Withdrawal off Effexor

[Bushmom245]

My doctor prescribed 300 mg of Effexor, plus 5 mg of Abilify 7 years ago.  Last year I decided to ween myself off.  At the start 2012 I started to take 150mg everyday in addition to the 5mg of Abilify; 6 months later I then started taking the 150mg everyother day. Now I am trying to go every 2 days; by the second day I am really feeling the withdrawal effects.  Today is Thursday, the last time I took the meds was Sunday.  I keep pushing myself each day to NOT take the Effexor.  I'd like to know how long will I feel the withdrawal effects if I stop the weening process.

Thank you

[sara12345]

You should ask your doctor how to wean yourself off of Effexor.  Certainly waiting 2 days in between doses does not sound like the way to do it. Instead you should gradually reduce the dose and keep taking the medication every day.  If you push it too fast, you could have withdrawal effects for a long time and they can be really horrible--even a kind of psychosis can occur.  Everyone is different with withdrawal.  Three of my friends went off of it with no problem.  I went off of it gradually with no problem, but I never did it the way you are doing it.  So please talk to your doctor.  And BTW, why did you first take the Effexor and why are you trying to get off of it?  300 mg is a very large dose.  

[rjwells00]

For myself when I came off 150mg cold turkey i went through horrible withdrawl for 10-14 days the each day after that it got a little better it took around a month to totally stop having any effects. and I was back to normal. You can do it it seems impossible in the begining but It is only 1 month out of the rest of your life.  Good luck my thoughts and prayers are with you