ending up on 37.5 mg/day?  Do not jump off next week.  Your doctor has you doing what amounts to a cold turkey!

    I have written a post about coming off psych meds safely here:  

    https://patient.info/forums/discuss/withdrawing-from-antidepressants-and-benzos-safely-485891?page=0#1809368

  • emily96162
    emily96162 Belinda7168

    Posted

    Belinda please never feel embarrassed. I was on 300mg venlafaxine for 6 weeks which caused me severe side effects including bruising. I had to taper off to nothing over 10 days by day 7 I felt awful. I dropped 75mg every couple of days as advised. I almost called an ambulance I felt so awful in the end my husband came home early from work. This happened earlier this week.

    I have read some horror stories re this withdrawal and it sounds like you need to slow your taper down.

    You must speak to your GP.

    As soon as I started the new medication duloxetine the withdrawal symptoms disappeared. I no longer wake up freezing cold and shivering in soaked bed sheets or feel like I am going to pass out. You will and can get through this. It just takes time.

    I hope your ok.

    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 emily96162

      Posted

      Belinda, were you on a lower dose before those 6 weeks or did your doctor up you to that in six weeks?!!!  I've been shocked at what doctors have done to people on the boards here!  They rapidly updose their patients before they ever have a chance to adjust to the starting dose!  It's no wonder people have such horrible start-up side effects!
  • Belinda7168
    Belinda7168

    Posted

    Thank you for all your replies! The psychiatrist put me on 35mg am and 35mg pm, the gp raised it to 75mg am and 75mg pm and that's how it's been for the last 2/3 years. i requested coming off it because I'm still having really low periods, now got high blood pressure, had onset of glucoma (until hospitals lasered my eyes) and massive weight gain! I then researched this medication and found there can be connections with venlafaxine

    GP said to go from 75mg am and pm to 35mg am and pm, a week later just 1 35mg a day for a week and then stop!

    I didn't phone for an ambulance, I called doc on call who sent out paramedic who then requested ambulance. The dr at the hospital aid to continue what GP had prescribed as the best treatment

    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 Belinda7168

      Posted

      Much too fast a taper!  Do a search on patient for ven withdrawal and you will see what others' experiences are.  The doctors are good at putting us on these meds but not so good at getting us off; they truly are fumbling in the dark about it.  Are you on the kind that is a capsule with beads, the extended release kind?

      At the higher doses one can usually get away with dropping full capsules, say 150 mg a day to 75 plus 37.5 mg, but then you should stablilize at that dose for at least 3 weeks before dropping again.  The next drop would be to drop the 37.5 mg for 75 mg/day, stabilize for three weeks.  Then, from there, count the number of beads in the capsule and then remove no more than 20%, stay there for three weeks.  Then remove 20% from that new amount.  The withdrawal authorities recommend only removing 10% from the previous dose to prevent the worst wd symptoms.  Certainly, that should be the case when you get to 37.5 mg.

  • Belinda7168
    Belinda7168

    Posted

    Mine are in tablet form and the lowest dose I believe. That's produced is 35mg
    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 Belinda7168

      Posted

      Ok, sounds like you are on either the immediate release, which might be why the 2x day dosing, or XR tablets, which cannot be broken in half.  Are you in the UK?

      I would talk further with your doctor about this and ask to do a slower taper.  I know for me, it takes between five and 10 days to feel WD from my cuts, so I am doing a 5% cut every two weeks.  I noticed at 10% that I had enough anxiety during those days as to be distressing. I'm a weenie!

      Whatever you do, do NOT do another cut if you are feeilng anything other than fine!

      If you are taking the immediate release tabs, then going to once a day is causing you to have WD between doses since the half life is very short (about 11 hours).  On this form, it is better to break tablets in half and continue to take 2x day.  Going down from the higher doses by 50% each three weeks may work, but once you are down to 35 mg, you must take it slower.  Research has shown that 80% of your nerve receptors are occupied by the drug at 37.5 mg, the minimum therapeutic dose.  If you were to drop by 50% from there, your brain would really be shocked by having only 40% of the receptors occupied!  This is a simplification, but you get the idea?  It isn't about the amount of drug in your system but the fact that your brain has remodeled in the presence of the drug, and those changes don't spontaneosly go away when the drug is reduced or stopped.  Your system must remodel to the absence of the drug.

      So, in order to not suffer, you should really not reduce by more than 20%, ideally 10%, every few weeks.

      I am wondering if a liquid version of Ven is available through your doctor?  That can be dosed with a syringe, making it much easier to take smaller amounts than breaking tablets.

  • mosey84
    mosey84 Belinda7168

    Posted

    Don't feel bad! I have been through all the highs and lows with venlafaxine! From increasing the dose to coming off it! The side effects even include anxiety! I too was so anxious last wk I called paramedics about my toddler who had been under the weather but I was so panicked I needed the reassurance. Maybe go back to your doctor. Don't beat yourself up about it, meds do these things to ppl and your not alone. From mo x
  • penguinteacup
    penguinteacup Belinda7168

    Posted

    Hi, just want to say i've had to have ambulance called for me twice for what I now know to have been withdrawal. I had racing heart and convulsive shaking and they took me in an ambulance to hospital the first time cos they were so concerned. I hope you have managed to come off the venlafaxine ok.
    • a-jay
      a-jay penguinteacup

      Posted

      Sorry to hear that the ambulance had to be called for you. I am feeling like I'm on the cusp of the same things. When the doctor put me on propanalol I woke up the same - shaking uncontrollably, heart racing. I thought I was dying. I was in a state of extreme terror. If my girlfriend had not been there I would've called an ambulance.

      How are you doing now? Did you you just keep fighting through it?

      I feel stuck and don't want to go back on the pills but scared I'll have to. sad

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