Withdrawing
Posted , 11 users are following.
So this is yet another thread about the nightmare of coming off Venlafaxine... I've read all the threads and still feel I'm not sure how to do this.
I've been taking 1 75mg ER Venlafaxine capsule a day for probably 13 years - I've lost count :-/.
I tried to quit cold turkey three times and it was a nightmare. Got upto 6 weeks but felt like absolute crap, experienced the following symptoms:
stomach aches, dizziness, vertigo, nausea, detachment, depersonalization, agitation, irritability, tearfulness, extreme anxiety, lethargic, lost appetite, wanted to stay in bed all day, really bad tinnitus, couldn't focus or concentrate, really bad mental fog.
I then reinstated felt fine again and then after a few weeks tried by removing a few mg at a time. Each capsule weighs roughly 270-85 and I decreased by 10mg every few weeks. I suffered some withdrawal effects but soldiered through them. As soon as I got to 240 it was the same nightmarish experience as cold turkey. So reinstated back to 260 and feeling better but still a little out of it.
I'm at a loss as to what to do. I tried bridging with prozac but it was the same. Do I try decreasing by 5 each month? That would take more than 4 years... :-/ Do I try 50% reduction and just try and battle through the misery and hold on for longer than six weeks? Just the idea of that terrifies me. I'm completely non functional in that state. My work has suffered a lot.
The other interesting thing is the side effects I've experienced over the past years - low libido, eye pain, sweating disappear when I get to 250. Which makes me wonder if there is some kind of binary functioning to the medication where if it falls below a certain threshold it isn't as effective? Will it be easier to drop further if I hold at 260 and just wait to settle? Just speculating, looking for some kind of hope I guess.
The other interesting thing is I stick to the same brand Teva but each time the capsules don't all weigh the same sometimes the average is 275 sometimes its 280 sometimes in between. And individual tablets can differ between the heaviest and lowest by upto 10mg. Given I'm super sensitive to even a 5mg difference I'm surprised they're allowed to do this.
0 likes, 29 replies
philip42202 urielle97830
Posted
Dear Urielle,
yes, I recognise all these symptoms, and though it's some years ago now, I did 'succeed' in coming off Venlafaxine cold turkey. I experienced quite the worst 18 months of my life, still have the tinnitus, am still relaively depressive, have many food intolerances I never had before Venlafaxine: and all for about 12 to 15 months of feeling really well until those benefits subsided. 'm sorry I cannot report any positive in the process but I feel that I am stronger for having dug myself out from that pit.
Very best wishes, Philip
beinme philip42202
Posted
Hi, I saw your post about successfully coming off of effexor cold turkey. Please, any advice for me? I'm a little scared after reading some of the post's and withdrawal. I've only been on 150mg for about 3 months but I'm having bad side effects. I'm extremely tired all the time, no appetite, no energy and terrible weakness. It feels like every ounce of energy has been drained from my body which has made me even more depressed than before. I am 100% determined to stop this medicine and I think cold turkey is the best way for me considering the side effects I'm having on the meds.
Any suggestions?
philip42202 beinme
Posted
Hi, Beinme-
I am not trying to be clever in any way hen I report that I put Venlafaxine behind me. It was 2004 -as long ago as that. I was 55 and I was working outdoors dry stone walling, so it was perhaps the best time I could have made it work.
I'd been to see my doctor a week before + was told to lessen my dose over a fortnight, bringing in a new drug in place. Family and friends had been saying "Just come off it". So I did. To be fair, Id stopped smoking 20 years earlier in just the same way, so I had an idea it was possible.
It had been 6 years I'd been reliant on Effexor and by this stage I was on edge and angry inside. - perhaps just angry enough to feel I could win.
Over the next 18 months or there abouts I kept busy and besides working I took up writing poetry. I was determined there would be no part of my wakeful day spent moping. Nonetheless I felt like my head was switched onto an electric current - indescribable dizziness. I was often nauseous, still angry, and that feeling of fingenails on a blackboard all the time.
Please feel free to keep in touch; I'm going nowhere, and you mhave my admiration for giving it a go. I put 'success' in inverted commas because of the food intolerances that have fefallen me since Venlafaxine - after 14 years they show no sign of diminishing. As you've not been as long using the drug, it may not work out nearly so badly for you. Very best of luck,
Philip
beinme philip42202
Posted
Thanks for the well wishes. Last night (about a day & 1/2 into cold turkey mode), I finally broke down and took about 1/2 my regular dose. I did the same thing today, took 75mg instead of 150, I'm gonna try this for a week or so then down to 37.5mg for a couple weeks. Hopefully my withdrawal symptoms will be more tolerable this way. I feel like a lot of my depression over the past several years was brought on by some drastic life changes that occurred like a freight train, quick and almost deadly. The "almost deadly ,"part was due to my own stupid and wreckless response to my situation.
Long story short, went through a very difficult divorce from the father of my only child, whom I had been with since the age of 16, at the age of 42 found myself starting a new life on my own with pretty much the clothes on my back.
I wound up with the wrong crowd, drowning my reality with drugs, which was completely out of the ordinary for me up to that point. Ironically, his drug abuse, mental abuse and cheating was the reason I divorced him. ,eventually my behavior almost got the best of me, I was drugged with some bad stuff and left. Luckily , I wound up in jail then ICU for a couple weeks. After the initial shock, God awful withdrawals from several drugs (cold turkey ),and a few months down the road, I was back where I started, alone and had to start over only this time with a clear head. Depression set in and it seemed like I did nothing but cry and fear the future, that's when I finally saw a dr & was put on antidepressants.
Fast forward, that was 2010. Now I've moved on, put all that behind me. I have (with God's grace ),been blessed. I have a job I love, a nicer house and car and all the basics again and I feel like I'm much stronger due to my past, now I'm struggling with letting the antidepressants go. I have no doubt that it won't be easy, I also have no doubt that I can do it . I've learned from my past that the bad part WILL PASS, just not fast enough, lol.
I really don't think I will have the depression as bad now tho, I think most of mine was situational, that's what I'm hoping anyway. The only way to know for sure is to get off this medication and see.
Thanks for the response and listening to my life story. Sometimes it helps to put it all out there.
john059 beinme
Posted
coco74196 urielle97830
Posted
Yes, generic medications aren't as regulated and can vary! I took the Teva brand of Lamictal twice (it was a change in my regular generic brand) and it did not work right. I now have to specify the generic brand I want. It's frustrating. And you are probably going too fast. It's not the 240, it's probably that by the time you get down to 240 all the effects have caught up. It can take 8 weeks for them to peak and then decrease. Does that make sense? I'm just starting weaning off Effexor 150 mg and I take out 5 beads per 2 weeks. Then if I start feeling bad I just go back up that 5 and I don't feel like I have to start all over. Slow and steady. It's so hard and you have to be super patient. Best of luck!
urielle97830 coco74196
Posted
That makes perfect sense and I think you're right. Going to stabilize first and then try that approach of 5 every two weeks.
Wish they would make it easier for us and produce custom sizes. At least 18.75, 37.5, 56.25 XR would be good. I don't think they understand just how awful it is to go from 75 to 0.
Anyways thanks for advice. I guess I just need some reassurance I can make it through this.
coco74196 urielle97830
Posted
beinme urielle97830
Posted
I'm new to this post. I need information on stopping effexor. I've been taking 150mg for about 3 months. I have severe tiredness, anxiety, weakness and the overall feeling of being totally drained
phyllisj beinme
Posted
Go to Facebook and type in Effexor (venlafaxine) side effects, withdrawal and discontinuation syndrom?e this is the best support and withdrawal group I've found so far.
tammy76379 beinme
Posted
Hi there. Everyone is very different and reactions to this medication vary. You might be on too high of a dose. And I did find this true for myself when I started it years ago, but I'm totally adjusted now. Remember the stress you've been under with anxiety and panic, depression, etc. When your brain starts to calm down, it's only natural that your body will too.
To combat your symptoms, try a few things like vigorous walking, drinking water (if you become dehydrated, you get very tired) and maybe evaluate your sleeping habits. It's hard to know where to start, but I know for me, walking 3 miles every other day or in the treadmill made a HUGE difference in my energy level and sleep. It also boosts good endorphines!
Good luck and God bless!