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Coming off venlafaxine??

Posted , 5 users are following.

Kiwifruit94
Kiwifruit94

I have been planning to come off my 75mg venlafaxine for about 4 months now. Basically I just moved back to my home country and wanted to wait until I was stable enough to do so.

Now I'm ready. I'm going to see a Dr next week but I want advice from people who have actually been through it.

PLEASE ONLY HELPFUL ADVICE - I do suffer from anxiety so please don't say awful things.

Any advice to tapering off 75mg? I take the pill form not the capsule as this isn't available in my country.

I have been on these for just over 2 years and desperately want to come off as I feel like a slug with no motivation or sex life.

Please share any helpful or motivating info!

0 likes, 3 replies

3 Replies

  • lucy1969
    lucy1969 Kiwifruit94

    Posted

    Hi Kiwifruit

    Venlafaxine is one of the harder ones to come off of but it is doable. Just take it very very slowly.

    Firstly, ask your doctor to prescribe 2 X 37.5mg tablets rather than the 75mg one. Buy a pill cutter from your local pharmacy and cut one of the tablets in half so decreasing your daily dose to 56.25mg. Stay on this for at least two weeks then reduce to just 1 X 37.5mg tablet per day for another two weeks. I then started to cut my pills into quarters and reduced by a quarter every two weeks until I was clear.

    You will probably still get a few withdrawal symptoms like a bit of dizziness, brain zaps and fatigue - if these get too bad for you, slow down the process and only reduce monthly.

    High strength omega 3 capsules can really help with withdrawal symptoms. I took 4 x 1200mg capsules in the morning and 3 mid afternoon.

    Good luck, you can do this

  • Kiwifruit94
    Kiwifruit94

    Posted

    UPDATE:

    My Dr has tapered me from 75mg once daily to 37.5mg one daily...which I thought was too quick but he insists it's the last tapering that needs to be slow.

    It's day 4 now and I haven't felt any withdrawals on this new dose...will I feel any?

    I am anxious simply because of some of the awful things I have read online about withdrawals!!

  • philip42202
    philip42202 Kiwifruit94

    Posted

    Dear Kiwifruit,

    it is over 13 years since I came off Venlafaxine -'cold turkey' -my advice is to take the advice. No cold turkey.

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