1. Community
  2. Mental health
  3. Venlafaxine

HELP

Posted , 8 users are following.

Jojocull
Jojocull

I'm writing this out of utter desperation hoping someone on here can help me. I am going through unbearable venlafaxine withdrawels and last night I went to the hospital here in NZ and waited. I was taken home by two nurses and was told there was nothing they can do. I woke up and felt really terrible (panicky, confused, scared, disorientated), and I rang the doctors to see what I should take and they just wouldn't answer so I took 75mg of ven instead of the 37.5 I'm supposed to because I just want to feel better. Anyway my partner lost it at me and shouted I should be in a respite facility going through this and calling me crazy and scaring my two kids which made my withdrawel symptoms even worse and I wanted to help my daughter who was upset and I just couldn't. Now I have taken quietiapene to sleep as its too mentally painful to be awake especially when I'm frightened of my partner. An occupational therapist rung me and was so condescending and didn't know what was going on with my medication so I told him he was not qualified to be giving me instructions on what I should be doing or how I should be feeling and he argued wth me. I'm TOTALLY OVER IT ALL. I'm going to do it my way as the whole set up here in Tauranga is screwed up, they don't know anything much about venlafaxine withdrawels, they have my notes all screwed up and they are all telling me different things!! You guys on here know more about all this than the doctors and psychiatrists here!!! It's s joke. I'm from Auckland but born in the uk and ven in Auckland I'm pretty sure I would never have been treated like this there. Anyway do I continue going through hell and take 37.5mg until they are gone which is three more days. If I do will I feel better then or will I still feel bad withdrawels. I want this over with quick as I want to desperately live my life normally and be a happy mother to my kids like I used to be. Thanks everyone

0 likes, 16 replies

16 Replies

Next
  • skullboy
    skullboy Jojocull

    Posted

    Hi

    I feel your pain, I had the exact withdrawel from Prozac as it left my system after a couple of weeks. Maybe try some mindfulness and remember it will get better. They are just feelings and thoughts. You are not either. Like they say in Minfulness, try to obseve the negative feelings and thoughts and not react to them. It WILL get better, just hang in there.

    • Jojocull
      Jojocull skullboy

      Posted

      Thanks but I'm coming off venlafaxine and there is no comparison to Prozac.
  • david55690
    david55690 Jojocull

    Posted

    Im no expert - understand the wanting to come off and to do it your own way. 

    I was on Ven 150mg for about a year and about 2 months ago decided to stop, no tapering, just stopped!

    If you have a look at my post at the time you will see what i went through.

    ​The fact that you want to take back control is great, that's just how I felt.

    ​I have a very supportive family around me and the biggest impact for me was how I was so nasty to those closest to me, particularly during the first few weeks of WD.

    ​I set up a posy just like yours and had some really helpful conversations even in the middle of the night people were responding.

    That gave me hope to know that people were rooting for me!

    What ever you decide with stopping the meds there will be some withdrawal and from what i have read it will differ from person to person.

    ​For me I needed to know what David was like without the meds and be under my own control.

    Keeping active and avoiding sleeping-in, have been successful for me.

    ​Good luck and keep chatting!

    ​Dave

     

    • Jojocull
      Jojocull david55690

      Posted

      Hi David,

      Thanks for your reply. I too thinking back over the last couple of weeks am sad at how I have treated those close to me. I know it's the nature of the withdrawel process however when it's out of your control and it's something you would never ordinarily do, it comes very very hard.

      I am glad I'm nearly through it now. I have one more tablet of 37.5 to go and then it's over. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow at all.

      You mentioned you keep active. Unfortunately for me it has been crippling at times and I literally haven't been able to be active. I had another day today where the feelings were so intense inside my mind and I was so dizzy and nauseated I took half a sleeping pill and slept until 2.30pm. My partner picked up the kids and it took so much willpower to even get into the shower but I did it and slowly made my way around trying to get things ready for when the kids got home. As the night went on I felt better and better so that was a huge relief.

      Are you able to tell me when my brain will go back to normal again? What makes this so hard to go through aswell is the lack of knowledge and support you get from the doctors. I think they just don't know and it's just a case of being thrown I the deep end and see what happens. Anyway I am so greatful for your reply and I'll stop babbling now!!

      Jo

  • Redwoodgirl
    Redwoodgirl Jojocull

    Posted

    Hi, I am in Australia, and I took it for over 8 years. I was on 5 tablets a day (metabolism disorder makes it like only one a day) The company who made it decided to stop making the tablets here and I had to go cold turkey. There were very limited supply to stock up pharmacies and I missed out coz I didn;t even know! Even my GP had no idea they had suddenly stopped making the tablets. MAN! It was AWFUL! Apparently it is worse than heroin withdrawal. I had all the hallucinations, the skin crawling etc. Eventually I got through it after nearly 3 weeks and unfortunately for me I couldn't take any valium to help me.

    Do you think you could ask for some valium to help you get through? I know it is one addictive pill but sometimes small doses can help the withdrawal problem. I have to agree with your comment to skullboy, there is totally no comparison to Prozac. I was on that too for a while.

    I personally would be trying to wean down, not stop suddenly. Is there a medical issue why you have stopped suddenly? I would try and go elsewhere and explain your situation, if you can. Really and truly I feel your pain. Effexor is a bitch to get off sadly for me it was sudden too. Hang in there!

  • darkest21035
    darkest21035 Jojocull

    Posted

    Im not sure if I am allowed to respond, but I quit cold turkey, on a rather high dose, which I have been taking for at least 5 years. What helped me is, so far anyways, is ginger extract for nausia, small amount of St. Johns Wart and melatonin at night. I was on aprox. 500mgs of Effexor not the extended. Its taken several weeks for the brain zaps to stop. I was on Serequel for about 5 years, I stopped that one last year.

    I am not simply exchanging chemicals for other chemicals. I didnt like the loss of memory, effexor has also it had spiked my blood pressure. I found effexor harder to get off of than quitting smoking.

    I switched to natural supplements, just for the mean time, my plan is to be off these as well by May.

    I totally understand what you are going thru, and it takes a few times before you can do it, but you can do it. If you think about it, has taking effexor really helped, it didnt for me, not at all, I still have severe depression and social anxiety, but Im gonna do it head on.

    I hope i havent made things worse, not my intention.

    • Jojocull
      Jojocull darkest21035

      Posted

      Of course you are allowed to respond and am greatful you did. I am amazed you stopped cold turkey, there is absolutely no way on earth I could do that. I'm still struggling today although I am off it now. I still get migraines that go right through the painkillers and my brain is still so slow. My confidence has been knocked severely too. You say it's worse than coming off heroin but it's said to be worse than coming off cocaine!! Assuming cocaine is worse than heroin. Anyway now I'm off it I am going to stop the seroquel aswell so my brain can adapt to no medication and when it recalibrates I will start my Prozac. The reason I went off the ven was the psychiatrist said to do it that way. It's been worse than hell and by far the worst thing I have ever been through but I'm glad it's done so I can get on with my life. Yes it affected my memory aswell and I couldn't have s bloody drink of wine without it affecting me. No way to live!! Evil stuff was obviously never tested properly before it was released and doctors worldwide not skilled up on it properly. It should be withdrawn.

      You haven't made things worse at all. Keep strong keep focused, you will do this just like me.

    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 Jojocull

      Posted

      I just have to add to your thread since I had a failed coming off of Ven over a year ago.  You are having up front severe withdrawal, but I didn't.  It took months for withdrawal to develop for me.  I did have the physical, no brain zaps but racing heart, increased BP, severe sweats, burning/crawling skin, but the worst symptoms were the cortisol surges at night causing horrible insomnia, and depression/anxiety on steroids, including a sense of doom/dread.  It was all 1000 times beyond what I had ever experienced before in my life, but I didn't realize at the time that I was in protracted withdrawal because the coming off seemed easy up front. 

      It isn't over because you took your last pill.  It is only just beginning.  The nervous system remodels to take the drug's actions into account, in an effort to regain balance since the drug actually CAUSES and imbalance of neuro chemistry.  When you take the drug away too quickly, you are left with an imbalance again, this time in reverse, and it can take months, even years, for the system to recover to the default before all this was done to it with the drugs.  Recovery happens in windows and waves, windows being where you feel normal again and waves being going right back into withdrawal, and this can cycle back and forth.  There can be windows and waves within a day, even!  

      If the unsuspecting patient goes to their doctor with these complaints, he will be declared relapsed and now "bi-polar," and put back on meds, likely a cocktail that includes a mood stabilizer.  Well, he is treating withdrawal symptoms, not an actual psychiatric condition!

      Just telling you all this as a forewarning in case it happens to you.  Hopefully it won't.  Maybe you weren't on ven very long and your system will reocver quickly and it will be done.  Long time users like me (12 years) don't bounce back as quickly, especially if having gone to a high dose. 

      That is why it is recommended to do a slow taper, and I mean SLOW, not what doctors so often have people do.  

      I reinstated 10 months out, not realizing what was happening. I was in hell.  I wanted to end it, not because I was depressed in the sense that ordinary depression causes suicidality, but because I couldn't stand to live with the horror, fear, doom.  Within one hour of taking that first dose back, I had a full reversal of symptoms, proof that I was in withdrawal as getting the drug "fixed" me like a junkie getting a fix.

      I am now doing the slow taper, and it has been very tolerable.  It will take a long time to finally be free, but I am even more determined to be off since the fact that these drugs do this to us coming off means they aren't so benign!  And like so many, I am only now realizing what being on the drug did to me in the way of blunting emotions, preventing me from experiencing deep love and joy.  Not to  mention the cognitive/memory issues!  I was also still depressed on the drug but just kept taking it thinking I had a broken brain and just had to be on it.  Stupid.   They call it "spellbinding," when you don't even put two and two together that it's the drug!  I had such extreme reactions to stress that I now realize were not ME, was never like that before Ven!

      Anyway, sorry to go on.  I hope you come out of this ok, but if it gets unbearable, you can reinstate and then do a slow taper after you stabilize.  Were you on 75 and then went to 37.5mg and now off?

    • Jojocull
      Jojocull betsy0603

      Posted

      I was on 150, 75, 37.5 and then 0 over two weeks. Tomorrow will be my second day with no drugs at all. I was on 150mg for six months.

      The psychiatrist explained that this is the two day wash out period and then I'm starting back on 20mg Prozac that I used to take prior. The only reason I went on ven was the doctor in my new home town was totally against Prozac.

      Today was the best day I have had so far since the discontinuation of ven although I'm still not 100%.

      I think we all have different recovery periods and no time in particular can be put on anyone's recalibration as we are all different and have all been takung this drug for different amounts of times. Also although we all mean well we aren't qualified to really state facts like we all seem to be doing on these sites.

      I'm pretty sure I will recover quite quickly as I seem to be on the mend fast now that the ven is out of my system. I will just take it as I find it and just be very happy in the fact that I did it quick (not by choice) but I'm glad as I do believe it's better than prolonging the inevitable. I can now get on with my life with the Prozac that in the past has always worked for me. I just feel extremely sad for all those that get put on the evil drug without the doctors disclosing all the harmful facts about it. It certainly is an experience I will not only take to my grave with me but I will take it past it as it truly has been that bad that there are no words right from the beginning to the end.

    • jennifer318
      jennifer318 betsy0603

      Posted

      That is exactly what has happened to me..When I continued to see the psych nurse with problems I now see were caused by the ven she diagnosed me as bipolar. I refused to accept the diagnosis and treatment because I couldnt see how I fit that diagnosis. Her explaination was "Well, your depression isnt being treated by the medication you are on, so you must be bipolar".  Spellbinding indeed!
    • jennifer318
      jennifer318 Jojocull

      Posted

      Hi It sounds like you are on a good path to recovering from this awful drug! I hope you continue to improve, and become heathy. Thank you for sharing your experiences, it is so very helpful to read how others are making it thru ven withdrawal.
    • Jojocull
      Jojocull jennifer318

      Posted

      Thanks so much Jen, I agree too. I found it very helpful to know how people have coped.
    • Jojocull
      Jojocull jennifer318

      Posted

      I just read your post about that diagnosis. How utterly rediculous and wrong she is. I bet you nearly fell off your seat when you heard that! I think I would have gone rage. Goodness me if does make you wonder if they are really qualified!
    • jennifer318
      jennifer318 Jojocull

      Posted

      I know, right? I almost started laughing, until she gave me information on lithium and said "I want you to read this, however I dont want you to do any research on the internet. You will just get worried." What?!!? She was serious. That started a complete breakdown in our 'therapeutic relationship'. In the area that I live in there is a terrible shortage of behavioral health specialists, psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors etc. Plus I am limited by the health plan I am stuck in, so I have not been able to be seen by anyone else. The situation is quite awful.
    • Jojocull
      Jojocull jennifer318

      Posted

      Wow. Where abouts are you? Sounds exactly like me. I've moved from Auckland to Tauranga and they have the exact same problem, a huge shortage in general thanks to our wonderful government...not! In turn we suffer as we have been. I am quite resentful as in Auckland the standard of care and professionalism is quite high and I know if I were living their still I would never have to have gone through all this drama. In fact when I'm feeling on top again I am going to demand s letter of apology about the way I have been treated it shall I say not treated over the last six months. You can pm me if you like sk we can keep in touch. Then everyone doesn't get to read our stuff!! Jo
Back to top
Next

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.