Nikola: off venlaxafaxine for 6 months

[Nikola]

Hi! I am a 26 year old man who had been tapering venlafaxine( 300 mg) for almost 1.5 years up until i went completely off it 6 months ago. Like most people the first weeks and the acute withdrawals were not that bad, except for dizziness and hypomania. Around 40 days in i got hit with the worst anxiety i have delt with in my entire life ( worse than HIGH dose benzodiazepine withdrawal) , derealisation, extreme dizzyness, dark compulsive thoughts, fatique and so on.. 

 

I have every symtom there is. I stumpled upon the theory of glutamate imbalance being the root cause of this and wondered if any of you guys have had any succsess with lamotrigine ( lamictal) or other NMDA antagoist? i told myself that i would not touch another drug but these 6 months have been extreme. 

 

If you have had any sucsess with other medications or supplements please report!

I wish you all a fast recovery and my prayers are with everybody who is dealing with this insanity!

 

-Nikola

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Nikola.

 

How did you taper venlafaxine? Did you have withdrawal symptoms while you were tapering? What were they?

 

How is your sleep now?

 

When did you go off benzos? To help us out, follow these instructions Please put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature

[Nikola]

Thanks you!

I was on venlafaxine for almost 8 years. I didnt have much withdrawal symptoms while tapering, just hypomania, nausea, dizzyness and mild anxiety.

My sleep is up and down, but ok. But I am on a cocktail of high dose antihistamine, a lot of valerian, CBD,  theanine and melatonin for sleep, i sleep like 7-8 hours but wake up a lot thru the night and have problems falling asleep.

 

I got off the benzos around 4 years ago, i was on around 25 mg klonopin a day, when i got off i uses almost 2 years to recover from that.

 

2 weeks ago i gave in, and started using 20 mg oxazepam for anxiety, and it has helped but i am feeling a lot more anxious now without it, and it was hell to begin with so it was a dumb choise,  i just couldnt handle it anymore.

I will put my story in my signature now.

[ChessieCat]

I've moved your DP/DR post to the existing topic which you can find here:  derealization-or-depersonalization-dr-and-dp

 

There are many existing topics on this site.  I like to use google and add survivingantidepressants.org to my search term.

 

[Carmie]

Hi Nikola, 

 

How are you doing?💚

[Nikola]

Thank you for asking Carmie! Not good, in april it will be a year since i jumped off and it has just gotten worse for me with severe  anxiety and dp/dr. 

I am hoping to see signs of recovery after the year has passed and trying to stay positive.

What about yourself?

[Lloyd]

Hi Nikola, i'm 14 months off Effexor now. The DR has mostly gone although i still feel light headed & dizzy with brain fog. Have you noticed much of a change in the symptoms? Like getting new ones and some disappearing?

[Nikola]

Hi Loyd. Good to hear that, how severe was your DR?

The first 6 months i had extreme  low level DR/DP, anxiety, fatique, sleep problems, hypersensetivity to foods and drugs, feeling restless, and being dizzy and disconnected..

After that i started having panic attacks and thats when things got a lot worse and and DR got to the point where my vision is so blurred i almost cant read..

Most of my starting symptoms is still here, but i developed new ones.

 

How has your journey been? 

[Carmie]

On 3/4/2019 at 9:25 PM, Nikola said:

Thank you for asking Carmie! Not good, in april it will be a year since i jumped off and it has just gotten worse for me with severe  anxiety and dp/dr. 

I am hoping to see signs of recovery after the year has passed and trying to stay positive.

What about yourself?

 

Hi Nikola, 

 

I’m sorry that your symptoms have gotten worse. It certainly takes a while for our brains to heal after the abuse they’ve been through, but we have to just keep thinking each day is a day closer to healing. When we have been on and off a number of meds our brains can certainly become sensitised, making each following taper even harder. I’ve been on and off lots of meds, and I’m really sensitive now. Fourteen months is a quick taper for coming off 300mg of a medication, as you probably know now. 

 

You said you started using oxezapam in November. Are you still on it? Could you please put it in your drug signature. Thank you. 

 

Are you still taking valerian? Valerian can actually cause problems when going through withdrawals, especially if we’ve become hypersensitive. GiaK wrote: “ Because if its affinity to GABA receptors it’s somewhat like a benzo and it can act as a harsh reintroduction into bad withdrawal symptoms in some cases. It’s one of those things that if people used it judiciously BEFORE ever getting strung on drugs it would most likely be safe, but once we’re in withdrawal we definitely run the risk of it going paradoxical and harming us. That being said, people do use it successfully coming off , but it’s a risk and people need to know it can through some of us back into ugly withdrawal symptoms. Once people become sensitised it is best avoided/eliminated.”

 

I wish you all the best in your continued recovery 💚

 

Edited March 6, 2019 by Carmie
Autocorrect

[Nikola]

Lately i have been using oxazepam and diazepam to help the anxiety, i know it only makes things worse but the anxiety have been extreme and i dont think i could through without it. Yes, valerian started to mess with me and give me anxiety when i took it so i had to cut it out, cbd oil too.

14 months was way too fast i know that now, but if i knew the withdrawal would be this severe i would stayed on it for life, no matter how much i am against those meds.

anyway, it really helps to know that other people are going through the same thin, i felt alone for a long time..

Thanks you!

[Nikola]

Also, where do i edit my signature, i cant find it?

Thanks.

[ChessieCat]

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

[Carmie]

20 hours ago, Nikola said:

Lately i have been using oxazepam and diazepam to help the anxiety, i know it only makes things worse but the anxiety have been extreme and i dont think i could through without it. Yes, valerian started to mess with me and give me anxiety when i took it so i had to cut it out, cbd oil too.

14 months was way too fast i know that now, but if i knew the withdrawal would be this severe i would stayed on it for life, no matter how much i am against those meds.

anyway, it really helps to know that other people are going through the same thin, i felt alone for a long time..

Thanks you!

 

Hi Nikola, 

 

I know you are stressed and struggling, it’s really a horrible thing we are all going through, but having added benzos to the mix will  cause more problems. We can’t change the past though, so there’s no use worrying about that. We can only go forwards. 

 

How often are you taking them?  How long have you taken them? You said you started taking oxazepam in November, didn’t you? You mentioned you’ve been taking diazepam lately too, how long ago did you start that? How much are you taking? It doesn’t take long for your brain to need them, and then you have to taper off them slowly or otherwise you will go into withdrawals again.

 

From what I know about benzos, they only work for a short time. After that one needs to continue to take them to stop withdrawals. I’ve been on Valium and Xanax myself. I was cold turkeyed off them and it was horrific. 

 

I do know withdrawals are all very scary, I’ve gone through so much myself, but we have to find things to help distract us when we are going through withdrawals. If we continue focusing on the symptoms the anxiety will make the symptoms worse.

 

If you have any questions about benzos I’ll let Shep know. Would you like to slowly taper off them?

 

Wishing you all the best in your recovery 💚

[Nikola]

I agree that it will only cause more problems, i just found myself in a space where couldnt deal with the panic attacks and found myself more and more suicidal as the time went...

I have already build a tolerance to the benzos..

i usually take a 5 mg valium and sometimes add 10 mg oxazepam on it.

I dont think i am ready to taper now, my body is so messed up that a taper on top would be way too much. But thanks!

i was thinking of tapering when all this is over, even it takes some time.

How much time did your body need to get better from the ssris?

 

Thank you very much!

 

[Carmie]

Hi Nikola, 

 

I’m sorry it’s been such a tough time for you. You will eventually stabilise, it’s a long and slow process though. There’s no shortcut to healing, our brains need time to heal. Recently I’ve been chatting to quite a number of people who have checked in again after not having been on here for a while, and a lot of them are on the way to recovery, their symptoms are better. It probably won’t take you this long, but it took Alto eight years to recover. She recovered in the end though. Each day is a day closer to recovery.

 

Stressing about our symptoms can actually ramp them up even more. Do you have some good distractions to keep your mind off the symptoms. I’ve been in such horrific waves myself and was in total survival mode, I just kept distracting myself with arts and crafts, music, word games, photo editing, movies and tv shows etc. It’s not easy when waves are bad, but we can’t stop the waves, we just have to learn to deal with them.

 

It’s definitely not a good idea to taper off the benzos now, I was just wondering if some time down the track you would like to, but not until you stabilise.

 

I’m actually on Seroquel, it’s an antipsychotic. I’m still tapering. I got myself down from 300mg to 7.5mg before I knew much about tapering. I’ve been through some immense and long waves too. A couple of days ago I went down to 7.25mg. It’s just over a 3% drop. I can’t do 10% drops anymore on the lower doses. 

 

Take care, sending hugs🤗

[Nikola]

 Have you just used seroquel or ssri/snris too?

I heard of some people using a long time like alto to recover, and it really scared me. But it seems like most people recover from 1 to 4 years from what i have read..

I am definetly going to taper off, when i feel better and the time is right..

I was even thinking of upping the dose as much as needed and then tapering it all when i starting to recover.

Thanks you for the love and good luck to you with your tapering too! Stay strong and positive!

[Carmie]

On 3/12/2019 at 11:44 PM, Nikola said:

 Have you just used seroquel or ssri/snris too?

I heard of some people using a long time like alto to recover, and it really scared me. But it seems like most people recover from 1 to 4 years from what i have read..

I am definetly going to taper off, when i feel better and the time is right..

I was even thinking of upping the dose as much as needed and then tapering it all when i starting to recover.

Thanks you for the love and good luck to you with your tapering too! Stay strong and positive!

 

Hi Nikola, 

 

Yes, I’ve been on tons of meds, I don’t remember all the names. It all started with chronic pain. I was on painkillers ( endone, then OxyContin, then Fentanyl) , I’ve also been on benzos ( Valium, then Xanax) and I’ve been on antidepressants ( can’t remember the names) and antipsychotics, as I’m on Seroquel now. 

 

How are you doing?💚

[Nikola]

Good luck with the seruquel! I am not doing so good, i have been using benzos more and more..

Have been dosing xanax at 1 mg 3-4 times per week now for relief, on top of my usual benzo dose ( valium and oxazepam).

I tried to find info on hypersensetivity to food but couldnt find it..

I have almost only been eating bread with cheese since oktober beacause i react bad natural foods. And this is going from a vegan diet that i had been on for 5 years.

 

How are you doing? :)

[Carmie]

Hi Nikola, 

 

I’m sorry you’re not doing so well. Taking the extra benzos erratically can also be making your symptoms much worse. 

 

How many mgs are your usual doses of Valium and oxazepam now?  What time of the day do you take them? Once you’ve answered theses questions I’ll ask Shep to help you as she is the benzo expert.

 

There is a thread under Symptoms And Self Care entitled “Food Sensitivities.” The easiest way to find it is just google SurvivingAntidepressants.org and food sensitivities and it comes up straight away. 

 

Thanks for asking how I’m doing. I tapered from 7.25mg to 7mg on Wednesday night. It’s Sunday here now and I’m doing okay. The waves don’t usually hit me until about day five or so. With my last taper I had lots of waves for over 3 weeks. I stayed at that dose for 38 days, though the last week was okay. I like to really stabilise before I taper again. In the past I haven’t held long enough sometimes and I’ve really payed for it by having to hold for many months before I stabilised again . I always listen to my body now.

 

Take care, sending hugs🤗