Pinkslippers: Seroquel (Quetiapine) to relieve Pristiq withdrawal symptoms?

[Pinkslippers]

Hi everyone,

 

This is my first topic on Surviving ADs. I was wondering if anyone else has found Seroquel (Quetiapine) helpful for relieving anxiety and insomnia caused by SNRI withdrawal? I've been off Pristiq for 7 weeks after a 12 month taper after being on it for 5 years preceded by 15 years on Effexor and various other SSRIs and SNRIs. The last 7 weeks have been absolutely horrible and nightmarish to say the least. The worst symptoms are the extreme anxiety and crying spells especially in the morning and after eating. Also waking up at 4 or 5 am with panic and sadness. I've tried Magnesium, Melatonin, small doses of Phosphatidyl serine but these supplements have had very little effect. The only thing that has helped me through  the day  is Valium (2mg) but I'm so afraid of becoming dependant on benzos. I went to my GP in despair two days ago because I feel I simply can't go on like this. Each day is a tremendous struggle and I've spent most of the past 7 weeks curled up in bed crying. I asked my GP to prescribe me Seroquel because I had taken it many years ago when I tried to withdrawal of Effexor.  I've just started to take 25 mg at night and it worked like magic for my horrible insomnia and I feel much less anxious and more relaxed.  However, I have heard it has a terrible withdrawal profile, and dependence forming qualities similar to Pristiq. 

I don't' know whether to take the risk and enjoy the sleep Seroquel induces, or stay away from another potentially dependence forming drug.

I would greatly appreciate it If anyone has had any experience with Pristiq or Effexor or Seroquel to let me know their thoughts.

Thank you!

[scallywag]

Pinkslippers -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA)

Insomnia is a very common symptom of withdrawal from pschyo-neuro-active medications such as Pristiq, and Seroquel for that matter.
What is withdrawal syndrome
Tips to help sleep -- so many of us have that awful withdrawal insomnia

For information about other symptoms and ideas to cope with them:
Important topics about symptoms

A request: Would you summarize your history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-18 months particularly?

• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago)
• Please use words for months, e.g. "Jan." or "August"; 1/9 could be January 9 or September 1.
• Any drugs prior to 18 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years.
• You don't need to include symptoms or diagnoses other than the initial condition that led to prescribing the first drug.
• We ask for this information in your signature so that we can see it at a glance. A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs.
• You can find instructions in this topic: Please put your withdrawal history in signature
• If you are using a phone or mobile device, you need to switch to the "full" or desktop version of the site. Instructions are in Post 8 and Post 9

For more information on your previous and current medications, please read the posts in these topics:
Tips for tapering off Pristiq (desvenlafaxine)
Tips for tapering off Seroquel (quetiapine)
 
You've got several options to consider:

• Stop Seroquel and reinstate Pristiq.
• Cross-over from Seroquel to Prozac or another medication that isn't an anti-psychotic drug.
• Stay at 25 mg Seroquel, and plan a future taper off it.
• Try to find the lowest dose of Seroquel that keeps your insomnia in check, removing ½ or ¼ of your 25 mg tablet. Plan a future taper off it -- the lower your maintenance dose, the less time it will take to taper off it.
• Stop Seroquel and ride out the insomnia. It's won't be easy but insomnia does resolve over time for most people.

I'm under the impression that you've only been taking 25 mg Seroquel for a few days.  If that's the case, then in your shoes I'd look at #4 first.   It would be worthwhile to keep the dose as low as possible to stabilize.

• It can be difficult to create taper doses from Pristiq tablets because of how they are formulated.
• There are no guarantees that another drug will deal with your insomnia in the same way you've experienced with Seroquel.
• Switching medications can be destabilizing. Why risk that!?

 
Important information for tapering:
Before you begin tapering -- what you need to know
Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us.

[nz11]

Welcome pinkslippers,

You mentioned valium use in post 1 but i cant see it in your drug signature.

Personally I like the sound of option 1 .

imo when it comes to seroquel  - dont take the bait.

[ChessieCat]

Hi pinkslippers and welcome from me too.

 

What dose of Pristiq were you on before tapering?  and  How many mg was the last dose that you took?

 

How did you taper?  Did you skip days?  Did you cut up tablets?  Did you experience any withdrawal symptoms during your taper?

 

You do have the option of reinstating Pristiq, stabilising and then tapering as per #1 in SW's post:  About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms

 

The other option you have is, instead of reinstating Pristiq, change over to Effexor, which is a cousin of Pristiq:  Tips for tapering off Effexor (venlafaxine)

[ChessieCat]

If you do decide to reinstate or change over the Effexor, please let us know and then we can suggest a dose to try.  Please do not go back on the dose you were on 7 weeks ago because your brain will have already made some adaptations and the dose you took previously may be too much.

 

The idea of reinstating a small dose is to help to reduce the withdrawal symptoms to a bearable level.  It takes about 4 days for the drug to get to full state in the blood and then a bit longer before it registers in the brain.  However, after reinstating the drug withdrawal symptoms may start to improve within the first day.  I went from 100mg to 50mg for 3 weeks and experienced very bad brain fog and got to the point where I wasn't able to type (I had a benchmark because I am a professional typist).  About 4 hours after updosing my foggy head started clearing and I was able to type again.  There was no way that this was psychosomatic.  After stabilising I commenced tapering and I am now down to 32.5mg and have only experienced minimal withdrawal symptoms during my taper.  There is a link to my website (which has my brief history) and also to my Intro topic in my signature.

 

These helped me to understand SA's recommendations:

 

Brain Remodelling

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

[Pinkslippers]

Pinkslippers -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA)

 

Insomnia is a very common symptom of withdrawal from pschyo-neuro-active medications such as Pristiq, and Seroquel for that matter.

What is withdrawal syndrome

Tips to help sleep -- so many of us have that awful withdrawal insomnia

 

For information about other symptoms and ideas to cope with them:

Important topics about symptoms

 

A request: Would you summarize your history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-18 months particularly?

• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago)
• Please use words for months, e.g. "Jan." or "August"; 1/9 could be January 9 or September 1.
• Any drugs prior to 18 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years.
• You don't need to include symptoms or diagnoses other than the initial condition that led to prescribing the first drug.
• We ask for this information in your signature so that we can see it at a glance. A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs.
• You can find instructions in this topic: Please put your withdrawal history in signature
• If you are using a phone or mobile device, you need to switch to the "full" or desktop version of the site. Instructions are in Post 8 and Post 9

For more information on your previous and current medications, please read the posts in these topics:

Tips for tapering off Pristiq (desvenlafaxine)

Tips for tapering off Seroquel (quetiapine)

 

You've got several options to consider:

• Stop Seroquel and reinstate Pristiq.
• Cross-over from Seroquel to Prozac or another medication that isn't an anti-psychotic drug.
• Stay at 25 mg Seroquel, and plan a future taper off it.
• Try to find the lowest dose of Seroquel that keeps your insomnia in check, removing ½ or ¼ of your 25 mg tablet. Plan a future taper off it -- the lower your maintenance dose, the less time it will take to taper off it.
• Stop Seroquel and ride out the insomnia. It's won't be easy but insomnia does resolve over time for most people.

I'm under the impression that you've only been taking 25 mg Seroquel for a few days.  If that's the case, then in your shoes I'd look at #4 first.   It would be worthwhile to keep the dose as low as possible to stabilize.

• It can be difficult to create taper doses from Pristiq tablets because of how they are formulated.
• There are no guarantees that another drug will deal with your insomnia in the same way you've experienced with Seroquel.
• Switching medications can be destabilizing. Why risk that!?

 

Important information for tapering:

Before you begin tapering -- what you need to know

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us.

 

 

Thank you so much Scallywag for your rapid reply. 

 

I've only taken the Seroquel for two nights (not lastnight) and it also greatly relieved my anxiety during the day as well as early morning waking.

 

I've been tapering Pristiq by cutting the tablets into half then quarters. For the final month of the taper I was taking one quarter (12.5mg) of a tablet every three days which was working fine. The month previous to that I was taking 12.5 mg every two days and so on and so on. I found skipping days the best as I've tried the other way and I had worse withdrawal symptoms.  

 

It's only since completely stopping (7 weeks ago) that I've had a dramatic increase in non-stop crying and anxiety plus early morning "terror" at 4 am. It seems that no matter how slow or how fast I taper ( I've been through this withdrawal process many times) I can't' avoid going through the inevitable pain of anxiety, morning anxiety, crying and insomnia.

 

However I'm absolutely not coping with the anxiety and lack of sleep. 

 

I think I prefer no. 4 of your recommendations because I feel so sick and so tired. (Even finding it difficult mentally to be on this forum)

Reinstating I would rather not do at this stage because I feel it would set me back and merely prolong the suffering. 

Ideally I would love to do no. 5 and stay off everything but I feel I am not that strong and the trauma of this ordeal is taking an extra mental and physical toll on top of that which is already occurring.

 

Again thank you for your recommendations and for caring scallywag

[Pinkslippers]

If you do decide to reinstate or change over the Effexor, please let us know and then we can suggest a dose to try.  Please do not go back on the dose you were on 7 weeks ago because your brain will have already made some adaptations and the dose you took previously may be too much.

 

The idea of reinstating a small dose is to help to reduce the withdrawal symptoms to a bearable level.  It takes about 4 days for the drug to get to full state in the blood and then a bit longer before it registers in the brain.  However, after reinstating the drug withdrawal symptoms may start to improve within the first day.  I went from 100mg to 50mg for 3 weeks and experienced very bad brain fog and got to the point where I wasn't able to type (I had a benchmark because I am a professional typist).  About 4 hours after updosing my foggy head started clearing and I was able to type again.  There was no way that this was psychosomatic.  After stabilising I commenced tapering and I am now down to 32.5mg and have only experienced minimal withdrawal symptoms during my taper.  There is a link to my website (which has my brief history) and also to my Intro topic in my signature.

 

These helped me to understand SA's recommendations:

 

Brain Remodelling

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

Hi Chessiecat thank you so much for your reply, I appreciate it greatly.

 

 I've been tapering Pristiq by cutting the tablets into half then quarters. For the final month of the taper I was taking one quarter (12.5mg) of a tablet every three days which was working fine. The month previous to that I was taking 12.5 mg every two days and so on and so on. I found skipping days the best as I've tried the other way and I had worse withdrawal symptoms.  When I reached the point of taking 25mg every 4 days, by the 4th day I would get quite bad symptoms, anxiety, crying spells etc and then I would take 25mg (half a 50 tablet) and the after 20 minutes the symptoms vanished. That's how I found out that the symptoms I was experiencing were NOT due to a return of my original depression/condition or "placebo" as one Pschiatrists told me. My symptoms were clearly caused by the abstinence of the Prisitq! 

 

It's only since completely stopping (7 weeks ago) that I've had a dramatic increase in non-stop crying and anxiety plus early morning "terror" at 4 am. It seems that no matter how slow or how fast I taper ( I've been through this withdrawal process many times) I can't' avoid going through the inevitable pain of anxiety, morning anxiety, crying and insomnia.

 

As I was taking such a minute dose (quarter of a 50mg tablet every three days) for one month before stopping,I don't think that reinstating will do anything except prolong the wihdrawal. I feel that it is inevitable that I will have to eventually have to face the horrid pain once I stop completely, either now or in the future. 

[Pinkslippers]

Hi pinkslippers and welcome from me too.

 

What dose of Pristiq were you on before tapering?  and  How many mg was the last dose that you took?

 

How did you taper?  Did you skip days?  Did you cut up tablets?  Did you experience any withdrawal symptoms during your taper?

 

You do have the option of reinstating Pristiq, stabilising and then tapering as per #1 in SW's post:  About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms

 

The other option you have is, instead of reinstating Pristiq, change over to Effexor, which is a cousin of Pristiq:  Tips for tapering off Effexor (venlafaxine)

Hi Chessiecat,

 

I was on Pristiq 100mg and my last dose would have been 4mg (12.5mg every three days) for the final month.  So a very very small dose.

I used skipping days and cutting combined during the last 6 months.

 

I started out just lowering the dose from 100 to 75mg daily over 2 months ( had no symptoms) then to 50mg daily over 2 months then skipped days. 50mg every other day then every 2 days then every three days. At this point I started getting severe withdrawal symptoms. Then a pschiatrist and a pharmacist both suggested cutting the tablets with a pill cutter which worked absolutely fine. I even backtracked to reinstate previous doses when it got to painful to bear.

 

Then I took 25mg every two days for about two months then extended the gap to every three days for about another month and a half. Then I cut further to 12.5mg every other day and this was a tough period. I think I stayed on this dose for about 2 months before going on to the final dose. 

 

The withdrawal symptoms were really horrible for the final 2 months but I couldn't have avoided that I think. When I get to a certain threshold, my body and brain react without mercy.

 

I don't think that doing it any slower would have prevented the withdrawals to be honest.  I'm just too dependent on this horrid medicine.

 

I wish you courage and strength during your taper, ChessiCate. I hope goes smoothly for you. 

[Pinkslippers]

If you do decide to reinstate or change over the Effexor, please let us know and then we can suggest a dose to try.  Please do not go back on the dose you were on 7 weeks ago because your brain will have already made some adaptations and the dose you took previously may be too much.

 

The idea of reinstating a small dose is to help to reduce the withdrawal symptoms to a bearable level.  It takes about 4 days for the drug to get to full state in the blood and then a bit longer before it registers in the brain.  However, after reinstating the drug withdrawal symptoms may start to improve within the first day.  I went from 100mg to 50mg for 3 weeks and experienced very bad brain fog and got to the point where I wasn't able to type (I had a benchmark because I am a professional typist).  About 4 hours after updosing my foggy head started clearing and I was able to type again.  There was no way that this was psychosomatic.  After stabilising I commenced tapering and I am now down to 32.5mg and have only experienced minimal withdrawal symptoms during my taper.  There is a link to my website (which has my brief history) and also to my Intro topic in my signature.

 

These helped me to understand SA's recommendations:

 

Brain Remodelling

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

Oh and thank you for the link Chessie!

[nz11]

It's only since completely stopping (7 weeks ago) that I've had a dramatic increase in non-stop crying and anxiety plus early morning "terror" at 4 am.

This is exactly how it was for me too when i jumped off paxil at 5 mg after a 9 month clueless taper of skipping and alternating doses.

 

It seems that no matter how slow or how fast I taper ( I've been through this withdrawal process many times) I can't' avoid going through the inevitable pain of anxiety, morning anxiety, crying and insomnia.

 

Here's the thing you haven't tapered slow ...you tapered far too fast and like me you have broken all the rules in the (medical professions non-existant) taper book.

Let me put this in perspective i just crunched a few numbers and my estimate is that moderator Brassmonkey may have taken nearly 3 years to go from 4mg to his current dose of 0.3mg or thereabouts.

So you need a massive shift in your understanding of 'slow' and 'small dose'

Here's an informative link about keeping your taper slow stable and simple no alternating or skipping doses.

 

You are suffering classic withdrawal symptoms and you know this as you correctly stated above. 

Look at chessiecats taper she is keeping everything stable and see how the drops get smaller each time.

The cost of sleeping may turn out to be far greater than sleeplessness.

[ChessieCat]

There is a better chance of reinstatement working the sooner it is done.  Please read the reinstatement link carefully so you can make an informed decision.

[baroquep]

Hi Pinkslippers, hello from another Pristiq/Effexor taperer.  I am four months into a taper off of Pristiq and switched to Effexor for easier tapering.  The initial switch was a little rough but has calmed down to the point that my withdrawal symptoms are very minor and most people probably wouldn't even notice them.  I've been following all of the good advice provided by the amazing people on this site.  While I'm still pretty new, I do have a fairly good understanding of the importance of a slow taper/gradual reduction that can take years and if there is anything I can do to help you, feel free to reach out.  Wishing you good luck with whatever it is you decide to do.  No one should have to suffer getting off of these drugs.  All the best

[Ariel]

Hi @Pinkslippers

 

8 hours ago, Pinkslippers said:

Absolutely Ariel. I love your version of Keto, I will probably end up on something similar after I've stabilised a bit. Mornings have been pretty horrific- shaking confused, crying for about 4-5 hours. I had to go radical keto to help ease the symptoms, whilst increasing my dose a bit. Thanks for your reply!

 

 

I was just picking up your message over in the hypoglycemia thread and thought I'd bring things back to your topic. 

It looks like it's been a while since you posted here in your own topic! Would you consider writing an update, and especially updating your drug signature? It would be so helpful! 

 

I'm sorry you're dealing with the difficult mornings. I know how hard that can be, such a rough way to start the day! Whenever I've gone through it I've played that familiar game with myself, you know, the "would you rather" game. I'd say to myself: Would you rather the mornings be miserable and that things ease up towards evening, or the other way around? I confess I prefer to get the worst of it over with first, I think it'd be much worse to start the day off mildly knowing one is headed for worsening moving forward. Nevertheless, I do hope things ease up for you sooner rather than later! 

 

I'm curious what you mean by "radical keto" -- ? 

 

Hang in there, Pinkslippers, it gets better <3

 

[Pinkslippers]

Hi everyone,

It is with some sadness and disappointment that I'm writing this update. I failed at my previous attempt to taper Pristiq in 2017, it was in hindsight too fast towards the end. I tried ECT to help with the withdrawal symptoms, but it wasn't successful and was eventually reinstated to 300mg Venlafaxine (effexor), because I was struggling so much. I didn't want to be a burden on my family anymore. 

In 2018 I started a micotaper of taking one bead out of my 300mg Effexor capsule everyday. I didn't know about the hyperbolic tapering and 10% reduction rule at the at stage. Everything went well until 2021 I got down to about 35mg then I started to get the crying spells and anxiety, so my GP increased the dose to 75mg. I had a bad seretonin toxicity reaction to the large increase, but I eventually stabilised. I recommenced the tapering of one bead a day again and got down to 37.5mg last year 2023. I decided to hold for several months. Then last October I bagan a semi-hyperbolic tapering, taking out about 3 beads a week for a couple of weeks, then 2 beads a week and then one bead for a few weeks. In about April i was taking out 26 beads and I noticed the warning signs of withdrawal, teariness, sad songs on a loop etc. Then my GP suggest I increase the dose back to 37.5 which I did for a few days, then experienced that horrible "serotonin toxicity" thing when I increase too quickly, so I panicked and went back down again to taking out 26 beads. Then the horror began. I started to get terrible withdrawal symptoms, morning terror, panic dread, shaking and crying from 5 am until about 4pm everyday. It was so terrible I didn't know waht to do and I admitted myself to rehab. The psychiatrist advised increasing the dose to 37.5mg Effoxor in order to stabilise. I didn't want to at first, but was suffering so much. I gradually increased, a couple of beads every 2-3 days until I got back up to 37.5mg. 

That was about 3 weeks ago. Unfortunately it has not stopped the withdrawal symptoms, although they are less intense than before. I still get morning waking up in horrible dread and anxiety and I have tried all of the strategies to alleviate it- the wearing a mask, etc. The anxiety abates slowly during the mornning, but after I eat luch I get another awful wave of anxiety and crying and felling low. This abates at about 5pm, then I feel 'normal' for the rest of the evening. Then it repeats the same cycle everyday. 

I am so exhausted by the panic attacks, the crying, the anxiety, shaking and feeling physically sick. I have been through this withdawal horror so many times over the past 28 years, that I feel I can't do this suffering anymore. It is too much for a person to endure. My family are so distressed seeing me so distressed everyday. 

I plan to start a very slow micro-taper using liquid Venlafaxine, when I stabilise, but I feel like my body is not wanting to stabilise and is taking so long to reach anywhere near bearable level. I feel very discouraged and thinking about increasing Venlafaxine, although I know this may not help the suffering. 

 

Wishing you all well and thank you all for kindness and support

 

PinkS

[Pinkslippers]

Hello SA people,

 

It's been 4 weeks since updosing to 37.5 Effexor and I'm struggling to stabilise. I got into trouble whilst tapering one bead a week for six  months from 37.5mg. I got down to taking out about 29 beads but then started getting stress at uni so GP suggested I up the dose to 37.5mg. so I did for a few days and got an adverse reaction to large increase, so I quickly reduced back to 29 beads. After a few days, I experienced horrible WD symptoms, waking in terror at 5am, shaking, confused, crying, pacing, couldn't keep still into about 4pm, whereupon the symptoms would ease off.  Since then I have gradually upped my dose two beads at a time every few days until getting back to 37.5mg. The WD symptoms continued for several weeks and now symptoms are slowly and gradually getting less intense. 

I'm still getting morning dread and doom which gets better during the morning, then I get another awful anxiety crying attack after eating at lunchtime everyday.  

It's been so exhausting. 

Does anyone else get these post eating crying spells? 

I've been very tempted to increase med or give up taper all together, but trying to hang in there and stabilise before beginning another more gradual taper. 

Any suggestions or comments very  appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

[FindRest]

On 6/27/2024 at 10:31 PM, Pinkslippers said:

The WD symptoms continued for several weeks and now symptoms are slowly and gradually getting less intense. 

This is good news. I’m sorry you’re having such a rough time, but the fact your symptoms are getting better means your reinstatement/updose is working. 
 

On 6/27/2024 at 10:31 PM, Pinkslippers said:

I'm still getting morning dread and doom which gets better during the morning, then I get another awful anxiety crying attack after eating at lunchtime everyday.  

The doom and gloom can take months to go away. Your body is trying to stabilize, but you have to help it by not changing your dose. You’ve made a lot of up and down changes and that does not promote stability. I’ve had to hold my tapering for 6 months on some occasions, and now over a year. I suggest you research SA for coping skills that will help get you through this. Changing your dose is not the answer. NOT changing it is. Holding and allowing your cns to stabilize is, in my opinion and experience, the best thing you can do. That and patience. 

 

What time of day do you take your medication? Do you take it at the same time every day? Are you taking any other medications or supplements? All of these things are important to factor in as well.

 

Please update your signature with specific dates you’ve made changes within the past year or so, and the doses you changed to each time. You may need to condense your signature by combining several lines of info into one; SA limits the number of lines you can have in a signature. 

[Pinkslippers]

Thank you so much FindRest for your reply. Yes that's very good advice, I certainly will hold this dose for now for as long as it takes, probably several months.

 

I take the Venlafaxine at 6am everyday. 

I started taking Seroquel 12.5mg about 8 days ago to help with sleep, but stopped it 3 days ago because I became very worried about becoming dependant on this as well. Unfortunately this starting and stopping Seroquel has increased the WD symptoms. 

Thanks for the tips as well and I will update my signature too. 

 

Kindest wishes 

PinkS

[FindRest]

17 hours ago, Pinkslippers said:

started taking Seroquel 12.5mg about 8 days ago to help with sleep, but stopped it 3 days ago because I became very worried about becoming dependant on this as well. Unfortunately this starting and stopping Seroquel has increased the WD symptoms. 

That’s an important piece of information. I think it’s a good thing to have stopped it so quickly. Yes, I’m sure it caused more symptoms, both in taking it and in stopping it.

 

One thing to remember while your cns is so sensitive: Your brain and body are now extra sensitive to everything you consume, whether it’s a drug, supplement, alcohol, or even food. ‘Normal’ doses of medication can be interpreted by your body to be much more potent now. A little goes a very long way, so to speak. Ingredients in some processed foods can cause increased symptoms. for example, MSG is in so many things. I can often tell when I consume it now because of the internal vibrations it causes throughout my body.

[Pinkslippers]

I also probably should mention that I'm also taking Diazepam 5mg as this was prescribed when I was admitted to a Mental Health Facility in May when I started getting the extreme withdrawal symptoms and I became unable to look after myself at home. 

Yes I also react badly to MSG. I'm finding that I'm getting very anxious and teary after I eat at lunchtime. This happened to me 7 years ago when I weaned off Pristiq. It doesn't matter what I eat. I sometimes wonder if I'm getting reactive hypoglycemia, or that the half life of the Venlafaxine kicks in at around 5 hours after taking it which would be around lunchtime. It seems that when I try to come off Venlafaxine, my blood sugar and digestion is really dysregulated. It puts me off wanting to eat and sometimes I avoid it so I don't get the anxiety and crying spells. 

[FindRest]

The half-life of Effexor XR is around 10-12 hours. The peak plasma level, however, is about 5.5-6 hours. This is when it is the strongest.   I definitely wouldn’t increase your dose anymore in the future. 
 

22 hours ago, Pinkslippers said:

It seems that when I try to come off Venlafaxine, my blood sugar and digestion is really dysregulated.

This is a relatively common symptoms of Effexor WD and many other ADs. Eat several small meals a day instead of only 3. Ginger chews also help. 
 

22 hours ago, Pinkslippers said:

I also probably should mention that I'm also taking Diazepam 5mg

Thanks for updating your signature. Looks like you are taking between 5 and 15 mg a day. It is very important to not vary your dose day to day, just like you wouldn’t vary Effexor day to day. By now, your body is probably dependent on it and it must be carefully tapered when the time comes. 15mg is a large dose. If you are indeed taking varying amounts per day, that could also be causing your WD symptoms, including the anxiety and crying spells. 

Edited July 1 by FindRest

[Pinkslippers]

Thank you so much for your reply and sound advice. 

Yes I am aware of the dangers of Diazepam. Although, over the past I have never had any issues coming off Benzodiazepine even after long periods and higher doses. My body has much worse withdrawal from SSRIs, SNRIs and Seroquel. 

But yes you are right, I need to keep the dose the same daily. 

Best wishes 

Pink Slippers 

[Pinkslippers]

On 6/29/2024 at 5:06 PM, FindRest said:

This is good news. I’m sorry you’re having such a rough time, but the fact your symptoms are getting better means your reinstatement/updose is working. 
 

The doom and gloom can take months to go away. Your body is trying to stabilize, but you have to help it by not changing your dose. You’ve made a lot of up and down changes and that does not promote stability. I’ve had to hold my tapering for 6 months on some occasions, and now over a year. I suggest you research SA for coping skills that will help get you through this. Changing your dose is not the answer. NOT changing it is. Holding and allowing your cns to stabilize is, in my opinion and experience, the best thing you can do. That and patience. 

 

What time of day do you take your medication? Do you take it at the same time every day? Are you taking any other medications or supplements? All of these things are important to factor in as well.

 

Please update your signature with specific dates you’ve made changes within the past year or so, and the doses you changed to each time. You may need to condense your signature by combining several lines of info into one; SA limits the number of lines you can have in a signature. 

Hi @FindRest,

I'm just reaching out to you because I'm really struggling. I don't know how much longer I can tolerate the anguish. My WD symptoms seem to have gotten worse over the past week and I feel severely depressed and the anxiety is debilitating. At the moment I'm not able to function properly and finding it difficult to look after myself and eat properly. 

I've been holding on this dose of 37.5mg for 7 weeks now, and apart from the first two weeks, not much has improved. 

I'm thinking about increasing a couple of beads to see if it helps me. Just wanted to run this idea past an experienced person. 

 

Thank you for your kind consideration 

 

Pink Slippers 

[FindRest]

What’s your rationale for increasing the dose vs decreasing it?