Will I ever get off Effexor?

[ejb199]

Hey Guys,

i know i havent been round loads - just been trying to get on wth life i guess and not focus on emet. but of course it still crops up everyday.

I have been struggling hard now for two months trying to get off Effexor - drugs for anxiety/depression. I am now down to a quarter of 37.5mg a day - so about 8mg or so - from 75mg - so its pretty good - and ive harldy felt many withdrawal sickness. BUT i went nearly two days with no quarter pill and come yesterday at one ish in the afternoon - i felt soooooo sick. i went and sat in the bathroom - everytime i moved, i felt dizzy and the world was spinning. im just worried that this is it - ill be stuck on a quarter pill forever - i dont know how or what to do now? and ive already done all this on my own - the doctors are pants.....ohhhh [img]smileys/smilies_06.gif[/img] im always going to feel sick arent i?

whys life so hard? i hate myself for complaining because i have a great life bar emet....

ems xxx

[jptk]

a few years ago i was on medication and i stopped taking them all of a sudden. a few days later i started to feel terrible, soooo sick. my own fault for stoping way too quick. but it only lasted a few days and then i felt fine again. i havnt taken the drug you are talking about so i cant say too much, but it seems like what your doing is right, weening yourself off it. Maybe you lowered the dosage too quick? maybe stay on the quarter for a while before reducing it

[terified girl]

A girl I work with is just coming off from effexor, and she's doing good and she's happy to finally be off of them, but it did take her some time.


So go slowly and do consult your doctor about it, they will be able to give you the best advice to not feel the withdrawls.

[madisonsmom]

I had the same exact problem coming off of Effexor. I did this about 2 yrs ago. I tried coming off of it several times only to give in a take it due to the terrible side effects. I had to take it slow like you are. That last 37.5 is the hardest. My doctor ended up giving me Xanax to help with the withdrawals. It helped some. I felt side effects after finally having the courage to stop and they only lasted maybe 3-4 days.


That stuff has horrible side effects. My name for it now is "Side-effexor" (My doc calls it that too)


I had terrible nausea, dizziness, flu symptoms....UGH!! It was horrible!!


You can do it. You are almost there![img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]

[2jo2]

I got off effexor a couple years ago... I was down to the 37.5 mg and coming off that was really hard.... I was sooooo dizzy, had diarhea, nausea.... it was horrible. I actually had to take individual beads out of the capsules each day, because I had it where you turn your head and your brain sees things in slow motion or a couple of seconds delayed, that's horrible stuff to come off of. But you can do it. It took about 2 weeks of dizziness before I was completely drug free, and it felt so good to be off. I had bad side effects from it so anything felt better than being on it.

[ejb199]

oh man - i just dont know what to do. the doctors haven helped me one BIT getting off of these - i have done it all myself from a print out from a site online.

i guess im now down to 37.5mg/4(erm - 9.something mg) so its at the end now - but if i go more than 24 hours without that quarter i feel awful - im sure you all know from the posts here - it sounds very familiar.

im just so scared tho - and as soon as i start feeling sick again i HAVE to take a quarter because i hate the sick/dizzy and spinning sensations....

ems x

[madisonsmom]

Are you going to take anything after this. I know that my doctor said he could prescribe me Prozac to take for about 2 weeks while still taking the Effexor and slowing come off of it that way. Supposively there is no side effects that way. The reason Effexor is so hard to come off of is becauseit leaves your body very quickly thus giving you these terrible side effects. The chemicals in your brain are going crazy. Prozac on the other hand take longer to completely leave your body. It is called "half life"...the amount of time it takes for half the medicine to be excreted. Effexors half life is 4-8 hours which is extremely short. Prozac's is like 72 hours so you dont have hardly any side effects coming off...maybe some mild, mild ones......nothing like Effexor!


I hope this all comes to end for you soon. [img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]Edited by: madisonsmom

[madisonsmom]

Oh yea...this site is great to look at for medication advice. It is a message board and you can search different medications and find out what other people experience with them.


I found this site trying to find out info on Effexor and how to come off of it when I was having so much trouble!


Click on this orcopy andpaste it in your browser:


http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/Edited by: madisonsmom

[ejb199]

Excellent! Thanks for the advice Madisonsmom - i think i need to go to the doctor and speak to them anyway - i cant do this on my own!

ems x

[madisonsmom]

No problem[img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img] Hopefully he will help you! That site is pretty awesome too!

[madisonsmom]

Oh yea...I am getting ready to go back to the doc. I need to be on something. I am just taking St John's Wort and 5htp - natural alternatives. I was on Wellbutrin XL and that made me so much more anxious.


The last time I went to the doctor I was breastfeeding and not on anything. He wanted to prescribe Prozac but in order to treat my OCD he would have to titrate me up to 60 - 80 mg and I could not take it while breastfeeding. I want to try it now though.


Good luck to you!

[ejb199]

i read through lots of the messages on the docotor boards and - well they made me really tearful - not you fault mind - coz they were VERY interesting. more tearful in the fact that no DOCTOR EVER told me that this would happen. i feel sooooo tricked. how on earth can they prescribe me these damn drugs when i tell them im petrified about being sick. one girl on the boards actually said she v*ed.

can i ask one thing - when any of you were coming off of these, did anyone suffere 'severe' ithcing? i just ask becuase my skin is ALWAYS itching and it is sooooo upsetting and depressin - i literally cannot STOP scratching. and one these boards - someone said Benedryl helped reduce withdrawal from effexor - and i thought benedryl was like an antihistamine - thus for allergies and itching....??! just a thought...

ems x

[skinnyme]

I took Wellbutrin for a while and it gave me heart palpatations and made me so jittery and irritable. But this was the only med that did'nt give me physical side effects. Lexapro made me feel like I had the flu with achy joints, etc. And I have Effexor in my cabinet and too scared to take it. Ativan did nothing... Valium did nothing and Xanax puts me to sleep!!!!!!!

[ejb199]

oh man i just read this on a site online - abt withdrawal:

"I've also heard from some people who have thrown up a lot during withdrawal, and probably didn't feel like eating anything"

this now makes me think that the stomach bug i thought i had at xmas was NOT a stomach bug at all - since the symptoms coincide with withdrawal and that day i took half the dose i usually would....

oh god - i wish someone would help me

i called the doctors and they dont let u book an apointment in advance - at quarter past 8am she had no appoinments in the evening. i just wanted to scream I WORK FOR GOD SAKE - how do u expect me just to drpo everything to get to the doctor - to see the one i want - when the appointments are taken in 15 minutes.

honestly - i felt really mad and violent....

ems x

[hippychick]

I don't have much to say thats helpful, except good luck and I hope this all goes well for you. One thing though about the itching? Not something I have been through but my ex gf ALWAYS had/has blood blisters on her legs from scratching them so much and she is on anti depressants too. I dont know anything to help fix it, but you aint alone in it anyway!


xxxxxxxx

[mothtoaflame]

Itching is a side effect of many medications ...... I suffer terribly.



As for coming off effexor .... I did it twice. First time I weened off
slowly, and it was hell .... just as you described. I just felt ill for
ages .... really fluey and sickly I could hardly move for a couple of
days. It eased off after a few days, but for the period of two months
that I managed to stay off meds, I basically felt rough most days. The
second time I tried coming off, I was taking 150mg ..... and my Dr
basically told me to stop taking them and replace them with a similar
dose of Prozac ..... weird advice if you ask me ...... I had to take
nearly a week off work, which meant explaining to my bosses why .......
it wasn't as rough as weaning off them to nothing, but I wouldn't
advise it. The second time I came off them, my Dr then decided to tell
me that he doesn't like to prescribe them anymore because of the
troubles people have coming off them ...... I was like ..... Now you
tell me? gah!



I have a different Dr now, and he seems a bit more in the know

[blood_tears]

benedryl is used for allergies yes, but as it is just genearlly a supressant it will probably help with your itching. interestingly enough, most anti-histamines are also anti-emets. meaning, be careful if you take say a gravol and a reactine in combo (though the over the counter stuff for both will not produce a reaction) but also that one can have an effect on the other.


try taking a regular strength benedryl (or reactine, or claritin, or anyhting from the allergy department essentially) and it will probably help with the itching, may also help with the dizziness, n* etc.

[ejb199]

oh wow thanks sooooo much guys. You have all really made me feel better. i was in such a state the last few days. i still kinda am. i was in a stress last night - and i just had to take the 9.4mg im down to now. i also joined anotther board for people on this going thro similar stuff. really good advice there too. im so pleased i know why im itching too....

thx guys
x

[ejb199]

ok so i went to see the doctor today and it went well. i feel much happier and less stressed - we agreed to stabalise myself on 9mg a day for the next two weeks at least - and then start reducing further - maybe 9mg every 48 hours rather than 24 or something similar.

so i feel much better abt that - thanks for the support everyone [img]smileys/smilies_04.gif[/img]
ems x

[2jo2]

I wish you luck and I know exactly how you feel. I was so mad at my dr too, in not telling me side effects (I gained alot of weight on effexor) and coming off of it. I have a new dr. and she just told me yesterday that effexor is the hardest as far as withdrawls on coming off of it. I hope you have success!