Abigail: tapering Effexor

[Abigail]

Hi all!

 

I'm 23 years old, about to start graduate school, and I've been on antidepressants since January of 2015. I've been anxious and depressed for pretty much as long as I can remember. My therapist at the time recommended medication after I went through the most severe depressive episode of my life, and my college's campus prescriber put me on Prozac. The Prozac made me sluggish, foggy, and basically a zombie, but at the time I thought it was better than the depression had been, so I stayed on until October of 2015, when I switched over to Effexor. I've been maintaining at Effexor XR 150 since then, and I've finally made the decision to come off of antidepressants completely. 

 

The hardest part of all this for me is not knowing what's a side effect of the medication, and what's just me--I think I used to go out more, have more energy, better concentration, but it's hard to remember. I find it hard to focus on my reading and writing now, nearly impossible without some sort of stimulant. I'm frequently exhausted and lethargic, have to force myself to leave bed and do things, often feel restless and lethargic at the same time. I still have bouts of anxiety and depression. I'm pretty certain the Effexor has greatly increased my sexual dysfunction (I already had sexual problems due to past trauma, but before the antidepressants I at least had a sex drive, and now I have absolutely none.)

 

I've recently moved to a new city to start graduate school. I don't know anyone here, and my partner is staying with me for the summer but will be going back to his grad program halfway across the country at the end of August. He's the most wonderful and supportive person in the world, and we've been doing long-distance for a year and a half now, but I'm worried about tapering while starting a new program in a new city once he leaves. 

 

I found a psychiatrist here who agreed whole-heartedly with my decision to get off the Effexor, for which I am very grateful. She put me on a tapering schedule in which I would be off the Effexor in a month, and I reduced to 112.5 for a day before doing a lot of research (and thankfully finding this site), at which point I decided to do a 10% taper over a long, slow period. She's been completely supportive of that decision, thankfully.

 

Anyway, I'm back up to 135 now, and will be holding here for a month before reducing again. I'm not sure when withdrawal effects normally kick in, and can't tell if the anxiety and brain fog I'm feeling are just what I normally feel like, or because of the drop. Either way, I'm grateful to have found this community, and to have a place to put down my thoughts.

 

 

[Songbird]

Hi Abigail, welcome to SA.  It's great that you found this site and learned about slow tapering in time.  If your psychiatrist supports your slow tapering plan, she sounds like a rare gem.

 

Thanks for creating your signature.  Are you taking any other meds or supplements?

 

Please be aware that 10% dose drops with holds of 4 weeks is a general guideline.  Some people find they need to do smaller drops and/or hold for longer.  The key thing is to listen to your body and adjust your taper accordingly.  Are you using liquid Effexor to measure your doses? 

 

It can be hard to tell how much of our symptoms are from withdrawal and how much could be a pre-existing condition.  ADs don't cure depression and anxiety - they only suppress symptoms, like sweeping things under the rug.  Depending on what brought someone to meds, whatever it was may still be there to deal with after coming off.  To be able to live a life without meds can mean having to find effective non-med treatments to use instead.

 

We have some topics here you may find helpful: Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

Please post all your updates and questions about your situation here in your introduction topic.

 

[littleball]

Hi Abigail, our stories are very similar, starting from the side effects you got. 

Did you get brain zaps when reducing your dose? I think that if you got them this was an unequivocal sign that you are subject to withdrawal effects, so you must be very careful when tapering. If you feel somewhat different from what you remember you were, I think that you can blame the drugs at least partially. My doctor, who strongly believes in neurotoxicity, says that people who can't tolerate the drugs claim to feel "strange", "not themselves", other than depressed.

[Abigail]

4 hours ago, Songbird said:

Hi Abigail, welcome to SA.  It's great that you found this site and learned about slow tapering in time.  If your psychiatrist supports your slow tapering plan, she sounds like a rare gem.

 

Thanks for creating your signature.  Are you taking any other meds or supplements?

 

Please be aware that 10% dose drops with holds of 4 weeks is a general guideline.  Some people find they need to do smaller drops and/or hold for longer.  The key thing is to listen to your body and adjust your taper accordingly.  Are you using liquid Effexor to measure your doses? 

 

It can be hard to tell how much of our symptoms are from withdrawal and how much could be a pre-existing condition.  ADs don't cure depression and anxiety - they only suppress symptoms, like sweeping things under the rug.  Depending on what brought someone to meds, whatever it was may still be there to deal with after coming off.  To be able to live a life without meds can mean having to find effective non-med treatments to use instead.

 

We have some topics here you may find helpful: Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

Please post all your updates and questions about your situation here in your introduction topic.

 

Hi Songbird. Thanks for your reply and your advice.

 

I'm not taking any other meds or supplements, aside from Claritin in the morning for awful allergies and an occasional Benadryl at night for sleep. 

 

I'm measuring my drops by counting beads--I know it's not exact (my generic appears to have between 220 and 235 beads in each 150 capsule), but I figure at a dosage this high the variation probably won't be so bad. 

 

And thanks for the link to that topic--I'll definitely check it out!

4 hours ago, littleball said:

Hi Abigail, our stories are very similar, starting from the side effects you got. 

Did you get brain zaps when reducing your dose? I think that if you got them this was an unequivocal sign that you are subject to withdrawal effects, so you must be very careful when tapering. If you feel somewhat different from what you remember you were, I think that you can blame the drugs at least partially. My doctor, who strongly believes in neurotoxicity, says that people who can't tolerate the drugs claim to feel "strange", "not themselves", other than depressed.

 

Hi littleball! No brain zaps yet, thankfully. In the past I haven't been super sensitive to medication, and I've gone half a day or so forgetting to take my Effexor in the past without feeling any withdrawal effects, so I'm hopeful. That being said I know it's too early to tell, so I'm definitely going to take it very very slowly from here. 

 

It's great that you have a doctor who believes in neurotoxicity—a rare find. My current psych doesn't prescribe Effexor to anyone because of how hard it is to get off, which has been a relief. But she somehow thinks that withdrawal symptoms would only be physical (no increased depression or anxiety), which is frustrating. Still, better than a lot of other psychiatrists I've had in the past or have heard about. 

[Abigail]

Coming back to post and check in with myself. This morning reduced from 135 to 121.5 after four weeks at 135. So far so good--no major withdrawal symptoms after my first drop, maybe a couple of days of increased irritability two weeks in and some lethargy, but the lethargy is pretty normal for me and is, I suspect, a side effect of the effexor. The biggest thing I noticed was some increased anxiety in the mornings in the first week after my initial drop; the anxiety would dissipate by early afternoon, and wasn't anything I couldn't handle. From my reading it seems that morning cortisol spikes are normal. All in all, symptoms were minor at most. Hoping I can keep it that way as long as possible. Will stay at 121.5 for another four weeks. 

 

I've begun taking fish oil and magnesium supplements, which have helped (at first the magnesium seemed to be contributing to some insomnia, but now that I take it earlier in the day for the most part, it's no longer a problem.) 

 

Here's hoping the next month goes smoothly!!

[Abigail]

Checking in with myself again after a little hiatus. Down to 98.4, and no major withdrawal symptoms yet. Been working through a bad bout of insomnia (life-related, and not uncommon for me) and the past week has been tough anxiety-wise--dealing with some unavoidable PTSD related stuff, but I have good support and have been hanging on. The good news is that all of this is, I think, unrelated to the tapering, and just life's regular ups and downs. Hoping that I'll start getting some sleep soon--the exhaustion is wearing me down--but if not I'll take it slow and pause before my next drop. 

 

The other day I had a wave of feeling so incredibly frustrated with my lack of energy and depleted sex drive over the past few years since starting ADs. I don't think I even remember what it feels like to not be tired all the time, or to have a libido. I'm holding out hope that with some time and patience things will change for me. 

 

I don't post much, but this site is a great comfort. 

[Abigail]

Haven't been updating as everything has been going relatively smoothly, but after my most recent drop--down to 58.11--I've been having some insomnia issues. I was wondering if this could possibly be related to the fish oil, as well--I wasn't taking it for a while, and started up again after this drop, and I've found I've been frequently waking up at 4 or 5 without being able to get back to sleep. I might try to lower my fish oil dosage and see what happens.

[Alanmane]

Hello friend, our stories are similar, I have been reducing effexor from 150mg to 54mg for 10 months right now, it has not been difficult to go below 75mg, at this point each fall however small I notice it for a week or more and then everything is stabilized. I am also confused between what the drug is and what I am, it is almost impossible to know and it is to spend energy on something useless. I do not feel the effects of magnesium and fish oil but I take it because I trust that it does me good. On the cognitive problems I am sure that they are the product of the destabilization of the nervous system when withdrawing the drug, I am also going through a poor thought and I feel quite silly and without mental activity although it has been much worse also in high doses of effexor. I congratulate you for reaching the dose in which you are, the end is near and we will heal. If you want to talk I leave my Facebook: Alan Calpe Puig

[Altostrata]

Hi, Abigail. Here's a good way to improve sleep -- soft music: 

 

[Carmie]

Hi Abigail, 

 

How are you doing?💚

[Abigail]

Hi everyone!!! Thanks for all your responses. I've been having a hard couple of months--I had to have ankle surgery suddenly, and was stuck in bed all of the time which did not do good things for my brain. And I don't know if it's the withdrawal or just situational, but my anxiety has been pretty out of control lately. I keep making plans and then immediately cancelling them because seeing people and talking to them just sounds too exhausting. I've been taking a break from tapering and am holding at 52.3 now. It's nice to be able to come here and read people's posts. Feels comforting.