Effexor XR withdrawal

Hello, not that I'm pro Effexor or anything. Currently, have been on Effexor 2 times in my life this is the second time. I would also like to point out I'm trying to get off them again. Along with a regiment of medication that I think the professional Dr's. that are only practicing medicine. I hate pills, but there are times we must be on them.

I have all these symptoms as before, I like to call them brain tracking, and whats up with the sex drive?? I've lost a girlfriend over this LOL Along with being so sick and not wanting to get out of bed, because of being sick. I have marveled over the fact that we are all going through this. The withdrawal symptoms do go away, however I would much rather being going through withdrawals from cocain or something LOL

To my utter amusement, reading these posts I have found one common frame of reference. We all know that we don't need Effexor anymore. So whatever you have to do to get through the withdrawal symtoms just do it - it will get better. Although, one day you might be saying you need to get back on it; but remember the withdrawal symptoms. It's not such a bad drug, but the withdrawal symtoms suck.

So, I've been reading all the posts and been feeling better that I'm not alone. I dropped slowly off the medication and have been having the major irritability, fatigue, headache and 'the runs' for 3 weeks now. I've tried the suggestions of the vitamins and Omega 3, but didn't really see much improvement. I have a job that requires all my faculties and I've been seriously considering going back on the med just because of these awful withdrawal side affects.

Can any of you please provide me with a timeframe in which you've had to endure these side affects? I'm at a cross roads and not sure if I should continue to hold out or simply go back.

Any updates on progress and timeframes would be very beneficial to me.

Thank you in advance and I wish all of you strength and courage!

anyone had problems with anger when coming off effexor? The slightest thing makes my head explode. I get the nausea when I try to cut down from 18.75 a day, to every other day - my doc gave me an 'anti-nausea' drug to help this - which does work. The anger is by far the worst problem though. I have been through all posts and haven't read about anger as of yet... I went from 225mg (max does in the UK) to 18.75 over a course of about 2/3 months - no-one is pushing me to do it any quicker etc... I'm also on Lamotrigine - my psych told me that being on effexor and lamotrigine makes the highs and lows come along randomly - which is why he told me to come off it. It doesn't help that the good old NHS in the UK has provided me with 4 different psychs in under 2 years AND that we only get appointments once every 3 months or so.... They were considering swopping the effexor with an 'atypical anti-psychotic' (on such a low dose that it is used for anxiety and depression... I don't know whether the anger is due to the withdrawal OR because I'm coming off an anti-depressant (lamotrigine side effects can give aggression). Coupled with all this I've had to come home from the USA because of my illness (bipolar II, horrendous lows) and am currently living with my mum and dad - I've never had good relations with my dad, so the arguments were always there - now they are unbearable.. Loads of mixed feelings with this... So the two symptoms I appear to have are anger and nausea, nothing else... Can anyone help :(

I'm not sure because I've lost track. The story goes that I've been on 300mg of Effexor XR for 3 years. It has truly helped me and I have been able to function like a normal person in the world. When I got on Effexor XR my husband was at the end of his rope from putting up with my mood swings, outbursts, and suicidal depression. He and I both were willing to try anything because of the pain my illness had caused both of us. I read boards like this one where people talked of their withdrawal nightmares and I didn't want to end up that way, yet the way I saw it I could just stay on the Effexor XR forever. Through some trial and error I was bumped from 150mg to 300mg and when the doctor tried to reduce it again, I was a fresh basket case all over again so it was settled I would live on 300mg of Effexor XR for the rest of my life.

I had been feeling better and thinking I may not need the pills anymore for a few months before September. Convincing my husband proved impossible though. He knew me before and after and was afraid to try me again without the drug. He convinced me to stay on it at least through my trip to stay with his family and I did.

This past September I left my job of two years to go on an extended trip to Costa Rica where my husband was born to stay with his family and get to know the country better. I purchased my two months worth of pills and took off, knowing that my insurance coverage would not be there when I returned. I had done one and two day long experiments without my Effexor before, so I had an idea what to expect if I ever quit for real.

While I was away I reduced from 300mg to 150mg in order to make my medication last longer. I didn't see any change in the way I felt from 300mg to 150mg so I really thought I was ready to overcome the drug now.

I got home in early December and I panicked because I knew I couldn't afford the 200.00+ medication on my own. Now it's almost the 17th. I am working from home a few days a week as a remote agent telemarketer. My husband no longer lives with me. If there is ever going to be a good time this is it. I have nobody to drive crazy but myself and I have no job to sleep in, be late for, and get fired from. This is my opportunity to overcome my addiction to the drug that made me normal.

I have slept through the days and into the nights this past weekend just trying to spend as much of this horrible time unconscious as possible. I am nauseous and dizzy. I am shaking and sweating. My central nervous system is sick. Looking at the computer is one of the worst parts. The jolt from the electric rushes is unbearable and I must return to sleep soon. I watched television yesterday then I thought about it and cried last night. Eating helps the nausea a bit and water is the only beverage I crave.

People who have never been through anything like this are the hardest to deal with. They cannot understand and I am frustrated trying to explain. Being alone is the only way I can recover and I find solace in the solitude. I have planned to hole up for as long as it takes to get over this. I will wake for a few hours each day and do my job. I will drag myself up and clean a bit. As far as I know nobody has ever died from Effexor XR withdrawal and I won't be the first.

This substance while effective is a miracle but I believe it was created to be taken forever. I'm not sure if my depression will return after I recover or not. I don't think normal people would consider the existence I am living now to be that of a person who is not depressed but I know it is different. What I feel now is contained and is not consuming me. It does feel sad because I have had to come to this point, but it is not the same depression from before the Effexor. It is winter and I look forward to the summer where I can emerge into the sunlight. I hope by that point I am clean of this poison.

Today is December 27 which means it has been 10 days since I posted above. The agonizing sick symptoms are gone, but what I was referrring to as "chills" has continued and become much more pronounced.

Now I know enough to call this phenomema tremors rather than chills. These tremors become worse as I become tired or if I get "upset" such as when someone says something which normally makes me feel uncomfortable. I know if I was in a stressful situation I would be quite embarrassed by my inability to control my muscles and it's lucky that I no longer work with the public.

As tiredness sets in over the course of a day, I find myself clenching my jaw shut tight to control the shakes in my head and neck. Looking at my hands, they appear to be steady. Still, I feel jerky movements which pull my body as I try to sit still. Without thinking, I flex my back into an exaggerated slump to control the jerking. This results in a terrible tooth, neck and backache by the end of the day.

After less than an hour of telemarketing work making calls using a teleprompter, the tremors become so bad I must take a break. I don't know if this is anxiety making the condition worse but I do not feel anxious.

I feel certain that the Effexor played a role on my dopamine which either caused this or brought an underlying unknown condition to light. Is it possible that these side effects will reverse themselves? I did not have any such symptoms before starting the med or while on it.

I do not have medical insurance at the moment nor is there any coming up soon. I had hoped with my otherwise good health, that quitting Effexor XR would save me in medical fees. Now I am worried I have developed Parkinson's or something similar. I never thought this was possible but I suppose I will only know after visiting a neurologist.

Hii All,
i want to share with u my experience with Effexor XR withdrawals, and i hope it would help.
i've been on Effexor XR 150 mg for 7 months, then my doctor told me the steps to take off it, first i reduced from 150mg to 75 mg for 2 months, then i started take it day and day for 2 weeks, then reduced it again to be one dose day and 2 days for another 2 weeks, the the last step is to take it only twice a week ( day and 3 days) for the last 2 weeks, and now THANKS GOD i overcome the medecin. am not taking it at all now.
ofcourse all the withdrawals all of u talked about was there, starting from dizzy to brain zaps( the worest withdrawal at all), but gradually it decreased.i think it depends on how long you took this medicin , i sometimes feel upset, and some phenomema tremors, but i think this is because of taking off it and it will be go by time. i think if anyone try those steps he will get ride of it for ever. but be patient and insist on not get back to the medicin again.

My answer to Roni....yeah I had problems with anger...I just blew up at anything. I tried and tried to get off the effexor but I can't do it. I am on 450mg right now, and I have weened my self down to 37.5mg, but its a wonder my family is still alive. LOL...I can't stand the feeling I get, its so bad that I get brain zaps, dizzy big time, I was at the band standing in line and I just stumbled backwards like I was drunk and I couldn't focus on anything. I started taking effexor for depression, and trying to get off this drug makes your depression 100 times+ than it was in the first place. I wanted to kill myself just to make it stop, my brain wouldn't quit thinking negative, I was sick to my stomach, sweating, the works. Everything you people are reading here about side effects are REAL....If you just started Effexor, I wouldn't take it until there is no other option to fall back on, try to get your doctor to look at other antidepressants, even better, join a gym, that makes anyone feel better......I am on lamotrigine also right now and I don't dare try to come off that one since I seen what RONI wrote about the side effects of coming off that.....Its going to take years to get off all these drugs.......but i have to say that right now, I am able to COPE, just cope with life, I am not enjoying it in anyway, but I am coping....plus gaining like 40 pds from this stupid drug really pisses me off, I have been taking it for like 10 years or so, So now I wonder how long it will take to get out of my system if I dare try to get off them again.....God Help Us All who are trying to get off this Drug, I never ever experience anything so bad. Not to mention, that I came off a few things in my life and nothing is any closer to being Hell on Earth that the withdrawls from Effexor.....DON'T TAKE IT UNLESS ITS THE LAST RESORT

I've been reading through everyones posts and I just wanted to say that you can do it! It's going to be really hard, I wont lie about that, but it's totally worth it. The withdrawal is literally a living hell. The constant dizziness, nausea, night sweats, the "brain zaps"(it's like an electric vibration going through your head but worse). If I knew any of this before, I never would have started taking it at all! I was on it for a little over a year. I was put on it my my MD when I was suffering from anxiety attacks. Never once did he tell me about any of those symptoms. But the funny thing is; I fell so much better now than when I was on it. I dont have that "toxic" feeling any more. Well, I just want to say good luck to all of you who are trying to wean off or quit. It is possible. XD

well, I'm off it now... I started to take another anti-depressant after coming down to approx 10mg per day of effexor. My anger has subsided and although I'm still pretty lethargic (ie, don't want to do much at all) I'm feeling a lot better... i'm on a drug (forgot the name) that is in the same group as prozac - I've been on this type before and it has worked, without having any side-effects from withdrawal. the only problem is that they stop working after a while. Thankfully my family survived my withdrawal, and I think at last they believe that it wasn't 'me' that was getting so angry. Stick at it guys - it is worth it - honestly....

[thank you for your positive answer.....i will try to do it but....i don't want my family to suffer because of it...i get really irritable...and i have a 2 and 3 year old, but maybe if i wean really really slow, i don't know

I was taking Effexor XR for a little over a year at 75mg per day for anxiety. A couple of months ago I started feeling like it wasn't working anymore and called my doctor who increased my dosage to 150mg. I took that dose for about a week and started feeling worse. I felt like I had no feeling at all. I began to feel that I didn't care what I looked like and decided I would be happy if I never had sex again and weighed 400 lbs! I decided to stop the medication cold turkey. I haven't taken it for 10 days and the withdrawal has been horrible. Brain Zaps for me feel like the Ah Ah Ah Ch Ch Ch from Friday the 13 every time I move my head too quickly. Nausea, diahrea, angry outbursts, speech slurs. I told my doctor last Thursday that I quit cold turkey and asked how much longer I'm going to go through this. She said at least another week. I've had sweating so bad in 32 degree weather that I've felt like stripping off my clothes and lying on the cold floor! This drug helped me for a while but I will never take it again!

Hang in there everyone. I'm off it; still having neurological issues, but I'm done with the Effexor for real. No more of those types of side effects at all. Only the Parkinsonesque part. When I get insurance again, I'll be sure to have it checked out. Till then, at least I'm off the drug.

i am going on day 4 of stopping my effexor cold turkey. I was on 300 mg and taking 20 mg of pexeva. I am stopping cold turkey after being on this medication for three years. The withdrawls are terrible, i don't know why any doctor in their right mind would ever prescribe this medication for anyone. I have those wonderful brain zaps every ten seconds, the only thing that momentarily makes me sane is food, as if the 30 pounds this medication has gained me aren't enough, stopping it is going to pack on another 30. I am a bundle of anger and rage directed at anyone within distance. I am at the toilet every night waiting and praying that I can just throw up. When I finally can fall asleep I am jolted awake in a puddle of sweat having just had yet another nightmare. And when I say nightmare, I mean the kind that have me screaming outloud in terror waking my husband. Minor daily tasks are ignored due to the fact that putting one foot in front of the other is too much to handle. I can't stand this feeling and only pray for the day that it will stop.

I wanted to write about my experience here because, like many of you, I faced the shocking realization a few months back that getting off Effexor was going to be a difficult, scary business. I had almost lost hope that I would be able to come off the drug, due to severe, crippling cognitive dysfunction every time I tried. But I want to share with you my story of being able to dicontinue the drug completely, without losing the ability to function, work, and think normally. In fact, my withdrawal has been almost symptom-free.

I have been on Effexor for 2 1/2 years, after suffering a bout of major depression. At first it didn't work, and so my psychiatrist put me on a small dose of lithium to boost the effectiveness in what she called drug-resistant cases. I also have a family history of depression, my mother being depressed since she was 30, but now fully recovered on Celexa/Lexapro. This was my first incidence of depression.

After about a month on the combination of two drugs, I felt fantastic. I felt satisfied for the first time in my life. This feeling was amazing, but it didn't last. Soon, I was dealing with short periods of depression again. On top of this, I was craving sweets and alcohol like I had never done before and had gained at least 20 pounds. I also started to experience brain shivers, disorientation and confusion when I missed a dose. At first I thought it was due to the lithium, but in researching both drugs, found that although lithium was probably responsible for the weight gain, the Effexor was the culprit for all the other symptoms. I went off the lithium due to major self esteem issues resulting from the weight gain which were not helping my condition. I decided to stay on the Effexor, at a 225mg dose.

After many months, I started to work down from 225mg to 150mg and then finally 75mg. I didn't feel as though the drug was actually effective, and the more I experienced the cognitive malfunctions after missed doses, the more certain I became that I didn't want to be messing with my brain in this way. We know so very, very little about how the brain works, and why these drugs are even effective (when they are). I felt resistance from my psychiatrist when I tried to explain my symptoms and doubts, and she seemed very ill-schooled in their existence. I turned back to research on the Internet and found, to my horror, that Effexor withdrawal is among the most widespread and painful processes associated with anti-depressants.

But I decided I needed to get off them completely. As I said, I didn't think they were doing any good anyhow, and the side effects were increasingly difficult to cope with, including the cravings for alcohol and sugar, and the loss of libido. I had been able to lose some of the weight from going off the lithium, but some was still remaining. I also started to notice at this time that if I drank caffeinated coffee, I became incredibly, incredibly irritated, a side effect I had never experienced before. I would also start to experience the brain shivers, confusion and disorientation after drinking coffee. My theory about this is that caffeine stopped the usual workings of the Effexor (look at a brain scan showing the effects of caffeine on the brain and you will see how this is possible), which precipitated a mini-withdrawal, along with classic withdrawal symptoms.

I tried to come of the Effexor several times cold turkey from 75mg, but after 2 days the symptoms were so bad I couldn't cope. It felt as though my brain would turn off for 1 second every 10 seconds. It was similar to the experience you get when you fall asleep and then suddenly awake with a start, but constant throughout the day. My ability to concentrate on anything rapidly deteriorated, and it became almost impossible to string two thoughts together, or even finish a sentence. Work was completely impossible, since I rely on my brain so much. I also started to feel nauseous and had an experience of vertigo whenever I moved too suddenly.

I was despairing since I knew the lowest dose was 37.5, which seemed hardly at all different from 75mg. Nevertheless, I got the new prescription and started to take it daily. I then dropped to one every 36 hours. Then 40 hours. Then 44 hours. Then one every two days. Then one every two and a half days, three days, and finally four days. I was skeptical of this approach because it seemed to me that as soon as I took a dose, I was back at square one. But this was not the case. Every time I spread out my dosages, I started to experience symptoms later and later. As soon as the symptoms became somewhat apparent, I would take a dose. But it became easier and easier for that period to extend itself in time. After going 4 days, I didn't notice any particularly major symptoms, only a slight awareness of my brain, so I decided to go another day, then another, then another. I am now at 10 days and counting, and I know I have broken the back of this and will never have to take another Effexor pill.

I am still more aware of my brain, the back of it down near the base of the neck, where I always felt the symptoms (the cerebellum I suppose). It reminds me not to turn my head too fast. But in general, I have no cognitive symptoms to speak of. I expect that feeling to fade too, although it may take some time. But I am fully functional, able to work, and in fact very productive at the moment.

The only other potential symptom I am experiencing is growing irritation. It is similar to the experience I would have when I was on Effexor and drank coffee. I am not the most easy-going person, and so it is difficult to pin it to the withdrawal, but my irritability seems far more persistent and deep-rooted than that which might be considered normal. Having read others' experiences, I feel this may be another withdrawal symptom. However, without the crippling cognitive symptoms, it is one I can live with and I am sure will pass in time.

I feel a huge burden has been lifted, and the incredible fear I had that I would never be able to get off this drug is over. I wanted to share my hope with others out there, because I know when I was researching this, I couldn't find a single story of long term discontinuation of the drug without major withdrawal symptoms. I strongly recommend the process I used in order to minimize if not completely eliminate withdrawal symptoms--work down to 37.5 mg, and then start taking the dose at more and more extended time periods.

Good luck!

**Possible Solution for Effexor Withdrawal**

I have been on 150 mg.'s of Effexor for about 6 mo.'s, and after realizing the withdrawal problems when missing a dose by a few hours, asked my prescribing physician to take me off of it. He immediately told me he would switch me to 50 mg. Zoloft for 10 days, and that would be it. The reason being is the "half-life" of the Effexor is very short (missing a dose by the few hours=withdrawals), whereas the Zoloft "half-life" is ~a week. The Zoloft will prevent/minimize the Effexor withdrawals because it is substituting one drug for the other, with a longer "half-life, and not stopping medication all at once. The 2-3 weeks off of Effexor (10 days + 1 week), substituted by the Zoloft, will give me time to ease off the Effexor entirely.

1st week on Zoloft, with no Effexor, there were some withdrawals, but minimal and they passed quickly. 2 days now off everything and I feel fine. The final question will be once the Zoloft is out of my system in a few days.

FYI…my physician, who seems to be experienced and knowledgeable with the Effexor informed me that even if I tried to taper down, I would go through withdrawals. He said “why go through it? Take the Zoloft for 10 days.” Bear in mind, I was only on 150 mg.'s for 6 mo.'s, but talk to your treating physician about the option involving Zoloft.