Kitt Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Hi. Good to see there is a group of people who are helping each other. Thanks for this opportunity. I have taken antidepressants on and off most my life, but never Venlafaxin. When my doctor suggested I try Venlafaxin for my hot flashes, I agreed. I have weaned off medication before and didn't have too much of a problem,,but this stuff is a different beast. Had I known I would have never went on them. Anyhow I was on 37.5 mg and I assumed I could wean off by taking 1 every other day , then every 2nd day and so on. This just wasn't working. I was going 5 days without , but would start to get severe withdrawal symptoms. The brain shivers (not zaps) , Foggy brain , could not make decisions, extremely tired. Exercise (cardio) helped to reduce the symptoms and clear my head somewhat, but really difficult to function overall. So I decided I needed to do some research on withdrawal symptoms for Venlafaxn XR, This is when I found this site. So I took a 37.5 mg tablet (well my husband did cause I felt like crap) and split the beads in half (there was 100) Because I already started weaning , I didn't want to start back at a full dose. Hopefully this works. So I took 50 beads. I am already feeling more stable and clear headed. I will continue this amount for 1 week then drop to 40 and so on . Hopefully this will work. Any feedback is welcomed. Kitt Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus mammaP Posted August 7, 2018 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted August 7, 2018 Hi Kitt, welcome to SA. Effexor (vanlafaxine) is a terrible drug and one that I have tapered. Skipping doses is often recommended by doctors and never works, people have to updose and are told they need the drug for life. I am gkad that updosing has helped you but you really need to take the 50mg for at least 3 months to stabilise. Restarting the taper too soon will see you having to updose again. Going up and down in dose affects the nervous system and it can take a long time to get stable. I tried many times to get off by skipping doses, by tapering for month and then tapered for a whole year. and still had to reinstate because of withdrawal. I was taking it for 12 years by the time I finally got off. When you have been stabilised for a few months you can restart the taper. We recommend tapering no more than 10% of the CURRENT dose with at least 4 weeks between cuts. When you are ready to taper again, venlafaxine is available in liquid form in the Uk, and will be much easier to taper. I will get some links for you so that you can learn how to taper safely. First, we ask all our members to fill in their signature with their drug and tapering history, you can find instructions on what we need and how to do that here How to create a signature Tapering venlafaxine The Brassmonkey slide is a slow tapering method that is good for vanlafaxine, it needs to be slowed down at lower doses. Brassmonkeys sliding taper **I am not a medical professional, if in doubt please consult a doctor with withdrawal knowledge. Different drugs occasionally (mostly benzos) 1976 - 1981 (no problem) 1993 - 2002 in and out of hospital. every type of drug + ECT. Staring with seroxat 2002 effexor. Tapered March 2012 to March 2013, ending with 5 beads. Withdrawal April 2013 . Reinstated 5 beads reduced to 4 beads May 2013 Restarted taper Nov 2013 OFF EFFEXOR Feb 2015 Tapered atenolol and omeprazole Dec 2013 - May 2014 Tapering tramadol, Feb 2015 100mg , March 2015 50mg July 2017 30mg. May 15 2018 25mg Taking fish oil, magnesium, B12, folic acid, bilberry eyebright for eye pressure. My story http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4199-hello-mammap-checking-in/page-33 Lesson learned, slow down taper at lower doses. Taper no more than 10% of CURRENT dose if possible Link to comment
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