Effexor Withdrawal Side Effects

[Holle]

hello. i finally decided to get off effexor. yey! my pdoc weaned me down. the process went smoothly until i had to stop taking it completely. the last pill i took was 37.5mg sunday night. i was fine until tuesday afternoon. today is wednesday and the side effects are worse today. all i really want to know is how long i should expect this to go on for? i know a couple people who quit or tried quitting effexor. i don't know how long it took for the person who was able to quit it since i don't talk to them anymore. and the other person had to go back on it because he couldn't stand the side effects. i don't want the latter case to be me! i really want to tough it out, but i am not being productive at the moment..and feeling crappy, in general.

anyone know how long i should expect to be dealing with this?

thanks!

sorry if there was already a topic like this. i don't really have the brain capacity to search.

[mysterious]

Hi Holle,

I came off Effexor years ago, I can't quite remember the details but I know I didn't go straight from 37.5mg to nothing. I cut the tablets roughly in half and took the bigger bits first and I think by the end I was taking the crumbs that were left over! It probably took an extra week or so.

My pdoc initially thought I could go from 75mg to nothing...

If you're finding it rough then you might want to ask your doc about getting some more tablets you could cut in half. Or if it comes in liquid form (I don't know whether it does) that can be a simpler way to wean off it gradually.

I do remember how horrible it was, I feel for you! But for me it was worth it to get on something that worked... I hope it is for you too.

M

[Holle]

Hi Holle,

I came off Effexor years ago, I can't quite remember the details but I know I didn't go straight from 37.5mg to nothing. I cut the tablets roughly in half and took the bigger bits first and I think by the end I was taking the crumbs that were left over! It probably took an extra week or so.

My pdoc initially thought I could go from 75mg to nothing...

If you're finding it rough then you might want to ask your doc about getting some more tablets you could cut in half. Or if it comes in liquid form (I don't know whether it does) that can be a simpler way to wean off it gradually.

I do remember how horrible it was, I feel for you! But for me it was worth it to get on something that worked... I hope it is for you too.

M

i probably would take less than 37.5mg but i can't cut them in half. they are those pills that are filled with powder or whatever. i guess i could empty them and try to split up the powder. i don't know. i figure i have already gone two days like this, i can keep going....but i want to know how long i will be this way. is it days? weeks? i wish there was a detox program for effxor!

oh...and my doctor wanted me to stop at 75mg at first too! are they that clueless?

[SashaSue]

One of the extra sucky things about Effexor withdrawal is that it's just about impossible to predict how long it's going to take for anyone. I think Effexor's one of the meds whose withdrawal can be ameliorated by a short course of prozac, but I could be wrong about that.

[Artemisia]

I opened the capsule and divided up the granules (with my doctor's reluctant blessing). That made all the difference!

[Holle]

One of the extra sucky things about Effexor withdrawal is that it's just about impossible to predict how long it's going to take for anyone. I think Effexor's one of the meds whose withdrawal can be ameliorated by a short course of prozac, but I could be wrong about that.

i would ask my pdoc about that but prozac makes me feel even worse than this. i tried taking it before, but after two weeks, i needed off it right away. actually, maybe i feel as bad as i did then. i don't know.

I opened the capsule and divided up the granules (with my doctor's reluctant blessing). That made all the difference!

maybe i should try it. but i really don't want to be on the stuff any longer. maybe i'll see how i feel tomorrow.

[Artemisia]

maybe i should try it. but i really don't want to be on the stuff any longer. maybe i'll see how i feel tomorrow.

I think it's worth it.

P.S. I don't think your being bipolar is important in this particular instance. You've been on higher doses of Effexor, and you're on other meds that should help to stabilize your mood. (Sorry. The CB layout is kind of wonky for me right now, and it's hard for me to tell what's being addressed to me and what isn't.)

[wondernut]

I am on Effexor and plan on staying on it for a long time ...but in the event I do have to come off can you tell me what you are feeling when you say "I feel horrible" is it physical pain or emotional agony? or ???

thanks so much

btw I am on 75mg not 70mg (duh!) as I put in my sig and since the board is not the same I can not figure out how to change it?

[Artemisia]

Wondernut, some people get nausea and dizziness and such. I mostly just felt sensations akin to static electricity discharges in my head and down my arms (pretty unpleasant) when I was withdrawing from Effexor. Effexor tends to be the nastiest antidepressant as far as withdrawal does. A friend of mine, though, had no withdrawal effects at all.

[Holle]

ok...am i hallucinating or is the board a bit off right now????? as in the format

for me....i have the nausea. and what i call brain shocks. it's extreme vertigo with the sensation that someone is zapping my brain through some electrode. and i have this new auditory thing with the vertigo....sounds like bats flapping its wings. sort of. i am very restless and have anxiety....but more like feeling anxious than anxiety attacks. i am also plain exhausted. i had so much trouble waking up today....worse than normal, and i always have trouble waking up. my dreams have been very vivid and filled with mild anxiety, but no nightmares. i have that sensitivity to my skin. the physical effects remind me of the flu. and a headache. oh...and i keep bursting out into to tears for no real reason or because i hate this feeling. but i am not suicidal or overly depressed. so that is good.

but it seems it might be different for some people. for instance, my friend who tried to stop effexor had it much worse than me, it turns out. he had constant nightmares, hallucinations and could not speak or think coherently. he lasted four days until it was so unbearable he went back on it. i should add, he was not replacing effexor with anything else. the fact i am on welbutrin at this time might be helping me.....even though i really am not looking forward to too many more days like this.

i hope i am making sense. haha. i think i just used all my energy with this reply.

anyway, what my friend and i am kind of angry about is that neither of our doctors warned us how powerful effexor is. i mean, this seems to be a bit of a dangerous drug and patients should be warned about the effects of going of it.

[The Emperor]

Yeah, I was just put on it a week ago, and before I'd even been given this drug, I've heard of how painful the withdrawal process can be.

When I asked p-doc if I was going to have trouble coming off it (which I knew a lot of people do) he said no, which, by the way, doesn't make me believe this is true, I just wanted to ask him and see if he'd be honest, which he wasn't. I have a hard time believing that these doctors DON'T know about discontinuation syndrome and shit, but they say they don't.

Anyway, why I'm on it now, I don't know, thought I'd try something else, I guess. It probably won't be worth it in the end, but we'll see.

So, I can't answer your original question, but I've heard that there are immediate release effexor pills that are taken a few times a day. I don't know whether these exist still or not, but if so, then it would probably be possible, if your withdrawal is so bad, to get THOSE pills (which might come in smaller doses than 37.5mg) and taper off that way? Just a suggestion, I don't know if they still make immediate release Effexor or not. This is just from random websites I looked at researching this drug, don't know how outdated the info I got was.

Also, I've heard of people counting the little grains in the pills and going that route, decreasing the amount of "sand" they take daily. I can't believe I agreed to this.

Good luck.

[wondernut]

thanks for the answers

I came off celexa a while back and just tapered really slowly over 2 months

I feel so much better on the Effexor it is a good clean feeling drug for me I dont have any side effects at all except the issue with not giving a shit about eating a healthy diet

I have put on weight and now my blood pressure is up ..but I also feel more like a human being than I have in a long time

I can take some joy in life now

anyway thanks ..I will just plan to do the same thing I did with the Celexa and taper very very slowly ..if and when I give this up ..and I am not seeing it happening anytime soon ..why fix it if it aint broke? just the being fat thing I dont like

[~nestling~]

This WILL pass.

It WILL leave your system and you will be efexor free.

My GP reassured me of that, and it's true.

The yuck doesn't last forever.

You will get through this.

I know it feels like hell. I've been there too.

[Artemisia]

The withdrawal symptoms will go away eventually but, honestly, if you can open the capsules or get the IR pills, I'd go for it. Doing it kept me much saner and functional during the taper down. (FDA has approved opening Effexor XR capsules for people who have difficulty swallowing fills.)

Some people say that splitting the immediate release pills is more accurate than counting the tiny XR granules, and for the most part these people are right. Except that when you're trying to split the damn pill in 15, all that accuracy will go away.

[rowen]

Coming off of Effexor can be a bitch. My pdoc originally put me on a three day titration schedule - one of two times I can say he has done me wrong. It was awful. The only reason why I didn't check myself in to the hospital the day after my last dose was that I had therapy the following day (and was able to get into pdoc's office, when they both officed in the same building). He ended up giving me a week's worth of 37.5 mg, and I was fortunately able to come off of that, but I still had withdrawl symptoms for a month afterwords.

Sleep and exercise. Those are the best things I can think of without medication. Knock yourself out, and then go for a run (hopefully somewhere without any cracks in the pavement). It will help you keep your mind off of it.

[lizbeth666]

Coming off of Effexor can be a bitch. My pdoc originally put me on a three day titration schedule - one of two times I can say he has done me wrong. It was awful. The only reason why I didn't check myself in to the hospital the day after my last dose was that I had therapy the following day (and was able to get into pdoc's office, when they both officed in the same building). He ended up giving me a week's worth of 37.5 mg, and I was fortunately able to come off of that, but I still had withdrawl symptoms for a month afterwords.

Sleep and exercise. Those are the best things I can think of without medication. Knock yourself out, and then go for a run (hopefully somewhere without any cracks in the pavement). It will help you keep your mind off of it.

Not to be a downer and many months later, but there is an Effexor site called Effexor testimonials filled with nightmares about people trying to get off of Effexor. In the worst case, it seems impossible, that the drug has wiped out the ability of the body to produce serotonin (or dopemine or whatever) -- this has a name, I forget -- and you have to stay on Effexor, seemingly, for life. Only then it can become toxic. Not a great drug and seemingly has more patient complaints than any other than maybe Paxil.

[Peaty]

Coming off of Effexor can be a bitch. My pdoc originally put me on a three day titration schedule - one of two times I can say he has done me wrong. It was awful. The only reason why I didn't check myself in to the hospital the day after my last dose was that I had therapy the following day (and was able to get into pdoc's office, when they both officed in the same building). He ended up giving me a week's worth of 37.5 mg, and I was fortunately able to come off of that, but I still had withdrawl symptoms for a month afterwords.

Sleep and exercise. Those are the best things I can think of without medication. Knock yourself out, and then go for a run (hopefully somewhere without any cracks in the pavement). It will help you keep your mind off of it.

Not to be a downer and many months later, but there is an Effexor site called Effexor testimonials filled with nightmares about people trying to get off of Effexor. In the worst case, it seems impossible, that the drug has wiped out the ability of the body to produce serotonin (or dopemine or whatever) -- this has a name, I forget -- and you have to stay on Effexor, seemingly, for life. Only then it can become toxic. Not a great drug and seemingly has more patient complaints than any other than maybe Paxil.

I worry about that with Cymbalta (figure I'll talk about it here since they're similar drugs). I quit taking it cold turkey in September and the worst side-effects only lasted about two weeks. I've felt more or less okay since then until a couple weeks ago when I graduated college. I hope that it's just a case of a normal life event getting blown out of proportion due to my lifelong battle with anxiety/depression. I really, really want to go back on it, but I'm afraid it might just end up doing me more damage in the long run...

[bryan5876]

I also feel the electric shocks throughout my body. I just blogged about this exact topic. Check it out.

Wondernut, some people get nausea and dizziness and such. I mostly just felt sensations akin to static electricity discharges in my head and down my arms (pretty unpleasant) when I was withdrawing from Effexor. Effexor tends to be the nastiest antidepressant as far as withdrawal does. A friend of mine, though, had no withdrawal effects at all.