Commig off effexor xl

[worriedboy634]

Hello All, I have been on Effexor xl for 4 years, with a starting dose of 75mg leading to 150mg, please advise on comming off, as my doctor is not very helpfull..

[nana902]

I have been coming off Effexor for about 5 months now.  Please work with a doctor.  I started to wean to fast and got very sick.  Now it goes real slow.  I was on 225mg. of Effexor and now am just about on 37.5 for this month.  Next month I plan to be off altogether if it works out OK.  Sometimes I would have real "shaky" days and this month I had some "dizzy" days.  This week I take 37.5 on Monday...75 on Tuesday...37.5 on Wed. 75 on Thursday and 37.5 on Fri.  See what I mean!!  Next week I will take the 37.5 4 times during the week...then 5 times next week.  This is slow but it needed to be this way for me.  I just did not care for this drug plus it gave me high blood pressure which I never had before.  I am now only going to take 20mg. Paxil which I had been on years before and then maybe later try to get off of that also.....We will see.

Good luck...and please take your time....it can be done.....Nana

[APACHI]

My doctor was shocked that I stopped this medication cold-turkey, hey it was easy, but I get severe panic attacks now, when that never happened before.

I used to be on 150mg when I went cold turkey and was off of it for 2 months, then when she found out, let's just say I'm on it again but this time it's 75 mg and I can handle that and I know darn well when I miss my meds for this I not only get the anxiety problem, but I get depressed also.

How this is, is I was taking another drug, the pharmacist forgot to somehow include this bit of info in the info leaflet I get with new medications. One of the side effects of dexidrene is depression and it makes my anxiety worse, where as I had no problem getting off effexor or other antidepressants in my past history ever. Dexidrene is also a diet drug, but that's not what I was taking this for, they did some studies and found that it can also help people who are ADD, I was told if I had this I would notice a difference in me and there was none, then I learned it was a diet drug and I stayed on it and that's when chit hit the fan. I'm no longer on it, but now I have more than one problem, it ***** but I live with it.

I was just tired of taking pills, I wanted to be free and sometimes freedom costs you.

[Brenndy]

Coming off Effexor-XL.

Anyone who is taking Effexor-XL and/or is trying to taper off, and is experiencing side-effects not listed in the PDR, contact Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (this can be done online or via telephone).  There is a well known standing JOKE amongst psychiatrists; in that, they refer to this drug as Side-Effexor because of the multitudinous deleterious side-effects patients experience; both while on it, as well as tapering off of it.
IMO, the FDA should have yanked this drug off the market in 1993; the same year of its inception.

[lynn57]

If you are a patient person you will have no bad side-effects.  Take your capsule each day and remove  granules.  Every day remove two more than the day before, until you are down to none. ( First you will remove 2, then 4..then 6..then 8 etc.) it will take awhile but it's worth it. If you feel comfortable with it  you can do more than two a day.  When you are counting out forty little granules you have to have patiece, but it works.

[Brenndy]

PLEASE tell me the instructions in your post were meant to be interpreted in jest.

[Brenndy]

PLEASE tell me the instructions in your post were meant to be interpreted in jest.

[lynn57]

Not at all.  I was totally serious.  You may think it's funny, but someone who has tried coming off too quickly would probably disagree.  This is the only way I could do it.  Since the XR comes in capsules, it's the perfect taper method.  You can drop as many grains as you are comfortable with. I can tell by your previous post that you hated Effexor XR and had a hard time with withdrawal.  For me it was an excellent drug other than sleep problems.  I had no problems with coming off, but I prepared for it and committed myself to making it work.  Five minutes out of my day was not too much to give for NO discomfort.