Are these Venlafaxine Withdrawal Symptoms?

Hi All,

I was on 150mg of Venlafaxine for a couple of months but they didn't seem to work. I managed to cut down to 37.5 with no real problems and stayed there for a few weeks to get my holiday out of the way. Last week, I tried stopping completely and within a day or two, started feeling a bit dizzy. This has carried on through the week and is really not fun now. I'm not full on dizzy but seem to have an awful lot of tension in the lower back of my head and neck. My head feels really full and slight movements can make me feel a bit dizzy and disorientated. My ears feel blocked and my normally mild tinnitus is more noticeable than usual.

Slight eye movements can give me a strange sensation (Sort of disorientated behind the eyes) and change in noise (short ringing) in my ears for a very short while. I have had sinus issues in the past and have been a bit hayfeverish this week and my sinuses have been a bit painful. I did wonder if this was causing my issues but withdrawal symptoms seem more likely. I don't know if these are the famous brain zaps I read about but all I know is I want them gone.

I don't really want to have to go to the Doctor as you either say it is an emergency or wait 3 weeks and I can't really take time off work as I was off for 6 weeks recently after a toe op but it makes working difficult when you can't really concentrate and feel a bit dizzy when you move. I did read about Benadryl/Nytol helping and I had a couple of Nytols so have just taken them - hopefully there will be some relief from that.

Has had anyone had anything similar and is there a way of lessening it? If it carries on much longer, I will probably end up taking a tablet again to stop feeling like this which will just delay the inevitable.

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