Several years ago I stopped Effexor 375 mg cold turkey – I was never warned about the side effects or what would happen if I stopped taking it. I remember missing a couple of doses I sat up in bed and vomited all over myself. And then came the diarrhea. I got so dehydrated I ended up in the ER with fever hooked up to IV fluids. I’ve heard other people say they felt brain zaps. I felt like I could actually feel the neurons misfiring all over the place in my head. I was begging for more Effexor. Does anyone know if researchers have ever done an EEG on someone while this is going on? I think the results would be fascinating. It’s bound to show all kinds of wacky brain activity. I did end up going back on it and then slowly tapering off, and it was still hell. It would have been nice to have had my pdoc warn me about “discontinuation syndrome.”

It’s a bad idea to quit any medication cold turkey. Regardless of what it is prescribed for, you shouldn’t go off any medication without consulting with your doctor first. There is a potential for drug dependence with any psychoactive substance that you may happen to take, whether prescribed or not. I agree that this is something that doctors should warn patients about when prescribing the medication. Still, the emotional problem that the medication is meant to combat tends to be a more immediate concern than whether a patient will have trouble discontinuing the medication a year or so in the future.

I agree that is not a good idea to stop any medication cold turkey. However, while perfect medication compliance is the ideal, it’s not reality a significant percentage of the population. There are 101 reasons why people stop taking medication (as I’m sure you’re aware): financial, the side effects suck, feeling like the med isn’t working, etc. Since medication compliance is such a problem (even among people without mental illness), it makes sense that physicians would be having these discussions with their patients in advance. They especially need to have these discussions before prescribing Effexor. Withdrawing from a high dose of Effexor is horrendous.

I agree that doctors need their patients consent about the drug’s side effects which is antidepressant withdrawal in this case. Even if they want to cure their patients, they are also adding another problem.

My sympathies to anon. I know what you are going through as I am currenty suffering Effexor withdrawal. I have tapered off of it twice in the past (from 450 mg dose) and this is the third time. Effexor is one of the worst AD’s for withdrawal symptoms. The nausea, vomiting, extreme fatigue, flu-like symptoms, brain zaps (a very good description), GI upset, nightmares, anxiety, and agitation are horrible and debilitating. This time is taking the longest as I started tapering off in Feb and am still having to take a small dose every few days to relieve the symptoms. A doctor just informed me yesterday that taking a small dose of Prozac may help to relieve the Effexor withdrawal and may only be needed once to end it since it is longer-acting. I will try this probably in a few days to see if it works for me. Unfortunately, most doctors weren’t even aware of this “discontinuation syndrome” even a few years ago or if they were, did not think it was as common as it is. Hence, many patients were not informed of its possibility. No excuses now — it is well documented and serious enough to warrant a long discussion — more than just “it may happen and you just need to get through it.”

Since we really don’t know how antidepressants work, or even if they work (all data is based on subjective survey reports, not scientific testing) it seems that the potential harm from many of these drugs is much worse than any potential benefit. Certainly the potential harm is greater than any proven or thoroughly understood benefit.

I wonder how history will treat this period of time? Will it be much like how we look at some of the extreme surgeries that were performed on people in the past? Some of the crude electroshock therapies? Of course we still do those things also…

It think it’s ok if they find some way to control those withdrawals from antidepression. But unless they don’t have any means to prevent it, I think it’s necessary to ask for the patient’s consent before treating them.

Doctors and drug companies in general need to take more responsibility for patients’ health. Too much money is involved and not enough concern. Though antidepressants and antipsychotics (such as Zyprexa)can save lives, it is all too often that a patient’s issues could be resolved with non-drug therapies. It is also probable that at least some patients would choose non-drug therapies if they were given all the possible negative side effects.

Anyone familiar with the old song and dance of trying to find the right medication knows that stopping any medication cold turkey is a recipe for disaster. My concern is WHY people are not taking their antidepressants. Are they looking for a new one that works better? Or have they decided that they are “well” and don’t need it anymore. (A common misconception.) I have taken just about every anti-depressant out there, including Effexor. It takes time and experimentation to find the right anti-depressant to treat your symptoms, but once you find an anti-depressant that works well for you, you shouldn’t stop taking it. That’s what concerns me most. Why are all these people stopping their medication? If the symptoms were bad enough to go on it in the first place, they are going to return once they are not on their medication anymore. An anti-depressant isn’t an antibiotic that cures the problem so that you can stop taking it in a few weeks. Once you stop taking anti-depressants, the symptoms come back. So someone who has been on an anti-depressant that works well for them should not be concerned with getting off it. She should take it for the rest of her life. And let me shout out to Greg Rogers that anti-depressants do work, they saved me. I’m living proof that they work. I was depressed for my entire life – 19 years – before I went on anti-depressants. And once I found the right combination, I have never had another problem. I went from a suicide-plotting, death-obsessed, cutting maniac to a stable, level headed lawyer. The side effects, including the withdrawals are bad, yes, even barabaric, but I will take the constipation and spacey-ness and fatigue. . . . even the month-long panic attack I had when I accidentally skipped a day of my Risperdal. . . . over the symptoms I had before I took them. I think it’s funny that people think pills are a “quick fix”. That’s just not so. It takes weeks, months sometimes for the medication to build up in your bloodstream. And then it might not be a medication that works for you. So you have to try another, and another, and make combinations, etc. It’s really as complicated as psychotherapy and can take a lot longer. . . . like the five years it took me. . . . the only difference is at the end of the road is wellness, whereas I don’t believe that any amount of psychotherapy can help a person who has a genetic chemical imbalance in her brain.

I believe that the patient’s consent is important in situations like this. It’s their right to know the effects of the drugs. It might turn out they don’t want those effect.

> a small dose of Prozac may help to relieve
> the Effexor withdrawal and may only be needed
> once to end it since it is longer-acting.

Anecdotally, that worked for me.

In case this helps (I thought this whole issue had been dealt with years ago, I’m aghast to see it’s still news!)

I’d tried antidepressants over a period of years, quite some years ago for SAD, when bright lights weren’t enough; one year Zoloft (gained 40 pounds, still fighting that long after); another year Prozac; another year I forget; and one year I tried Effexor, I believe the winter that it first came out.

Horrible migraines and nausea (accompanied by beautiful auras, though; never had auras or nausea with my migraines before — or since); horrifying bloody nightmares, still vivid memories like nothing I’ve ever imagined, I avoid even violent movies; and visual “snow” instead of the usual dark visual field at night with no lights. No, I didn’t like Effexor at all.

I tried tapering off with doctor’s agreement after a few weeks. I had nasty, nasty persistent ‘electric’ tremors and dizzy feeling continuing after tapering slowly off of it; those and the visual ’snow’ didn’t go away, maybe got worse.

After a couple of months he suggested I try I think a tenth of the “daily” dose of Prozac — once a _week_; I did that for two weeks, and it resolved most of the problems.

Don’t know why, but it might be worth trying.

That was some years ago now. I still have some of the ‘electric shock’ feelings in limbs, and the visual snow — I do miss _darkness_ — it’s kind of a visual equivalent of tinnitus.

Makes me wonder if anyone’s correlated the new info about sleep melatonin bipolar and light, with the side effects of antidepressants. Google for ‘visual snow’ will probably turn up anecdotal reports if the doctors are curious to look into it.

I was taking Wellbutrin…l50.. my mother and husband died within a year… my husband’s death…3/l5/06 caused me to have deep depression…. nothing seemed to work… I finally now am taking myself off of it…(its not a chemical balance type, but depressed over my soulmate…I don’t want to be on drugs for the rest of my life… taking them and not taking them… didn’t really help me…. they say, you need to work thru your pain..and not mask it with depressants… what do you think..
thank you ever so much.

All I want to say is that Prozac and Desyrel (for sleep) changed my life. I was depressed many years. It did take weeks to build up in my bloodstream, but within 2 weeks I actually felt a positive difference.
For the first time in my life, I felt what a “normal” person feels like.
It has been over a year now. I find that exercise and vitamins, body work, keeping stress low, etc do help a great deal also. However it is just not realistic for me to exercise *all the time*, not work, reduce all forms of stress, etc..it constantly comes back and those are short-term solutions for me.
I have found that I have to tweak the dose a little (with my doctor’s direction) at this point. My menustrual cycle triggers the depression so I take a higher dose of the meds certain times of the month. I do feel side effects when there is too much in my bloodstream (headaches, nausea, short-term memory problems, fatigue, trembling hands)
It is very hard to figure out what is due to side effects, what is due to the depression itself, and what is due to my monthly cycle.
When the right dose is in my system I feel wonderful. I do wonder about dependence. If I don’t have enough in my system, I feel cranky.

Thank you for getting this message out. If I had known then what I know now about Effexor, I would never have started taking it. The brain shocks are awful. I get them 24 hours after missing a dose. They are so bad that I am afraid to step down from this medication, which has been a life-saver. The funny thing is for the first 6 months Effexor comes with a magazine and other support materials, but I never saw anything like “when stopping this medication, your brain will malfunction.” That should be on the label or in bold somewhere.

i took Effexor 75mg for a year, we decreased the dosage to 37.5mg and I had withdrawals and the doctor put the on PROZAC 20mg, the first three days I took 37.5 Effexor and 20MG PROZAC, then for 30 days I took 20mg prozac, then for a week I took 10mg prozac, then 10mg every other day for a week, then 10mg every three days for a week, then 10mg once a week for two weeks and I am off both medications right now with no serious side effects. if you really want off of Effexor you should talk to your doctor about using PROZAC it works. do it slowly too. there is light at the end of the tunnel.. pray

I’ve been on and off Effexor and others for several years and have to agree that using low doses of Prozac is the best way to get off without suffering the discontinuation syndrome. I’m back on Effexor now and has been great in eliminating the cycles of depression that I’ve suffered for 20+ years.

I agree with everything that has been said about Effexor withdrawals. I am currently attempting to taper off of it and am taking 37.5mg daily and supposed to take it for 1 week before coming off of it completely. The way I feel now, I am afraid to completely stop the medication. I have a constant headache. I am nauseated and cloudy headed all of the time. My stomach has been upset and my energy level has gone from 10 to 0. I have not yet called my doctor about what I can do to relieve this, but if I knew then what I know now, I would have never gone on Effexor.

Oh boy, stay away from Effexor. Nasty stuff. I’m still struggling with withdrawal from that filth, two weeks out. Changed insurance companies and they said to change from Lexapro to Effexor because it was cheaper. They didn’t calculate the cost in my ability to think straight and function. After a month of that junk, I’m now paying out of pocket to get back on Lexapro, and I’m still waiting to get down off the clouds. Mania, seratonin syndrome, brain zaps, nausea, massive weight gain, all that stuff. And as far as I can tell, I was getting depressed again while taking it.

It’s not worth the trip to the pharmacy or the time of day.

I was prescribed 225mg Effexor XR two years ago for GAD. Despite the fact that I do not have any faith in pharmaceutical companies as far as prioritizing human safety over profits (or divulging the limitations of their knowledge for that matter) I took my prescription because I didn’t know how else I would be able to function normally. I now have better tools for coping with the anxiety (psychotherapy, diet, exercise, lifestyle)and with my doctor’s consent began weaning myself off the drug about four weeks ago. As so many others have experienced, detoxing from Effexor has been hell. I have followed the recommended directions for getting off this stuff and all I can say is that Wyeth is full of crap. NO ONE can simply lower the dosage incrementally and be just fine after a few weeks. The lower the dosage goes, the less you can lower it at each stage. After four weeks, I am still only able to go for one day without a 37.5mg dose — and be functional. I don’t mean normal, I mean I can function just well enough to get through the day. My symptoms include:

-brain shivers, which many in the medical profession refuse to recognize. It’s the electrical buzzing/dizziness/zapping/vertigo feeling that oftentimes causes
-extreme nausea
-full-blown, debilitating migraines
-hypersensitivity to ALL stimuli: being touched feels like being crushed under a ton of burning embers; sounds are like an ice-pick in my ear; a monitor is excruciating (I’m wearing very dark sunglasses right now) and normal indoor lighting is high-contrast technicolor; the smell of food is nauseating
-diarrhea
-dry hot flashes (like I’m burning up but can not sweat)
-flu-like muscle aches
-sleepiness
-brain fog

At home as much as possible I stay in a cool, dark room with sunglasses on and earplugs in because the normal sights and sounds of the household are unbearable (in varying degrees); I don’t even have kids so my house is quiet to begin with.

I have missed the last two days of work because I was too dizzy to drive and quite unable to function intellectually.

Now I have read that some people NEVER get over these symptoms and are stuck on Effexor for life. Others seem to get over it, but even years later will experience brain shivers out of nowhere.

If tobacco companies can be sued for deliberately marketing an addictive product while squelching scientific data that prove its detrimental effects on the human body, how does Wyeth get away with it?

Yes it was my choice to go on the drug in full knowledge of its potential side effects while taking it, but NOWHERE are the withdrawal symptoms portrayed accurately.

God bless everyone else out there who has unwittingly become a guinea pig and will probably suffer long-term effects from this drug. I would advise everyone I know AGAINST Effexor. If it does this to us when we try to get off it, imagine what it’s doing to us while we’re on it.

I was prescribed 225mg Effexor XR two years ago for GAD. Despite the fact that I do not have any faith in pharmaceutical companies as far as prioritizing human safety over profits (or divulging the limitations of their knowledge for that matter) I took my prescription because I didn’t know how else I would be able to function normally. I now have better tools for coping with the anxiety (psychotherapy, diet, exercise, lifestyle)and with my doctor’s consent began weaning myself off the drug about four weeks ago. As so many others have experienced, detoxing from Effexor has been hell. I have followed the recommended directions for getting off this stuff and all I can say is that Wyeth is full of crap. NO ONE can simply lower the dosage incrementally and be just fine after a few weeks. The lower the dosage goes, the less you can lower it at each stage. After four weeks, I am still only able to go for one day without a 37.5mg dose — and be functional. I don’t mean normal, I mean I can function just well enough to get through the day. My symptoms include:

As someone else said, “I can hear my eyeballs move;” the bizarre auditory electrical zap-zap-zap feeling/sound; brain shivers, which many in the medical profession refuse to recognize. It’s the electrical buzzing/dizziness/zapping/vertigo feeling that oftentimes also causes: extreme nausea; full-blown, debilitating migraines; hypersensitivity to ALL stimuli: being touched feels like being crushed under a ton of burning embers; sounds are like an ice-pick in my ear; a monitor is excruciating (I’m wearing very dark sunglasses right now) and normal indoor lighting is high-contrast technicolor; the smell of food is nauseating; diarrhea; dry hot flashes (like I’m burning up but can not sweat); flu-like muscle aches; sleepiness; brain fog

At home as much as possible I stay in a cool, dark room with sunglasses on and earplugs in because the normal sights and sounds of the household are unbearable (in varying degrees); I don’t even have kids so my house is quiet to begin with.

I have missed the last two days of work because I was too dizzy to drive and quite unable to function intellectually.

Now I have read that some people NEVER get over these symptoms and are stuck on Effexor for life. Others seem to get over it, but even years later will experience brain shivers out of nowhere.

If tobacco companies can be sued for deliberately marketing an addictive product while squelching scientific data that prove its detrimental effects on the human body, how does Wyeth get away with it?

Yes it was my choice to go on the drug in full knowledge of its potential side effects while taking it, but NOWHERE are the withdrawal symptoms portrayed accurately.

God bless everyone else out there who has unwittingly become a guinea pig and will probably suffer long-term effects from this drug. I would advise everyone I know AGAINST Effexor. If it does this to us when we try to get off it, imagine what it’s doing to us while we’re on it.

*** PLEASE READ IF YOU ARE HAVING WITHDRAWAL PROBLEMS ***

I have taken Effexor XR on and off for several years. Both time I stopped taking it, I suffered MAJOR withdrawal problems… I had the same list of side effects that many of you have described here… mine even included Out of Body experiences and general madness that made me question my own sanity. While on Effexor XR, I was taking 225mg-300mg and I will say that it is the only medication I have taken that did greatly help my anxiety issues… but what was I supposed to do, just stay on this chemical for the rest of my life? I don’t think I’d live long shoveling toxic chemicals in my system every day. Rather than rant on about how much damage taking medication like this everyday is to your physical health, I wanted to share how I beat the withdrawal. I also want to REALLY ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO TRY THIS TOO. As many of you have figured out by now, your doctor likely only knows what they are told by the drug company about what they are giving you. As a result, when you tell your doctor you are having withdrawal problems after taking Effexor, you’ll likely be told that it isn’t possible, or it will only last a few days or weeks. Like others have written here on this site, it can last a long time, believe me. So if you are having immense trouble with Effexor XR withdrawal, you may not get support from your doctor… the truth is, they don’t take the medications themselves so they truly cannot understand some of the effects that the drugs they prescribe have on people. So here is what I did, and I STRONGLY SUGGEST some of you try to combat your withdrawal symptoms. It’s time to break out the gold old herbs and supplements… now I know some of you might be laughing at the idea but that’s what THE DRUG COMPANIES WANT YOU TO DO. They want you to not take natural medicine seriously… and why? So that they can make money by giving you drugs that cost pennies to make and they can sell for hundreds of dollars. So give this a try…

FOR A GREAT INEXPENSIVE NATURAL REMEDY: take strong Omega 3 capules, Vitamin B Complex, and a good quality general multi-vitamin. If you like, you can throw in some St. John’s Wart too but DO NOT TAKE ST JOHN’S WART if you are taking any SSRI still as it may weaken the effects of the SSRI.

IF YOU ARE OK WITH STILL TAKING PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION: In addition to the above, get your doctor to give you some Prozac. Just for a short time like 1 month. Your doctor will likely think it is not necessary but I’ve read many people’s posts stating that it got rid of their Effexor withdrawal all together in a very short time. Some even claimed it worked as fast as one dose. Personally, I can say that it took me a few weeks before I was over the withdrawal. Don’t worry about getting hooked on Prozac and it has VERY LITTLE DISCONTINUATION symptoms. I believe this is to do with the fact it has a short half life in your body.

I encourage you to try my suggestions but also continue your own research. Most of all, DONT FEEL ALONE… those of us who have taken these powerful drugs UNDERSTAND YOU WHOLE HEARTEDLY!

I will include my email in the event any of you wish to write.
Hang in there, Time (and a few vitamins) Will Heal Everything!

I am so angry at my doctor for putting me of this crap medication. At age 20 I broke up with my long term boyfriend and was having a bout with depression. So without hesitation he stuck me on this crap. It took less than a year before I started getting symptoms of withdrawl like clockwork everyday. If i took my medication at 10 o clock the night before I was sick by 6 O’clock the next day. Eventually I got so sick of being sick I decided screw this I am going off this shit its not worth it. Against everyone’s better judgement I quit coldturkey, mostly because after reading everyone else’s methods for quitting, the symptoms seemed exactly the same regardless if I weened myself off it or not. Currently I am in my 3rd day of being in withdrawl, its absolute hell, my worst symptom is the electric shocks, they make it so I can’t concentrate, in fact I can barley type as we speak. Someone said that it will take 2 weeks for this to go away! 2 weeks!!!!!!!! I am a student in my fourth year of univeristy, I can’t just take time off school to wait for my drugs to stop controlling my brain! I am so angry I can’t even describe it. This drug is a JOKE, no one should EVER take it. EVER. If you need antidepressants look for a drug with minimal withdrawl symptoms. Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions to make the withdrawl symptoms lessen that would be great, as the only reason i would kill myself if not because i am depressed but because I just can’t take these damn withdrawls anymore!

I stopped taking 75 mg/day Effexor XR 3 days ago and I can’t believe the buzzing in my head. I’ve been taking it about 6 months, and like everybody in the world, think that now I’m fixed and can stop taking the drug. While on Effexor, I completely lost my libido…gone! Wife’s pretty happy about that… Well, that is now back, but the buzzing in my head and the light-headedness and not being able to concentrate at all is making me nuts. After getting on the internet and reading all the same problems from everyone, I’ve just taken a 75 mg. cap and I’m calling my doctor Monday a.m. This will not work!!!

i stopped taking effexor about 10 days ago and experienced “brain shivers” and dizziness and stomach problems but which are now mostly gone..the worst right now is that i feel extremely emotional and feel like crying all the time, i feel very alone and horrible…i hope that it will pass soon!! and i wish my doctor would of warned me..

I’ve been on and off from Effexor and Wellbutrin a few times over the last 6 years (bad home life, broke up with fiance, mother died, loser ex-boyfriend). My Dr is VERY prescription happy and opted to drug me instead of send me to a shrink.

I hate the side effects! My “favourite” side effect is the fact that I can’t distinguish between dreams and reality. Scarey, eh? Oh, and the lack of short term memory is fun too. My Dr just shrugged his shoulders at that and said but at least the panic attacks and depression is gone. Now that I have a wonderful spouse, job, house, etc., I have the strength and knowledge to handle life’s problems unmedicated. I’m currently weaning myself off from Wellbutrin. That’s going okay, except I feel like I’m in a dream world. In two weeks I start wearning myself off from Effexor. I’m going to try the Omega 3 and ginger ideas. I’m also going to try cognitive behavioural therapy, meditation, and acupuncture.

It’s reassuring to know that those brain twitches are real. The worst part of them is the strange zingy-squishy feeling in the brain.

I don’t think Canadians can sue drug companies? But for those of you who live in the states: PLEASE sue these idiots. And instead of seeking financial compensation, just have all the executives go on and then off from Effexor just so their lives can get screwed up for an undeterminable period of time!

I was put on Effexor over 2 years ago. I started to have nightmares and bizarre and vivid dreams and I mentioned this to the person who prescribed the medication. She said that’s not a side affect and I called the pharmacy and the pharmacist said that nightmares are not a side affect. Since I had an abusive past with flashbacks I figured it was just a part of my emotional and mental illness. I went to a different shrink cuz she no longer was practicing and he took me off effexor cold turkey. I relapsed or so I thought. I was feeling hopeless, wanted to die and felt so anxious and terrified and didn’t know reality from the dreams. When I begged him to help he asked me who took me off the medication1!!???!! I went back on effexor, then had to have a sleep study and she wanted to test me with lower dosage of meds. I went from 225 mg to 150 in a very short period of time and was a wreck. The nightmares got worse and I would feel like what I dreamt happened and felt so tired and so much pain in my body like when you have the flu would sweat at night and everything bothered me and I was so irratible and my PTSD like hypervigilence tendencies got worse like something horrible was happening without cause to feel that way. I went back to the 225 mg dose and still felt horrible.
Then after praying for almost 2 years God answered my prayers. There is hope, but it’s still hard. I read about effexor withdrawal and heard others say that they were going through similar things. I also found the Road back program where you take supplements to help reduce the withdrawal affects. Even though I later learned I didnt’ need all the supplements I had faith that God was going to get me through this for there was no other way. I purchased 172.00 worth of supplements from Global DNA Solutions and I know that the Omega 3 in high doses helped and the cherry body calm helped some. Not sure about the other supplements. I got sick with pnuemonia and had to take antibiotics and then I got a bacterial infection in my digestive tract because the antibiotic stripped my gut of the good bacteria that needs to be in the bowels. Anyway, after feeling sick most of the time and having the nightmares I was going to do whatever it took to get off effexor. But they want you to go through a pre taper thing with the supplements and then not even start the taper, but I did a short pretaper and then one day at a time I have gotten through the last 3 months withdrawing from effexor. I had a pharmacist compound effexor XR decreasing the capsule from 75 mg to 63.5 so that I was decreasing in 5% increments. Too expensive. So I started taking my 75 mg capsules apart after a week of staying at the same dose. I would remove around 5% of the contents for a week at a time and then take 10% out and so on until I am now at 112mg. I take a 75 mg capsule and a 37.5 now and I went to another shrink who is giving me the choice of stopping the effexor at this dose and taking prozac 10 mg for 10 days. He says it works. I feel like I want to just get off it and try the prozac but I also know that I probably should be on a lower dose of effexor before I stop taking it unless it works like he says it does. I’ll let you know. Anyway, there is hope and I want to say that prayer and believing God would get me through this has been the most helpful because otherwise I would have just felt like giving up and this time even though I feel sick, can hardly do anything I am getting through this. I will pray for all of the people who are going through this. I have learned from the bible that God wants us to pray for all people because He wants us all to go to heaven by taking Jesus as our Savior. So I live my life differently because even though I still have the same problems, I know that this life is just short and temporary, but I have a hope that this world can’t give that when I die I will have eternal life. What can be better than that? I pray for all the people who know the affects and dangers of this medication because in the bible Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hurt you, pray for those who spitefully use you.” The bible also says not to sue the brethren. When you think about suing a person or wanting revenge for what has already happened, it doesn’t change the fact that we have already had damage to our bodies, our brains and are having significant effects as we withdraw, and Jesus also said, “Love God above all things and love your neighbor as yourself.” God does not condone hatred or bitterness in our hearts. Jesus says, “Forgive others or you will not be forgiven. Judge not or you will be judged and those who are angry at their brother has already committed murder in his heart.” Glory and praise to our God for getting us off of this medication and I pray that God will sustain all of you as you go through the withdrawal process.
God’s Word is true. With God all things are possible. God is still doing miracles. I have seen many and I am believing in God for a miracle for all of you. Have faith, accept Jesus into your heart and the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds. I may have gotten ripped on the supplements as just like most places that have a program and sell supplements they are just trying to make money, but I have felt as I cried to jesus and praised God even through all of this that He takes away the pain when it gets too much for me to bear.
His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
We can’t do things on our own. We need Him.
And God loves us more than you could possibly imagine.
In Christ’s love
Sharri

I just recently went off effexor xr 75 mg after almost a year of taking them. I’ve been off of them for 2 weeks and doing fine! after reading withdrawl symptoms…I weaned myself off like this…I cut down to 3/4 of capsule for 3 days,( i poured out beads) then 1/2 for 3 days, then 1/4 for 3 days…and I prayed to God through the whole process, asking that he would make the withdrawl easy and gentle on my body. HE did. I had a few teary times when watching sad things on tv. 1 day my head felt dizzy. but I truely believe God helped me.

I have been on Effexor XR for a year and a half and havebeen weaning myself off by ouurign out the capsules,for the last 3 months.Its been 3 days with nothing now and i feel dizzy,my eyes feel like they are sensitive to light and i feel soooo tired,especially after eating..not the usual”2pm feeling” but really,really desparately tired..im going to the store on my way hoem to get the Omega # etc as suggested..anyone got any other suggestions? please!

PREGNANT!! I am 8 weeks pregnant and was told to stop taking effexor by my doctor. I have 2 children and am a single mom and I have never experienced this kind of pregnancy before. I am having withdrawals, not to mention morning sickness. I can’t take anything else because I am pregnant and I am in fear of losing the baby because I may not be able to quit the effexor. I need suggestions with this.

Im experiencing withdrawal from effexor now.

My insurance cut me off so i have to quit cold turkey and i dont know what to do.

I am in so much pain that all i can do is cry.

FOR A GREAT INEXPENSIVE NATURAL REMEDY: take strong Omega 3 capules, Vitamin B Complex, and a good quality general multi-vitamin. If you like, you can throw in some St. John’s Wart too but DO NOT TAKE ST JOHN’S WART if you are taking any SSRI still as it may weaken the effects of the SSRI.

I would also add — Ginko Baloba is great for the dizzyness and lightheadedness you feel (vertigo)

As a nurse I’m pissed. How can a Drug with the side effects that Effexor has be put on the market? I would have never started a medication that profiled side effects that are so debilitating. I was told by a Md to just stop Effexor and star Wellbutrin. Well let me tell you that did not work. I tried tapering my dose of effexor down starting at 75mg a day foe 2 weeks. Then 75mg every other day. My symptoms are currently so severve that I’ve been out of work for three Days. Nighmares, cold and hot sweats, extreme fatigue just to name a few of my current side effects.I also don’t feel safe driving due to extreme dizzynes. I feel like a drug att

It will get better. I have taken antideppressants for about 13 years. My depression got worse after each of my 3 children. I have taken Prozak, Paxil, Wellbutrin and Effexor. In the last year I beleived my situation, lifestyle and depression had subsided so I wanted to try and go off of all medications. At the time I was taking a small dose of Wellbutrin and 300 mg dose of Effexor. I stopped taking the Wellbutrin first, went 30 days, then lowered the dose of Effexor by 1/2, then 30 days later stopped altogehter. Severe brain twitches, bloody nightmares. I’ve been off since March 24th 2008. Thank God. After going to the internet to look withdrawl symptoms I realized what was happening to me, I immediately started daily cardio and Huge Omega 3 (fish oil) supplement (One Tablespoon with each meal). Within 2 weeks the only noticable effect left is the brain twitches (vertigo). I wish my DR had mentioned side effects and withdrawl effects before starting me on the meds. It has been almost 2 months now, most effects gone but I am wondering if anyone out there has any problems with their liver now.

I’ve been on all kinds of antidepressants since 1994. The most recent has been effexor. I tend to become depressed every March. This last March, had been an extremely long on with all the cold and snow here in the midwest. As a result of this long winter and a few major changes in the family, this last March was pretty bad. I decided if the effexor and every other antidepressant didn’t control the depression, I would go off it. What a nightmare that turned out to be just to get my Dr. to agree to help me off the effexor!! I have a friend who is a nurse who had a daughter commit suiside 20 years ago and told me she thought the medicine was helping me. HELLO!! I was still depressed every year in March! She even told me she thought I was a bit manic. This was news to me… Anyway, I told the Dr. what my friend thought about me being a bit manic, AND MY DR. WANTED TO PUT ME ON A MOOD STABILIZING DRUG UNTIL I COULD GET INTO A PSYCHIATRIST!! I was determined not to go on anything else, so “against her better professional judgement” she recommended tapering off the effexor with prozac. I was on 150mg of the effexor, got some 75mg, and the prozac. Before I went to the Dr., I mentioned to ladies in my Bible study I was going off the effexor. I hadn’t seen my Dr. about going off at that time and started taking the 150mg every other day. By that time I had missed two doses. Someone in the study suggested I go to my Dr. and did. At this point, I’ve been off the effexor for 4 weeks and stopped the prozac a week after that. I have had all the withdrawl symptoms that everyone else has with vertigo being the worst. My muscles ache. I get tired easily after physical activity but I’m determined not to give in to drugs THAT DON’T HELP!! I just pray that I and the rest of us haven’t done too much damage to our bodies with these drugs. (I have called them crap and shit drugs too.) I’m so grateful for you all sharing your experiences. I called the pharmasist to find out what kind of withdrawls were common and even the pharmasist didn’t mention what all of you mentioned. She just said the medicine (crap) would be out of my system in 2 to 3 weeks and I would feel some anxiety. I thought something else must be wrong with me until I read what all of you went through.

In closing, I want to encourage everyone to hang in there believing this will pass and we will be free of the drug someday. We have to stop this madness and tell others of our experiences and encourage them to seek sound cognitive behavior therapies or talk to friends and family instead taking a pill to make everything better. There may be exceptions to this (haven’t found any yet). So may God bless us.

Lita

I have been on this drug for 6 years now. I don’t think it ever did anything to relieve or damper my depression, but I kept taking it due to the fact of which I didn’t want to experience withdrawl symptoms. Per the Dr. I have weaned from 300mg to now at 75mg and feeling horrible. No energy, bad headache, major depression. The brain zaps aren’t as bad as i onced have had, but this is awful. Is this the real me coming out? Is this who I will be without the medicine? I have fish oil…gonna take it. Now he wants to put me on Cymbalta. Anyone in Phoenix?

Michelle

God Bless everyone who is going thru this nightmare including myself who is going thru hell right now coming off the effexor.I’ve been in all antideprssants out there and all of them gave me bad side effects, I wish that stupid doctor connell who bty works in Mental Health behavorial medicine in Harrisonburg, va would have not ever put me on zoloft I was only 18 at the time and did not know about antidprssants and now my life is hell i’ve lost everything…please help

STILL SUFFERING 1-1/2 YEARS AFTER I FINISHED TAPERING OFF EFFEXOR. After taking Effexor 75 MG for several years and then reducing to 37.5 MG for a total of 9 years on low-dose Effexor, I tapered off Effexor 37.5 MG over 6 months, with my doctor’s guidance, ending December 2006. It is now July 2008, and I still have withdrawal symptoms: 24/7 balance problems, wooziness, headache and diminished intellectual capacity. My life quality is severely diminished.

The symptoms I first got as I began the discontinuation l process never went away. Had I only known it could get this bad…

There is a ‘dirty little secret’ about the VAST majority of depression and anxiety. It is a ‘dirty little secret’ that virtually NO doctor will EVER tell you. Specifically, the VAST majority of cases of depression and anxiety are TEMPORARY CONDITIONS that will PASS WITH TIME! Most depression and anxiety is not, I repeat NOT, a genetic ‘chemical imbalance’ which has your fate sealed for life. Drug companies only want you to THINK it is. Most depression and anxiety simply results from excessive stress due to events in life such as job-related stress, relationship problems, or just disappointment at how your life has turned out. Of course, the way we have been taught to respond to these things also plays a HUGE factor. But regardless, recovery from these problems most often just means moving on with life as best as we can (although we may not be able to do much when depression/anxiety is at its worst), changing our thought processes for the better, and giving ourselves the time we require to recover (and this may take a while). So think about all of this, as well as the minuses of medications (and there are MANY), before taking any kind of antidepressant. Because SO much of the time, depression and anxiety are simply telling us that we need to make changes in our lives. And if we try to medicate depression and anxiety away rather than making these positive changes, we are doing ourselves a GREAT disservice.

Am I saying that NOBODY should take these drugs. Not necessarily. There are people out there for whom depression and anxiety are more than a passing problem. And perhaps such people might NEED to be on medication. But this is NOT the case for most of us. When depression/anxiety just pops up, say, around the age of 40, this is by NO MEANS a sign that you have a genetic problem.

But, as we see here, medications can SO often make things WORSE rather than better. I have known MANY people who were unlucky enough to start taking SSRIs because they believed they would make them feel better. And for MOST of them, the side effects have turned out to be WORSE than the initial problem. And then there is the addiction. One girl I knew locked herself in a closet for several days because the withdrawal from Paxil was more than she could bear. Another girl started taking Effexor (the ‘Evil E’) because of anxiety she was experiencing as a result of an abusive marriage. That was back in the mid 1990s. To this day, she takes Effexor not because she likes what it does for her. But because she just can’t get off the stuff.

What I (and SO many others here) am trying to get at is that, while antidepressants may help some people, they can go bad, too. And when the antidepressant experience DOES go awry, things get REALLY bad. Furthermore, from what I have witnessed, bad experiences with antidepressants are not NEARLY as rare as you might think. For this reason, I just don’t think they should EVER be used as a first-line treatment for depression or anxiety disorders. If these problems just don’t seem to get better OR other, cognitive-based treatments fail, then medications should be tried. But not before.

One more thing. I KNOW how bad anxiety disorders can be, as I have been there. But luckily for me, I saw the misery that people I know unfortunately had to suffer with at the hands of antidepressants. And I vowed I would NEVER take them, even before my anxiety problem started. I’m glad I DIDN’T take them.

I quit Effexor (DEVIL) cold turkey 4 days ago. I was on 300 mg. I decided to quit cold turkey because i read that even those who decided to taper their dose still had to deal with side effects. so i decided to take the side effects all in one go rather than over a longer period of time.

The first three days of quitting cold turkey weren’t SO bad. i got the shits, headache, nausea, bit of dizziness. I also cried pretty easily over pretty much anything.

On day 4 i went home from work because i was just SO nauseous, i was getting hot flashes, and i had the shits, which is never fun to have at work.

All I can say is that it is worth these nasty side effects to get off such a horrible drug. I would like everyone to know that there is a petition online with over 18,000 signatures demanding that effexor must be banned by the FDA. Just google effexor and it was the 4th one down.

I was wondering, is there anyone out there who quit effexor cold turkey that can tell me how long it takes until the withdrawal symptoms are gone? how long did it take? I am on day 4 and I can’t wait to be done w/ this crap.

I have been studying herbs and herbal remedies instead of taking evil pharmaceutical man-made chemical drugs. The herbal supplement KAVA and the GOOD MOOD TONIC by herbal pharm are both mood elevators, and are relaxants, stress relievers, and are TOTALLY NATURAL, NO SIDE EFFECTS. I encourage everyone to research herbal supplements instead of turning to the EVIL PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES WHO ONLY WANT MONEY AND OBVIOUSLY DO NOT CARE ABOUT OUR WELLBEING.

I will get off EFFEXOR and these symptoms will go away. I will be stronger because of it. Please spread the word about the evils of effexor. sign the petition!!!!!!!

Hi, im a 21year old who was prescribed effexor XL approx 6months ago(peviously was on affex for nearly 2years) .Started on 75mg effexor, went up to 150mg, now on 225mg. I knew nothing about this drug before i began taking it. All I knew is how desperate and bad I felt at the time my doc prescribed it and so was willig to do/take ANYTHING to feel better.
After doing some research and reading peoples comments who’ve been on or are on effexor Im really worried about a) continuing to take it for fear of long term damage to me and b) if I do decide to come off it (in the near future) coping with the side effects while trying to lead a normal 21 year old life and get through a really intense college course without failng it.Also I have a history of self harming and Im afraid Ill go back to that or worse if Im gona feel reallly depressed during withdrawal.
Should I continue taking this so called evil drug or talk to my psychiatrist about changing meds (which would still mean withdrawal effects, right???) or continue taking it (it is helping to a degree especially with anxiety and panic attacks) and worry about the long term damage later, perhaps when its too late to fix it??
Ive already experienced some of the horrible side effects like sweating terribly at night, vivid dreams where iam always crying and suicidal in them, awful short term memory loss and poor concentration. Ive also experienced the ‘brain zaps’ from jst missing a dose once by a few hours and then another time by a day. That was the worst. My mood was up down and one minute I could be smiling and the next in floods of tears and i had almost constant dizziness, nausea, double and jolting vision that i think comes with the brain zap things.
Its such a discrace this drug is on the market. Yes it has helped me, although not fully,but surely ther are other drugs out there that do the same but with alot less side effects?
Anyways its kinda comforting to know there are others going through what Iam as crap as it is for us all, so thanks for sharing info and personal expierience. Its opened my eyes up big time.
Anyone else feel extreme fatigue and lethargy from been on effexor? I told the doc but he said Anti-D’s are supposed to GIVE you energy not make you tired…….Also if I reduce back to 150mg from the 225mg will there be withdrawals?? My doc said no not at all but i don’t believe a word he says as he seems pretty clueless about this drug. He also said it dosen’t matter what dose you’re on as long as you take it continually. What!!??? so why are’nt we all on the lowest dose then!!!
Can anyone answer any of the above if maybe you’re in similar situation?
Thanks peoples xxx

Hi to all. I, like many of you, was prescribed Effexor XR because I had begun to feel anxiety ridden and was finding it difficult to cope with everyday life. I, at the time, was experiencing trouble with work (I am self-employed) and severe trouble with a relationship. The outcome was diagnosed as deppression. My doc prescribed Effexor XR 75mg and now have been on it for approx two years. I recently started to experience some minor withdrawl syptoms. I have not changed my doseage or the time I take it. I have decided that instead of asking the doc to increase my doseage, Im going to wean myself off it. I dont take a very high mg but do experience severe dizzyness if I miss a day. I am going to follow the advice I have found here on this forum, taking multiple supplements and very slowly lessening my intake. If any of you have some advice, please dont hesitate. Thanks! And good luck to all of you!!!!!

i am 39, started taking effexor xr 75mg 11 years ago. i tried 3 other meds and they were not the right match for me.one made me sleepy and dry mouthed. one made me jumpy,paranoid etc. and another made me high as a kite. effexor was the only thing that really helped. my dr. wanted to up my dose at one point and i said no thank you 75 is working.i was a mess before taking meds. i couldn’t leave the house, panic attacks and tears were getting so common. i have never tried to wean off because it works for me. for me, i had to try 3 meds to find the right fit and it was tough going through that process. fortunately effexor is working for me. after reading all theese postings, i’m really afraid of ever getting off this drug.i took effexor throughout a pregnancy and while breastfeeding my child. my daughter was born with a hole in her heart. she had a very sucessful surgery – thank god! did the effexor cause the hole? she is also extremely shy and only speaks to immeadiate family. is this because of effexor? i don’t know. i’ve heard of people who were born with holes in their hearts whos moms didn’t take any meds. is this anxiety/panic/depression something thats been around forever? before meds people probably just drank too much or commited suicide. is it caused from our polluted environment-too many chemicals!? i wish i had all the answers and i wish i could heal us all. goodluck.

Hi everyone. I have not been on effexor or any such strong antidepressants, I was on XET 20mg (fairly low dose of AD)and Lamitrogen 50mg (anti-epileptic at high dose, mood stabiliser at low dose) for the past 3 years due to emotional stress and anxiety problems.
The drug has definitely helped me cope with the stress that i went throgh. But the point i want to stress on here is that no Allopathic medicine looks ta the cause of a medical/emotional problem. It only looks at the superficial symtoms. Though I got off my stress I couldn’t get off those meds. I used to have the usual withdrawl symptoms – nausea, difficulty in focusing anywhere, severe vomiting, loss of apetite, and emotional outbursts and i didn’t know that these were the effects of the drug being discontinued. But now after 3 years of abuse to my body I finally got a proper diagnosis of my condition from a homeopathic doctor who seemed to be really a master in his field. He explained to me whatever i was going through with the causes for them Damn it was a “hormonal Imbalance” due to stress and not any depression. Though i work in a very reputed Pharmaceutical company I wouldn’t recommend anybody to blindly go for antidepressants without a second consultation. It is very easy to get in and extremely hard to get off them. One piece of advise – Its not just the antidepressants but any allopathic medicine always comes with a baggage of side effects. Yoga, meditation and going teh natural way – Homeopathy can have great positive effects on your body as a whole instead of just the superficial symtoms.
Iam sure I will get off these drugs (Have already given up) and lead a very happy life as i always wish to . Good luck.

I’ve been sitting here, calmly reading the posts about some people telling other people that they should not quit taking antidepressants “cold turkey. Well to you people I strongly say…well…I can’t really anything that is polite, So I will just say LEAVE THE PEOPLE THAT WANT TO GO OFF ANTIDEPRESSANSTS COLD TURKEY, ALONE!

To you people that want to or have already gone off strong antidepressants, I say, do not let anybody tell you otherwise, not even your doctor!

I was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder some ten years ago. Before that, my addiction to pornography and alcohol, an ugly and horrible addiction that sapped my finances, my morals and any chance of a relationship, just did not have a fancy name.

I also had problems making decisions, I changed my mind sometimes for no reason at all, I had bizarre thoughts and images in my head, I had trouble at work and in relationships, You name it, I was a mess.

And even though both my behaviors and my bad habits changed and improved considerably, after ten years of medication and therapy, I just was not at the level of recovery that I felt I should be.

I mean, since day one, I had always been a “good little patient” and done everything that the doctor had ordered and taken every medication that they prescribed, without question.

But three weeks ago, I made the decision to quit, and I haven’t looked back since. I did it cold turkey, and yes there were and still are some side effects of that, but I am feeling better every day and am already starting to take in more natural ways of healing and wellness. I plan on joining a gym for one.

One thing I will say to doctors reading this. If these medications are supposed to be so good for us, how come they are so hard to get off of.

For patients reading this who are still confused about what next step to take, I add one more option for you. A book! It’s called: Can Christianity Cure Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? By Ian Osborn MD.

Don’t count out the power from above!

I have been on Effexor 75 mg for the past year. Having noticed that I had become a stranger to myself and having “fired” my doctor because she openly disrespected me I unilaterally stopped taking this horrible drug on January 1st. It has now been almost a week and it feels as if the interior of my cranial cavity is occupied by Pop-Rocks and a plastic membrane, ever swelling to the point of rupture wherein it reassembles to commence anew the entire process.
I do not care how long this quest will take, nor do my concerns encompass the discomfort I am feeling, for I know that when the last of this dastardly pharmaceutical has been metabolized I will marshall all my talents and energies to fighting this insidious substance. It is nothing more than an addictive substance and a way for the maker to reap profits. I did not feel I needed to be on any antidepressant, but I bowed to the so called “wisdom” of a family doctor who I now realize did not care anything about my true welfare.
I am currently seeking legal advice regarding issues I have with my ex-doctor and the medical school she was affiliated with.
Now with respect to the post regarding so-called religious intervention-do not trade the delusional “reality” of an anti-depressant filtered world with the delusions of a reality based on the lies of ancient “fairy tales”. I have learned that what is important is being YOURSELF-to hell with the lies that religion and medicine and society and politics and culture tries to make you accept.

Day 2 of being off of this horrible, horrible drug. I was prescribed Effexor XR four years ago after having ONE PANIC ATTACK!! I had no idea about anti-depressants and just did what my doc told me to. After beign on 75mg for about 2 years I started suffering extreme migraines and constantly had a “heavy head”, couldn’t get out of bed, no longer able to exercise, etc. So I decided to come off of it. I went back down to 37.5 and then took a 25mg that I split in half for about a week. I think because I have never been on that high of a dose I am suffering much less compared to some of you, and if that is the case I don’t know how you all can stand it. My head is constantly swimming, eyes can’t catch up with my head feeling, nausea, sleeplessness, too hot, then too cold, etc. I am hoping it will not last too much longer. I find that walks out in the cold air help, but not much else. I am just so pissed that my doc gave this to me in the first place, when he shoudl have giving me some sort of tranquilizer IN CASE a panic attack came on. I mean at the time I had just had a baby, wasn’t sleeping and my best friend just died, I think one panic attack is understandable.
Anyway, good luck to all of you – be strong and know that you will get through it! I might try the Prozac – a lot of people seem to have had success with that.

I’ve been trying to get off Sertraline/Zoloft for over a year now. My last “prescribed” amount was 100mgs. My doctor just doesn’t seem to have a clue as to the horrors of many of these drugs. My sister is a doctor who actually TOOK effexor for awhile and got off of it, and I have no clue how she did it. Most people I have been talking with that take anti-depressants report very similarly to the posts here. I can understand if someone is trading suicidal tendancies for the drug and plan to take it the rest of their lives, but it does not come without cost. This “brain zapping” is familiar, but I also get the feeling of spiders crawling under my skin and “hot flashes” for lack of a better description. Dizziness occurs and general discomfort follows. This does not hit in waves, it literally stays with me constantly weeks on end. I am now asking those who have actually stopped taking the drug for longer than a period of 1 year how they did it and if these horrible “discontinuation symptoms” will still occur. I am so afraid that I am forced to be on this stuff for the rest of my life. Sure I was sad before the pills and my mind raced at night trying to sleep; but I would endure that over the anti-depressants any day; even though they DID work. I still say the drugs aren’t worth it. I don’t want anyone in search of medical assistance to feel hopeless about what they are enduring, but ask yourself this: Do you really want to take a stupid pill, more addictive than cigarettes, filled with Flouride, for the rest of your life? And if you take a high enough dose, which I was smart to cut back on, it really dulls your senses so you feel nothing – and I mean your mom could die and you wouldn’t even cry or feel sad or feel ANYTHING. These drugs strip you of your personality. I hate very much to say this, but please keep a skeptical mind when speaking with your doctor. You are empowered to do your own medical research as well. Know what you’re putting into your body, don’t just take a pseudo stranger’s word for it that “you’ll be all better”… yeah it works, but in my opinion, this is the devil’s work in pill form.

Prednisone is known for its adverse side effects during withdrawal–excuse me…discontinuation syndrome.

It is therefore manufactured in quantities as low as 1mg, thought the indicated dosage for acute inflammation is 1mg/kg*day (about 80mg/day for a grown man).

Most antidepressants are not manufactured for dose titration.

The smallest dose of most antidepressants is 1/4 or 1/2 the indicated theraputic dosage. There is no indication for titration.

Get out your razorblade and cut it.

I have been on Effexor XR 300mg daily for 3 years now.. and I regret ever taking the drug. I will admit it did help my severe depression, but I’m sure I could’ve taken another drug and gotten rid of the depression without the terrible side effects and withdrawal symptoms.

They say it is not addictive, but it is. Even now, it seems I can go less and less time without my dose, almost like my body needs more effexor, more often. If I miss a dose, I end up with:

-Those terrible brain shocks (numbness and shocks through entire body)
-Unbelievable headaches
-Nausea
-Horrible night sweats

Because I have so much going on in my life, I cannot afford to have these withdrawal symptoms because they put me in bed for days and all I can do is sleep. My doctor has done nothing but thrown drugs at me throughout my struggle to find the right treatments, and she doesn’t believe how severe the brain shocks are.

The effexor has also caused alarming heart issues. I have constant tachycardia (has anyone heard of this?) – My heart rate stays around 100-120 on a daily basis and I usually can’t even relax or sleep well because I always feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest. Can effexor cause permanant heart damage?

I just want to be able to stop taking effexor, get my heart rate back down to normal and not worry about having these awful brain shocks for the rest of my life if I don’t take Effexor. I know it has helped my depression but I would rather take something else without the side effects for the depression. Does anyone know about taking Pristiq instead of effexor? Would that help the withdrawal symptoms?

Wow, I cannot believe the amount of posts on this website and another one I found about withdrawal symptoms. I have been on 250 mgs of effexor for about 4 years. I have recently decreased from 3 a day to 2 a day finally to 1 a day…and have been off it for 2 days now. I started taking zoloft instead which I have to gradually build up in my system. It’s taking too long! The only reason I came off is because I lost my job and I could get a generic zoloft and it is the only thing I can afford. My symptoms have been crying, dizziness, definitely the “shocks”, can’t sleep and the diarrhea started last night, continuing today. It’s horrible. I even want to cry now because part of me is relieved and wanting to sob that so many people understand but the other part of me is wanting to cry because I’m afraid the symptoms will get worse. I have no patience for anything, I feel like I’m being a horrible mother and I just wish I could forget life and sleep for the next 2 months until my body can level off some. I know if I end up taking it I will just delay these symptoms until I come off it again, because I will run out and can’t afford it. I have read a few of the posts here and on another site, and I’m sure I will read more when I have time. Good luck to all of you in the same or semi the same boat. I try to remember that it’s up to me to control how I react to things, but this is really hard. If anybody wants to contact me or talk about it, just respond. I’ll be praying for us all.

Cindy

TRY THE OVER THE COUNTER NON DRUG CALLED SAM E

OK so i read quite few of the reports of side effects after taking Effexor, i can relate to many of you, i was on it for a year and half 75mg tried ween myself of several times and i felt what many of you have this last time i quit Effexor and started taking a non drug called SAM E you can buy this over the counter in most stores. This last time i had lil to no bad side effects, it has been a month and half now that i been off Effexor i feel great i can say tho last week i developed constant head aches, not sure if this is due to the non taking of effexor because i been off it for more than a month. But to all of you there is a light at end of tunnel, be strong and god bless. REMEBER try the Sam E 400mg a day and take the omega 3 and a good multi vitamin.

I am currently dealing with the horrible side effects of dosing down from Celexa. I have been on it for well over 6 years and talked with my dr about going off of it. I tapered down from 20mg, to 10, to 5 and now I’m completely off of it. Unfortunately the brain zaps, prickly sensations on my skin, vertigo, reality vs. dream state confusion, inability to get quality sleep, etc. are getting worse by the day – thanks to everyone’s posts I am going to try the Omega 3, B complex vitamins to see if they help relieve some of the symptoms. Thanks for the advice.

I went off Effexor cold turkey (not meaning to – but the why is not important). I was prescribed 150 mg/day because my doctor said that it would help me cope with severe pain that I am facing long term with my spine. The withdrawal or “discontinuation of use symptoms” just that term alone sounds so less alarming, huh??? has been so totally devastating. The first 2 nights I had auditory hallucinations, sweats, brain shakes and terrifying nightmares. The sweats and nightmares have continued and my doctor said that I might experience perhaps a few more weeks of feeling like this unless I wanted to go back on the medication and be “weened” off. No way do I want this poison in my house. I do know that I will feel better on my own – I do a little bit each day. (The effexor did not help me cope with my pain, either – warm water therapy is helping, though).

I can’t help but wonder if the drug companies have made withdrawal a built-in insurance for taking their product??? Yet, I certainly see the miracles of some modern-day drugs (this is obvious to all of us).

I am upset that this medication is on the market and have signed a petition stating that – I will not go quietly into the night (unfortunately, not for a few more weeks…

in australia the max dose is 300mg a day i believe
FYI-