Blahblah Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 (edited) After 7 months of Effexor 150mg, my pdoc agreed to wean me off in order to see if my sex drive/sexual dysfunction resolves. I am very concerned with the withdrawals of this med. She gave me a weaning schedule, but it seems very short/quick for this drug. I am currently on 2nd day of 75mg, and feeling mainly very tired, more apathetic, lightheaded, with a bit of restless sleep. Any feedback/experiences?? Effexor 112mg (for 3 days) Effexor 75mg (for 3 days) Effexor 37.5mg (for 3 days) Prozac 20mg (for 7 days) Prozac 10mg (for 7 days) then stop.... Edited May 31, 2018 by Blahblah 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notloki Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 Looks good. The prozac will last for months and taper itself very slowly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browri Posted June 3, 2018 Share Posted June 3, 2018 On 5/31/2018 at 8:59 AM, notloki said: Looks good. The prozac will last for months and taper itself very slowly. Its strange though. Usually pdocs like to overlap them at some point. The 20mg Prozac surprised me. For example, when I was titrating off of Cymbalta. I dropped from 60mg to 30mg and I was MISERABLE. So we started 10mg of Prozac in tandem with the Cymbalta for a week, then stopped Cymbalta, then took the Prozac for maybe one more week. But again, only at 10mg, and I had overlap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilspork Posted June 3, 2018 Share Posted June 3, 2018 Honestly, I don't know how helpful it is, but even though I was quite worried about coming off Effexor and developing withdrawal symptoms when I cross-tapered from 225mg of Effexor XR to Cymbalta, it really wasn't bad. Much better than I thought it'd be. Then again, I couldn't taper with Prozac as when I was on Prozac as a standalone antidepressant, I broke out in full-body hives at 40mg and had to come off it, which wasn't fun. Haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notloki Posted June 3, 2018 Share Posted June 3, 2018 Prozac has a long half life, it will take a month for the prozac to slowly leave your body. A perfect taper to 0. Sorry if some of you are ignorant of this procedure. Look in the archives and you will see many have done this. I know my pdoc does this because we discussed in depth, how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianOCD Posted June 6, 2018 Share Posted June 6, 2018 (edited) I want to come back off Effexor for the same reasons... I just have trouble controlling my moods without effexor. Effexor flattens my moods and rids me of the mood swings which I hate. Let us know how Prozac does for you, I've been considering switching to something else...Prozac has same sex side effects doesnt it? Edited June 6, 2018 by BrianOCD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blahblah Posted June 12, 2018 Author Share Posted June 12, 2018 Just an update here with how the wean is going. There are so many horror stories about withdrawing from Effexor, that I wanted to share my experience. I've been just taking Prozac 20mg (no Effexor) for 8 days now. I had the most trouble with stopping the 37mg Effexor dose. The main effects I notice are physical: Fatigue (taking naps in afternoon), Less constipation (I'm regular now!), and yes, the Brain zap things are happening (they are so weird!). My fatigue is starting to go away which is good...and the brain zaps are tolerable. **Positives** -So far (knock on wood) I have no emotional crash symptoms. No anxiety, no crying spells, very little irritability. I'm assuming its the Prozac smoothing things out...but I am keeping a very close eye. Sometimes the emotional crash can be delayed and come on months later. I'm staying on Lamictal, so hopefully, that will hold me stable. - Positive emotions: The last 3 days I have LAUGHED!! It really caught me off guard and was nice. I can't remember the last time I thought something was funny & reacted by laughing out loud! The plan: I will probably continue on the 20mg Prozac for at least another week before going down to 10mg. Pdoc said 7 days 20mg, but I want to coast longer and hope the brain zaps go away. I will not stay on Prozac, as the sexual side effects are the same (for me personally - I always get this side effect). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browri Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 On 6/3/2018 at 6:28 PM, notloki said: Prozac has a long half life, it will take a month for the prozac to slowly leave your body. A perfect taper to 0. Sorry if some of you are ignorant of this procedure. Look in the archives and you will see many have done this. I know my pdoc does this because we discussed in depth, how it works. This is an important point. And not only will fluoxetine inhibit its own metabolism for a slower taper, but it should inhibit venlafaxine as well, making venlafaxine's half-life longer in the process and should make the taper even easier. Still don't understand the lack of overlap though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts