angieb Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 (edited) I have been weaning off venlor in a month I went from 150mg to 75mg for two weeks , then 37.5mg for two weeks , and then half of that for 3 days, had one day off yesterday and had a fantastic day, I have not felt that good in years, I took serc to help with the nausea, today I did not take any venlor and have had incredible nausea, there is not flapping in my head , other than a bit of a feeling of when you come off a ship you have that weird feeling if anyone understands like your head is jumping up and down, its not bad , but the nausea is incredible, I eventually swallowed a few beds but obviously not enough to take away symptoms, PLEASE HELP ME GET OFF THIS MEDS, I don't need them, I only went on them to cope with my hubby who was having a breakdown with work and his anxiety problems affecting our marriage relationship, he is 100 times better and takes lexamil, so I don't need my venlor, its horrible horrible.......................... Edited September 13, 2014 by Karma Added member name to introduction Avananj Day 5: starting counting beads on the half of the half (uncounted) of 37.5 today, I counted out 25 beads (there were 50 in the capsule), other than a bit of a heavy head all day I was fine, nausea has gone about 90% today yippeeee........lol, as the day wore on and 10pm approached, I got more and more dizzy but not so bad I could not handle it. Tomorrow I will take the other 25 beads, and then see how I feel, only when I feel like my body has adjusted to the 25 beads will I start tapering by taking out 1/2 beads every day or every other day from 25 beads, I do feel I am one of the blessed ones with not too much withdrawals at this point, the secret is to go slowly. Just as a matter of interest my cousin came off Effexor tapering down to 37.5 then for a week his pysch told him to take one every other day and then stop ( bit harsh I think) he said that he spent a whole week in bed with horrible flapping, and zinging in his head and nausea, he could not tolerate bright lights as well, and said it was awful, but slowly he started feeling better....................don't think I will go this route, I still say slowly is better Link to comment
Administrator Karma Posted September 13, 2014 Administrator Share Posted September 13, 2014 Hi Angieb, Welcome to our community. I am sorry to hear you are experiencing withdrawals. You can get off of Venlor, but you need to go slowly enough to allow you system to adjust to removing the medication. Here is our thread on tapering off of Venlor: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/272-tapering-off-effexor-venlafaxine/ You can get off of the drug, but you need to do it slowly enough to allow your system to adjust to the reductions. The goal is to get off of the drug safely while enjoy a quality of life during the taper. You have been tapering too fast. We suggest reducing by no more than 10% of the current dose every 4 weeks, this reduces the risk of withdrawal symptoms arising. Please read through this post which will explain why: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1024-why-taper-by-10-of-my-dosage/ You were correct to reinstate the drug, but it sounds like you didn't reinstate enough. According to medical knowledge, reinstatement is the only way to alleviate withdrawal symptoms. I recommend that you re-instate at 75 mg and give yourself 4 days to see if your symptoms improve. Depending on how you feel you may need to increase further. Once you stabilize on the drug, then you can start a slow taper off of it. Please put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature. It will be helpful to know how long you've been on Venlor overall. By creating a signature with a brief summary of your drugs history it shows up with each of your posts and helps moderators and members respond to your questions based on the context of your situation. Here are instructions for how to do it: http://survivinganti...your-signature/ I’m glad you found us. You'll find lots of support here. Karma 2007 @ 375 mg Effexor - 11/29/2011 - 43.75 mg Effexor (regular) & .625 mg Xanax 200 mg Gabapentin 2/27/21 - 194.5 mg, 5/28/21 - 183 mg, 8/2/21 - 170 mg, 11/28/21 - 150 mg, 4/19/22 - 122 mg; 8//7/22 - 100 mg; 12/17 - 75mg; 8/17 - 45 mg; 10/16 40 mg Xanax taper: 3/11/12 - 0.9375 mg, 3/25/12 - 0.875 mg, 4/6/12 - 0.8125 mg, 4/18/12 - 0.75 ; 10/16 40mg; 1/16 0.6875 mg; at some point 0.625 mg Effexor taper: 1/29/12 - 40.625 mg, 4/29/12 - 39.875 mg, 5/11/12 - Switched to liquid Effexor, 5/25/12 - 38 mg, 7/6/12 - 35 mg, 8/17/12 - 32 mg, 9/14/12 - 30 mg, 10/19/12 - 28 mg, 11/9/12 - 26 mg, 11/30/12 - 24 mg, 01/14/13 - 22 mg. 02/25/13 - 20.8 mg, 03/18/13 - 19.2 mg, 4/15/13 - 17.6 mg, 8/10/13 - 16.4 mg, 9/7/13 - 15.2 mg, 10/19/13 - 14 mg, 1/15/14 - 13.2 mg, 3/1/2014 - 12.6 mg, 5/4/14 - 12 mg, 8/1/14 - 11.4 mg, 8/29/14 - 10.8 mg; 10/14/14 - 10.2 mg; 12/15/14 - 10 mg, 1/11/15 - 9.5 mg, 2/8/15 - 9 mg, 3/21/15 - 8.5 mg, 5/1/15 - 8 mg, 6/9/15 - 7.5 mg, 7/8/15 - 7 mg, 8/22/15 - 6.5 mg, 10/4/15 - 6 mg; 1/1/16 - 5.6 mg; 2/6/16 - 5.2 mg; 4/9 - 4.8 mg; 7/7 4.5 mg; 10/7 4.25 mg; 11/4 4.0 mg; 11/25 3.8 mg; 4/24 3.6 mg; 5/27 3.4 mg; 7/8 3.2 mg ... 10/18 2.8 mg; 1/18 2.6 mg; 4/7 2.4 mg; 5/26 2.15mg; 8/18 1.85 mg; 10/7 1.7 mg; 12/1 1.45 mg; 3/2 1.2 mg; 5/4 0.90 mg; 6/1 0.80 mg; 6/22 0.65 mg; 08/03 0.50 mg, 08/10 0.45 mg, 10/05 0.325 mg, 11/23 0.2 mg, 12/14 0.15 mg, 12/21 0.125 mg, 02/28 0.03125 mg, 2/15 0.015625 mg, 2/29/20 0.00 mg - OFF Effexor I am not a medical professional - this is not medical advice. My suggestions are based on personal experience, reading, observation and anecdotal information posted by other sufferers Link to comment
angieb Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 Thank you, I was fine on the 37.5mg but then I got too clever and just did 3 days of half of that and tried to go without grrrrrrrrrrrrr silly me, I have gone back on the 37.5mg and will go see my Dr to do the Prozac Bridging as this seems to be the quicker way of getting off. One thing that amazes me is surely when one is prescribed this pill they should be told all the ins and outs of it, personally I was not depressed at all like some, I was just missing my happiness being in a 2nd marriage and a husband that suffers from anxiety problems , my opinion has always been that he is a bit bi-polar, riding his emotional ups and downs just got to me, I am sure something less harsh could of been prescribed to me, anyway damage is done, I have only been on them 3yrs, tapering from 150mg to 75mg then to 37.5mg I was absolutely fine, till I got to clever, I was even fine on half of the 37.5mg I should of just stayed on it for two to four weeks. LESSON LEARNT lol Avananj Day 5: starting counting beads on the half of the half (uncounted) of 37.5 today, I counted out 25 beads (there were 50 in the capsule), other than a bit of a heavy head all day I was fine, nausea has gone about 90% today yippeeee........lol, as the day wore on and 10pm approached, I got more and more dizzy but not so bad I could not handle it. Tomorrow I will take the other 25 beads, and then see how I feel, only when I feel like my body has adjusted to the 25 beads will I start tapering by taking out 1/2 beads every day or every other day from 25 beads, I do feel I am one of the blessed ones with not too much withdrawals at this point, the secret is to go slowly. Just as a matter of interest my cousin came off Effexor tapering down to 37.5 then for a week his pysch told him to take one every other day and then stop ( bit harsh I think) he said that he spent a whole week in bed with horrible flapping, and zinging in his head and nausea, he could not tolerate bright lights as well, and said it was awful, but slowly he started feeling better....................don't think I will go this route, I still say slowly is better Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus Jemima Posted September 13, 2014 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted September 13, 2014 Please be advised of two things: First, posting a picture of yourself is probably not a good idea unless you want people who may know you to recognize you and read your posts. The information you put in your profile is confidential, but your posts in the forum are not. Google, Bing, et cetera, regularly comb this website and put various posts in their search files. If angieb is your real name, that makes identification even easier. If I were you, I'd change the avatar to something anonymous--a flower, and animal, or whatnot--like just about everybody has done here. Angieb, by itself, is probably anonymous enough. Second, the Prozac bridge doesn't necessarily work, especially for someone who's been on venlor for three years. Please see: The Prozac Switch It's possible that switching drugs could make your symptoms even worse, especially because venlor and Prozac are not the same type of drug. Please be advised that antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs are very dangerous drugs, not to be taken or switched around on a whim. They cause physical changes in the brain and other areas of the body that can take months to years to get back to normal. Chances are your husband's supposed "bipolar" is the result of being switched from one drug to another or being taken on and off them too quickly or both. Psychotropic drug history: Pristiq 50 mg. (mid-September 2010 through February 2011), Remeron (mid-September 2010 through January 2011), Lexapro 10 mg. (mid-February 2011 through mid-December 2011), Lorazepam (Ativan) 1 mg. as needed mid-September 2010 through early March 2012"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." -Hanlon's RazorIntroduction: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1588-introducing-jemima/ Success Story: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/6263-success-jemima-survives-lexapro-and-dr-dickhead-too/Please note that I am not a medical professional and my advice is based on personal experience, reading, and anecdotal information posted by other sufferers. Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus mammaP Posted September 13, 2014 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted September 13, 2014 Hi Angie, welcome to SA. Its good that you found us, venlor is a terrible drug to get off! I also tapered too fast and suffered the consequences. If you are OK with the 37.5 I would hold there for a couple of months to let your brain adjust. Then you can start a slow taper. Read through the links that Karma and Jemima have provided for you, there is a lot of info that will help you to understand why we recommend going slow. No_one wants To take it slow, everyone wants off NOW but rushing causes unimaginable withdrawal symptoms. Doctors generally do not have a clue about withdrawal or tapering and usually say that it is a return of the original illness and is needed for life to stay stable. That is a load of bull! It is withdrawal and not mental illness! You can get off safely but only by taking it slow and steady. **I am not a medical professional, if in doubt please consult a doctor with withdrawal knowledge. Different drugs occasionally (mostly benzos) 1976 - 1981 (no problem) 1993 - 2002 in and out of hospital. every type of drug + ECT. Staring with seroxat 2002 effexor. Tapered March 2012 to March 2013, ending with 5 beads. Withdrawal April 2013 . Reinstated 5 beads reduced to 4 beads May 2013 Restarted taper Nov 2013 OFF EFFEXOR Feb 2015 Tapered atenolol and omeprazole Dec 2013 - May 2014 Tapering tramadol, Feb 2015 100mg , March 2015 50mg July 2017 30mg. May 15 2018 25mg Taking fish oil, magnesium, B12, folic acid, bilberry eyebright for eye pressure. My story http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4199-hello-mammap-checking-in/page-33 Lesson learned, slow down taper at lower doses. Taper no more than 10% of CURRENT dose if possible Link to comment
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