Effexor Withdrawal- any suggestions?

[btd]

Justine wrote:

!!!!!UPDATE!!!!!!
I am on Day 6 of my withdraw. Yesterday was pretty bad. I woke up and just felt sad. I drove to work and pretty much had to fight back the tears while driving. My morning and work was pretty good it just took me a little more time then usual and then after lunch is when it hit. Brain zaps, the eye rolls, and after about an hour or so my eyes just hurt.
I decided lastnight to start taking vitamins that I had heard about. I took a vitamin B pill and about an hour later the brain zaps became less intense and the eye rolls did as well. Before bed I took a fish oil pill (Omega 3) with some advil pm and I slept well.
I do not have the sad feeling this morning but today could maybe be one of my good days. Hope that today continues to be a good day.

The advil pm has a drug like an antidepressant in it to help you sleep so that is why it helped. The base drug for antidepressants were antihistamines and that is why you felt better you can get the same effect from gravol or any antihistamine. Your still early on the full effect of not taking the drug can takes wks to hit took 6 1/2 wks to hit me. Just saying this is early so be aware and if you withdrawal is anytthing like mine you may hit a point where you can't think straight to care for youself so think this thru now and right yourself some easy to understnd notes on what to do if...

[Justine]

I can see your point. Today I started to have some though withdraws. I got the whole woozy, dizzy feeling in my head. Also started to get the "feel like I am watching a movie". Additionally last night after dinner I had a mild panic attack. I have been thinking about getting to a new doctor and telling them that I really do not want to be put back on the Effexor but I could really use a little help right now. I had a read a post on here where someone had said something about "you are worth more then having to go through the withdraw alone". This over the past couple of days has hit home more and more. The first couple of days were managable but as time goes on I am faced with new challenges that I do not think I am 100 % prepared for.

Also just remembered something that I didnt think would happen. I have also been very short tempered lately. Not a good thing in my line of work as I am a claims adjuster.

I think tomorrow if I get some time while I am at work I might do some research on panic/anxiety doctors in my area.

[btd]

Justine wrote:

I can see your point. Today I started to have some though withdraws. I got the whole woozy, dizzy feeling in my head. Also started to get the "feel like I am watching a movie". Additionally last night after dinner I had a mild panic attack. I have been thinking about getting to a new doctor and telling them that I really do not want to be put back on the Effexor but I could really use a little help right now. I had a read a post on here where someone had said something about "you are worth more then having to go through the withdraw alone". This over the past couple of days has hit home more and more. The first couple of days were managable but as time goes on I am faced with new challenges that I do not think I am 100 % prepared for.
Also just remembered something that I didnt think would happen. I have also been very short tempered lately. Not a good thing in my line of work as I am a claims adjuster.
I think tomorrow if I get some time while I am at work I might do some research on panic/anxiety doctors in my area.

I think tomorrow you may want to start taking the Effexor again before things get out of hand any further. I did cold turkey and there is no way in hell I could have worked... I lost my job my house my car my savings .... just in case you have none of these things and want to protect them let me just say when withdrawal is done be it in a year 5 years or 7 years when it is done you will have a life still ... want to start over penniless destitute walking and taking the bus... with no good job recommendations cause you wrecked all the good ones with the last huge blunder you did while messed up with E... hello this is the voice of expereince talking and from where I sit you are taking a huge risk.
What talk of so far is derealisation and explosive mood swings this is the tip of the iceburg... I did no expect any of the things that happened to me either. I had no support till I was 8 months into cold turkey too far in to start he drug again and was already in poop out when I quit... you are so lucky to get this advice early on.
It is important to have something to go back to when this is done... without it you will spend your days on Effexor chat sites and have no life is this what you want... I know that sounds mean but really I use to be so full of life had a house with a pool ...money was looked up to... now I live in a rented room and have spent 2 years sick in pooped out 41/2 in withdrawal that is 61/2F-------- YEARS!!! protracted withdrawal can be long painful and impossible to rebound from... just take the pill get normal or something close then start you taper you are not even to the hard stuff yet... sorry if this sounds mean I am just burned out from living this way and answering these same type posts for the last few years. I aim to tell the truth and stop people before they fall in the hole I did. Sometime I think it would be smarter to let it all go and let the people fall where they may some will figure it out that it was the drugs eventually but most will take years maybe like me the best years of their lives I just can't sit silent and watch it happen to others if I did I would be a bad as them.

[john reed]

I felt a wd after switching to generic. I guess I got used to it? or adapted eventually.

I'm tapering from 48 balls a week. I tried decreasing 1 a week but nooooo dice I'm still trying to recover from that mistake! so frustrating but I cannot go around short fused like in wd!

[hmariewv]

How many weeks did you decrease 1 a week? I did it for 9 weeks and it was awful. It was like I was having a nervous breakdown. When you get to the last few beads I feel it is harder on the generic b/c there is less in your system to get you through the day. Like it releases faster and you go thru w/d each day even more. I just know when I took the name brand that a lot of it stopped. I'm still having problems but I had went off of Effexor for 6 months the first time before I went back on it. I'm real sensitive to everything now. Feels like my central nervous system is messed up. Does anyone else wake up in the morning and have shaking and a horrible dread feeling?

[btd]

hmariewv wrote:

How many weeks did you decrease 1 a week? I did it for 9 weeks and it was awful. It was like I was having a nervous breakdown. When you get to the last few beads I feel it is harder on the generic b/c there is less in your system to get you through the day. Like it releases faster and you go thru w/d each day even more. I just know when I took the name brand that a lot of it stopped. I'm still having problems but I had went off of Effexor for 6 months the first time before I went back on it. I'm real sensitive to everything now. Feels like my central nervous system is messed up. Does anyone else wake up in the morning and have shaking and a horrible dread feeling?

Yes this morning routine is what I felt for years after cold turkey if I get it now I know I am in for a bad day.
Your a hypersensitive from the previous withdrawal and your liver now metabolizes the drug differently as the the liver was changed by the drug was not working so hot now it is improving and the drug gets thru you system faster.. try dividing your dose to two times a day some found this helpful the liver function changes are the reason the low doses are so hard to deal with and figure out.

[hmariewv]

Thank you btd. I hate to wake up shaking. I feel so alone and fearful.

I don't know what to do with the medicine now. I could not miss one day of the generic and felt withdraw all day long. On the brand name I could go for 5 days without it. Maybe the brand name is stronger. I was on 20 beads of generic so maybe on the brand name I should take one every 5 days and I am closer to being off of it. Has anyone w/d from the brand name at the end and how did you do? HAS ANYONE ELSE CHANGED FROM GENERIC TO BRAND NAME DURING TAPER?

Since you don't feel the full w/d till much later I am afraid of hitting bottom again in a few weeks . I started taking 24 beads of the brand name everyday for the past few days. I have more nervous movement in my mouth which drives me crazy and more shaking in the morning and my head hurts. Could it be too much? Have you heard of anyone taking it every 5 days? I'm afraid to be on it and afraid to go off it. My friend said today I have had a complete personality change. I wish I had someone with me 24 hrs a day till this is over.

[btd]

hmariewv wrote:

Thank you btd. I hate to wake up shaking. I feel so alone and fearful.
I don't know what to do with the medicine now. I could not miss one day of the generic and felt withdraw all day long. On the brand name I could go for 5 days without it. Maybe the brand name is stronger. I was on 20 beads of generic so maybe on the brand name I should take one every 5 days and I am closer to being off of it. Has anyone w/d from the brand name at the end and how did you do? HAS ANYONE ELSE CHANGED FROM GENERIC TO BRAND NAME DURING TAPER?
Since you don't feel the full w/d till much later I am afraid of hitting bottom again in a few weeks . I started taking 24 beads of the brand name everyday for the past few days. I have more nervous movement in my mouth which drives me crazy and more shaking in the morning and my head hurts. Could it be too much? Have you heard of anyone taking it every 5 days? I'm afraid to be on it and afraid to go off it. My friend said today I have had a complete personality change. I wish I had someone with me 24 hrs a day till this is over.

m compuer is broke ou can' skip das!!!!!
regular dosing is a mus some dose wice a da as E has a shor half life... read he e aper schedule!!!

[Tiffany]

I did the stupid thing and forgot to pickup my medicine. It's is the worst even missing 1 dose. I have been on Effexor for years for bipolar. It really helps me but the withdrawals are equivalent to coming off heroin according to my dr. One of the weirdest things during withdrawals are orgasms while I'm sleeping. Literally last night I had so many that I woke up hurting. Why is that?

[Raymie]

I understand all your anger and outrage for this drug because of the withdrawal symptoms and the doctors not telling you about them and so on. But I did a ton of research before i decided to take this drug. I saw all the horror stories, but I knew with my anger problem that i was NOT ever going to get off this drug. I need it to stop the rage that flows through my body every second. I can't say enough good things about Effexor. But i STRONGLY/HIGHLY reccommend that you do NOT take this drug if you ever plan on getting off. I have had to reduce my dosage just because of the constipation it gives me and i am having a hell of a time with that. Going from 150 to 75. I don't plan on going down any further after dealing with all this brain zapping and dizziness and crappy mood. It's not worth it. Please find something not as strong if you are just feeling down..a little depression. This isn't the pill for that. I am not a happy , go lucky girl skipping around with a smile on my face...i'm still a loner, i still hate crowds, i still pretty much hate everything. But i don't get angry, i don't shake with rage and i don't have horribly evil thoughts anymore...and that is enough to keep me on it forever.
This is not the drug to take unless you DO YOUR RESEARCH. Doctors have no idea what this drug will do to you. Again...it's not for slight depression...it hasn't done crap for that part...

If you are trying to get off ...DO NOT STOP COLD TURKEY!!!! It's bad enough doing down half the dosage your on...it WILL take a long time...do not be impatient...go down little by little, take your vitamins and try to relax.
That's all i can say!

[Sharon]

Good luck. I opened capsules and poured half out. Slowly weaned. 48 hours free. Good luck to me and all you ;))

[btd]

Raymie wrote:

I understand all your anger and outrage for this drug because of the withdrawal symptoms and the doctors not telling you about them and so on. But I did a ton of research before i decided to take this drug. I saw all the horror stories, but I knew with my anger problem that i was NOT ever going to get off this drug. I need it to stop the rage that flows through my body every second. I can't say enough good things about Effexor. But i STRONGLY/HIGHLY reccommend that you do NOT take this drug if you ever plan on getting off. I have had to reduce my dosage just because of the constipation it gives me and i am having a hell of a time with that. Going from 150 to 75. I don't plan on going down any further after dealing with all this brain zapping and dizziness and crappy mood. It's not worth it. Please find something not as strong if you are just feeling down..a little depression. This isn't the pill for that. I am not a happy , go lucky girl skipping around with a smile on my face...i'm still a loner, i still hate crowds, i still pretty much hate everything. But i don't get angry, i don't shake with rage and i don't have horribly evil thoughts anymore...and that is enough to keep me on it forever.
This is not the drug to take unless you DO YOUR RESEARCH. Doctors have no idea what this drug will do to you. Again...it's not for slight depression...it hasn't done crap for that part...
If you are trying to get off ...DO NOT STOP COLD TURKEY!!!! It's bad enough doing down half the dosage your on...it WILL take a long time...do not be impatient...go down little by little, take your vitamins and try to relax.
That's all i can say!

I suggest you did not do enough research there is a lot here if you have the time to read it all and sure hope you do going down that much is a mistake check reasons to taper slowly and effexor taper schedule./

[Raymie]

Actually i DID do my research and i also know about tapering slowly. I chose to go down to 75 because i didn't have the patience to wait. I also know the reasons why you should taper slowly. I have been on it for almost 10 years. I know what i am talking about.

[Anonymouse]

Raymie wrote:

Actually i DID do my research and i also know about tapering slowly. I chose to go down to 75 because i didn't have the patience to wait. I also know the reasons why you should taper slowly. I have been on it for almost 10 years. I know what i am talking about.

Good for you. It's good to see that maybe BTD is not the only one who can contribute wih some knowledge here. These threads get so long cos a few think they have to reply/comment on everything and end up adding zip. Good luck to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymouse wrote:

<quoted text>
Good for you. It's good to see that maybe BTD is not the only one who can contribute wih some knowledge here. These threads get so long cos a few think they have to reply/comment on everything and end up adding zip. Good luck to you.

Well, it is easy for you, Anonymouse, to slide in here and make a snippy comment about BTD but you do not know what you are talking about and I am really pissed off about it. It is GREAT that some people who have gone through withdrawal have been able to do it with minimal symptoms and lucky them! The people who come to this forum, however, are generally desperate for help. DESPERATE. In total despair. They are at a point where they somehow found this island of sanity in the middle of the confusion of trying to withdraw from a drug that is wrecking their lives. Most do not know about the symptoms of withdrawal of any kind, much less the protracted kind that is so pernicious. What I think BTD has done here is to try to help others not to suffer so much and not to go through what she went through. And she is self-taught through her own research and exactly what is wrong with that? I think that it may be a little more credible than what many doctors do, which is to prescribe medicines that they are advised are the hot new thing, while they are also being treated to perks courtesy of Big Pharma. Now, at least in the U. S., there are some attempts at curtailing this thinly-veiled bribery but make no mistake, this courting of doctors in exchange for their writing prescriptions went on for years and years. There is plenty of data to support how doctors have prescribed certain meds more often when they have been suggested as the more efficacious by pharmaceutical reps armed with everything from ballpoint pens that light up to continuing education on cruise ships. It is just lobbying by another name.

Since I am another long-winded person on here, I will go on to tell you that I came to this site out of desperation a little over a year ago and if it had not been for BTD's help and support I literally would not have survived. I wonder how many others over the years she has helped - most people forget to say thank you by helping others after they start feeling better - they want to put the experience behind the and move on because they hope to try to put their lives back together. I want to stay on here to try to help other people as BTD helped me, so if that makes me as "bad" as she is for posting to try to HELP people, then I am in good company. I don't think I have seen you on here trying to help anyone. Please feel free anytime.

By the way, I have more than 1000 characters left on this post that I could use, but you are welcome to use them if you can offer others help. I am all ears and you have a worldwide audience. If you have nothing to say except a slur, however, why bother?

[Anonymouse]

You have misunderstood my point. I am very happy to read all helpful comments that can help me and others move on with the consequences of being prescribed this toxin. My reply to Raymie was just to thank him/her for saying they are an informed contributor and I shall look out for the name in future.
As for any message that I have to try and help others all I can say is just keep on keeping on. There is no magic wand to save us from the hell that venlafaxine leads us to. Just maybe though little steps might one day lead to a stride forward. I hope we can all stay strong enough to take it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymouse wrote:

You have misunderstood my point. I am very happy to read all helpful comments that can help me and others move on with the consequences of being prescribed this toxin. My reply to Raymie was just to thank him/her for saying they are an informed contributor and I shall look out for the name in future.
As for any message that I have to try and help others all I can say is just keep on keeping on. There is no magic wand to save us from the hell that venlafaxine leads us to. Just maybe though little steps might one day lead to a stride forward. I hope we can all stay strong enough to take it.

Thank you for clarifying what you meant to say.

[Anonymouse]

Anonymous wrote:

<quoted text>
Thank you for clarifying what you meant to say.

My pleasure. Perhaps you might look at your page of commentary, which lacks any added value, with renewed humility.

[Terri]

Anonymouse wrote:

<quoted text>
My pleasure. Perhaps you might look at your page of commentary, which lacks any added value, with renewed humility.

Completely disagree with this unnecessary comment. You might want to take your own advice regarding humility.

[Anonymouse]

Terri wrote:

<quoted text>
Completely disagree with this unnecessary comment. You might want to take your own advice regarding humility.

Bang on cue! Might've guessed you'd be ready to lengthen the thread when you weren't involved in the discussion.