Reducing Effexor Withdrawal Symptoms

i haven't been on very long (6 months+) at 150mg per day, and i was so surprised to see that I'm not the only person feeling these horrible horrible withdrawal symptoms, and with such symptoms you would think your doctor would at least warn you these things could happen. I am not exactly what you would call a motivated person, and the effexor did help a fair bit while i was on them, i was taking so many days of work that i was almost at the point of getting fired, so what do i do? i miss a dosage and feel like absolute c**p 3 days after, this is the third time this has happened but it feels more elevated then the previous times. I was finally in the routine of going to work everyday, and i feel this is going to be the end of me, it's kind of ironic in a sadistic kind of view, i wasn't really severely depressed, but while in these withdrawal symptoms i feel like the only thing i can do is hide in my room, turn on music and think about ending my life in a quick and painless manner. I can't get over the fact that it's not written on the box (apart from "do not start taking this medicine abruptly." And while driving home it felt like i was in some kind of simulation. An effect i have experienced but yet to read upon is these kind of heart glitches, i call it inside out beats, and make it very hard to move your body, and sometime ends in involuntary movements, and i only feel it when I'm not on the medication, and this kind of troubles me. and it also takes my mind a few seconds to put things together, like reading a line of text can sometimes take 3 seconds, and it can sometimes take a minute. even while typing this. I'm looking up things to numb this feeling, hope it goes well, and i hope the best for anyone suffering with this bs.

I have been on antidepressants for 2 years (3 diff) with effexor being the last - been on it for 9 months

I am now free of it - THANK GOD

I did the prozac bridge and it helped sooooo much

I am taking 10 ml of prozac and the symptoms are so much easier then when I tried to taper without it

the half life of effexor is 5 hours

the half life of prozac is days

simple math prozac carries you over while you are let down off the effexor

prozac has a "natural" taper because of the half life

anyone struggling from taper

TELL dont ask your doctor to give you a 2 week prozac script

IT REALLY WORKS!!!

This will be my last post, I stopped taking effexor a month ago - this is my fourth post....if you read through the past month there is one post early on which was my toughest and lowest point. The third one is a breakdown of my detox to that date....and this one is to simply say that I am feeling quite well. I promised early on that I would come back and let everyone know how I was feeling because I found that was something I was looking for when I was on the worst few days...a string to hold on to, a light at the end of the tunnel.

I am still a bit tired and rest when I need to (a quick nap after work...go to bed early when needed) If I dont rest when I need it I do get some very mild light head spells almost like very very faint brain zaps....no where near as intense and no where near as often...and ONLY when I am over tired....so listed to your body it will let you know when to rest!

Wishing you all health, love, happiness and inner peace!
;-)

I can't believe how terrible I feel. No one around me can either. I am so sick from falling off effexor xr. I was on 150's for so many years and now I am really paying for it. I am so sick and I have all the symptoms I've read about in this thread! I couldn't be happier (sorry-bad choice of words) that so many people have experienced what I am going through and have articulated the symptoms! OMG I may not die after all! I have just popped 3 Omega-3 capsules and am cooking roast beef! I will be taking vitamin B 100's!! I have to call out for some benedryl but I do have a stash of 'valium' like meds and a powder mixture with a small content of cow thyroid that will put me to sleep for the night! Thank God I found you guys and gals!!!! God bless you.

In reading these posts, I am both sickened and enraged.

I, too, am experiencing extremely severe withdrawal symptoms after taking my last Effexor (150mg) three days ago.

Mine wasn't a sound decision, I'll admit. It was a financial one. I recently lost my health coverage and decided that I could probably do without this $150+ drug that I had already gone much of my life without. Depression-shmession. Everyone cries a litltle, right?

WRONG.

The symptoms began with a shock-like dizziness that I had experienced only briefly before when I was late in taking my meds. An excruciating headache, I threw up everything I ate or drank, cried hysterically at the least little thing, forgot the simplest of tasks and was easily confused. And the dizziness! It was extreme to the point where my son, who was sitting on my lap, told my husband I was "playing dead". I had passed out.

The latter side effect landed me in the ER where my BP was through the roof at 154/121. I was told that all of my symptoms were a result of my high BP. The doctor actually looked at my husband, all concerned for my apparent sanity, when I insisted that all of my symtoms, INCLUDING my high BP, was a result of my extreme withdrawal from Effexor.

They gave me a CAT scan, a Paxil (because obviously "crazy" people need some form of AD) some BP meds, an IV and many sympathetic glances. The doctors treated me as though I were making this up!

I am home now and utterly useless. When I sit up, the jolts of electricity reverberating through my brain are debilitating. I still can't keep anything down and my BP is still through the roof.

I have decided that I don't need this. My eldest son is handicapped and depends on me for the very basics of life. I almost dropped him today. I can't allow myself to be like this.

As much as I hate to, I am going to call my doctor and ask for a refill. My only hope is that some day soon the drug company, patients and ill-advised doctors will devise a plan to assist people like myself to eventually come off of this medication.

I understand not everyone experiences these extreme withdrawal symptoms. Why? What makes some of us different? What is the effect of this drug on my heart and vascular system? So many questions, so litttle answers and so very few people willing to take the time to understand...

I am so thankful I found this site. I have been on Effexor 150 for almost a year. I was put on this anti-depressant by my doctor after losing my best friend. I will say right after starting to take this medication my husband started commenting on how I had changed. I was sleeping ALL of the time, no energy, lack of emotion, lack of ambition to want to get anything done. I had called my doctor twice within this period and told him of several symptoms I was going thru and the weight gain. He pretty much told me that it was in my head. Well, Finally yesterday I decided that this was not me and came onto the computer and found all these posts and I came to realize its NOT just me. Thank god. I was beginning to think it was all in my head or I had something that was killing me. I honostly felt like I was going to die.
I have always been an active person and have always had my weight under control. And this past year I can't get myself to do anything without it being such a chore and I have gained over 20 pounds.
I am on day 2 of just going cold turkey. I can't even think about putting another one of those pills into my mouth. The first day was terrible, nausea, vommiting and just feeling plain crummy. So far today I feel light headed and dizzy, ringing in my ears. But I just keep telling myself that I am on the road to being clean. I just want to feel like myself again and I know my husband and kids will be so glad to see me again as well.
Good luck to everyone!! We will get thru this!!!

I'm on day 4 of being off this drug satan himself invented. I tapered down from the 150's by using 75's for about 6 days, then I skipped two days and took one more 75. That was 5 days ago. I'm zapping like crazy, but the Benadryl seems to help some. I read about it here last night, so I took 50mg before bedtime and had my best night's sleep in a week.

My list of symptoms:
Brain zaps
Vertigo
Ringing in ears that pulses with the zaps
Insomnia
Dizziness
Mild headache
Shaky
Nervous
Tired
Hungry all the time

But, I'm hanging tough. I want this evil stuff out of my system. About to head out for the fish oil and vitamins. Some have called these a placebo, but I don't care as long as it helps. I want to be ME again!
I'll try to keep posting about how it goes.

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How To Reduce Effexor Withdrawal Symptoms

edwardo78 wrote:

I am speechless. It's amazing how much I've learned from reading online from these forums. First off I'm a 30 year old male, that has been on this drug for just over SIX years. I went on it at a very hard time in my life (coming out of the closet) and it helped tremendously. Flash forward, I have a great career , boyfriend and friends. However, I've gained a good 40 pounds. I thought it was just "age" and no matter how much I worked out nothing would help. I don't eat that much---I also grind my teeth like CRAZY. Both things I thought were just cards "life dealt me" now I know they are most likely results of EFFEXOR....

The reason I found this place is recently I went off the drug by accident (was travelling and ran out and couldn't get a refill) and had 3 HORRIBLE days of EXTREME dizziness. I described it as like that feeling on a rollercoaster and your stomach drops but behind your eyes. My friends and family were perplexed, I'm back on it b/c I don't want to do it cold turkey, but now that I've read everything here I'm DESPERATE to get off of it.

Questions,

do you lose the weight you gained when you go off?
Do you get your energy back? (I thought I had some MONO like condition I have so little energy)
Do you ever return to normal? Do the brain shivers eventually go away?

There's a lot of fearful posts here and scary stories, but not much in the way of "i've been through it and I'm TOTALLY fine now"

I'm really scared to go off of it but with a doctor's help am going to try after new years when I have some time off from work.

Anyone have good stories to tell from the other side?
Do you lose the weight you've gained?

Does anyone know if Dandelion also helps with withdrawal symptoms besides fish oils? This is in regards to Effexor XR...