Reduced venlafaxine dose anyone?
Posted , 5 users are following.
hi, i was started on venlafaxine few months ago. after 8 weeks on 225mgs i started improving but still not back to myself so went up to 300mgs. i was on it 10 weeks and felt tired, miserable and foggy so i decided to reduce back to 225mgs as i felt better on that dose. i reduced back to 225mgs 5 days ago. im really tired, headache and really foggy/cloudy head. does anyone know how long it will take to stabilise back on 225mgs? am i experiencing withdrawals after 10weeks?
0 likes, 7 replies
cora2020 vicki27618
Posted
I went down from 450mg to 37mg. I experienced the same. I can't say how long it lasts, as I'm like that all the time! As I'm menopausal. However as for feeling well so soon. That wasn't the case for me. It has taken me 5 years to feel a little better. It does depend on how long you have been ill for. That's what my doctor told me.. Good luck with it. Regards Cora
sarah24378 cora2020
Posted
you went from 450 to 37 in one go ?
do you mean 5 years on ven to feel well ?
cora2020 sarah24378
Posted
both!
jeff14986 vicki27618
Posted
Hi there!
Yes,effexor is a very powerful drug that stops normal biological processes in the brain to achieve effect. Your brain gets used to a certain amount (addictive to) of chemical compound it uses to function from effexor. When you stop or reduce the amount of chemical your brain needs, you feel the negative effect. It takes time for your brain to get used to the new amount it your giving it. My exprience with effexor was similar, only worse! I had to reduce my dosage very carefully & very slowly, otherwise i suffered what i call a brain attack! My symptoms included extreme vertigo, vertigo so bad I could not open my eyes! If i did I had to close them immediatly or suffer horribly using 'braille' to walk in my home keeping my eyes closed all the time, literally disfunctional, unable to eat, sleep, & more missing 4 weeks of work (prevailing wage). Doctors could not help, finally took correct dosage & vertigo vanished! I was furious! I knew then i had to stop taking this med. I did finally, it took me 1.5 years to slowly reduce dosage (or wene myself off) this drug, to the point of taking apart 75mg capsule to count out the little round balls 1 at time!! It was insane, i could believe the powerful & dangerous hold effexor had on my brain! Unbelievable! Yet thats what it took for me, god knows how bad i hate big pharma!!! So, go slow very slow when reducing your dosage, very slow!! I hope this helps, I've been thier, done that, never will I take any antidepressants cuz it causes depression in me & as I understand now, doesn't help most anyway. The justification for a chemical to treat yours symptoms is based on false science, plus instead of treating symptoms, why not find the cause? Md's are not trained to in general, thier trained to perscribe a pill full of chemicals that mostly hurt, not help. They (big pharma & doctors) don't fully understand seritonin role in the brain so, be careful!
sarah24378 jeff14986
Posted
Are you better now ?
I am on 150 of ven , 15 of mirtazapine....down from 45 over 10 months and 10mg of diazepam. Was on olanzapine but off that for 15 months.
Once of the mirtazapine i will taper the diazepam then the ven by taking the little balls out
What a mess!!!!
jeff14986 sarah24378
Posted
*Yes, much betta, i still suffer from vertigo (mild but annoying) sometimes daily, seems effexor left me with some permanent brain damage. I took myself off all meds, blood pressure, statins, ect & am happier doing so! Im learning how to treat the root causes of the health issues bothering me.
cyd2006 jeff14986
Posted
Hello Jeff, I just read your post about weaning off Effexor by individual grains of medication. Can I ask specifically how you did this? I was trying this but taking out a few more grains each day and by the time I was around 40 less grains, the awful withdrawal symptoms hit me big time and I ended up back at the full 75 mg capsule. My doc gave me a plan to withdraw over 6 weeks using Prozac, but I'm afraid to start this because I think it, too, might be too fast.
I am considering only taking a couple of grains out at a time and lowering the amount each week instead of each day, even though it will take me over a year just to get down to the 37.5 capsule! I count there are approx 240 grains in a 75 mg pill, so i need to remove approx 120 to get down to it. At 2 grains per week, this would be 60 weeks, but for me, it's better than being sick!
Thanks for any feedback you can provide.