Venlafaxine withdrawal
Posted , 5 users are following.
Hi all.
Back in April my home was destroyed by fire, I then suffered from the worst anxiety attacks if my life. I couldn't be away from my temporary home without rushing back to make sure all was safe and my rescue pets were ok.
I contacted my doctor who prescribed me Sertraline. Sadly she obviously hadn't read my notes and to see I had been on Venlafaxine for the past 15yrs. Originally I was on 225mg, then it was increased to 375. I took myself down to 150 after I had missed a tablet and started to immediately suffer withdrawal symptoms. No one had ever told be how vile this drug was!
After my doctor prescribed the Sertaline I read up on mixing the two drugs as I thought she must know that I was taking the Venlafaxine. After reading up how dangerous it was to mix the two drugs I decided to get myself off this poison in order to take the new tablet.
I halved my 150 for eight days, then halved it again for a further 14. Today I have not taken the Venlafaxine for 48hrs and boy has my life turned upside down! I am ready to cry at the drop of a hat, my head is throbbing, I've had nausea all day and I have to keep going to the toilet. I would never have started on this drug if id had known half of the problems coming off of it would cause me. I'm going to speak to my doctor tomorrow as I don't want to restart taking even 35mg a day again to stop feeling this way. I rue the day I ever started taking this god awful drug. No drug should ever be prescribed without giving you all the details of just how terrible coming off them will be.
Sorry for going on😊
0 likes, 8 replies
Hannah-x Pidge2020
Posted
hello , i really feel your pain . I am on day 4 of no venlafaxine and i feel terrible !! anxiety , cant get off the loo , irritated , tired , on the verge of tears . i am coming off it because its supposed to treat depression and anxiety but the past few years i have had really really severe depression and anxiety since taking it! i thought this was supposed to help severity of symptoms but it didn,t at all . im currently in the process of getting another diagnosis so i think some other medication may work better . god this is awful though and i have tapered of them slowly !! i hope it gets better for you soon x x
nan55 Hannah-x
Posted
Hi, I was taking this for only 6 weeks for Anxiety, the first 3 weeks were awful so many side effects. The 4th week the anxiety started to get worse and by the 6th week it was bad, I also was starting to feel extremely low, My Doctor kept telling me it was trail and error with these drugs and at this point i decided to wean off. I was on 37.5 mg and did it over 2 weeks. I have now been off for 3 weeks, I wish i could say i feel better now, but i am still suffering the withdrawals ...The depression and crying are bad, the mood swings unbelievable the Anxiety is 10 times worse than when i started... Good Luck with your tapering..x
mollysox Pidge2020
Posted
Suggested recommendation is to reduce by 10% and hold until settled then 10% and hold. Drs would have us withdraw over three weeks or less as they have no understanding of how this drug affects the brain. Tapering can take months maybe years in some cases.There are some very good forums supporting withdrawal from this drug.
Pidge2020 mollysox
Posted
Hiya:)
I tapered over approx nine weeks in the end. After stopping completely it took around 14 days to feel almost normal and I'm now 28 days clean and 99% back to my pre venlafaxine self. I'm so glad I found the strength to keep off it and I'll be very reluctant to ever take a medication again without some proper research on my part. Cannot tell you how relieved I am to finally be off it!
abby1003 Pidge2020
Edited
My husband has been on this drug since 2016, he hasn't been the same since. i didn't realize a lot and its my fault for being naive. Mid April he left our son and I, with the quarantine in place he suffered a mental breakdown and made an imaginary life, his state of mind was horrific. He has since returned home, after researching his medication i earned Venlaflaxine is so bad. He was on 150 mg and once speaking to his doctor and the events since he was put on it, we agreed to remove the drug from his life. He went down to 75 mg amd then two weeks later was on 37.5 mg for a week. Monday was his last dose and his mental state has been bad. His anxiety is high, he feels horrific and his stomach is constantly bothering him. He is very irritable.
I spoke to a friend that said it would be a few weeks for him to feel somewhat better but beware of the zaps? She said she slept, smoked pot, and showered a lot to detox.
Any words of wisdom? We have a 9 year old son in our home.
Pidge2020 abby1003
Edited
Sleep helped me a lot, whenever I felt terrible I slept! After my last dose it took four days to start feeling human again, gradually withdrawal symptoms lessen and over the past four weeks I'm down to very occasional brain zaps. Things do improve. I also think drinking lots of water helped flush it out of my body faster. Good luck and things will get better!
mollysox Pidge2020
Posted
I would say that is too fast. I tapered very slowly (not as slowly as some) down to a quarter of a mini tab taken from a 37.5 capsule. I am approx two weeks clear but still suffering with brain zaps.
Take a look at Surviving Antidepressants web site. I am not connected to it but found it helpful.
Take care
Pidge2020 mollysox
Posted
It's longer than the three weeks my doctor tried to get me off it in!
I think everyone is different with regards to coming off this nasty drug but I was determined and would have suffered withdrawal for months rather than stay on it. My next step is to come off Pregabalin!
You take care too x