poppy: Venlafaxine withdrawal

[poppy]

Hi, I have just started to cut down on effexor 225mg, now on 150mg. I am feeling really tearful and I am worried that my husband will

say that it is because I am not taking all the medication. He seems to think that it has been wonderful and that I am not strong enough to

start withdrawing. I feel that I want to because it has started to make me feel worse. I have been taking it since early Dec 2011.

 

Kind regards,

Poppy

[dalsaan]

Hi poppy

 

Welcome to the site. You will find people well informed , supportive and caring

 

Sorry to hear you are having troubles. Emotional upheaval is often a feature of withdrawal. You might be tapering too fast. When did you start coming off and how? By how I mean what amounts did you drop by and how frequent

 

Take care

 

Dalsaan

[poppy]

Hi Dalsaan,

 

Thanks for replying. I started withdrawel last Saturday. I went from 225mg to 150mg. I know everyone says go verrrrry slowly, but

honestly I want this stuff out of my body. Glad to know people know what I am talking about, if you are not good everyone seems to think

that shows that you should be on the medication and you must need it.

 

Poppy

[Shanti]

Hi Poppy. Welcome to the forum. I think most of us did what you did. Went fast at first wanting to hurry up and get that stuff out of our lives. Then we get a reality check and realize that what everyone says about 10% reductions isn't just blowing hot air. It's necessary. However, maybe you are a lucky one. I hope you are! Just don't feel bad or anything if you have to go back up in your dose and resort to a slow taper.

[poppy]

Hi Shanti,

 

Thanks for that. What do you think I should have gone down to from 225mg?

Poppy

[Shanti]

Hi Shanti,

 

Thanks for that. What do you think I should have gone down to from 225mg?

Poppy

 

Well, if we go by the 10% reduction recommendation, it would be 202.5 mg. Here, you might want to check out Alto's post, "Why Taper By 10% of My Dose".

[Nikki]

Poppy...

 

Crying is part of WD. It is involuntary. I do not know how to decrease Effexor. Shanti posted a guide for you. There are alot of people here who have or are in the process of getting off Effexor who can help you.

 

There are videos on youtube about decreasing Effexor. I do believe you dropped way too much.

10% reduction is even too much for most people. I think 5% would be easier.

 

Getting the meds out of our systems is not like taking an antibiotic or some other medication which leaves the system after it has done it's job.

 

AD's do not work like that. These medications change the 'plasticity' of the brain (I think that is the term) and it takes quite some time for it to return to normal. Long after you are off the stuff. There is a healing and adjustment process. The less you drop the dose and the longer you wait in between drops is the best method.

 

Check out two posts here....Healing on Neuro-Emotions and Strawberry on very slow tapering.

Very good information.

 

So sorry you are feeling so poorly. Go back up in dose. We have all had to do that like Shanti said.

 

Hugs

[Altostrata]

Thanks, Nikki, Shanti, and dalsaan for that excellent advice.

 

Welcome, poppy.

 

You might want to look at Tips for Tapering Effexor -- one of our most popular topics.

 

Effexor is famous for withdrawal symptoms. You made a big drop, from 225mg to 150mg -- that's 33%. It seems like it was too much for your nervous system.

 

A 10% decrease might be easier for you to handle.

 

Do you have 75mg tablets?

[poppy]

Hi Shanti, Nikki and all,

 

Thanks for the advice, it's so good to know someone cares as my GP just gave me the new tablets and said come back in a month and the DR at the

hospital, I wasn't an in patient, gave me them in the first place and didn't tell me anything about the withdrawels. I am more annoyed because

he didn;t say anything about the importance of taking them at the same time and what would happen if you didn't. I always take them at approx

the same time each day, 8am, but on a couple of occasions I haven't. Once was when I went out to my son in the US and because of the time

difference felt dreadful when I came back. Another time was when I ran out and couldn;t get a prescription, so missed one day and another day

I purely forgot but took it in the afternoon. I felt dreadful for a few days and couldn't understand what was going on. I know we have better

days and god awful days, but this was ridiculous. If I had known I wouldn't have felt that I was going mad. I hadn't looked on the internet

before taking them as I had tried about 4 or 5 before and really wanted this to help. They had helped in the early days especially with the

crying spells but lately I have felt awful on them.

 

I feel that if, I get off them, I so hope I can, I would rather try to deal with the anxiety and depression myself and never go onto medication

like this again. It seems like I have only been taking them to ease the withdrawel feelings, and at that stage I wasn't even trying to cut

down. They feel like they are now working against me, not for me.

 

Sorry this is so long but I haven't got anyone to talk to really, my husband is very supportive and has had to take some awful stick, like most

partners, I suppose. He is the only one really who is there for me whatever but in this instance he seems to feel I am making a mistake and

that the tablets have helped, which they have in the past, but I know more about them now and lots of instances I can now see were not ME but

this awful stuff, I haven't got any 75mg tablets, only 150mg. Also is it ok to take omega 3 high strength capsules with these tablets as

I haven't been able to speak to my GP about it. It says on the omega container to ask if you are taking any other medication.

 

Hugs to you all,

Poppy

[peggy]

Hi Poppy, Nice to see you here. I am also tapering effexor. Everyone is very individual in how they can tolerate dose reductions. I was able to drop from 225 to 150 and then again to 75 with no real problem. But others have to go at 10% (or less) right from the beginning.

 

Are you taking XR - capsules with lots of beads, or tablets?

[strawberry17]

Hi Poppy

I'm in the UK as well by the way, I can relate to so much in your post and with regard to your relationship with your husband over this as well. I went through this with my other half, he thought for years that I "needed" the pills to stay well. It comes as quite a shock to realise as well that these drugs are causing withdrawals doesn't it? took a while for the penny to drop for me and realise what was going on as well, and then convincing my husband as well... Having said that, you do still have to bear in mind that as the drug levels drop you may still have some of the original depression/anxiety and it's important to be aware and have strategies in place to deal with that as well. Part of the beauty of a slow taper is that you can slowly get used to the "real you" emerging from the numbing effect of the drug.

The others have all given you great advice, I think most people here can also remember thinking "just want that drug out of my system...", and "I can tough out the withdrawals", some people can but the vast majority can't and going too fast often comes back to bite you in the bum.

strawberry

[Nikki]

"Having said that, you do still have to bear in mind that as the drug levels drop you may still have some of the original depression/anxiety and it's important to be aware and have strategies in place to deal with that as well. Part of the beauty of a slow taper is that you can slowly get used to the "real you" emerging from the numbing effect of the drug.

The others have all given you great advice, I think most people here can also remember thinking "just want that drug out of my system...", and "I can tough out the withdrawals", some people can but the vast majority can't and going too fast often comes back to bite you in the bum." Strawberry

 

Poppy & Strawberry this was so to the point. When I decided to get off Lexapro to see "what I was like" I moved to fast initially and got knocked on my butt very quickly as you have Poppy.

 

I wonder (alot) if I will always be an anxious person with bouts of melancholy?? I don't know, although alot of the time I think I will require something. And guess what, it's okay

 

Because I have alot of stamina and drive I always lead myself into this "I can tough out the withdrawals" like Strawberry said. It never really worked for me due to WD anxiety. The physical maladies were a easy compared to the anxiety, emotions and sadness.

 

Soooo go back up in dose, stabilize and begin again and let Strawberry, Rhi, Alto guide you into a very slow taper if that is what you want to do.

 

There is alot of info to absorb right now and you will, just gauge how you feel...

 

Lots of Hugs

[strawberry17]

I know I will always be someone who is prone to anxiety/depression, it's just the way I am and I accept that now, just try and roll with it when it happens.

[poppy]

Hi Poppy, Nice to see you here. I am also tapering effexor. Everyone is very individual in how they can tolerate dose reductions. I was able to drop from 225 to 150 and then again to 75 with no real problem. But others have to go at 10% (or less) right from the beginning.

 

Are you taking XR - capsules with lots of beads, or tablets?

 

 

Hi Peggy,

 

Great to hear from you. I am taking 150mg tablets. So far the main symptom I have since cutting back is that I feel as if I have taken about 4 times

the amount and look quite 'drugged' up, for some reason.

 

Poppyx

[poppy]

Hi Poppy

I'm in the UK as well by the way, I can relate to so much in your post and with regard to your relationship with your husband over this as well. I went through this with my other half, he thought for years that I "needed" the pills to stay well. It comes as quite a shock to realise as well that these drugs are causing withdrawals doesn't it? took a while for the penny to drop for me and realise what was going on as well, and then convincing my husband as well... Having said that, you do still have to bear in mind that as the drug levels drop you may still have some of the original depression/anxiety and it's important to be aware and have strategies in place to deal with that as well. Part of the beauty of a slow taper is that you can slowly get used to the "real you" emerging from the numbing effect of the drug.

The others have all given you great advice, I think most people here can also remember thinking "just want that drug out of my system...", and "I can tough out the withdrawals", some people can but the vast majority can't and going too fast often comes back to bite you in the bum.

strawberry

 

 

Hi Strawberry,

 

Thanks for replying. I have had depression a couple of times in the past, the last lot about 20 years ago. Since then I have been well. I have had

quite a lot of distress in that time, both my parents died and our son went out to the US to live, got married and had a family. Although he has a

great life with a lovely family, which of course is the most important thing, we miss him so much and now of course our grandchildren. We do get

to see them a couple of times a year but it's never enough. But in all this I never got depressed. This depression started after a viral infection

that I couldn't seem to get rid of and lots of stress at work after we had been taken over, no manager, no support and I was being bullied. Before

I knew it I felt really ill and can't seem to get back. I was a mental health support worker in a day centre. Loved the job, and never felt

stressed by the service users just the bad work system. I was there over 6 years and do miss it as I had to resign because of the depression.

 

I do feel that I can try to help it MYSELF but the trouble is I don't know how much this withdrawing will take out of me. I am frightened.

 

Luv,

Poppy

d

[Altostrata]

poppy, if I were you, I'd go up to 200mg Effexor, stabilize for a month, then taper more gradually from there.

 

See that Tips for Tapering Effexor topic.

 

Are you on a cell phone? It may be easier for you to get information from this site if you read it on a computer or tablet.

[MrAnxious]

I have to respond here as I came down from 225mg within 1-2 months. Honestly if you are being affected by the drop just coming down from that, then that means you are going to most likely be in trauma coming down to 0. DON'T I REPEAT DON'T RISK IT ! TAKE YOU TIME..honestly I know how bad you want it out of your brain/body but rushing it will just make it worse.

 

Stay at your dose or go back up and slowly do like 5 or 10% drops every two months. If I could do it again I would have dropped over a full year. Now I am on a new drug and have to go through the process of coming off effexor and starting this new Zoloft. I was on Effexor for 6 years at 225mg-150mg..it's a hellish drug to come off if you are sensitive. You will have insomnia/killer anxiety about 1 month off of it and I am not trying to scare you, everyone is different but from what you wrote, you definitely have to go slow.

 

Please take a long time tapering, I went through 5 months of withdrawl everyday Hell..everyday I wanted to not be here. It was awful. The tapering is the biggest thing I have learned from the people that have been through it. Alto will tell you the same thing and everyone else on here.

 

SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW- Sorry i really emphasize this. You will get off eventually, let your brain heal as you go slow..cause once you are off it their is no turning back after awhile.

 

* Take my advice for what it is, it was my experience with Effexor. I am on Day 7 of Zoloft now and still feeling effexor hard..ahhhh please go slow...take more than a month at 10% to do your drops..TRUST ME ! If you want anymore info please message me, you will get through this all..just don't go down anymore and stabilize !

[dalsaan]

I agree go back up as Alto suggested, wait until you have stablished on that level and the drop down slowly

 

It's not a race and it's not about getting off as fast as you can. Its about privileging your health, getting to a good place, being gentle with yourself and listening to your body. We can only give you guidelines, your body will tell you what it can handle and what it can't. At the moment it's saying I can't handle that drop. Don't try and override it by rationalizing your goal of getting off the drug

 

I know it's a struggle. The desire to get off is intense. I have to work very hard at being patient but it matters.

 

Take care

 

Dalsaan

[strawberry17]

Yes I can agree with every bit of advice given here so no point repeating.

[poppy]

Is anyone online I have woken up this am and crying really bad. My husband is away on a 3 day fishing trip. I haven't had any withdrawel

symptoms other than a slight headache but felt bit down. I had said that no matter what if I cried I would just see it out. How can you

though when you cry this much how do you go out and do the normal things that you have to do. Everyone on the site said I had gone down

too much from 225mg to 150mg, I am going to me GP this pm to talk about that, trouble is she is not very understanding and has not

been helpful at all in the past. We'll see. I just know when my husband comes back he will say see I knew you needed it. I don't.

 

Hugs to everyone,

Poppy

[dalsaan]

Hi poppy

 

Unfortunately GPs often don't know about withdrawal. We're you crying before you dropped?

 

Dalsaan

[dalsaan]

FYI. I posted a checklist of antidepressant withdrawal symptoms in the taper foruum it was developed by Dr Glenmullen, no 1 on the list is crying spells.

 

This is because Antidepressant withdrawal can mimic depression symptoms (patients and GPs often assume its a return of the original condition).

 

Most medical practitioners say if heh crying started soon after a dose reduction it is withdrawals. It usually takes many weeks or months for depression to resurface of that's an issue. Some of this is discussed in practice guidelines posted on this site

 

I understand it's frightening, frustrating and annoying but I still say go back up, see how you feel , let yourself stableise then progress from there.

 

Dalsaan

[peggy]

Hi Poppy, I am sorry you have been having a rough time. But look at the positive side of it - you have found out very early on that this is withdrawal syndrome, and it is very fixable. 10% reduction from 225mg is 202.5mg - If you are taking the 150mg tablets then you are taking 1 and a half - is that right? Take another 1/4 now - that will bring you up to 187.5 - it is still a little more that the 10% reduction that is usually recommended, but you will need to get some jewellers scales or go over to the capsules to be anymore accurate.

 

It is really important to listen to your body - your brain is saying "help, i am in distress" - it seems that the people who respond to these signals by going slower seem to have the best outcome.

[Altostrata]

That's an excellent suggestion, peggy.

[poppy]

Hi,

I haven't been online here for a while. I am trying to sort out how I can get a 10% reduction from my extended release tablets.

I am about to have another drop, I am on 150mg and if I can't cut up these tablets how could it be done. Should I ask for my

Dr to prescribe the normal release type and not the extended ones or should it be capsules. If possible would this change have an effect

on me. I would really appreciate any information.

Thanks.

 

Poppy

[Altostrata]

poppy, I moved your post here, where your question has been answered a few times.

 

Are you taking extended-release Effexor or regular Effexor?

 

Also see Tips for Tapering Effexor.

[poppy]

Hi,

I am taking extended release tablets.

 

Poppy

[Altostrata]

Read Tips for Tapering Effexor.

 

You may wish to read it on a computer, and print out the information.

[peggy]

Hi Poppy,

I open the capsules and remove beads. You could also weigh them. You could also enquire with a compounding pharmacy to see if they would make up your dose as you decrease

[poppy]

Hi Silver Star,

I am on extended release tablets. It seems with these it is going to be really difficult to cut down by 10%. I have realised that

this seems to be the way to go. I am seeing my GP next week and thought about asking for the regular Effexor tablets so maybe I

can reduce more slowly with. My Gp is being really helpful but thinks that by cutting down by 50% of the tablet I am taking it

slowly. I will talk to her again about this next week.

 

Hugs,

Poppy

[poppy]

HI everyone,

 

I would like to apologise firstly to Alstro who it seems I messaged individually, I didn't mean to do that I don't know my way around the

site really. Also I thought she seemed a little short with me. I suppose I was asking the same questions, I didn't realise this until

I looked back. Trouble is I am in the UK and I am on extended release tablets and just wanted to know how I could ask my Dr to help me

to reduce by 10% It seems I would have to change to regular tablets and perhaps buy a scale. I too know now that I have dropped too

quickly from 225mg to 150mg. I started this drop on 8th September can I still go back and reinstate some mgs?

 

Perhaps I am feeling too touchy but I felt that Alstro was annoyed with me and the support has dried up, I feel on my own again. Please

help.

 

Apologies,

Poppy

[strawberry17]

Hi Poppy

 

I am in the UK as well hence me spotting your post before everyone else in America is up! I tried to move this post to be with your other thread because we all get so confused if people start new threads, it really helps everyone keep track if we all stick to our own threads in the introduction section so we can see where people are at. (Hopefully someone will spot this later and move it for me?)

 

Please don't feel bad, I'm sure Alto didn't mean to be short with you, and the support absolutely hasn't dried up. I think you have time to reinstate and see if you can get yourself feeling stable again. I am about to go out for the day and short on time to look anything up, but could you go back to your doctor as soon as possible and go back to full dose, or the last dose that you felt well, and of the regular tablets so that in the future you can taper. While you are getting yourself well again, you can spend time researching using the info in the tapering section here, how you can go about a much slower taper, find out what you would need to do that? all the info about different drugs and scales is in that section. I know it's really hard to think clearly when you're feeling so bad, I've been there myself in the past.

 

strawberry

[peggy]

Poppy,

Being in withdrawal makes one feel desperate at times - we all know that, and sometimes we just want to know that everything will be OK.

 

I am also on effexor and have found that the capsules are quite easy to manage a withdrawal as you can count the beads and be quite accurate.

[Karma]

Hi Poppy

 

I merged your apology topic with your main thread so that everything is together. That helps the moderators to see where you started and how you have progressed and we can provide better suggestions.

 

I see you started your taper September 8 ... so you are just 5 weeks out. From what I have seen, you have a number of options, 1) reinstate to your full previous dose of 225 mg or 2) up-dose by just a little to see if you feel relief and can get stable or 3) reinstate to just under 10% of your original dose - so if you were at 225 mg, go back up to about 200 mg and see if you feel better (that would represent roughly a 10% drop from your original dose). You may feel relief rapidly or you may find over a few weeks that you need to go back up to the full dose and start again.

 

In my experience of coming off of Effexor too quickly, reinstating can provide relief. Last fall I was coming off of regular Effexor at 6.25 mg every two weeks and I started having major withdrawal symptoms (I was down to 18.75 mg total). I up-dosed by 6.25 mg held for two weeks ... felt some better, but not completely stable, so I up-dosed again and held for two weeks ... and ultimately had to up-dose one more time. I did find relief.

 

You will find that this community does support you. But we have recommended only a 10% taper and you have tapered far more rapidly, please read through this thread http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/272-tips-for-tapering-off-effexor-and-effexor-xr-venlafaxine/.

 

Oh, also if you can find time, please post your med history in your signature so that when we see a new post from you we have your history right there http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/893-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/.

 

Love and light,

Karma

[Altostrata]

Hi, poppy, I certainly didn't mean to be short with you! I'm sorry.

 

Thank you for posting your questions here.

 

Karma has set out some good suggestions. Which one do you feel comfortable with?

[poppy]

Thank you all so much for your replies. I think I will see about upping a little and asking for my Dr to change my tablets to regular

effexor or capsules as I can this is the only way I will be able to reduce slowly enough. Does anyone know if by changing from the extended release tablets I will notice a big difference, as I am afraid I will have symptoms from the withdrawel and the change to regular. Mind you there doesn't seem to be any other way and I now want to take it slowly so I will have to go that way.

 

I am off to the states on Thursday to stay with my son and hope that I don't have too

many problems as I had in May over there with the 5 hour difference in taking the medication. At that time I had no idea that could make such a difference with how I felt.

 

Also since taking effexor, started December 2011, this year I have had so many physical problems. Red eye twice, styes, laryngitis, sore throats, generally

sore eyes. I just could not get well. Has anyone else had these sort of problems.

 

Thanks again, you really are a blessing to know that you really understand what I am talking about,

Hugs to you all

Poppy