Tootlemom Posted February 12, 2023 Posted February 12, 2023 I have been searching for something to guide me on helping my daughter do a successful taper from Effexor. This site is the most informative place I have found. She has been on Effexor approx. 10 years and it has stopped being effective. Under her Doctor’s supervision she went from 150 mg Effexor immediately to 75 mg, and added 20 mg of prozac. It has been rough for her: shakes, nausea, crying spells, exhaustion, hopelessness, anxiety. Her Dr told her to go back up on her Effexor and start lithium. What??! She refuses to do that. She doesNOT want to go back up on Effexor, and she certainly doesn’t want to add another drug! I’m thinking she needs to give the prozac more time before changing anything. She was prepared for a battle when she started, so she is trying to hang in there. Should she stay the course for a few weeks? What is the next step? Thanks for any guidance!
Moderator Emeritus Onmyway Posted February 13, 2023 Moderator Emeritus Posted February 13, 2023 Dear @Tootlemom, I am sorry that your daughter is having a rough time coming off of Effexor. We generally work with the person who is in withdrawal rather than helpers as that allows us better information. Can you please ask your daughter to create a profile so we can help her? The only exception we make to this rule is if the person is underage or mentally incapable of understanding what is going on. The sooner you can do that, the faster we can help. It will be helpful to know the timeline of her drug changes so when she joins, it would be good to get a drug signature. In general, the SA tapering rule is no more than 10% of your previous dosage every 4 weeks. We do not recommend adding a new drug such as Prozac to counteract withdrawal symptoms. If WD symptoms have set in, the best bet is to up her dosage by a few mg - going up by a lot may make things worse - so she can try going back to 80mg for example (exact dosage will depend on when she went to 75) and whether she is taking prozac and how long that has been going on. Please have your daughter create a profile - she can be anonymous - can but doesn't have to link to your profile. This will speed up. OMW "Nothing so small as a moment is insurmountable, and moments are all that we have. You have survived every trial and tribulation that life has thrown at you up until this very instant. When future troubles come—and they will come—a version of you will be born into that moment that can conquer them, too." - Kevin Koenig I am not a doctor and this should not be considered medical advice. You can use the information and recommendations provided in whatever way you want and all decisions on your treatment are yours. In the next few weeks I do not have a lot of capacity to respond to questions. If you need a quick answer pls tag or ask other moderators who may want to be tagged. Aug 2000 - July 2003 (ct, 4-6 wk wd) , citalopram 20 mg, xanax prn, wellbutrin for a few months, trazodone prn Dec 2004 - July 2018 citalopram 20 mg, xanax prn (rarely used) Aug 2018 - citalopram 40 mg (self titrated up) September 2018 - January 2019 tapered citalopram - 40/30/20/10/5 no issues until a week after reaching 0 Feb 2019 0.25 xanax - 0.5/day (3 weeks) over to klonopin 0.25 once a day to manage severe wd March 6, reinstated citalopram 2.5 mg (liquid), klonopin 0.25 mg for sleep 2-3 times a week Apr 1st citalopram 2.0 mg (liquid), klonopin 0.25 once a week (off by 4/14/19- no tapering) citalopram (liquid) 4/14/19 -1.8 mg, 5/8/19 - 1.6 mg, 7/27/19 -1.5 mg, 8/15/19 - 1.35, 2/21/21 - 1.1 (smaller drops in between), 6/20/21 - 1.03 mg, 8/7/21- 1.025, 8/11/21 - 1.02, 8/15/21 - 1.015, 9/3/21 - 0.925 (fingers crossed!), 10/8/21 - 0.9, 10/18/21 - 0.875, 12/31/21 - 0.85, 1/7/22 - 0.825, 1/14/22 - 0.8, 1/22/22 - 0.785, 8/18/22 - 0.59, 12/15/2022 - 0.48, 2/15/22 - 0.43, 25/07/23 - 0.25 (mistake), 6/08/23 - 0.33mg Supplements: magnesium citrate and bi-glycinate
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