nativechik: Effexor 300mg taper

[nativechik]

Today begins the reduction from a 300mg effexor xr dose daily. My psychiatrist subtracted by 37.5. I have had missed doses by days and had paranoia, uncontrollable guilt and crying, nightmares, aggressiveness. So I am worried even 37.5 will be too much. Its hard to find people who understand the severity of these symptoms. Ive been on it for 13 years. Misdiagnosed depressed i ran around with mania and volatile aggression for 9 years. I have bipolar 2. Im currently on tegretol 400mg and lamictal 400mg daily. Wish me luck? Pray for me. Lol 

[ChessieCat]

Hi nativechik and welcome to SA,

 

It seems that your psychiatrist is aware that psychiatric drugs need to be tapered.  However, many medical professionals still try to taper their patients too quickly so it's great that you have found SA right at the start.

 

SA recommends reducing by no more than 10% of the current dose with a hold of about 4 weeks to allow the brain to adapt to not getting as much of the drug.  However, you might be okay reducing by a little bit more than the 10% at this stage because you are on a high dose of Effexor.  Why taper by 10% of my dosage?  

 

It's not surprising that you have experiencing withdrawal symptoms when you have missed your dose.  Dr Joseph Glenmullen's WD Symptoms Checklist

 

We recommend keeping daily symptom notes on paper so you can be objective about how the reduction is affecting you.  Please note that it takes about 4 days for a dose change to get to full level in the blood and a bit longer for it to register in the brain.  You will need to try and stay as calm and stress free as possible and try not to panic.  It is very easy to add second fear to the situation which can make it difficult to know what is a withdrawal symptom and what is the fear.

 

We also recommend that members learn Non-drug techniques to cope.

 

Audio:  First Aid for Panic (4 minutes)  

 

And:

 

On 4/28/2017 at 4:03 AM, brassmonkey said:

 

AAF: Acknowledge, Accept, Float.  It's what you have to do when nothing else works, and can be a very powerful tool in coping with anxiety.  The neuroemotional anxiety many of us feel during WD is directly caused by the drugs and their chemical reactions in the brain.  Making it so there is nothing we can do about them.  They won't respond to other drugs, relaxation techniques and the like.  They do, however, react very well to being ignored.  That's the concept behind AAF.  Acknowledge, get to know the feeling involved, explore them.  Accept, These feelings are a part of you and they aren't going anywhere fast. Float, let the feeling float off as you get on with your life as best as you can.  It's a well documented fact that the more you feed in to anxiety the worse it gets.  What starts as generalized neuroemotinal anxiety can be easily blown into a full fledged panic attack just by thinking about it.

 

I often liken it to an unwanted house guest.  At first you talk to them, have conversations, communicate with them.  After a while you figure out that they aren't leaving and there is nothing you can do to get rid of them.  So you go on about your day, working around them until they get bored and leave.

 

It can take some practice, but AAF really does work.  I hope you give it a try.

 

 

 

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Taking multiple psych drugs? Which drug to taper first?
If you're not having an adverse reaction from the other medications, taper the most activating drug first. This is usually an antidepressant or stimulant (ADHD drug).

 

Tips for tapering off Effexor (venlafaxine)

 

How do you talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal?

What should I expect from my doctor about withdrawal symptoms?

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

This is your own Introductions topic where you can ask questions and journal your progress.