Exfexor withdrawal

NOOOOO noooo nooooo.... NEVER stop cold turkey. You must talk with your doctor which will give you a new prescription in order to stop. You need to go slowly. Such as dropping 37.5 mg per three weeks until you are able to completely stop.

Example, 187.5 mg for three weeks, than drop to 150 mg for another three weeks, than drop to 75 mg for another three weeks and so on ... It is incredibly dangerous to the point of having seizures by doing it cold turkey!

Hi naughty girl,

Thank you for your mail. Yes your right after been on a 225mg dose and dropped to 75 mg then cold turkey till last night... 10 days I had to give in it was way to dangerous for me. Never again,, I'm seeing my doctor on Monday so will do my best the right way. I never give in but I will hold my hands up 3am this morning I took 150mg of Effexor to just function...

Thank you,

Regards,

Roz

Hi Roz,

Good thing you decided to do it the right way. If you search Venlaxafine on this site, it's the same exact drug as Effexor Xr and you'll see a lot of posts regarding it.

Take care Nathalie

I went onto Venlafaxine in the summer 2013 having been on Citalopram for a couple of years. I was on Venlafaxine(V) a few years ago having suffered from depression on and off for the last 35 years. However as I felt that the V wasn't helping me this time round even after an increase from 75mg to 150mg to 225mg in a relatively short timescale I came off it again within a 2 week period as advised by my GP. During Week 1 225mg down to 150mg, then 150mg to 75mg at end of week 1. Then through week 2 75mg for a few days then off completely after a day.

Not to mince my words I then went through the hell of withdrawal symptoms. I was prescribed Mirtazapine in place of V. which I started taking at the end of the 2 weeks so I need to check with my GP if the symptoms I suffered were from the V. withdrawal or from the new drug.

I suffered hallucinations, vivid bad dreams, severe constipation to severe diahhorea, blurd vision, a wooshing noise in my ears, flashing whiteness when I laid my head down on the pillows at night and shouting episodes with very low mood. (I can now fully appreciate how folk might think enough was enough and do something totally out of character).

Does anyone concur?

Thanks

I was on 300 mg a day and felt like a zombie. Effexor would have to be one of the hardest drugs to come off ever I would think from the feedback I was getting.

Looking at a lot of the forums about the withdrawl symptoms was terrifying in itself,and no way was I going to go through that.

In Australia Effexor comes in capsuals' I expect its the same everywhere which in one way makes it easier to come off them although it takes awhile, the way doctors do it is reducing the dose in 75 mg a time but its much too severe that way.

What I did was take out a few granules every day increasing the number as I went along it took me about six months to get it out of my system and I had only minor side effects until I got down to the last 75 grams then had to slow it down even further as this drug did not want to let go,but I did it.

The worst thing about Effexor is that when you start taking it everything seems great and it really works for a while but to keep the effects going you have to increase the dosage all the time as you would already know.

Never ever go cold turkey as it will really make you ill,I just looked at it like a war I had to win slowly and stealthily and all the way through I knew I was winning that is what keeps you going.