Posted by cmcdougall on December 14, 2001, at 16:54:10
In reply to Effexor ... tapering off, posted by Allen F. on December 14, 2001, at 14:49:10
I took 300mg effexorXR for 18 months. My pdoc had me taper down over 6 weeks. As I was getting off effexor, I was adding celexa. I ended up in the hospital because of effexor withdrawal.
If you can spread the dose out, do it. It might help and it sure won't hurt. The way you are feeling now is definately withdrawal...
I don't know, but it seems to me that your dose of effexor was pretty low, and if side effects were a real problem, you should have been switched to a different drug sooner. Usually it takes at least 6 months of treatment for depression to abate. Hopefully you won't be like me. I have to take meds for the rest of my life, and even when I find a combo that works its only a matter of time before it poops out.
Are you seeing a regular doctor for your depression? GPs usually don't have a lot of experience with antidepressants and prescribe low doses. You didn't mention starting on another drug. In my experience, if the side effects of one drug are intolerable, I don't just stop taking it. I start another one at the same time. This usually helps with withdrawal symptoms too. In fact, I read somewhere that people coming off effexor can be helped by prozac.
Good luck.
Carly
> I have been on 75 mg of Effexor for three months. I take 37.5 mg in the morning and then again at night. I have had difficulty with side effects so my Doctor wants me to go off Effexor and see if they subside.
>
> I am to take 37.5 mg per day for the first week, then half that for the second, and then supposedly I am off. I have been taking just one of 37.5 mg capsels in the morning for the past two days and have felt very strange.
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> My neck is sore, I am jumpy, sleep has been strange, ... Are these withdrawal symptoms? Would it be beter if I took half the 37.5 mg in the morning and the remainder at night since I have been taking it morning and night.
>
> I have also heard that you should taper off of Effexor slowly and not sure that two weeks meets that definition ... does anyone have experience with this? The biggest concern is depression, I don't want a relapse ... has this happened to others?
>
> Thanks,
>
> a
poster:cmcdougall
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011213/msgs/86927.html