Anyone familiar with the decrease of venlafaxins / Effexor . I was on 150mg now 75mg.. symptoms from reduction?

[moparkie715]

Hi, has anyone personally experienced or know someone who has reduced their dosage of venlafaxine / Effexor ( SNRIs- serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors ). I am experiencing a tremendous amount of brain fog and I am not sure why. I reduced my dosage about 45 days ago. I am also experiencing a lot of anxiety. I was fine for the 1st month.

I was put on the meds 3-4 years ago for anxiety. I was moving houses and starting a new jo in a whole new location. I dont feel like I need it and I would eventually like to get off of it.

ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

[1953bullard]

I switched from Effexor to Zoloft with no problems but my anxiety did get worse. I take plain cbd for anxiety. It helps a lot

[Jwolfman614 in reply to 1953bullard]

I did just the opposite: I was taking Sertraline (Zoloft) for depression and to help mood control. The Sertraline didn’t seem to do much to “even out my moods.” But, the Venlafaxine has helped to stabilize my moods and help with my depression.

My doctor has me taking my Venlafaxine four times during the day, which really seems to help.

What dosage of Zoloft or Venlafaxine are you now taking? Why did your doctor feel it necessary to reduce your dosage?

I wish you well.

Depression is not to be taken lightly by professionals from whom we seek help. It’s real!

[rebtar]

I have not used Effexor, but other anti-depressants yes, including a small dose of an anti.psychotic at one point (also for depression, not psychosis). I’ve successfully reduced some and ended use of others. The trick is to reduce VERY slowly. It took me more than a year to completely eliminate the anti-psychotic.

As I understand it, Effexor is pretty strong stuff and not easy to discontinue. If you are experiencing unpleasant discontinuation symptoms, you may need to increase your dose again, hopefully not back to where you started, and then reduce more gradually.

A good rule of thumb is to reduce by 10% of the previous dose every 2 weeks or so. Some people can go faster, some need to go more slowly. If a reduction produces rebound or discontinuation symptoms, go back to the previous dose, wait until you stabilize and then try again with a smaller reduction.

If you follow this method, you will be successful and won’t be suffering during the process. It may take a longer time, but hey, slow and steady, right?

Most doctors will give you a much more rapid reduction schedule, which doesn’t work for many people.

[Icequeen10 in reply to rebtar]

Why are you decreasing your dose? Were you having problems?

[rebtar in reply to Icequeen10]

I’ve dealt with depression and anxiety for 20 yrs or so. When I was diagnosed with PD I started by slowly eliminating the anti-psychotic as that can cause PD symptoms or make them worse. However, the shock of the diagnosis also made the depression worse so I added and increased other meds. When I started C/L a year ago, I suddenly felt MUCH better, so I have been successfully decreasing them. I’m down two from four meds, and at MUCH reduced dose. Feeling fine, thanks to C/L.

I would not reduce any Med that I need, just don’t need much of this anymore.

[Icequeen10 in reply to rebtar]

Thank you for your answer...it sounds like you are doing a great job with your health!