Effexor withdrawal - How long?

[Jr1985]

How long, roughly, does it take for withdrawal symptoms to go away, after stopping Effexor completely?

I've been off it for 2 weeks now and, although the brain zaps are getting better, I still feel terrible - poor concentration/memory, groggy, no appetite, nausea, stomach cramps, "flu-like" symptoms, etc...

It's not as if I went cold turkey either - I was on 75mg, and halved the dose every week until I was on 1/4 of the 37.5mg tablet before stopping completely.

I was thinking of asking my Dr for Prozac, as I read that can help with the withdrawal symptoms. Then you just withdraw from the Prozac, which should be easier than withdrawing from Effexor, due to it's extremely long half life.

[Driver]

It varies from person to person, but I say you're over the hump and have the worse of it behind you. It has a short half-life, so by now it should be completely out of your system and your body is now re-adjusting to its absence.

Just go to a pharmacy and get what ever you need to combat the withdrawals - don't take any SSRI or SNRI's if at all. If you need something, then St John's Wart may help if things are unbearable.

[Jr1985]

I feel like I've got the flu coming on - cough, achy, fatigued, etc. But I don't know whether it's withdrawal or the actual flu.

I'm going to try St John's Wort but I'm worried I'm just prolonging the agony if I have to withdraw from it too.

[Driver]

Just push through it and only use SJW as a last resort.

[Siouxshi]

Coming off Effexor was one of the hardest things I ever did in my life. I slowly weaned off it in June of last year. I had brain zaps for months afterwards, but less and less frequently as time went on. I am really having trouble finding answers about this from the medical community. My GP sent me for an EEG because she didn't believe me about how bad the zaps were and assumed I must be having seizures.