Getting off Effexor xr symptoms

[seektolearn]

I have been on Effexor xr for 4 1/2 wks.  It has done nothing for my anxiety and actually feel worse now agoraphobic. They had me up to 150mg which made me feel unreal and out of it so they put me back down to 75mg.  I know its not right for me the side effects are too bad.  My question is how to get off I am so scared of the withdrawl symtoms.  I have had every s/e on it including confusion muscle tension dizziness insomnia agitation to name a few so will the withdrawl symtoms be worse.  The anxiety that has come over me in regards to the withdrawl symtoms is now overcoming my life,  I am truly scared to go off after the horrow stories I have heard.  Since I have been on 75mg for 5 days now what do you think I will experience with withdrawl and what do you think is a good withdrawl schedule.
I use Klonopin 0.5mg for breakthrough anxiety will that help with the withdrawl symtoms also?  just know I need to be med free but am scared to do it now. Thanks for your help. I have heard of sleepiness on withdrawl and that wouldnt bother me at all since my insomnia is so bad, but the rest scares me, help...

[fancyfree]

I am glad to finally find someone on effexor for the same reason I am. I was put on it by my oncologist 5 yrs. ago while taking tamoxfin. I am pleased to say now I am cancer free so he told me to stop the tamoxifn. I said I also want to stop the efferxor but have read horror stories. He gave me 25mg and said to take 3 a day for a week, 2 a day for a week, 1 a day for a week and then one every other day. He said I would be ok. I am really nervous but plan to start it tomorrow. I have such a time with sweating and read that was due to both the tamoxifin and effexor. I sure hope that stops.

[hardpixie]

well it started about a week ago, and all of a sudden i felt as tho i was drunk or something. ever since it started suddenly, ive been fighting to keep my balance, i feel woozy in the head, and i shake every time i walk as tho im trying to hold my balance. ive been to the doctor numerous times, and they dont know what is going on, ive been on effexor 75 mg for about a month now, and just a couple days ago, the doctor said to just completly stop taking the effexor. so my question is, when my symptoms started a week ago, is it side effects from the effexor, and now im feeling withdrawls from it. i dont know what is going on, i feel horrible, i have for a week. im just wondering if anyone knows what might be going on because my doctors dont know????grrr this is frustrating

[mobilegeeek]

just started taking venlafaxine not much is happening yet, doesnt really do much ,for me anyway

[hangin'in there!]

Why are we all effexor sufferers AS WELL as GAD, Depression, Anxiety, PTSD etc. etc. sufferers? Isn't this med. meant to help not hurt? I have been on Effexor 75mg for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder  for about 6 months now and I also have a 2 and a half year old.

This drug has really helped me ... and I resorted to meds. VERY reluctantly.  It was a matter of life or death for me.  My husband and I moved to a small town b/c of his work and I have never been so isolated.  I was having flashbacks and crying untill my eyes were swollen shut just wishing I wasn't alive ... but I wanted to live; for my son, for my husband and I wanted to live without the horrors of PTSD.  It was medication or oblivion - it had to be one or the other.  I chose meds.  Cipramil didn't do much - just took the edge off PTSD turning it into major anxiety and depression. I seemed immune to higher doses, too.

Then I met the monster; effexor XR.  Guess what?  I have heaps of side effects but have never been psychologically more well balanced in all my life! I was a zombie for the first 2 months but I am now in month 6 and feeling on top of the world (my improvement has been so drastic even my prescribing doctor didn't recognise me!) I am 'normal' for the first time ever and have found my own personal miracle pill.

  Or so I thought till I read your posts.  I have carefully and completely read each and every one of the posts above and I am paying close attention to everyones similar experiences. You guys, we are guinea pigs! At least we have this site as our communal cage - cos we are the only ones that know firsthand what the side effects of this test drug are!!! Every post shared similar side effects - and there's alot of different 'brains' reacting in the same way to this medication.

Is it hurting us or is it helping us? Or both, as in my case, at the same time?

I am now a pregnant guinae pig hoping to wean off this medication, but I'm trapped on it for everyone elses sake more than my own!  It is the only thing that helps me want to live, even though I get ring-sting, vomit, eye tremors and flashes, drenching nite sweats (would be less wet if I had of pissed myself!) tingly extremities, extremely cold in a warm room etc. We all know the side effects as we have learnt them from each other here.  I can't stop something that helps me care for my child, stay calm and keep eating while pregnant, ends flashbacks and agoraphobic spells that last 8 -12 months a time unmedicated. I have no support, my husband is great don't get me wrong, but he is only one man!  He can't be a homemaker and a social worker and work a 70 hour a week job to come home and settle an insomniac that thinks dying would at least solve the problem!!! Any one would crumble under the weight of that burden, and medication normalises my behaviour.

'mbjs' I am also scared of coming off my little miracle in a capsule b/c these posts have led me to believe that I have welcomed a monster into my life that will be really scary when I ask it to leave!!

To everyone following this thread - you guys keep posting!!!  WE NEED YOUR WISDOM OF EXPERIENCE.

I will continue to follow this thread myself and thank all the guinae pigs in this communal cage for giving us information that doctor's haven't even documented yet!!!

Birth defects? Am I a terrible person for even contemplating risking my fetus to save myself, my husband, my child? My doctor doesn't recommend it - but my therapist does! I am in a tug of war - I can't afford to withdraw and relapse, I can't afford risking my fetus either!

[Sparkynet]

I've been on Effexor XR for a bit under 2 years.  I started at 75mg a day and about 3 months ago went down to 37.5mg a day.  Two weeks ago, I started to take the 37.5mg every other day.  Everything was well, until I went out this weekend to celebrate my sister's belated 30th B-day.  We had a bit too much wine Saturday night.  (I know I am not suppose to drink with this medication, but thought I was tapering off it and it was only one day I was going to drink)  When I woke up Sunday morning, I had an anxiety attack.  I quickly took a pill of the 37.5mg and didn't do anything.  Shortly after, I took another 37.5mg pill.  It took approximately 4 hours to go through my system and work.  Thereafter, I slept for 3.5 hours and woke up completely rejuvenated.  --Except a headache from the wine.
Effexor XR has been a miracle for me.

My concern:  I am 33 years old that would like to have a family.  Has anyone gone through a pregnancy that was on Effexor XR prior and/or during the pregnancy?

[nedmac72]

My girlfriend has been taking effexor for a couple of years for stress headaches.  The side effect (although I am not sure it is releated to the drug) that I am concerned with is that she says she doesn't feel anything.  She doesn't feel happiness, sadness, ect.  I was wondering if this was one of the side effects of the drug