NuddyBuddy intro

[NuddyBuddy]

Hi,

 

I’ve been severely depressed my whole life, but in 2007 I was diagnosed with GAD by my GP and went on 10mg of lexapro. I responded quickly. By that afternoon, I was a different person. The honest truth is it saved my life because I was extremely suicidal. It quit working after 12 years. I had what used to be called a nervous breakdown about 3 years ago. After trying several SSRIs I ended up on generic Effexor 225mg. I’ve been in therapy since then with a wonderful trauma-certified psychologist who has helped me get more stabilized. I have my days, but in general I’m significantly better. He diagnosed me with GAD,  PTSD with phobia, and severe depression. That seems like a huge jump from “mere” GAD, but I do fit the criteria for all of the above. 
 

While I’m pretty fearful about it I’d like to try tapering off the venlafaxine. I’m here to explore that possibility. 
 

Meds/supplements: venfalaxine 225mg, Lion’s main mushrooms 500mg, b-complex, multivitamin, primrose.

[getofflex]

Hello, and welcome to SA.  We are a volunteer-run community of people who have been or are getting off of psychiatric drugs.  I'm so glad you found us before you started your taper!  Many who come in are already in withdrawal from tapering too fast before they learn how to taper properly.  You can avoid this.  First of all, let me give you this link, to see if you are in fact ready to taper.  

 

Before You Begin Tapering, What You Need to Know

 

Thanks for your drug history.  Are you, or have you recently (last 2-3 years) been on any other drugs?  If so, please add them to your signature.  

 

How to List Your Drug History in Your Signature

 

Here is some important information about how these drugs actually work.  This explains why we get symptoms from going off of these medications, and why it's so important to taper slowly and carefully, and be very cautious about changing our doses: 

 

How Psychiatric Drugs Remodel Your Brain

 

 

Tapering is best done extremely slowly, and we generally taper by 10% of the current dose no more than once every 4 weeks, so that the reduction becomes exponentially smaller.

 

 Why Taper by 10% of my Dosage  

 

You can also microtaper, which is the easiest and gentlest approach: 

 

Micro-Taper Instead of 10 or 5 Percent Decreases

 

Tips for Tapering Venlafaxine

 

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!  

Edited May 14 by getofflex

[NuddyBuddy]

Thank you for the links! I’ll be doing some reading this evening. I’ll update my signature. I just remembered something. 

[getofflex]

Thanks for fleshing out your drug signature. You say you take baclofen occasionally. How often do you take this on average?   I would suggest you stop doing the edibles before you commence your taper. These can be unpredictable in terms of your nervous system.  

[NuddyBuddy]

The baclofen is emergency use only, so my use is unpredictable. For instance, I took it 3x last week due to a potential panic attack-inducing trip. Prior to last week it’d been months. I’ve heard people get high from it. I don’t. If I take it before bed I wake up feeling capable and confident. I’ve read it’s the gaba. Anyway, I have a limited supply left, so I hoard it for only the most desperate times.

I’m surprised about the edibles. 
 

I'm having serious doubts about going off my AD after reading the first link on when one shouldn’t taper. While I’ve been in therapy for a couple of years plus earlier in my life, I’m not sure I’m stable enough to be “on my own” mentally. I live in a situation that causes a lot of anxiety and occasional panic attacks due to circumstances. It’s nothing dangerous (except in my mind), but I’m stuck here. 

[Catwoman73]

19 minutes ago, NuddyBuddy said:

The baclofen is emergency use only, so my use is unpredictable. For instance, I took it 3x last week due to a potential panic attack-inducing trip. Prior to last week it’d been months. I’ve heard people get high from it. I don’t. If I take it before bed I wake up feeling capable and confident. I’ve read it’s the gaba. Anyway, I have a limited supply left, so I hoard it for only the most desperate times.

I’m surprised about the edibles. 
 

I'm having serious doubts about going off my AD after reading the first link on when one shouldn’t taper. While I’ve been in therapy for a couple of years plus earlier in my life, I’m not sure I’m stable enough to be “on my own” mentally. I live in a situation that causes a lot of anxiety and occasional panic attacks due to circumstances. It’s nothing dangerous (except in my mind), but I’m stuck here. 

Hi @NuddyBuddy!  That's a hard situation.  Being stuck in a bad situation that induces anxiety will make it challenging to be without meds, and unless you have developed a strong practice of non-drug methods of coping with your anxiety, you will likely struggle.  I'm in a very stable, loving and supportive situation, and I still spent six months prior to initiating my taper developing mindfulness skills, exercising (as much as I can with my other medical issues), and various other things, many of which are discussed in the Non-drug methods of coping thread here.  

 

Perhaps you could start working on some of those skills, and try to use those instead of using the edibles or baclofen when feeling anxious.  It's a small step that would get you on the path to being drug-free.  When you feel like you've found a mix of techniques that can get you through your anxiety, you could start slowly weaning the Venlafaxine.  Go SLOW!!!  There's no rush.  The fact that you are interested in moving in this direction is wonderful, but just keep reminding yourself that there's no rush at all. 

 

With respect to the edibles- I have found they are very destabilizing while tapering.  I actually completely blacked out after taking one early in my taper.  That scared the crap out of me (and my poor husband), and I haven't touched them since.  Live and learn, right?  I know that marijuana is natural, but it is still a psychoactive substance, and using them while on other psychoactive substances is essentially polypharmacy, which can lead to unpredictable outcomes.    There are other members here who would likely tell you the same thing.

 

Only you can decide what's best for you... if you really don't feel ready to tackle this yet, that's ok!  It's still great that you're here, and getting informed before proceeding.  I so wish this site had been available 30 years ago, before my first cold turkey stop.  It would have saved me a lot of heartache.  So keep learning, and we're all here for you when you're ready to go!!

[NuddyBuddy]

Thank you, Catwoman. I’ve been in therapy for a couple of years with a trauma certified psychologist, and he’s taught me a lot of good self-soothing techniques. But I like what you did prior to starting to taper. I think I’ll concentrate on getting those techniques deeply embedded in my psyche and reassess things then. 
 

I'm astounded anyone can quit cold turkey. I once went on a trip and forgot my lexapro. It took a few days to get this rectified. On day three I was walking around with double vision. 🫣

I admit I’m pretty fearful of giving up the edibles. I use them when I feel a panic attack coming on, about once a week, and they’ve worked very well for that. I’ll do some more research here on the subject. Considering you’re the second person to tell me this y’all might just know what you’re talking about, lol. 
 

EDIT—I get it now regarding edibles. The whole point is to get my brain stabilized. Y’all said that, but I didn’t catch on. 

 

 

[getofflex]

4 hours ago, NuddyBuddy said:

For instance, I took it 3x last week due to a potential panic attack-inducing trip. Prior to last week it’d been months.

That's good.  In this case it's very unlikely you are dependent upon it.  

 

4 hours ago, NuddyBuddy said:

I’m surprised about the edibles. 

Cannabis, Marijuana, Hashish, etc.  

 

4 hours ago, NuddyBuddy said:

I'm having serious doubts about going off my AD after reading the first link on when one shouldn’t taper.

It's good that you are aware of this and being cautious.  Perhaps at some point in the future, you can taper.  I hope your living situation becomes easier.  

[NuddyBuddy]

Thank you, Getofflex. I very much appreciate your and Catwoman’s input and links. 
 

 

[Catwoman73]

2 hours ago, NuddyBuddy said:

EDIT—I get it now regarding edibles. The whole point is to get my brain stabilized. Y’all said that, but I didn’t catch on. 

 

 

I certainly didn't WANT to catch on myself lol- I enjoyed the relaxation that came with edibles!  I don't drink, and thought I was doing myself a favour by using them instead of alcohol.  I wasn't.  Some people have to learn the hard way, and it seems I'm one of them.  It's no easy task, learning to cope with this life drug free- there are terrible moments that you don't think you'll survive.  And it's hard, hard work getting to a point where you can see your anxiety and panic for what they are- they are just your primordial brain telling you that you are in danger when you're not.  I'm not off my meds yet, but I'm making progress, and I really find myself feeling excited now about who I might become on the other side. You can do this, just take things at a pace that YOU can manage. 

[getofflex]

Here are some basic techniques to help with anxiety.  Claire Weekes is excellent - I strongly suggest you give her a try.  She talks about accepting your anxiety, instead of fighting it.  Because when we fight it, it creates secondary anxiety, and then our anxiety spirals out of control and just gets worse and worse.  

 

There is also a good CBT book called "The Feeling Good Handbook" by David Burns, MD.  It's long, but if you just read the intro chapters, and the chapter on anxiety, it won't be so overwhelming. The exercises on depression really helped me, and they are simple and easy to do.  

 

video: Claire Weekes: Managing Anxiety

 

 

video: Claire Weekes on Anxiety and Panic

 

Claire Weekes - Hope and Help for you Nerves Audiobook  

 

Emotional Spirals

 

Acknowledge Accept Float

 

Music to Calm Anxiety

 

Breathing Technique for Anxiety

 

Anxiety Stuff - all kinds of stuff about anxiety attacks and things that help ...

 

Audio:  First Aid for Panic (4 minutes) Female voice - getselfhelp.co.uk

 

Audio:  First Aid for Panic (4 minutes) Male voice - getselfhelp.co.uk

 

Meditation

Edited May 16 by getofflex

[Tweed9674]

I will double down on marijuana. THC is a disruptor of the central nervous system. It can be hard to predict how you react to it when in withdrawal.

 

My personal experience: I used THC oil during acute withdrawal to help with insomnia. When I got hit with protracted anti depressant WD, I started to react very badly to it.

It is now a problem for me because I have to maintain a very small dose of it to avoid going through acute THC withdrawal while still trying to stabilize from the whole anti depressant thing.

 

I learned my lesson!

[NuddyBuddy]

Catwoman, I am too, lol. I’m still not sure I’ll be able to stop it, but I’m at least educating myself on the subject. My fear of facing panic attacks without the cushion of an edible is why. My amygdala is so uncooperative. I’m pretty horrified already though with how carelessly I’ve ingested ADs and how recklessly they’re prescribed. But…..I was suicidal. There weren’t a lot of options by that point. 
 

Getofflex, thank you for all the info. My plan is to drill down on self-soothing techniques for a few months then reassess tapering, so these links are invaluable. I’m vaguely familiar with both Claire Weeks and David Burns. I’ll have to check my kindle as I may have some books and forgot. 
 

Tweed, yes, I’m very surprised withdrawal changes how other things affect one. I had no idea! I hope you are able to move forward successfully. 

[Alfred1977]

Hi @NuddyBuddy,

 

I am pretty new here too and think this is a great site with lots of valuable information. I am on Venlafaxine for over 18 years now. I had a bad crash a couple of weeks ago trying to get off of it (before I found this site). You wrote that you think that ADs helped you a lot. Why exactly do you think about quitting? Have you ever tried quitting ADs before?

[Arisotura]

Hi @NuddyBuddy!

 

Just wanted to say, I second what has been said about the edibles. Throughout 2021-2022 I used them to help with depression, but in the end I think they caused some imbalance in my brain and I got more issues (insomnia, GI trouble, monthly depression bursts). When I started venlafaxine, it seemed to have immediate efficacy, which tends to confirm that.

 

Either way, welcome, and best of luck in your endeavors!