Posted by KaraS on January 28, 2005, at 1:29:28
In reply to Effexor withdrawal, posted by margieb on January 27, 2005, at 17:38:27
> I am 53 years old and have been taking 75mg Effexor for about 18 months. Had some side effects at first, but got through them. Effexor works well for me but I would like to see how I do with my depression and anxiety without it. The cost is also a major factor. When I skip a dose, the next day I feel like my brain is shaking. I get dizzy when rising from a sitting or laying position. It feels like I've been stunned or that my brain is rattling around in my head. I have pauses in thinking and sometimes my tongue feels numb. If I lie still the "shaking" doesn't happen. I work full time and am very social. I want off, but can't stand the withdrawal. It scares me.
>
> Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Margie
My withdrawal from Effexor was not horrible. You have to decrease your dosage VERY SLOWLY and substitute a another serotonergic agent at the end of the taper (or earlier).
When I finally went off of the last quarter of a pill (about 10 mg.) I started to have some problems. I had two very uncomfortable days until I started taking Cymbalta. Then all of the side effects went away. It could have been hellish had I not had the Cymbalta to take. You really need to substitute another serotonergic medication when you're going off of Effexor. It doesn't have to be for a long period of time. Sometimes one 10 mg. of Prozac is all that is needed. Had I taken the Cymbalta a couple of days earlier, I would have had minimal problems with the whole withdrawal. Maybe I was lucky. I don't know, but others have gone off of Effexor with very little problem also. All of them seem to have taken something else with serotonergic activity to help the process along though. (BTW, Prozac is supposed to be great for this because of it's long half-life.)There are other posts on this board from people who have managed the withdrawal successfully without too much discomfort.
poster:KaraS
thread:448820
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050124/msgs/449028.html