Weening off of Effexor XR 150

[Christine63]

I am in the third week of weening off of Effexor XR 150.  I consulted my physician on how to go about this and his recommendation was to switch to regular Effexor.  For the first week, take 50mg in the AM and 50mg in the PM.  Remove the PM dose in the second week.  Take 50mg every OTHER day in the third week, and completely stop by the fourth week.  First two weeks were no problem.  The third week is horrible.  I'm experiencing the following side effects; vomitting, body aches, headache, hearing weird swishing sounds in my head, dizziness, exhaustion - but then when I'm asleep, I'm having terrible nightmares that are right out of a science fiction film.

Should I spread this last week out over a few more weeks?  Should I cut the pills in 1/2?  i.e.  50mg one day, 25mg the next, 50mg the next, and so on.  Then go to 25mg every day and then 25mg every OTHER day?  Or should I just take a week off of work and work through the withdrawal cold turkey like a drug addict would coming off an addiction?  Help...

[OtisDaMan]

If you go to the following location, it explains what symptoms may accompany discontinuation of effexor (aka venlafaxine): "www.healthyplace.com/other-info/psychiatric-medications/venlafaxine-effexor-effexor-xr-full-prescribing-information/menu-id-72/#precautions"

It seems to me you have tapered correctly but just been unlucky in the symptoms and their severity. Hang in there and things should start to normalise. I'm currently on 375mg/day and have been at that level for nearly two years now - boy will my tapering off be fun!

All the best,
OtisDaMan

[whodunnit]

Hi,

I agree, the taper is about right. Continuing to halve doses and so on when you get down to small amounts really doesn't do anything. It just drags out the problem.

You are having some bad side effects (wow, observant of me, right) but not all people do get them as you have or as severe. My own first coming off FX was nothing like yours, none of the bad physical stuff you have suffered. It is different for all.

The worst I had was a visual distortion thing I can't really describe, caused dizzy feelings and made it impossible to drive for a while. Take care with driving if you haven't already. My visual problem lasted about 3 months.

The other thing I hated was a feeling like a small electric shock in my head every little while. I used to get it when I missed a couple of days but coming off it was there for over a week and drove me mad as I thought I was dying or something. I rang the hospital and the doc to get advice that I wasn't!.

The thing is if you have already stopped or when you do stop then it isn't cold turkey. Cold turkey means just stopping a drug from where you are. You have tapered correctly and saved yourself some misery already.

I'd suggest the week off would be a good idea, lots of sleep and lots of water. Good luck, the pain will stop soon I assure you.

[Hensley258]

Your taper sounds fine, but I must tell you that regardless of tapering (I don't care how slow you do it) you will still have these symptoms of discontinuation.

I used to take 350Mgs a day for Effexor for 4 years. I tapered very slow and still I had the exact symptoms you described above.

What was even worse was my taper of Pristiq. It was murder for 6 long weeks after my last dosage. You just have to stick it out and it will go away. It may take a long time, but it will go away.