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Any advice on curcumin/turmeric and/or venlafaxine?

Posted , 7 users are following.

lucy159
lucy159

Hello...i'm slowly trying to come off venlafaxine and have read that curcumin at 1000mg per day is an effective, more atural antidepressant with no known side effects.

Has anyone tried taken curcumin? If so, any success? Any problems?

Also...i don't think there are any know interactions between curcumin and venlafaxine but i am a little wary of starting it before i'm fully off the prescription drug...any thoughts?

Many thanks smile

 

1 like, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • stardust79
    stardust79 lucy159

    Posted

    Personally and in my experience,  don't throw natural antidepressants into the mix. I did take 1000mg of omega 3 oil (might of been 3000 mg but I can't be sure) plus vitamin B complex whilst withdrawing off paroxetine,  another nasty  SSRI anti depressant. I found it helped with the zaps. But a few years later once off paroxetine I decided to take omega 3 again daily at 3000 mg and actually had a bad reaction to it mentally. My doctor told me that even though natural it didn't mix well with the new anti depressant I was taking. So you have to be careful. Another thing is, you then have the 'is it the withdrawal or is it the natural remedy" speak to your doctor first.
    • jpm
      jpm stardust79

      Posted

      Which new anti depressant are you on, Stardust and at what dosage?
    • stardust79
      stardust79 jpm

      Posted

      I'm on a few. Sadly my wish to be med free after 16 years of taking venlafaxine and paroxetine didn't work out. But that was me. I am on mirtazapine 30mg which is not an SSRI. I also take clomipramine 30mg another non SSRI. I will never touch SSRI's again because of the withdrawal. I feel that the old style anti depressants are less damaging. Though they do sedate you a little when you take them at night. 

      As for throwing other anti depressants into the mix whilst coming off venlafaxine, I was given prozac to help with the withdrawal and it made everything so much worse. I was also given mirtazapine which I'm still on 3 years later. But to be on 3 different anti depressants even though withdrawing,  you can end up with seratonin syndrome which is just as bad as withdrawal so this is where sometimes adding other tablets can just make you worse.

    • jpm
      jpm stardust79

      Posted

      Been on Ven for 18 years .It worked fine for me all those years at 37mg twice a day As I have had insomnia with Ven GP thought I should try Mirtazapine as it helps sleep. But i had to come off Ven for two weeks before i could take Mirt.   Hell for 2 weeks.  Then tried Mirt. Great for 3 weeks. Appetite back , great sleep. Then the 'side effects' disappeared and others took their place. Hell again. GP put me back on Ven and now it isn't working!   GP doesn't know what to do and just says keep on that dose for a while.   I don't know what to do . It's the devil or deep blue sea!!

      Do I keep on taking them although they are not doing much good or do I try and withdraw very slowly?  Sadly Ven is contra-indicated with just about everything, even herbs!! So can't really take anything for the insomnia.

      So I know what you are feeling, Stardust.  It's a Catch 22 situation.

  • Gappa040
    Gappa040 lucy159

    Posted

    Hi Lucy, I just reached day 21 after the last dose and went through the complete list of serious symptoms. I tried different products to ease my symptomps but apart from benadryl that helped me a bit with dizziness nothing helped and in contrary it made me feel worse. If you want to come off antidepressants do not replace it by another unless you really need to. The main point is to go really very slowly and search medical help if you are really unwell. Good luck!
    • leanne61579
      leanne61579 Gappa040

      Posted

      Hi,

      I had been coming off this drug for the past few months and had been on 37 mg every other day for 2 weeks.  On day 4 I was totally sick and nothing helped me.  I laid around most of the day and just couldn't do anything at all.  I thought I would be okay but after day 4, I called my Dr and went back on the 37 mg.  Now I will be going in this coming week to see him and see what alternative I have.  I figured after weaning off for that long, I would be okay and how wrong I was.  I didn't like anyone or myself during these few days and cant beleive what a hold this drug has on us.  Thanks for listening to me.

  • leanne61579
    leanne61579 lucy159

    Posted

    I would go online and read about this drug and get all the facts. Good luck
    • UK-Ven-medicate
      UK-Ven-medicate leanne61579

      Posted

      The downside of reading about these drugs is you run the risk of get the side effects thou sometime. 
  • lucy159
    lucy159

    Posted

    Thanks everyone for your advice and insights...Startdust and jpm - good luck and i hope you're ok x
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