Effexor Withdrawal Finally Successful

I'm glad to see your success!!

I'm taking 337.5 mg!!! It's going to take a year for me to get off it. 

About a month ago, I started lowering my dose 37.5 mg every other day. I've had a headache in the mornings. No big deal. But I'm not sure this is the right way to decrease which is why I'm googling and found this discussion.

I heard about 2 programs online that help you wean yourself off drugs, but don't remember the names and can't find them online.

Should I start decreasing another 37.5 mg once a week for 2 weeks like you did? And continue that way? 

I'd appreciate any help you can give me.

i found this post awhile back that had the only positive outcome to wean off permanently from this drug. so the past few months, I weaned down from 75mg to 37.5. I took my first day off too soon then i remembered your post! so now im back on track , taking vit b complex and omega 3 and my 2nd try on the day off really made a big difference, very few zaps, i just sailed through it! now i'm confident enough to move forward to be drug free. hope you're still doing ok.

Hi, have been on different types of antidepressants ever since I was 16 and have been on Effexor (Venlafaxine) for a god few years. I've tried to come off cold turkey a few times over the last year and it was awful. However, I know I'm no longer depressed and suicidal, so am asking my doctor today if they can help me taper off of them.

All of your stories give me hope that there is light at the end of this road and that I can get off of this successfully. Heck knows I'm sick of feeling like a numb zombie, I want to feel like me again.

Reading this thread, I'm now wondering if I've made the right choice deciding to cut myself off of Venaflaxine cold turkey. I'm on day three . I've been taking 37.5 mg for the last few years, 75mg for a few years before that. I've been home all week with a headcold/flu, so thought this would give me time away fro work to adjust before going back to work in three days Now I'm thinking I've been overly optimistic. My Dr told me the drug should be out of my system fully after about five days, that I might experience mood swings in about two weeks after that, nothing severe. I've been wanting to get off of this for years now...am I our to lunch thinking I can do this?

hello. ive been off totally almost 2months. was on off for 10yrs. dependant on it as it masked my feelings well. i tried your method and commend you on going through that way. i couldnt best way for me when i reached 37.5mg was opening my capsules and counting down the gradules to feel very minimal to no withdraws. example; if theres 59 gradules take out 1 or 2 every 2days or 3days or what makes you comfortable and decrease all the way down to the last remaining gradule in the capsule. i feel my brain is fried, trying to cope with my anxiety which has not been this severe for this long in years. It takes so much in me to not just want the thoughts and feelings to end. sometimes i think mayb just go back on the smallest dose again, but it was causing the rarest side effects. i keep hoping my brain is just trying to get back to function without the years of the drug.

Thank god i quit when i did! i started it 2 weeks ago and just went up to 75 mg literally for 2 days. i had to stop!!! never again will i ever do anything like that to my body! the nausea was unbelievable!!!!

I am tapering from 225mg at 75mg weekly. this is my first week at 150mg. I am taking fish oil and a multivitamin. I am definitely feeling the withdrawal. Also, having trouble sleeping. Anyone have similar experience? Tips? Suggestions? Much Appreciated!

over the past 3 weeks I've gone from 225mg to none. felt great decreasing until i officially stopped taking it. what a terrible med to make people feel this way. if you have any other tips. i don't want to start taking it again. i have to get thru this withdrawal!

When I was first prescribed Venlafaxine, I stopped taking it, I had never knowingly had withdrawal on any previous medicines so I didn't think this would be any different, I was in bed for 2 weeks, the worst flu symptoms I have ever suffered, now, still on this poison i feel ill if i ever even miss a single dose, and i'm only on 75mg, I'm on the Chalky pills, I don't want to ask Dr for help as when I inquired before they wanted to reduce it far quicker than i'm comfortable with, should I use a pill cutter?

Any way, well done to those of you that manage, and keep going to those of you that like me are still trying, practise all the wellness tools and positive thoughts you can while coming off this s**t,

Hi, I am currently taking venlalic 225 xl and I'm wondering if anyone swapped to the capsules in order to help lower doses more slowly by splitting open the pills etc. did the writer of this post take instant release venlafaxine to begin with? Thanks.

I've been on Effexor for about 2 years for GAD. Started on 37.5mg twice a day, and about 4 months ago got bumped up to 75mg capsules twice daily. Once I upped my dosage, I started putting on A LOT of weight, about 20 lbs since March, so I'm desperate to get off.

I do feel that the medication has helped balance me and keep my anxiety to a minimum, but I cannot handle the weight gain. I've always been fit and now I feel sluggish and tired all the time. I've also had horrible night sweats since the beginning, very vivid dreams, and jaw clenching so bad it gives me migraines, so I'm ready to taper off.

HOWEVER, about a year ago my pharmacy was "too busy" to refill my prescription, and after 3 days without taking it I went into CVS, had a full blown panic attack in the middle of the line yelling at them to refill my prescription NOW (omg so embarrassing) and sobbed on a bench until they brought it to me. My fiance had to pick me up and drive me home because I was so distraught, and I had no clue why I was freaking out. I just felt out of control, kind of outer body. So I'm terrified of the side effects during this gradual withdraw,

I've told my doctor I want to start to get out, but she can't get me in for an appt until the end of next month. I can't wait that long. My plan is to go from my 150mg/day to one 75mg capsule midday for a couple weeks, and then try to bump down to my original dose of 37.5mg tablets twice daily for a few weeks, going down a quarter every week until I no longer need it.

If my 75mg drop is too much, should I add a 37.5mg tablet in every couple days during these first few weeks or push through it?

I have done this method before. Except I went full cold turkey off the venlafaxine and lots of fish oil and B vitamins. And I mean A LOT! My prescription was for panic attacks so the vertigo, brain zaps, adrenaline rushes, etc would normally trigger an attack which would bring me back to the drug. That was trying to do the weaning process without the supplements. I had been on 150 mg for years and gained about 50 lbs since day one, so that was my number one reason for getting off it. It worked. I was so skeptical because my dosage was so high that I didn't think it would work for me, but it did. I was on Paxil and Celexa before Effexor and the withdrawal symptoms were no where near as severe. I am almost incapacitated shortly after my 24 hour range. At first, I was concerned about the amount of fish oil I was taking (that is the one that kills the withdrawal symptoms, I don't get it either) but it works. Research the non-fishy-burp-producing pills. Trust me.