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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Huck326 on August 11, 2002, at 14:24:24
I just started taking ANY meds for depression 7 months ago.( had depression as long as I can remember)
I am 28 , male , 6'2" 200lbs so not overweight by much if any.
Started on 01/02 and Effexor really helped since 03/ 02 it hasn't really done much. thinking of trying a new med but I have tried to get off Effexor both cold turkey [3 weeks of just horrid withdrawal symtoms basically bed ridden] and tried to do a cut down method only thing is everytime I get to the stop point I suffer HUGE horrid symptoms. Help!! what if anything can I do to "get clean" and still function without the dizzy , nausea, tingling lips/ fingers BS.
thanks for any help with this all too common problem
Posted by turalizz on August 11, 2002, at 15:35:18
In reply to Anyone figure out how to get off Effexor XR, posted by Huck326 on August 11, 2002, at 14:24:24
Here is how I got rid of it:
I dropped from 300mg to 150 in three days, by the end of day 3, I felt horrible: headaches, feeling detached, anxiety, vertigo..
I took 30mg mianserin (Tolvon) to sleep the same day, and to my surprise, in the morning I was feeling good. Mianserin worked like a miracle drug, it not only reversed the withdrawal of Effexor, but also alleviated my depression symptoms.
I stayed at 30mg mianserin before bed, and 75mg Effexor for two weeks, then cut the effexor to 37.5
That was the point where trouble started: I couldn't quit! Every time I tried not to take the effexor daily dose, I was feeling detached and a weird vertigo.
Then reboxetine helped. Instead of the effexor dose, I took 2mg reboxetine. I quit completely. The detached feeling did not happen. Vertigo was there, but very mild. Eventually, all the symptoms went away in one-two weeks.
Mirtazapine is very much like mianserin, so you can try it I suppose. Also, I have read that in a particular case, they treated the effexor withdrawal symptoms successfully with ondansetron.
I guess that helps, good luck.
cem
Posted by ST on August 11, 2002, at 16:19:57
In reply to Anyone figure out how to get off Effexor XR, posted by Huck326 on August 11, 2002, at 14:24:24
HI,
It took me three months to get off Effexor. GO SLOWLY. It is worth it. I had the capsules, but when I got down too low on the dosage, I had those 35 mg tablets that I started chipping away at as well as taking a few sprinkles out of the capsules. I went down to 35 mg, then a 1/4 of the tablet for a couple days. Then for a few days I went down to half a tablet. Then for a few days, I went to an eighth of a tablet and so on until I was chipping a small bit or taking just a few of the capsule sprinkles. On my last day taking Effexor, I probably put two capsule sprinkles on my tongue to dissolve. It got down to that. I literally felt like I had the flu for almost three months. My symptoms got worse on the days I tried to just stop cold turkey. I thought it was ludicrous that here I was chipping away at a tablet to get my Effexor "fix", but it worked.
Make sure you have some of the 35 mg. tablets as well as the capsules. Do it slowly and if you're as senstive to it as you sound, don't listen to anyone who says: "Just cut it out cold turkey and live with feeling strange for a few days!". No way.Good luck!
Sarah
Posted by karla on August 11, 2002, at 22:35:13
In reply to Re: Anyone figure out how to get off Effexor XR, posted by ST on August 11, 2002, at 16:19:57
I have taken 225mg of effexor for a year now. I just decided to quit taking it because it was no longer doing what it was suppose to and it was costing me about $75/month in co-pays. I had no problem for 5 days I felt fine. Then I started crying at everything and anything and have major axiety attaches and getting flu like symptoms. I get my pills in capsule form so I was forced to go to 75mg capsule. I felt fine as soon as I started to take it. I learned this is no medicine you can go cold turkey from. I am going to go to my dr and ask him for lower dose of it and get off. I don't want to be on anything that is this addictive and makes me feel so horrible. It reminds me of cocaine withdrawl I went threw years ago and thought that was the last I would see of withdraws. Guess I was wrong. Thanks for your advice. Wish I would have read it a couple weeks ago.
Posted by nikioct73 on August 12, 2002, at 20:28:44
In reply to Re: Anyone figure out how to get off Effexor XR, posted by karla on August 11, 2002, at 22:35:13
The sorry fact that someone would ever say "tough" it out is sh*tty as I've ever heard ..they must have never gone throught effexorwithdrawl!! I have been told that a dose of Prozac (or sometimes a dose or two) can do the trick because to its simaliar makeup/effect and long half life..I didi not try it myself but did 'Tough' it out and I wish now that I had sought help ...it was sheerhell as I'm sure you by now know...well good luck and please don't go it alone...there are things that do help some people..
Niki
Posted by huck326 on August 13, 2002, at 4:39:35
In reply to Anyone figure out how to get off Effexor XR, posted by Huck326 on August 11, 2002, at 14:24:24
Thanks for all the advice I think that I will just have to take it the Long slow approach as I seem to have every bad withdrawl symtom there is.
Again thanks much
This is the end of the thread.
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