Help!!
I'm trying to stop taking Effexor Xr....Anyone with any sugggestions how to get off of it.
Withdrawl sux bad...:( ack i don't like to throw up!! Help Plz

What did your doctor suggest?

The doctor suggested going down to one 37.5 cap every other day & then stopping it....
I tried & couldn't stand it..we got empty capsules at the heath food store and I'm on about 20mg. everyday. We have read on the net that it can take weeks to months to get off it & my psych doc said it shouldn't be a big deal (i don't think she has got much feed back from patients on it.) I didn't know I was having withdrawal, I just thought I had a virus, David found it on the net and made me take some coz I was crying and hiding coz of feeling I was a lot of trouble. Nausea & vomiting & dizziness & palpation's.Ack..Yucky!!

I was on effexor, and it took me a month to come off it. I felt just awful coming off it.

Hugs Big,
Did you just taper down off it & sux up the feeling yucky??

Yeah, I tapered off it. I had a real bad experience with effexor - paranoid episodes, agitated, no sleep, it was bad.

Not fun.

waaaaaaaa
I don't wanna be sick...there just has to be a way to treat the withdrawl.....HELP!

Tell your doc what you're experiencing. S/He may be able to offer you something to help.

I go back in two weeks to the doctor.
I'm curious about others attempt to discontinue this med.
Has anyone heard of taking a dose or two of prozac (as it's half life is so much longer than effexor it's "self tapering") I've read several mentions that this is the only thing that makes the first two or three weeks bearable.

:( no more posts, yet.:confused:

:(

:p Lmbo...ty big...thats right cute!! (country accent)

:D

;)

Ok...I called my other doctor today (my pcp) & he suggested going back up to 37.5mg for a week then attempt everyother day again....His nurse said he wouldn't recommed the prozac either, I didn't think to ask why...i hate that....ugggg!

I had heard that Effexor could be a bear to get off of but I had no idea that it could cause withdrawl like vomiting, ect. Ouch!
I'm not sure that Prozac would help although I have heard of Prozac helping with withdrawl from Paxil.
The reading I've done on the web regarding Effexor withdrawl indicates that your symptoms are not unusual. Some people seem to have no withdrawl while others suffer for a month or longer. Thy symptoms sure sound like "classic" withdrawl - shakes, flu-like symptoms, pain, as well as weird ones such as problems with eye-sight. So far, I haven't read of anyone saying that anything helps. Most of the advise was of the "hang in there" sort.
I did find a web page you might find interesting. I haven't read it through yet, so I'm not sure what's there.
http://www.effexor-xr-side-effects-withdrawal.com/
If someone has made a web page about it, there must be a lot of people affected!
Good Luck - I hope you find a way to reduce your sypmtoms!
Greg

N.B. I did just read about one thing that might help - it's fromt he "case study" on the web page above.
"The short half-life of 5 hours for venlafaxine renders patients vulnerable to nausea, headache, gastric upset, diarrhea, myalgia, and fatigue upon lowering of the dosage. The manufacturer recommends a gradual discontinuation of venlafaxine to avoid the emergence of such symptoms [2]
However, even when such precautions are taken, symptoms may emerge. These symptoms can be relieved by using a cross-tapering strategy with the serotonin-3 (5-HT 3 ) receptor antagonist ondansetron, a medication more commonly used for the treatment of nausea and vomiting during radiotherapy and chemotherapy."

Thank So much for searching the Net for me Greg, I'm going to print this and take it to my Psych M.D. with me on my next visit. I have been trying to discontinue the Effexor xr since December.
The site is very informative, Thanks A Bunch!!

Just a comment on Paxil... I HATED it, I had to go in the hospital taking it, I couldn't sleep or eat & I told the doc to put in the the hospital while on it, I became non-functional.

Rebecca

You are welcome. I had been considering Effexor since the drug I'm taking is wearing off a bit. I think I might try something else first after researching the topic a bit. I don't think I am prone to SSRI withdrawl - I've not had problems before stopping cold turkey - but why chance it if you don't have too. Mind you, when Effexor works, it can be a very effective drug.
I hope you find some releif from the withdrawl - let us know one way or the other.
Regards,
Greg

Good Job, Greg!

I will keep you posted on how I'm doing related to the withdrawal & maybe I can help some one else by my experience. I hate to vomit worse than anything...Looks like it's going take sometime to get off it. I think I may keep notes on how it feels to go through the withdrawal here. It feels very much like having a virus + wicked emotions on top of that.

Hugs,
Rebecca

I took Effexor XR for 8 months before deciding that it was doing more harm then good for me. I tapered off it for a month and had a horrible time with it. I felt sick, shaky, dizzy, couldn't sleep, couldn't eat....not fun at all. It's now been over 2 months since my last 37.5 pill, and I feel great! It took a long time but you do get better, trust me! My only recommendation is this: remember that you are coming off of a drug, thus the withdrawl. Keep your body as clean as possible during this time to help cleanse the system, so in other words take the pain because it will go away. The less drugs you use to counter-act this the better. I didn't even take Advil during my bouts of migrains while coming off the pills...

I was in constant contact with my doc during this time and this was his recommendation as well. Let your body take care of itself for a bit. It has to reset from the pills and figure out what it needs to do without medicinal aids, so keep it that way.

Now to be a complete hypocrite: I am also a pothead, so I do smoke weed daily which helped combat some of the sideeffects....don't know if this is an option for you.

Hope this helps...if you have any questions, pm me. I"ll check that more often. I've been through what you're going through now....stay strong and you'll be back to normal soon!

Well, I'm not too good today & don't feel I can type much as result, we'll see what I can't pull out of this brain.


I wanted to say, Thanks for responding to this Thread & sharing your story with me Zoltan...
It's been 10 days of no Effexor. The dose of every other day, has been like Chinese water torture for me... I have felt like I've had constant motion sickness, been agitated, irritable, extremely low threshold for minor things, like feeling like i was gonna rage over looking for a place to park my car, lethargic, crying, & generally feeling worthless and like I'm going to die and see Jesus soon... Not suicidal, Just feeling like I'm gonna die soon.
I couldn't stand it any longer... I had taken myself off Adderall in December, My shrink at the time said I could take it when I wanted or not so I took it like I used to, but at 1/2 the dose as i didn't know how zombied I'd get from it... I took 5mg @ 7am, 11am, & 3pm...the reason for the 3 pm dose was I used to work second shift...and after doing that I had NO Withdrawal Symptoms all day! I've taken the Adderall for 4 days now, today I only took two doses, I started back in with motion sickness & palpations/anxiety about 6pm & I layed down and went to sleep for 3 hours, feeling so so right now very drained.

I'm changing doctor's & going back to my pcp/family practice doctor for treatment of my adhd/?bipolar ( don't think I have it but then there are times I think I do.) Sigh, I feel like crap tonight, I'm not enjoying feeling so sad...I go see my PCP tomorrow, will let you know how it goes.

Hope I'm making sense in this post, I feel like my thoughts are jumping all over the place.

Oh and on the "Pot" suggestion... I did read about nausea medicine that is givien to chemotherapy patients as a treatment for the withdrawl...Tried Pot in highschool, didn't like it, tastes like "grass" ewww :sick: yuck...lol

Thanks Again,
Rebecca

Wanted to update you on the doctor visit with my PCP/Family Practice Doc...He said, he's not so sure it was withdrawal lately, maybe at first with the vomiting, but recently the "motionsickness" feeling quite possibly was my adhd symptoms returning and my brain misinterpreting the signals...Being effexor targets norepinephrine & serotonin, perhaps one was back to normal baseline for me & the other not...He thinks that because the motionsickness feeling went away when I took the Adderall....We are going to try me on Strattera as I feel a bit sensitive & sad on the Adderall when I take it.... yesterday was my first dose of Strattera, I felt sleepy all day & queasy in the evening hours but the motionsickness feeling wasn't there. I didn't sleep much last night & dreamed alot, woke kinda tearful but then I'm ok right now, I feel a bit odd...Maybe a little hyper or anxious...not really sure...:sick: