Posted by Liz7711 on February 2, 2006, at 7:38:29
In reply to Re: Effexor XR withdrawal, posted by jgrl on February 1, 2006, at 22:48:05
Hi Jgrl,
OK, don't panic. The thing with Effexor is that you have to taper off very slowly, and then you will be fine. I just recently finished tapering off after being on 150 for 2 years and I am having NO side effects. I learned the hard way--I went down to 75 as you did for 2 weeks (only I did not have any side effects from that), and then just stopped. I was sick as a dog for a week, dizzy as hell, so I went back on. Since I had been off for a whole week, I decided to go back on at 1/4 of the 75 mg. tab to see if I could handle that. I opened up the capsule and divided it into 4 parts--I think it was about 55 beads, and took them with yogurt, being sure not to chew the beads.
I took that amount for about 2 weeks, then would go down about 5 beads per week. When I was down to about 25 beads, I basically went down about 1 bead per day, just had the last one on Saturday.
It took me 2 months to taper down that way, but it's worth it--I had no side effects this way, other than some irritability which is to be expected.
You definitely CAN get off of this, and you should, just be patient. I believe from what I've read about other's experiences, that if you try to go off too quickly, you will have more side effects, and not only that, but they will persist after you have stopped. Some people have problems a year later! I think that the power of this drug in our bodies is such that it actually DAMAGES our brains to go cold turkey. That's my belief, so I urge people to go as slow as possible.
In your case, since you are having symptoms at 75 mg., I would take the 75, and split another 75 in half so you take about 100 for a couple weeks, then do the 75 for 2 weeks, then half of that for 2 weeks, half of that for 2 weeks, and then you can taper down like I did about 5 beads per week or so.
Good luck, hang in there.
p.s. the sex will definitely get better too! : )
Liz
> All of this withdrawal info really scares me. I recently decided to stop taking my anti'ds and never realized what I'd be up against. I've been taking effexor for just over a year (150mg/day) and just had my scrip reduced to 75mg. Today I've had the worst headache I've had in a long time and started feeling major anxiety. It freaked me out because it's only been a few days that I've been on 75mgs. I don't know what to do? I really hope that my receptors are still functioning on their own and not damaged from the meds. I don't want to be on anti-d's for the rest of my life. I wanted to stop because I feel like I can cope with everything on my own, now I'm questioning that. Part of my reason for wanting to be med free was due to the sexual side effects. I'm just barely in my 3o's and want to experience my peek...but the desire hasn't been what it normally was. I hate feeling like I'm dysfunctional in my own body. I deserve to experience sexual pleasure with my husband...but at what price? If the withdrawal symptoms are dibilitating, surely sex will be the last thought in my mind. I'm not sure what to do....I iwsh I would have looked into this before taking and tapering!
poster:Liz7711
thread:588162
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20060117/msgs/605405.html