Daymonk - HELP! Tried to get off Effexor 3 times in 15 years with no luck! Success going off meds after decades of use? Looking for resources, stories, suggestions.

[daymonk]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm new to the group and I'm desperately looking for help, suggestions, insight. I've been off and on anti-depressants since 1987 and on Effexor XR for 15 years. I've gone off Effexor 3 times and ended up hospitalized with severe anxiety and depression several months after going off it, hence having to go back on it each time. I have terrible side effects from Effexor, but no other drug has really worked. I want to get OFF the drug, but because I have failed in a rather scary way in the past I am terrified. 

 

Does anyone have experience going off meds after decades?

Does anyone have experience going off Effexor permanently without having to go back on something else?

Do you have any resources, books, films, websites that have been helpful?

 

Thanks so much. Wishing you all peace and wellness.

 

[daymonk]

Hi everyone, 

I have tried to get off Effexor 3 times in the past decade and each time I've ended up severely depressed, suicidal and anxious a few months after the drug was out of my system, hence why I'm still on it. I haven't given up completely, but I'm a bit at a loss for what to try next. The side effects are ruining my life and I'm so angry! Just so angry. and frustrated. My life is otherwise good, I'm blessed with so much love, but I have suffered from either depression or the negative side effects of medications for nearly 30 years and I want it to end.

 

Always looking for support, ideas, resources, new science, anything you got!

 

Thanks so much for being here. 

[dalsaan]

Hi Daymonk

 

Welcome to SA. I just wrote you a long post then lost it! I think we can help you come off Effexor. We see many people turn up here with histories of failed attempts to withdraw, myself included. Many drs give poor advice on how to taper off so people end up in protracted withdrawal and think they are relapsing

 

Can I ask you to fill out your drug history in your signature, particularly when you started and stopped medication. How did you withdraw previously? What dose drops did you make over what period of time?

 

Details on how to complete your signature are here - http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/893-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/

 

Dalsaan

[daymonk]

Thanks Dalsaan, I will fill that section out. I have 30 years of history on anti-depressants, should I just include more recent experiences?

 

Also, I should clarify that I've been able to get off Effexor (not easily, but I've done it) and the real problems begin about a month or so after I've gotten off the drug. I have the usual brain zaps, vertigo, nausea, brain fog, insomnia etc while going off but the serious mood stuff hits after I'm no longer on it for a while.

[dalsaan]

Give us the big picture on the 30 years with more detail on the recent stuff

 

A month or so is a very short time for withdrawal to kick in. I'm not surprised by what you are saying at all

 

D

[Fresh]

Hi daymonk , welcome to the site.  

I'm also in the "25 and over" club , and from what I read on here about  the  ease of withdrawal , it takes longer when you're long-time user.

 

There are resources on this site for pretty much everything related to antidepressants. 

Try starting with the Tapering section , and also in Symptoms and Self Care , "what is withdrawal".

 

Glad you found your way here.

 

Best wishes ,  Fresh

[daymonk]

Thank you Fresh! Have you been able to get off meds?

[Fresh]

Not yet daymonk ... I tapered too quickly last time and got protracted withdrawal sydrome.   My story is in my thread.   .

[peggy]

Hi daymonk - i am another 15 year effexor user - like you i have the usual short term physical effects but the anxiety/depression hits about a month later - and it becomes so unbearable that i reinstate.  

 

There are people here that have managed to get off after long term use - it does seem that slow, slow, slow is the way to go!

[dalsaan]

Hi Daymonk,

 

Two months is a very fast taper around here.   Im going to give you links to a couple of threads that are important to read for anyone coming off ADs.

 

1.  An intro to withdrawal syndrome - http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/603-what-is-withdrawal-syndrome/

 

2.  This link explains our tapering protocol (this might also be varied depending on how someone responds to it) - http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1024-why-taper-by-10-of-my-dosage/

 

3.  Tips for tapering off effexor - http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/272-tips-for-tapering-off-effexor-and-effexor-xr-venlafaxine/

 

Dalsaan

[NervousKitten]

Hi Daymonk... glad you found the forum here 

 

In a roundabout way I have successfully gotten off of Effexor and stayed off, but through the use of other drugs as a replacement and lots and lots (and lots more) of CBT and physical exercise. These two things helped greatly with lifting my depression. What made these tools effective was starting them as a routine while I was stable on my meds before tapering. No matter what, I got up and walked every few hours, no matter how bad I felt with withdrawal symptoms.

 

My main motivation was that the Effexor was literally killing me. I gained a lot of weight (I weighed almost 300 lbs [i'm 5'9"] that would not budge no matter what I did) and had started developing metabolic syndrome (high bp, high cholesterol, high a1c). All my numbers went to normal after going off the Effexor, and even after I gained a lot of the weight back, my metabolic numbers remained within normal range which showed me that the Effexor was messing with other systems than just my depression. 

 

I begrudgingly say I successfully tapered off Zoloft as my depression hasn't returned in the 15 months I've been off, but I struggle with withdrawal symptoms and generalized anxiety disorder with panic attacks. I have low days, usually when my anxiety gets bad, where I will get depressed. But grateful they are just days of depression and not weeks and months. 

[daymonk]

Nervous Kitten! Thank you for your post!

I completely understand. I've gained 60 lbs and my blood sugar/blood pressure/cholesterol is a mess. Nothing seems to help with weight loss and my numbers don't budge with respect to blood work. I feel like the Effexor is killing me too. It's scaring me so much and I feel powerless.

Your story is so inspiring and I'd love to hear more from you about your process before, during and after going off Effexor if you have the time?

[NervousKitten]

Definitely! I'll be able to write more later. 

[Hudgens]

I was on antidepressants for 22 yrs., 15 of them on Effexor. I had a 3 month taper and got slammed at 2months out. 2 yrs later I tried again, but this time around with a slow 4 yr taper. Now I've only been off the Effexor for 4 and a half months, but doing fine so far. You can get off and be OK (although I won't really begin to consider myself out of the woods for another 5 months yet) but you have to go very slowly, there is no other way. And it doesn't mean you're going to avoid all withdrawal, just that what you will experience will be bearable. Feel free to ask me any questions. You shouldn't go through something this tough completely alone.

[westcoast]

Wow Hudgens, that is one long taper. Was it unpleasant?

 

Daymonk, it took me two years after cold turkeying Effexor to get to where I was reachable. I spent the time in grief and drinking like a fish. Despair, depression, fear, agitation.

 

I would not wish it on anyone and am not sure everyone would survive it. My guess is that a very slow taper is the way to go.

 

And welcome. The more the merrier...

[Hudgens]

There were some, and still are, unpleasant episodes. But I compare everything to the one really bad period

at the 2 yr mark in the tapering when I started going too fast, and can say that most of everything else has been

manageable. There's also a very definite line you cross in recovery from the "will I ever feel normal again" to

I feel normal with occasional episodes of withdrawal. It's a big difference in mental state. Another way to differentiate this is that the metaphor of windows and waves no longer seems to apply. I don't feel like I'm in a window, but just as though I'm fine with an episode of withdrawal now and again. I mean it's hard to look at a 2-3 hour, mild withdrawal symptom as a wave. It's a natural part of the getting over all of this.

[westcoast]

Sounds good. Glad you figured it out!

[ang]

Wow!  Thanks everyone.  I really think the 8 years on effexor has destroyed me.  I managed somehow to get off it, and onto a whole heap more medications in Dec 2013.  It is only now, that I appreciate how lucky I am to have survived, and spent 18 months on a mountain of other drugs.

 

I am attempting to  reinstating zoloft, after too fast a taper (and I believe I am still suffering effexor withdrawals)...

 

After 8 years, yes effexor had damaged my  liver, kidneys, chol, blood pressure.   I was amazed to find after 18 months, all these results now back to normal.  Regaining my brain is a much more difficult journey.  Effexor is the true drug from hell.  

 

And thanks for your input Westcoast, I am not alone x

[daymonk]

Hello Ang,

Thanks so much for your post. I SO understand where you are, on many levels. I have been on Effexor for 15 years and I've tried everything to get off. Every time I end up on a million meds that I don't actually need to be on just to pull me out of suicidal depression. Then I get off all those meds and I become "stable" on just the Effexor, but my health declines regardless of diet and exercise etc. My blood sugar, cholesterol, weight, liver, everything.  I need to get off Effexor in able to save my life. How did you finally get off the Effexor? Have you used any natural supplements to help support the brain and body? i.e.: amino acids, B vitamins etc

I am wishing you so much luck and patience and sending you love.