Posted by SLS on February 23, 2006, at 7:26:57
In reply to Effexor XR vs. Cymbalta, posted by MrsDelT on February 22, 2006, at 10:39:20
Your depression sounds like it was situational and not spontaneously biological. Although you may indeed have a biological vulnerability to depression, depression and anxiety might not appear ever again, even after discontinuing medication.
I think it is worth at least trying to discontinue Effexor. The more gradually you taper your dosage, the lower your chances are to relapse or suffer withdrawal symptoms. Remember, however, that to lower the dosage from 75mg to 37.5mg is a full %50 reduction, and might be too much. Because Effexor stays in the body for such a short period of time, you might want to take small amounts of it 2-3 times a day. Some people break open the capsules and count pellets. If you are using tablets, you could ask for the 25mg preparation and cut it into 12.5mg pieces.
If you are given the advice to take Effexor every other day or every third day, I would disregard it and simply lower the total daily dose. You can use Benadryl for withdrawal symptoms should they appear. It helps, but may not completely eliminate them. The other thing that some people do is to switch to Prozac for a few weeks. It has a much longer half life and gently lowers the level of drug in the body. Personally, I use a flexible-dosing strategy for which I take very small doses of Effexor as soon as I feel withdrawal symptoms appear. I use as little as is necessary to last 6-8 hours. I end up taking 3 or more doses a day. Using this method, I have discontinued Effexor 300mg within two weeks. You might want to browse the archives using the Google search function at the bottom of the page. Try searching for "flexible dosing SLS". I have not yet put together a treatise on the subject, but you should be able to get a good idea as to how to administer flexible-dosing after reading some of the old posts.
Warning: Abruptly stopping Effexor "cold-turkey" can trigger events in the brain that lead to a protracted period of withdrawal that can last for weeks or months. Of course, the withdrawal syndrome will be more intense as well if you discontinue the drug this way. As many times as I have been on and off this medication and ones similar to it, I would still not inflict such a shock on my body as to stop taking it all at once.
Good luck.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:612041
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20060117/msgs/612371.html