Posted by apenname on June 19, 2005, at 17:15:47
In reply to Re: effexor withdrawal symptoms, posted by tal on June 18, 2005, at 22:14:34
> Thank you for your suggestions for my withdrawal. I did manage to get some 'hold over pills'. I am SO THANKFULL that I lucked onto this site...it was a total fluke :)
> Now, I am really angry with my Dr. He never told me that getting off Effexor would be so brutal!Don't forget that results may vary. I do not know how many people "out there" have perfectly fine withdrawals, and thus do not come online to talk about it.
> So, now how do I stop this drug? It sounds like even if I taper off, I will still go through withdrawal?! Is there a good alternative I can switch to & then taper off of it & not suffer through these horrible withdrawal syptoms? How do I get this info? Shouldn't my Dr have a long-term plan in place so that I am not on this medication my whole life?
All good questions that your Dr. should theoretically be able to help you answer. If your doctor isn't helping, maybe you can seek out another one? A pharma-psychiatrist? (a psychiatrist who's specialized in medication and is often a lot more in touch with the latest research - I've seen one and had a good experience).
Tapering: The prescribing information that you can download from effexor.com says: " In clinical trials with Effexor XR, tapering was achieved by reducing the daily dose by
75 mg at 1 week intervals. Individualization of tapering may be necessary. " My pyschiatrist (a new one - I had to find one after moving) had me go down 75 mg every 3 weeks. I told him I'd prefer to drop more gradually, and went down 37.5 mg every 1.5 weeks. He gave me sample packs so I'd have the smaller doses, and I wrote up a schedule ahead of time of exactly what doses to take in case I got sick and had trouble keeping track. But again, this may vary, and you should consult your doctor.I've read here that other posters have had success with small doses of Prozac to help ease the withdrawal. In my previous experience, I was slowly ramping up Lexapro while ramping down Effexor XR.
Maybe I've been lucky, but I've tried Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Lexapro, and Effexor XR, and had no problems worse than depression with the Zoloft (even though it worked great for my brother -- we are all different- so much for genetics), and the dizziness & high bp with Effexor.
As for being on medication long term, that's an entirely different question. Since starting been treated for depression 7 years ago, the psychiatrist and I had come to the conclusion that I would have to be on medication for the long term, and that's fine. That the benefits would outweigh the risks, although we revisit this question every couple of years, and I'm in therapy as well. There are a lot of different factors that go into answering this question, and don't be afraid to try and find a new doctor to help you answer these questions. Your current doctor may be able to write you a reference. I've been to 3 different psychiatrists and they've all been good about transferring information to the new doctors, etc. Check the non-withdrawal forums for more ideas.
In my case, I am going to try and see if I can fend off the depression and anxiety after everything I've learned in therapy (and hopefully have lower blood pressure and then be able to get pregnant as well), but I'm prepared to try a different medication if it doesn't work.
Just a note, in my own case, I've been slowly taking 18.5 mg 2 to 4 hours later every day (waiting until the diziness kicks in, with a capsule with reduced dose in a box with me in case I need it), and have gotten to almost 2 days without any Effexor and am doing much better. There's hope, but I have to keep reminding myself to have patience!
Good luck!
poster:apenname
thread:514369
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050611/msgs/515596.html