Venlafaxine

[Purpleflowergirl12]

I have recently stopped taking venlafaxine, but since stopping its given me a weird body sensation and has also started to give me these weird heart palpitations. Has anyone else ever experienced this?

[finefrenzy127]

I am currently taking 185mg. When you stop venlafaxine abruptly you may get withdrawal symptoms: irritability, nausea, feeling dizzy, vomiting, nightmares, headache - I am surprised your doctor did not wean you off slowly. Sorry you r going thru this!

[Purpleflowergirl12 in reply to finefrenzy127]

Hi, thank you for your response, how long for these symptom last roughly do you know?

[Hidden]

I was on 250mg of venlafaxine and I was slowly decreasing in dosage to completely get off of it. If you stop abruptly as that, it will cause more pronounced side effects.

Yes there are withdrawal effects. I forgot how long that drug stays in your system. Whatever the half life is.

[Purpleflowergirl12 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your response, do you no how long these side effects go on for?

[Hidden in reply to Purpleflowergirl12]

The half life of venlafaxine is 3-7hours. If I do the calculations at 7 hours, I would say 6 days to completely get it out of your system if you stopped at 150mg. However, you may still have traces of the side effects for a month. At least for me I felt I did.

[HyacinthBucket1 in reply to Hidden]

I still struggled with side effects of withdrawal whilst reducing the dose..my body definitely knew I was taking less. I would have daily brain zaps, palpitations etc for weeks and weeks. I am now 2 weeks free from only taking 12mg for a month and I felt symptoms throughout that month and only now it has become less noticeable. I am hoping that by next week I will be brain zap free!

[Purpleflowergirl12 in reply to HyacinthBucket1]

I cant wait for it all to be over. This feeling is awful. Im speaking to my dr tomorrow fingers crossed that goes well

[HyacinthBucket1]

Did you slowly decrease or stop abruptly? I stopped abruptly or rather I didn't take my pills for a few days and it sent me completely crazy with horrendous side effects. Don't just suddenly cut down/stop if that is what you did.

I then decreased my dose very slowly until I was only taking 12mg a day and had the same heart palpitations and funny brain zaps as you describe.

I haven't taken anything now for 2 weeks but still getting the funny sensations. Not as bad as it was though. I was only on 75mg to start with and only took them for a year.... goodness knows how hard it must be to reduce from a higher dose when you have been taking them longer.

[Purpleflowergirl12 in reply to HyacinthBucket1]

Thank you for your response, yeah I’ve been struggling with a lot of things and this medication just wasn’t working for me, my gp didn’t seem to want to help resolve the issue so I have come off of it quite abruptly. Do you no how long the side effects last before they go

[HyacinthBucket1 in reply to Purpleflowergirl12]

Oh gosh...please be careful. If I was you I would carry on taking them and reduce your dose slowly. What dose were you on?

Look on YouTube at Venlafaxine/Effexor withdrawal, there are lots of videos of people's experiences coming off /missing doses....some of which are really scary and I can totally relate to.

I missed a few days and I then had this weird complusion to take all the pills I had. Didn't want to end my life but something was telling me I had to take the pills. I managed not to in the end. This happended twice to me and after this ( and watching all the similar videos on YouTube) I thought there was no way I was staying on this evil drug. I tried to reduce too quickly and had awful side effects so decided to reduce it very gradually..breaking up the pills and taking bits of them instead.

If you reduce slowly you are less likely to suffer with the side effect. As I say..I am now 2 weeks free and generally feeling ok. I feel relieved to be off them. That said I do think they are really effective as an antidepressant but from what I have read, they are one of the hardest antidepressants to come off. Missing 1 dose or even taking it late would give me horrendous physical symptoms too.

[Purpleflowergirl12 in reply to HyacinthBucket1]

sometimes i just wish that my gp never put me on venlafaxine, the past few weeks ive felt as though this drug is a danger to me

[HyacinthBucket1 in reply to Purpleflowergirl12]

Oh definitely....I think it is a very scary drug. Many friends who have been on various other antidepressants have never experienced anything like what I have gone through. I am glad I am rid of it. Just please be careful and don't come off too quickly... I went slower than the Dr said as I knew the effects on me weren't ones I wanted to have again. Let me know how you get on at the Dr's xx

[Purpleflowergirl12 in reply to HyacinthBucket1]

will it cause any life long effects? and thank you i will xx

[HyacinthBucket1 in reply to Purpleflowergirl12]

No I don't think so but some people have reported issues after several years. But don't let that worry you xx With all medications/treatments of anything there is a risk of prolonged issues, so not just venlafaxine. Just take it slowly and you will be fine xxx

[Starsgoblue]

I don't know if it helps as I didn't get the same withdrawal effects as you. Other than to say I came off them very slowly and had a really difficult time with a lot big changes in feelings and emotions which were very disconcerting.

[Purpleflowergirl12 in reply to Starsgoblue]

Yeah it is really difficult

[MFM008]

I stopped cold turkey after taking 37.5 for 30 days om Feb 4., Palpitations got way worse and here it is March 3 a month later and im still having them, they switched me to Zoloft on Feb 17 though so it could be increased anxiety due to this.

[Purpleflowergirl12 in reply to MFM008]

Yeah these withdrawal symptoms are horrible

[Purpleflowergirl12]

Thank you for your message. My doctor just doesn’t help. They don’t want to change my medication. They want me to stay on this one. But I’m just going to get them to help me come off it and then I don’t no where I’m gunna go from there xx

[Purpleflowergirl12]

Yeah well at my dr surgery I don’t see one specific dr. I’ve spoke to two and they’ve both said the same thing xx

[Gretch61]

Hi, what is the other antidepressant you are taking? I am on 225 of Ven have been told to drop one 37.5 tablet a week. Hope it works

[Jeppo130]

Yes! I missed a day recently and I got these and felt terrible