Wanting to get off venlafaxin

Hi Jenny. I am 69 and just started taking antideresssants 3 years ago. I take 300 mg venlafaxine when I get up and 15 mg mirtazapine for sleep. They work great for me and gave me back my life so I can enjoy my retirement. I understand your concern about your memory loss and think talking to a drug counsellor is a very good idea. Is your depression well managed on the meds? Maybe the meds you now take or the dosages can be changed to address your memory issue. Taking the meds you need to function and be healthy is nothing to be ashamed of and your sons are old enough to understand that. You are a very good mother to want to set a good example for your children. A lot of people need drugs to deal with health issues. You can be an example to your boys of taking pills responsibly and not abusing them. If you do begin to taper with a plan to discontinue them completely and find your depression coming back you should reconsider taking meds. You can’t be a good mother if you are down all the time. Good luck with your appointment and take care. Let us know how you are doing.

Hi Jennifer, 

I'm also 53 and have been on ADs since I was 30, with Effexor being over the last 15 or so years.  Like you, I began to question why I was on them after all the years, especially since I didn't feel they really made a dramatic difference.  I kept taking them believing I had an "imbalance."  At 49 I began to realize that I was having issues that had snuck up on me over the years due to the drugs.  I had always put up with my sex life being destroyed by SSRI/SNRIs and had finally had enough.  My memory and ability to concentrate have also been impacted.  

If I recall, I'd gone up to 225 mg of ven at one point and then dropped back down to 75 mg on my own.  In hindsight, I had some pretty severe cognitive issues associated with those drops, along with extreme mood swings. I have never slept well on ven.  I also have a huge amount of bone loss in my jaw from tooth grinding, and there is an association with ven and bruxism (night time grinding).  I now wear a mouth guard at night and have such bad bone loss that I am at risk of losing teeth.

At any rate, I tried to come all the way off four years ago.  I tapered off the 75 much too quickly, over about a month.  My system does not respond to drops immediately and I have never had a brain zap, ever.  So, withdrawal snuck up on my over time.  By ten months off, I was having the most severe insomnia, anxiety and depression of my life.  Folks here (and doctors) would say I had a relapse, but did you know that people who are put on ADs for non-emotional reasons (pain, PMS) also have severe depression and anxiety in withdrawal from psych meds?  Not their original condition!  Just happens to overlap with reasons why people go on the meds.

At any rate, I ended up back on 37.5 mg. along with Remeron because I couldn't sleep.  I finally stumbled across the resources that educated me about antidepressant withdrawal and I realized that was what had happened to me.  I vowed to eliminate these drugs that could do so much damage by their absence from my life.  I have been doing a very slow taper ever since.  When you have have been on these meds as long as you and I have, you can't expect to get off them in weeks or even months.  It can take years for some, but ultimately it takes as long as it takes. 

I am currently on 4.8 mg ven and 2.5 mg mirtazapine.  Very small amounts that doctors would say "It's not doing anything so you can just stop."  Well, I've seen people jump off from these amounts and have profound withdrawal symptoms!  

PM me and I will point you to resources.  Patient is not tolerant of sharing such info publicly. 

Just curious, did your sleep issues start before ven or during?  I've always had insomnia on ven, a known side effect.  I am side-stepping off of both ven and mirt, edging both down, to use the sedating effect of the mirt to counter the ven.

I wouldn't advise u too stop medication I've been on them for 16 years I've tried without them thought I was doing fine then bang about 12 weeks later I stopped sleeping at all stopped eating had major anxiety attacks I was in a bad way mental health nurses were called n gave me diazepam 5mg 3 times a day I'm now down too 1 n a half diazapam a day. I'm now on 75mg venlafaxine twice a day I'm much better thank full hoping too get back too work next week. I'm back too being the best mum I can be but my kids seen me at my worst and I'm not putting them thru that again. So now I'm taking the medication n getting better every day. I don't sleep at all during the day on venlafaxine and the diazapam seems too clam me too get a sleep. As the mental health nurses said I need this medication the same as a diabetic needs medicine . Xxx