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coming off venlafaxine?

Posted , 115 users are following.

talulabelle1982
talulabelle1982

I have been taking venlafaxine for over 7 years and can admit that it saved my life a few times in the early stages. I have tried to come off them numerous times,during the past 3 years but have failed every time. The gp honestly dosent know how to help, cut down slowly, miss every other dose...I've tried everything. The side effects of withdrawal are horrendous...shaking, sweating, panic attacks, sickness, violent outbursts, suicidal thoughts. Ive read all the horror stories and truly feel sorry for anyone who has ever taken ven. I'm desperate to quit them but it seems impossible. Any advice would be much appreciated!

13 likes, 362 replies

362 Replies

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  • pooja7
    pooja7 talulabelle1982

    Posted

    Hii all,

    Just wanted to ask u all , how u guys are doing?

    • laura43429
      laura43429 pooja7

      Posted

      Hi Pooja7,

      thanks for checking. I'm terrible. 5 pills of Venlafaxine 7 months ago and I'm still sick as a dog. I am fatigued, need 12 hours of sleep per day, can't concentrate on anything, have electric zaps in my brain 24/7 with no break, muscle twitches in my face, muscle spasms, tremor and all kinds of other weird symptoms. 

      I was a sporty workoholic. Now my life is ruined, I'm unable to work still and I'm just not the same person I was before. 

      I so want to sue my doctor for putting me on this crap for a little bit of stress. 

      Laura

    • damian310
      damian310 laura43429

      Posted

      i wonder if anyone has sued their doctor for this. i wish i had never taken anything. what dosage are you on now and when do you take that dosage?
    • laura43429
      laura43429 damian310

      Posted

      I don't take anything anymore. I just took 5 pills of 37.5 mg. They f**** me up. 
    • damian310
      damian310 laura43429

      Posted

      thats terrible, have you been to the doctors to find out what happened. is it the first anti depressant youve tried. i get the brain zaps now and again. i also got them with citalopram if i missed a couple doses.
    • laura43429
      laura43429 damian310

      Posted

      The doctors were unfortunately absolutely useless. The just plain didn't believe me. They think I'm making it all up. Even as I was sitting in front of them shaking, sweating and with muscle twitches, they still don't believe the medication has caused this. 

      I've researched myself and found out that some people get so called "catastrophic reactions". Some people take one pill and end up in the psych ward, with multiple-organ failure or sick for years. Some people also get strokes. I got my hands on the adverse reaction statistics. Thousands of deaths. Poor people. 

      It's a small percentage of people but it happens. And with 30 000 million prescriptions of antidepressants per year, even a small percentage makes up a large number of people disabled, dead or driven into suicide. It's being hidden by the regulators and pharma industry.

      Great, isn't it? I really love the world we live in.  

    • damian310
      damian310 laura43429

      Posted

      a lot of them are sadly, could you see a medication specialist, i was refered to one who was a psychiatrist. their are so many pharmaceutical drugs now, too many for gps to know all about them. get a good specialist and they could sort out whats going on. im so glad mindfulness is being introduced to the nhs.

      and yes everythings all pretty much f**cked up wink

    • laura43429
      laura43429 damian310

      Posted

      To be honest, I'm done doctors. Here in Ireland psychiatrists are even worse than GPs. They go on public TV telling absolute nonsense about the meds, how safe they are even in pregnancy etc. 

      I don't think I'll find any capable psychiatrist over here. I've talked to two already and both said "this can't be". They have no idea how dangerous the meds are they prescribe. 

    • kvickk09
      kvickk09 laura43429

      Posted

      Hi Laura43429,

      I too, am feeling absolutely terrible. Though I'm not on a very high dose, 150mg, this is the hardest drug to ever stop taking. I've been on Ven for years and just recently decided that I no longer wanted to take it. I have absolutely no sexual drive whatsoever while taking it. I have been vomiting all day, and I cannot keep anything down. I've been getting terrible migraines as well. I would love to hear any advice as to helping with these symptoms. I too, wish I would have known about these symptoms coming off the pill. I would never had started taking it in the first place.

    • laura43429
      laura43429 kvickk09

      Posted

      Hi Kvick09, 

      so sorry to hear you're going through this. 

      Did you stop taking Venlafaxine "cold turkey"? If so, that's very dangerous. I only took 37.5mg for 5 days and am in hell for 8 moths already. The drug needs to be tapered down very slowly. 

      Some people open the capsule and take out beads. They would reduce a couple of beads every month. 

      How long has it been since your last tablet? If it's not too long ago, it may be an idea taking it again and tapering more slowly. 

      You'll find great information about tapering and peer support on survivingantidepressants . org.

      You'll also find good information on withdrawal. rxisk. org

      (I can't post the links as the site admin will remove them). 

      I wish you lots of healing, 

      Laura

    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 laura43429

      Posted

      Seriously, just five pills before you stopped, Laura?!  My god that is terrible! Are you in the states or UK?  If you are in the states, I'd see if you could reach Peter Breggin and tell him about your situation.  He is a psychiatrist who is an authority on the harm these drugs can do and has testified in court against Big Pharma.  He has a website, so you can just do a search for his name.
    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 laura43429

      Posted

      Laura, thank you so much for putting that information here.  I'm glad I'm not the only one trying to point people to SA.  And rxisk is another great one.  MadInAmerica as well.  Keep up the good work!  I am hoping to help as many people here avoid the hell that you and I have or are experiencing.
  • damian310
    damian310 talulabelle1982

    Posted

    ok, 2 months since i last posted here. i started at the top dosage 375mg and have now dropped to 225mg and from tomorrow 206.25mg. im not sure i need to decrease this slowly but this is how its gone. at first i thought i may be getting anxiety from the drop but the past few weeks have been pretty good. i have noticed a ringing and another strange sensation in my ears but not sure weather any of this is related. the only side effects i have had are the brain zaps now and again. i have had lots of problems with nausea in the past but not whilst dropping my dosage. maybe it will get tougher when the dose gets smaller. looking forward to being drug free. ive been on different things for over 10 years and i believe a lot of phisical things ive had happen to me are due to the medication.
    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 damian310

      Posted

      I wouldn't doubt it, Damian.  Please go carefully.  Let yourself settle at least 3 weeks between drops.  The biggest trouble will come with 37.5 mg and below.  This is due to the fact that at the minimum therapeutic dose of SSRIs/SNRIs, 80% of the receptors are occupied; as you drop below that, you start really cutting into that occupany, meaning that your system will really start to get unbalanced with each cut.  It may be necessary to do 5% cuts twice a month or every three weeks at that point.  Just listen to your body.  You can do this!

      I, too, realize I have physical damage from the meds that I just didn't put 2 and 2 together on.  Peter Breggin calls this "spellbinding."  We just don't notice the negative affects the drugs have and attribute it to "something else," perhaps aging, etc.

    • louise79427
      louise79427 betsy0603

      Posted

      Hey Betsy

      i was about 4 weeks with the withdrawal from venlafaxine and one of the psychiatrist's prescribed me diazepam for a week to hell. Am off it completely now, an back on the citralopram which works for me. Am also on aripiprazole and find this is a great combination for me.

      Lou x

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