Off Venlafaxine! Help!
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hi....I'm on day 7 of no venlafaxine and I've been feeling great up until today, had a sudden burst of anxiety and felt a panic attack coming on but it subsided. The dizziness is awful and I'm now lay in bed trying to pretend I'm fine as I'm so scared of having the panic attacks again. I'm also aching all over and on the verge of tears for no apparent reason! I hate the heavy feeling on my chest, and the hot zaps I get in my ears and head. It's so good to know that there's so many people going through this too, helps a little, not feeling alone. When will this stop though? I don't want to go back on the tablets, I've came off as we're wanting to try for a baby and my doc said I should get off the meds first but I'm assuming other people have had children whilst still taking it as its too hard to get off!! If I fail and end up on these tablets again, will it be ok to have a baby?
0 likes, 11 replies
betsy0603 Kit1981
Posted
How quickly did you come off ven? Did you do a cold turkey? It is never recommended to do a cold turkey off ven or any other SSRI/SNRI! Even the manufacturer label states such!
Even if you did a doctor-prescribed "taper," most doctors have their patients taper much too fast (over weeks) which amounts to a cold turkey as far as the nervous system is concerned.
I hate to say that you have only experienced the tip of the iceberg and have only just begun. Protracted withdrawal from sudden cessation of ven can go on for months and even years, though the physical symptoms should get better earlier on. It is the emotional ones that are so devastating, from my experience of protracted withdrawal for 10 months. I ended up reinstating as I thought I was going to die otherwise! I didn't know it was withdrawal at the time, as none of the many doctors I saw recognized it, and in general the medical establishment refuses to if it is beyond a couple of months.
Though you don't want to go back on, your best bet is to reinstate and do a slower taper off. I'm willing to bet the taper you did was way too fast. Reinstating at the last dose before you jumped off should bring some relief. You could then do a slow taper from there. I don't know if this link will pass moderation but if it does, it will help explain things:
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/withdrawing-from-antidepressants-and-benzos-safely-485891?page=0#1809368
As for a baby, it's a shame doctors put women on these drugs who are of child bearing age and don't explain to them the difficulty of coming off! Before risking getting pregnant on ven, I'd do some web researching to look into it. There must be a reason why doctors want women to stop, and I'm guessing harm to the baby.
You may have to put the pregnancy plans on hold until you can taper off properly I'm sorry to have to say that. There is no way to determine how long withdrawal will last or how bad it will get for you if you continue off.
Withdrawal from quick tapers and cold turkey cessation does not occur in a linear fashion, gradually getting better. Instead, it happens in a windows and waves pattern, where you may feel better (a window) followed by getting worse again. In general, the waves should get less severe over time, but I have read of accounts where waves months out were worse than ones in early days! There is just no knowing how it will go for you. And that is why the withdrawal "experts" recommend reinstating when the prospect is still on the table, as a harm reduction strategy. The idea is to very gradually wean off the drug such that the nervous system has a chance to adapt without such wild wd symptoms. Then, when you finally jump off at the end of the taper, there may still be withdrawal but it won't be as severe, more tolerable.
Withdrawal is a sign of nervous system healing, adjustment, but when you come off too fast and from too high a dose, the chaos from the subsequent imbalance is much more extreme. I guess you could even say that the end point might be the same in terms of length of recovery, but the experience while getting there much gentler with the slow taper method.
If you decide to forge ahead, doing so with awareness is key. Know that the physical symptoms are from the imbalance that the body is trying to recover from, and that they won't last for ever. When the anxiety, depression, insomnia and OCD get bad, you will feel desperate and afraid, but know this going in and hopefully you will be able to mind-over-matter your way through. It can be very tough going and very scary.
I wish I had know what was happening to me while I was in it. Reinstating at 10 months was like starting over again. I have no idea how I would have proceeded if I'd known what was causing the madness. Maybe I would have had the strength to forge ahead, but I just don't know!
You know yourself better than anyone. Are you the kind of person that can take this information and have confidence that you will be able to handle it now that you know?
Whichever way you decide to go, you might want to join the support forum in the link, a private non-profit that was developed by peope like you and me having gone through this, for the fact that there was nowhere else to turn. There is much comfort to be found there, as well as tons of tips for self-care while in withdrawal.
Kit1981 betsy0603
Posted
betsy0603 Kit1981
Posted
I read a paper that talks about occupancy of the receptors that these drugs block, and at 37.5 mg Effexor, 80% of the receptors are still blocked - that's a huge amount! So, to go from 80% to 0% in one month is a tremendous drop!
If you had the extended release version with the little beads inside, you can always open up a 37.5 mg capsule and take a fraction of the beads to relieve symptoms and then do a micro taper off that number of beads. Just for your consideration, just in case!
Good luck - I'm rooting for you!
Kit1981 betsy0603
Posted
I didn't actually tell my doctor, I just did it myself, the way I wanted. I researched what other people had done and tried that. My brother has been on Effexor 175mg for 15 years!! He's now on 212.5mg daily and says he will never be able to stop. It upsets me that his doctor hadn't tried to help him reduce over the years and just hands them out. I didn't really want to listen to the doctor too much because unless he's been on them himself he can't really understand. I feel a little better than I did earlier, I'm hoping I'm one of the few who get over the withdrawal pretty quick!
Kit1981
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betsy0603 Kit1981
Posted
Good luck, Girl!
Kit1981 betsy0603
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betsy0603 Kit1981
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Dani21397 Kit1981
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I have been weaning off this awful drug for the past month and I'm now on day 3 of no drug and I feel so much better than before as I had to take one every 3rd day. I am concerned how I'm going to feel tomorrow as itl be the longest I've gone without but I'm so determined to never ever have to take that awful stuff again!! Reading your experience has given me hope and made me feel a lot better so thank you so much and I hope everything goes smoothly for you xxxxx
Kit1981 Dani21397
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betsy0603 Kit1981
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