Posted by jerz on April 19, 2001, at 12:09:48
In reply to withdrawal effects - effexor xr, posted by aberg on April 19, 2001, at 10:24:24
> hi - i new to this sight. i have been reading these posts and feel i have gained some valuable information. i have been on effexor xr 75 for about 8 mos and am trying to get off. last time i did this i couldn't take the side effects. i was having tingling all over my body and nausea. i can take some things but not nausea. i got back on and have determined that this drug is causing weight gain and i have a hard time dealing with that. does anyone have any suggestions on how to battle these side effects? my dr suggested for me to take 37.5 mg every other day for two weeks than quit. if i miss two days it gets bad -- any suggestions would be appreciated. i have taken 1/4 of 25mg of phenegran and it seems to take the edge off of nausea. any idea how long these symptons last or how long it takes to get this drug out of your body??
Hi there. Sorry to hear you've joined the ranks of those of us trying to wean off Effexor XR. If you go back through some of the threads, many of us are actually opening the 37.5 capsules and dividing the granules in half (and then in quarters, and so on). This allows for a more gradual weaning from 37.5 to 18.75 to 9.375, etc. How long you need to stay on each lowered dose depends on your particular body and how each dose is affecting you.
I've been on the 9+ mg for 4 days now, after doing one week at 18.75. The vertigo is almost gone, but I'm still having headaches at the end of the day... pretty severe, but I'm hanging in there. I've also noted in previous posts that I've started to GAIN weight since beginning the weaning process. I actually lost weight when I started the Effexor. Most of the other withdrawal side effects are subsiding gradually, but again, everyone is different.
In reading the other posts, it appears that most of our doctors are either not aware or don't believe that the withdrawal process should be this much of a problem. It might help to discuss these posts with your doctor and also discuss the suggestions for weaning that you've seen here. I told my doctor about splitting the contents and he laughed. As long as he didn't say "don't do that, it's dangerous", I'm doing it and it seems to be working.
I did the same thing your doc suggested early on and you're right, by day 2, things got bad. That's why I came to the board to see what other people were doing.
Hope this helps and good luck! Jerz
poster:jerz
thread:60441
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010417/msgs/60450.html