Joolz - how to come off venfaxalin after a week

[Joolz]

Hi!
So glad I've found this forum, thank you! I started taking venfaxalin 37.5 just over a week ago, the idea was to help ease the hot flushes which have been waking me up non stop for three years. I'm completely exhausted - having ME doesn't help - and wanted to avoid hrt. The venfaxalin has not helped at all with the hot flushes, in fact last night it made them so bad it raised my blood pressure to a scary figure, plus I've been waking up with a headache every day, so no pluses from these pills at all.

My question is how to best stop taking them? I counted 150 mini beads in one of the capsules and took 100 this morning and I've been ok so far. How quickly can I reduce the number of beads? I have read everywhere to go slowly and I do not want to experience those awful side effects. Any advice will be gratefully appreciated.
Thanks!

Edited November 5, 2016 by scallywag
emphasize medication and doses; add tags

[scallywag]

Joolz -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA)
 
I'm glad you found the site before taking venlafaxine for too long. Since you've only been taking venlafaxine for 7 days, you can probably go faster than the 10% we'd suggest to someone who'd been on a medication longer.
 
You've decreased your dose from 150 beads to 100 beads, a 33% reduction. It takes about 4-5 days for your brain and the rest of your CNS (central nervous system) to notice a decrease in the dose and possibly weeks for symptoms to become noticeable.
 
Since you've made the change, continue with 100 beads. Be sure to take venlafaxine at the same time very day.
 
Your symptoms will be the best indicator of when it is time to move to the next lower dose. Please take notes on paper about your symptoms. Here's a link to a post that describes a useful way to keep this record:
Take notes of doses and symptoms
 
A checklist of symptoms can be downloaded from this topic: Dr. Joseph Glenmullen’s (M.D.) withdrawal symptom list
It doesn't have all possible symptoms but it does list most of the commonly experienced ones.
 
If you want to read our information about tapering off venlafaxine after a longer time taking it, here's the link:
Tips for tapering off Effexor (venlafaxine)
 
Please post again to let us know how your travels on this 100-bead path are going.

[Joolz]

Thank you so much for responding with those tips. I'm really hoping for some guidance as to how quickly I can reduce the dosage. Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Do I understand correctly that I won't feel any withdrawal symptoms from dropping the dose to 100 beads for another 4-5 days? Today I feel a lot brighter, I had a much better night's sleep, is this not related to the drop in dosage? I so want to understand! Thanks again for all your support!

[scallywag]

If I were you I'd keep taking the 100 beads for at least a week 4-5 days. I or one of the other moderators will get back to you with a suggestion about getting off the 100 beads.

 

edited to add:

Are you taking any other medications -- prescription, over-the-counter, or street drugs?

If yes, please post the name of the medication(s), the dose, when you started taking it

 

Have you ever taken an antidepressant or another prescription medication for pain or for a pscyhiatric condition e.g. anxiety?

If yes, please post the name of the medication(s), the dose, when you started and stopped taking it, and how you discontinued taking it.

[Joolz]

How quickly do the withdrawal symptoms appear?

[scallywag]

It takes about 4 days for the new dose to reach steady state, the same daily cycle of metabolizing the med. Depending on your CNS response to venlafaxine, it could be within hours of the dose change or up to several weeks.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Joolz.

 

You are experiencing adverse effects from venlafaxine. As you've been taking it only a week, you can reduce 25% every few days.

[Joolz]

Thanks for responding, I'm very grateful. My head isn't working too well just now, can I just check what you mean by that, do you mean decrease by 25% of original dose every few days, i.e. Down to 75 beads, then 50 then 25? Or decrease by 25% each time i.e. Down to 75 beads then 75-25% and so on?

[scallywag]

Start with a straight linear taper, 25 beads each time.

 

Let us know how it goes for you, especially if you start to get withdrawal symptoms.

 

The downloadable checklist in this topic provides a list of symptoms of withdrawal: Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list It's not the complete list of ALL possible symptoms but it's a good place to start.

[Joolz]

I have been lucky and only experienced some mild nausea and a mild headache so far. We have a big social gathering this Friday and so I have decided to just drop down to 90 beads for a few days, then I will drop down to the 75 as planned. Once again, thank you for your support and guidance!