YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

I decided to try to get myself off of Venlafaxine (generic Effexor) about 8 months ago so that I could entertain the possibility of becoming pregnant sometime in the next year. I was on 150 mg for about a year and 75 mg for about 2.5 years before that. I did this in what I believed was a very responsible and deliberate way: I talked to my doctor, came up with a good weaning-off plan over the course of several months. I was aware of the physical withdraw symptoms due to forgetting a dose a couple times a year (hoo boy, this drug trains you well not to forget it). However, I was not expecting to feel the dizziness, nausea, and mental fogginess after tapering down so gradually and carefully. All was fine until I stopped taking my teeny-tiny dose about 2 weeks ago. I have been really struggling these days.

I started suffering from insomnia first, which has never been an issue in my entire life until now. I never realized how utterly debilitating insomnia is, and now fully understand how sleep deprivation is used as a method of torture. I've taken half an Ambien the past three nights now and have gotten some relief.

A little over a week ago, the dizziness started. I have that feeling of having ridden a spinny carnival ride one too many times, but ALL THE TIME. Working out is pretty much out of the question until this subsides.

Additionally, I have absolutely no emotional stability. I feel waves of intense sadness, which leads to crying, which makes me feel anxiety about crying, which leads to more hopelessness and sadness. Simple chores and errands have become a fight. Everything, I mean everything makes me cry. I know that I am highly sensitive and a bit of a crier when unmedicated, but this is ridiculous. Last night I was really losing it, and was very tempted to give in and start taking the medication again.

I've read many forum posts elsewhere about how heinous weaning off this drug can be, and I could have it a lot worse (no brain zaps for me, thankfully). It seems everything I am experiencing is very common among people who are trying to come off of it, but can't find too many anecdotes about how long the symptoms last (weeks? months?). I am hoping to stick with remaining med-free for now - simply for reproductive health reasons - but it would help if I knew how long of a fight I have in front of me.

I'm not even sure if anyone here has an answer, it helps to just write all this out because I don't feel like I have many people I can talk frankly about this with. My poor husband needs a break from all this crazy.

Thanks,
Arkay

Hi Arkay,
Just wanted to let you know that you're not alone, and that I hear you and sympathize. I'm on Venlafaxine, and dread the day when I may have to wean off it.
What does your doctor say about the length of time to go through all the withdrawal symptoms? If he/she isn't helpful, do you have a therapist that you can speak to about it? It seems to me like you could use some professional support.

But in the meantime, I'm so sorry you're having to go through all that. Not fun at all!

Thank you LeeLeeLee. I hope that this medication is working well for you. I found it to be pretty effective, but it's just not the sort of thing I can stay on forever. If you are lucky, you will be able to wean off of it in the future with few problems (many apparently do, especially if they are simply transitioning to a different SSRI).

An update: I have been taking large doses of Omega 3-6-9, a B-Complex, and Sam-e for about 4 days now and feel a lot better. The nausea and dizziness seem to have subsided (knock on wood). Still dealing with insomnia and some emotional fragility, but it is noticeably better today. So I'd say the worst of the withdrawl is about 2 to 3 weeks. I've been really gentle with myself, staying mindful, and doing a lot of nice self-care (long fragrant baths, guided meditations, star-gazing, kitty petting...). I do plan on contacting my Dr. tomorrow just so she is aware that even the slow tapering off has left me with these symptoms.

That's great to know - I'm happy you're feeling better!

Update, one month med-free:

Dizziness and nausea completely gone, insomnia slowly getting better, and emotionally a lot more stable. I've been trying to practice serious, focused mindfulness to stay even-keeled. I am constantly checking in with myself and making small corrections as the day progresses. It is working for me. I have had a couple of small meltdowns, but neither were day-ruining.

I would not say I feel "great", but I feel more like myself than I have in weeks, and that does feel good.

Hello Arkey. Glad you posted an update.

Arkey wrote:I would not say I feel "great", but I feel more like myself than I have in weeks, and that does feel good.

This is great news!

This is my first post, and I am having a look around the different topics etc. I realize this is an old post, and hope Arkay has Effexor in their distant memory by now, but for other readers coming to read this thread looking for info I can report on my experience of the med.
First though, I have been under Psychiatric care for all of my meds, so I do titrate up and down on doc's orders, not on my own, so I find it odd to read that people do that on their own.
I was on 150mg Effexor XL (plus 300mg Wellbutrin XL, and 75mg Seroquel at the same time, and other meds for migraine) last year, and when my doc figured it was time to try a different SSRI, I read up on it a bit, and realized it was going to be different for everybody. I went from 150mg to 75mg without any trouble at all. However, 75mg to 37.5mg was two weeks of hell . I was sick in bed with what felt like the flu for two solid weeks. I know that I was very lucky with that result.
The 75mg capsule opened up and had two solid pills in it, so that's how I took my 37.5mg doses. I have read that some people titrate down, when their capsules have the hundreds of tiny little balls in them, by taking a month or more and taking 5 less tiny balls at a time. This sounds very extreme to me, especially when my goal was to get going on another SSRI.

Effexor withdrawal is the worst. I managed to wean myself down from 225 to 175 about a year ago, but at that point I could sense the dark clouds gathering on the horizon, so I stopped. I hate being dependent on this, to the point where I feel like shit if I go off it for a day. And I'm still depressed. I don't know if it helps me at this point, so much as going off it hurts me. But I can't even try other things that might work better, without tapering the Effexor down more, and that seems like a bad idea.

Just checking in on this old thread and see there are new responses, so I will add another update. 7 months out, and the physical withdraw symptoms are indeed a distant memory. I would say it took a good two months to overcome the insomnia, which I did with the help of 1/2 a melatonin before bed and lots of sleep meditations. I also took large doses of B-complex vitamins and Sam-e for a couple months, which seemed to help ease the symptoms as well. I am very glad to be free of this particular medication.

I am on a high dose of this stuff and I really hate it. I have worries about conspiracy theories of what they'll do to me. If I forget or fuck up the dose, I'm dizzy and sick by midday.