Effexor withdrawals are killing me! Any advice???

[blueblitzkrieg]

I've been taking 225 mg. of Effexor for about 2 years now and the past month I've been weening myself off the drug.

Surprisingly I didn't have ANY bad withdrawal symptoms until I went from the 37.5 mg pills to nothing at all. Now they're just awful. Headaches, sharp attacks of dizziness, and these electric-feeling ZINGS in the back of my head and in my arms.

When I take the 37.5 pills they go away..but I want off the drug for good. Today I broke open a pill and took about half the contents but it doesn't seem to be helping. :-( I just feel miserable physically.

Has anyone else tried to come off Effexor? Any advice?

[no name no slogan]

1. Not much you can do but stick it out

ON EDIT: I can't believe I didn't mention this: are you under a doctor's care, or does s/he know you're going off the medication? Some side effects may be quite averse, and you may want to be in touch with a medical professional while you come off. Just to be safe.

------

I've been taking 300mg/day of it myself (along with 600mg of Lithium to boost the Effexor), for the last seven years. I've gone a day without taking it, and it is the WORST feeling in the world.

The only thing I can suggest would be to drink lots of liquids, keep hydrated, and maybe take Tylenor to offset some of the headaches and bodyaches. You may want to try some tea with ginger in it for an energy boost and as a way to help clear your mind. When I'm low on a dose, I find it hard to concentrate, and for some reason ginger seems to help me out.

I'm guessing that you didn't get any effect from the half-pill because the spills aren't meant to be split. So, if you do take just a part of it, there's no guarantee you're getting exactly half the dosage of the pill. You could just be getting the bonding agent (usually some sort of hydrochloride, IIRC).

Just take it easy for a few days and wait for it to leave your system. Thankfully, Effexor doesn't stay with most people very long, and you'll probably be completely clear of it in less than a week.

Good luck, you can do it! :hi:

[blueblitzkrieg]

2. Thanks for responding!

Yes, I'm seeing a doctor as I'm coming off the medicine. I've been seeing her 5 minutes a week just because she wants to check up on me as I'm coming off.

Good point about splitting the pill. I didn't think about that... :dunce:

I might try the ginger tea idea. Went for a run today to burn off some energy and I felt quite a bit better afterwards. Maybe some exercise will help with this as well

Thank you for the well wishes! :hi:

[jdots]

3. when I quit it I was lower than low

it had become a tranquilizer to any feelings ,nothing bothered me but nothing interested me.
Do what ever you can to help the crappy feelings just get it out of your system because everyone i know got to a point that it was not helping at all......I took lots of showers and drank gallons of water for about 3 weeks
You can do it ! check in and try to keep active some way

[blueblitzkrieg]

7. Thank you for the encouraging words

:hi:

[TrogL]

4. Why are you getting off it?

Apparently there's a fad going on amongst psychiatrists to get people off anti-depressants, for no adequately explained reason.

My shrink said he took some of his patients off, they promptly crashed and burned, so he put them back on.

Is your shrink involved?

[blueblitzkrieg]

6. I'm the one that asked my doc if I could start coming off...

Effexor helped me a lot when I first began but now I kind of feel like it's holding me back. It helped a ton with my depression but I always felt tired and had no energy, motivation, or interest in anything. I'm noticing all of these things coming back as I'm coming off the Effexor. I've had pretty severe depression since around the age of 13 (21 now)and anxiety attacks that caused me to basically be housebound in the months leading up to my getting help, so maybe I'm naive to think the crap won't come back as hard as it was in the past, but I want to try. If so, I can always go back on medicine, I suppose.

[smirkymonkey]

9. I have been going through the exact same experience w/ Paxil

and the reason I went off it is because of the symptoms you explained:

"...I always felt tired and had no energy, motivation, or interest in anything." I felt like I wasn't fully alive, and I was on a low dose, so I wansn't entirely relieved of the depression completely either.

Taper off slowly (I didn't, which is probably why I had such a hard time.) and make sure you have LOTS of support. The depression has been excruciating, but I have also been working very hard and getting to the bottom of it (fear, repressed emotions, shame, self-hatred, anger turned inward, more fear, huge massive amounts of fear, etc.) and facing those things head on with the help of a support group.

I am still in a wait and see mode. It's been almost 3 months and I am going to give it some more time. However if I am living a life where I am depressed a majority of the time with only intermittent periods of contentment, I may go back on something else that is less difficult to withdraw from at a later date.

Good luck and keep checking in!

[bling bling]

5. I had all of those side effects too.

If you're not allergic to it, try 1 Benedril tablet when you start feeling the withdrawal. It helped me a lot.

But even still, you probably won't feel back to normal for awhile. It took me several weeks to get through it. It. was. hell. But I'm very happy now that I stuck through it. I wish you the best.

[blueblitzkrieg]

8. well, it's good to know people actually get through it

LoL thanks for the well wishes :hi:

[Sgent]

10. For me

I had to take the 37.5s daily for about two weeks(rather than the week suggested). Then I switched to taking them every other day, and finally every third day.

The half-life of Effexor XR is aobut 36 hours, so even if you dropped from 225 to 37.5 over a course of two weeks, your blood level is still much higher than 37.5.

Also, you might ask your doctor to give your some Effexor (not the XR), at the lowest does, and cut it into quarters.

[EFerrari]

11. Hey, blue , some questions

I took Zanax for a few years, less every year, for a panic disorder.

All of a sudden, it was politically inKorrect, so my doc wanted me off it. Fine, I hate pills anyway.

I felt fine until I was down to a smidge a day. The side effects were terrible. And my doc didn't get it. It was a new drug then, and my doc couldn't figure out why I felt anything at all! But, the muscle spasms in my back, for example, were visible. So, he took me seriously.

Over the years, I've gotten great and terrible feedback from docs on titrating or switching or going on/off meds. I'm glad you're looking for peer feedback. Scanning the net might not be a bad idea. There's bad info but also good info out there.

When I went off of Prozac, I had your same symptoms but to a much lessor degree. The headaches were the worst. Benedryl is a good idea if you can take it safely.

You might also think about just handling the stress of the change: with self soothing and B1 -- just as you would handle any stressful event?

Keep us posted,
Best,
Beth in SF

[blueblitzkrieg]

12. Saw my doc today and I'm going back on the 37.5 mg

for a while. She said she thinks we may have rushed getting off too quick and that usually the highest 2/3 of the dose aren't difficult to come off of, it's the last 1/3 that's the killer..so I'm going to taper off a bit more slowly.

Took my pill and it's unbelievable how quickly I went from feeling like complete CRAP to feeling 100% fine. The power of prescription drugs!!!! :o

Thanks for all the kind words and advice. :hi:

[no name no slogan]

13. How're you doing now?

It's been six days since your last post, are things still going well?

Hang in there-- it's quite a shock to the body to go through this!

:hi:

[blueblitzkrieg]

15. Good, thanks!

Within hours of taking it all my nasty side effects went away. I'm going to get off altogether but it's probably better to do it slow so that I'm not in such pain. Because I need to find a new job...pronto. :o Can't do it feeling like crap.

[DemExpat]

19. This sounds like an excellent plan to me!

I would take all the time I need to keep it at a minimum for being able to function well and feel half way decent.

:hug:

DemEx

[no name no slogan]

20. Glad to hear it!

And it does suck to change jobs in the middle of an episode (personal experience here, unfortunately).

Hang in there! :thumbsup:

[TrogL]

14. good for you

That's the dosage I'm on and it's working for me.

[blueblitzkrieg]

17. Thanks! A little bit goes a long way. nt

[EFerrari]

16. I'm so glad!

Good for you guys for figuring it out.

[blueblitzkrieg]

18. Thank you!

I'm glad too, I feel so much better.

[Kashka-Kat]

21. be careful

I find this site to be most informative & candid about side effects & problems w/ withdrawing

http://www.drugawareness.org/home.html

(Note that the site and the director of this org. may come across as taking an anti psychiatric drug stance, but if you read closer you'll see that they do recognize that it can help some people & yes even save lives but for others the stuff is toxic and so the issue really is the widespread indiscriminate prescribing & lack of proper monitoring.)

editted bc I shouldve read all the posts b4 responding! I see your back on, definitely a good plan to take it slow. From what I've read it really does need to happen at just the right pace.(I never was on ssri myself, I did try 1x and it gave me severe anxiety attack.) good luck

[stepnw1f]

22. I Just Stopped Taking Effexor XR...

about two months ago. The side effects you described "electric-feeling ZINGS", were awful. I would tell my significant other and she'd just look at me blankly. In an odd way, I am comforted to see I'm not alone.

I am now completely off of Effexor XR due to lack of Health Coverage. My state had to cut back on Free Health coverage and now hat I have a job, they would not consider me. Can I afford it... Nope.

So I managed by cutting down as slowly as possible and did so within a MONTH! HORROR. BE CAREFUL... I have had some serious withdrawals from stopping abruptly. So severe in fact, that I had a seizure on evening two years ago.

I'm ok now, just moody and a bit anxious. I hope you are well.

Take care!

:hug:

[rox63]

23. Are you getting "brain shivers"?

Check this link for a description. It's a pretty common Effexor withdrawl symptom. I sometimes get it if I just miss a dose.

http://depression.about.com/cs/venlafaxine/a/brainshivers.htm

This is my first post on this forum, so a here's a bit of my background. I was diagnosed as Major Depression with Recurrance about 10 years ago. I also suffer from severe bouts of anxiety, and what appears to be a mild case of OCD. I've been on Effexor for several years, and it's been a lifesaver for me. I did get off it a few times. But I each time, it was followed by a horrible months-long downward spiral. So I have finally accepted that my chronic depression & anxiety requires that I take the medication long-term. I was on Zoloft at first. But it eventually lost it's effectiveness on me. So my doc had me try Effexor, and I've been on it for about 8 years now. I don't take the XR version. I take the older pills, twice a day. I take a larger dose in the morning, and a smaller dose in the evening, or else it keeps me up half the night.

[no name no slogan]

24. Welcome!

The "brain-shivers" sypmtom is something I experienced earlier this week-- when I missed a daily dose. I bet it's pretty common amongst us FXR-poppers.

My situation is very similar to yours: I've been taking Effexor for eight years (XR for the past five), after go-rounds with Paxil (it crapped out) and Wellbutrin (made me physically ill and suicidal). I've also decided that the only long-term way to manage my depression is by using medication as part of my regimen.

And I know what you mean re: the insomnia. In addition to 300mg of Effexor XR, I'm also taking a 600mg dose of lithium and 100mg of trazodone before bed. The lithium boosts the Effexor effectiveness, and the trazodone helps me sleep. Without the trazodone, I will not be able to sleep

It's amazing how similar our backgrounds are-- especially the fact that we've been taking the same primary med for the same amount of time.

Glad to hear you're doing well. :hi:

[rox63]

26. I take 50 mg of trazadone at night

Otherwise the Effexor wakes me up in the middle of the night. And I'm on 250 mg of Effexor a day. Because I'm not on the XR version, I take 150 mg in the morning, and 100 mg at night. And I've settled into being a fairly functional unit, with occasional (but manageable) depressive and anxious episodes.

:hi:

[TrogL]

27. what are you getting for Effexor side effects?

Jaysus I'm on 37.5 and can barely cope with them.

[rox63]

28. I don't get many side effects

Maybe it's because I've been taking it for so long, but I don't get much for side effects. I do get the 'brain shivers' if I miss a dose. There's the insomnia problem, which is why I take the trazadone. And I occasionally get a screaming headache, but I'm not sure if that's related to the meds or not. I can't drink alcohol much anymore, because it really knocks me on my ass since I've been on the meds. Two drinks is my limit, or I start falling over. But since alcohol is a depressant, it's probably wise to stay away from it most of the time anyway.

If this is price for a mostly functional, relatively sane life, I'm willing to put up with it.

[no name no slogan]

29. That's funny, I get headaches like that too

One thing I also notice is that I start to feel really "toxic" about once every couple of months, and I need to take a day or two away from everything, just to chill out. I do a light fast (juices and "simple" foods, like pasta), get some light excercize, and sleep 12-14 hours a night for 48 hours or so, and I'm back to normal.

But at least after that life is manageable again for another few months. :)

[rockedthevoteinMA]

25. Just did a quick google and found this board - it's homeopatheic

remedies to coming off of effexor:
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/forum2.php/19059/
Ladies, I suggest, from your descriptions, that you get some NUX VOMICA 30X or less X, and take 3 doses per day for a week. Sorry I did not suggest this before.

It is for very irritable and headache remedy. Actually, it takes care of a lot of sym.

The thing about Nux is that it counteracts a poison condition in the body. It may help you complete your program.

(there's tons more)

I hope this helps you ... I know from personal experience the hell these drugs cause. :hug: