Beokay1234 About to start my Venlafaxine XL 75mg taper

[Beokay1234]

Hello 🙃

I am about to start my Venlafaxine withdrawal this summer because I am feeling absolutely fed up of being on it, as I am sure a lot of you can relate to. I have been feeling less and less present in the world recently and sometimes feel like I am a separate being from what I am actually doing, be it at work or at home. So I just feel numb a lot.

I also get horrible highs sometimes that people don't discuss often but I am certain it is because of my medication because it comes from nowhere and feels wrong. 

I have been on this drug for almost 7 years and I am about to enter in to my thirties so I would love to be free or even less reliant on this drug than I am. 

I keep waiting for things in my life to be 'better' but this is an intangible concept so I want to just dive right in and start weaning off it slowly. 

 

I love to read all your stories and see how other people have got on getting off this drug. I know from reading online, the withdrawal symptoms can be horrible but I want to be able to push through and keep going this time without giving up and going back up to the 75mg. So, I will keep track of my progress here and I look forward to hearing from other people about their experiences. 

 

Thanks for reading and I hope your journey of recovery from these drugs runs as smooth as it possibly can ❤️

[Beokay1234]

Hello 🙃

I am about to start my Venlafaxine withdrawal this summer because I am feeling absolutely fed up of being on it, as I am sure a lot of you can relate to. I have been feeling less and less present in the world recently and sometimes feel like I am a separate being from what I am actually doing, be it at work or at home. So I just feel numb a lot.

I also get horrible highs sometimes that people don't discuss often but I am certain it is because of my medication because it comes from nowhere and feels wrong. 

I have been on this drug for almost 7 years and I am about to enter in to my thirties so I would love to be free or even less reliant on this drug than I am. 

I keep waiting for things in my life to be 'better' but this is an intangible concept so I want to just dive right in and start weaning off it slowly. 

 

I love to read all your stories and see how other people have got on getting off this drug. I know from reading online, the withdrawal symptoms can be horrible but I want to be able to push through and keep going this time without giving up and going back up to the 75mg. So, I will keep track of my progress here and I look forward to hearing from other people about their experiences. 

 

Thanks for reading and I hope your journey of recovery from these drugs runs as smooth as it possibly can ❤️

[Altostrata]

Welcome, @Beokay1234

 

Tapering need not be a horror show. We have many people here who have accommodated to a regular taper routine and are doing well. Here are our Tips for tapering off venlafaxine (Effexor)

 

 

On 6/9/2023 at 7:54 PM, Beokay1234 said:

I also get horrible highs sometimes that people don't discuss often but I am certain it is because of my medication because it comes from nowhere and feels wrong. 

 

Please explain more about this. How often does this occur? Do you sometimes forget to take your dose or take it off-schedule?

 

To help us out, follow these instructions Please put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.

[Beokay1234]

Yes I'm hoping it won't be as bad as the Internet make out tapering off this particular drug to be... 

 

 

Yes I don't take my medication at the same time each night.. So it is usually within or around 9.30pm-12pm I take it so that may be why I have those weird highs sometimes where I feel really elated for no reason at all. I read online that this can also be known as' amphetamine-like highs'

This can also happen after drink caffeine so I try to avoid caffeine mostly. 

 

Id be curious to hear if anyone else has this issue too 

[Altostrata]

People having issues from taking their psychiatric drugs inconsistently is very common. If you have skipped doses or taken them off-schedule and repeatedly experienced these "horrible highs", you probably sensitized your system to stimulants such as caffeine. Those "horrible highs" are activation from the drug, an adverse reaction.

 

Before further discussion, Please put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.

[Beokay1234]

Ah I see, thanks for letting me know. 

 

I hope to document my journey here anyways. I called my GP to tell him I wanted to taper and his advice was '6 days taking the drug and one day not'... So a whole day without taking the antidepressant in the first week of taper?!! I really wish there was more professionals who understand the adverse effects of coming off antidepressants. 

 

So I am doing this on my own, with the 10% taper method. I so far have removed one bead and split that in half which is absolutely fine and I haven't had any withdrawal symptoms so I will be doing this very very slowly every 4 weeks with a very minor decrease.

[Altostrata]

Before further discussion, Please put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.