Effexor Withdrawal

[PMIJD]

I am currently going through a pretty bad withdrawal from Effexor. I weaned off as my doctor prescribed +3 months I added on just to make sure because I didn’t want to feel like I felt when I missed a dose. I was on 300 mg a day after five months, I got it down to 37.5 for the last three weeks. I took my last one yesterday and today I feel like I forgot to take 300 mg. Has anyone else gone through this before? And does it last and if so, how long?

[fauxartist]

Yes....many times.... every time a different med for depression was tried on me, I had to ween off the old one. It takes a good couple of weeks after the last tablet, and I had to go through mostly headaches and feeling a bit uneasy. I'm not able to function without my SSRI, some people can.... I can't. But I can't take too much or too little...so it was a trial and error to get my dosage just right.

May I ask why you need to stop taking your meds?

[PMIJD in reply to fauxartist]

I have been on them for 20 years and am 62 years old. I felt I needed to know what my baseline was. I had asked to be taken off them previously as I had always gone on and off over the past 40 years as depression has ebbed and flowed. I was told due to having chronic pain I should stay on because it helped the other medication. I was doing really well until I took my last pill.

Th

[fauxartist in reply to PMIJD]

Well.... if you don't feel right after a couple of weeks clearing your meds completely out of your system....then you can re-evaluate where you stand emotionally, and talk to your doctor to see how to move forward. Sometimes we need to re-think stuff, and sometimes if it works don't fix it kinda thing.... For me... I know it works, even though I wish it worked completely for all my stuff....we don't have that magic pill yet, or the 'One size fits all' therapy for our stuff....so we have to be our own best advocate.

[PMIJD in reply to fauxartist]

Thank you so much for advocating for me and being a voice on the other end of the phone during this as I am struggling.

I did go to my doctor and make a plan. If I don’t get to feeling better by the middle of next week I could make a decision to take 37.5mg every other day. I just feel like I have fought so hard these last few days I don’t want to give in…

[fauxartist in reply to PMIJD]

I think you're fine under doctor's supervision to try and stop SSRI's , but other med for bipolar, schizophrenia, or other most serious issues, you should probably never not take your meds. But for some of us who SSRI's work for enough to keep us more even keeled more than not, then it's a matter of the proper med and dosage. I am older and the side effects don't affect me as much. But I can see how they would for a younger person.