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Horrific Withdrawals - I hate Venlafaxine!

Posted , 8 users are following.

Kitkat29
Kitkat29

Hi I'm new to this site and this is my first post. Firstly I'd like to say thank goodness there are others who share my experiences with this horrible medicine!

I've been taking Venlafaxine for approx 4 years now, I started on 37.5mg but that gradually crept up to 150mg as I was failing to cope on a lower doseage. Anyway this stuff is good when you take it regulary without missing a dose but you know what its like the odd occasion where you forget or the pharmacy is closed just as you get there! Well this happens to me quite regular, as I'm trying to hold down a 9-5 job i find myself sleeping for most of the weekends. Last weekend was the worst i've ever felt from missing my dose....

I couldn't get to the pharmacy on Friday before they closed which meant I'd already been a day without my tablets which wasn't too bad to be honest but Saturday I woke up around 11am feeling nauseaus and tearful. I dragged myself out of bed and attempted to do some housework and shopping (unfortunately if I dont do it no-one will). Driving to the supermarket dressed in my tatty clothes was awful i felt so dizzy, I knew I shouldn't of been driving as I couldn't move my head or my eyes without an electric shock zapping through my brain sendind a numb feeling down through my hands and legs. Regardless I carried on and done my shopping amidst a flurry of 'healthy' people looking at me like I'd just crawled out of a gutter and shat on their kids.

I arrived back home to lovely argument with my fella who doesn't understand and gets quite frustrated from time to time - although i dont blame him as when I'm like that I can be quite snappy but who wouldn't when it feels like someones got a cattle prod to their head every 5 minutes?! So night falls and I manage to get a couple of hours sleep in between the crying and the sickness that washes over me every few minites. 1 more day to go before I can get my prescription on Monday morning!

Wake up on Sunday and spend the day hysterically crying from the pain and frustration - I wish there was some way of getting emercency treatment! Sunday night whilst in bed I had the worst experience I've ever felt... I woke up suddenly feeling pinned down I couldn't move my arms or any part of my body except my head when I tried to call out to my partner nothing happened, I couldn't speak... this lasted for only about a minute but it felt like an age. Has that ever happened to anyone else?

Monday morning arrives and I pick up my prescription from the chemist hooray... now to get to work (already an hour late) - hopefully the tablets will kick in soon as the thought of trying to work in a small office feeling this way is really not appealing. So I get to work and within a few hours I throw up violently and have to go home. Now my work are understanding and sympathetic but like anywhere they won't put up with absences for long before they get rid of you so now thanks to this stupid medication my job is at risk and my relationship is hanging by a thread.

[b:6c4b33c362]Personally I think Venlafaxine should be banned[/b:6c4b33c362], how can medical professionaly allow people to take this knowing that even by missing 1 tablet it can ruin you physically and mentally. Just a few side effects i suffered that weekend include:

Tremors

Electric shock feeling in my head

Blurred vision

Restlessness

Anxiety

Vomiting

Sweating

Nightmares

Dizziness

Hysterical crying

Headaches

4 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • cush
    cush

    Posted

    I know exactly how you feel as i am trying to come off venlalic xl i was taking 75mg a day.

    then i decided to come off because of weight problems, so i started taking one every other day, and still felt bad, now i am taking half a day.

    just wonder how i would get on with cold turkey, because these are like a

    class A DRUG

    my doctor gave them to me for hot flashers, they no longer work for this

    I had all these systems and more, must go back to doctor for a lower dosage

    its very very scary

  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    I really feel for you. I was on Venlafaxine for 2 years, along with Valium on and off when I had insomnia (a side effect of Venlafaxine), and then finally put on Mirtazapine for the insomnia which helped for the first 2 weeks and then made everything much much worse.

    I've been off Venlafaxine now for a month, I just had enough after the memory loss was getting noticeably worse each week. I just quit cold turkey. I feel much much better now, the depression and anxiety has gone because I finally forced myself to change my life. The only side effect I have at the moment is very very slight zaps in my head which have got less each week and will hopefully be totally gone soon.

    My advice for anyone trying to come off is to set achievable goals, such as going a day without Venlafaxine, two days, three, a week, two weeks, three weeks etc. Keep yourself busy, do things that you've been planning to do for a while. See old friends. Go places. I went away and saw places that I've wanted to see for the past few years, stayed in busy cities when a few years ago I was to afraid to get out of my car in small villages and go into the small local shop. Force yourself to do the things that used to make you happy. Feel the fear and just do it :D I wish you all the very best x

  • kyo1
    kyo1

    Posted

    Hello from CZ,

    I have the almost same experiences like you. These electrical shocks starts every time in the morning after I forgot only ONE single day to take my pill. I have 75mg Efectin for two years. It goes like this: I wake up, my head is very hot and I am thirsty, I feel very huge pain every time I move my eyes or try to close them. Sometimes I couldnt wake up and fell asleep thousands times - I feel paralized. Dreams and reality are mixed. I feel scared, sometimes my dog help me get up, otherwise I will be in this sort of dizziness until my boyfriend comes from work. sad I cant move my legs, hands or scream. Now I know it is from venlafaxine, because it never happends, when I take my medicine properly, only if I forgot. Tommorow I must tell that to my doctor, I dont want to take it anymore. I think I will go back to SSRI, where I only felt sometimes tired, but never any psycho like this.

  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    "... sometimes my dog help me get up, ..." Aww bless your heart sad
  • jolly674723
    jolly674723

    Posted

    Im on my third day of going cold turkey. Venlaexine as advertised, gives me this bold anger outburst but only in times, I am not getting what is NEEDED. my head is throbbing the nightmares are there...and I want them, because the dreams/nightmare make me sleep better.

    I know in the past if I missed a two or three day dosage, I would get a little sick and just want to leave church. NOW has anyone ever gone to the gym to work out with weights or something physically strenuous that release Endorphins? Endorphins are the feel good hormones that put you at ease and you feel good.

    Also, avoid sugar. Eat healthy good fruits and veggies. It all helps for me at least.

  • elliegray1
    elliegray1 Kitkat29

    Posted

    Hi I was advised to stop this drug slowly over a couple of weeks or even months

    I haven't actually done this yet over the same fears as yourself

    Here's what was advised / to reduce dose by half over four days at a time but I will try this over a week at a time

    When at lowest dose say I.e 37.5 a day after 4days/a week

    then have this dose every other day then halve the pill (if not in capsule form) take every other day for a week then stop

    I was told the side effects are not as violent

    Will speak to doc and let you know when it is done

    And record my personal experience on here

    Empathy and regards E

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