Effexor withdrawl and symptoms, please help _{Page 54 of 140}

Hello I am new to this forum. My Doctor put me on Effexor three months ago and wants me to take it for one year. Well I have decided to get the heck off this crap and get my life back. I took 150mg for three months and it has turned me into a complete zombie with out any emotion and it has changed my personality completely. Well I have decided that enough is enough. I have tapered down to 75mg which I took for a week without any symptoms. Two days ago I started to half the capsules because I know my doctor will not give me a prescription for the 37.5mg to get off this stuff. Well today was really strange. FRom the time I woke up I have been extremely light headed and dizzy all day especially when I trun my head from sid eto side or move my eyes side to side. I plan to keep this regiment for another week and then start to alternate days and eventually stop. My question is first, is this a good lan to get off this stuff and second can I take St. John wort while still on effexor?

Symptoms I have had while on effexor over the past three months include eye pain, night sweats, vivid dreams, strange dancing lights in my eyes, head aches, dizzyness, exteme insomnia, blerred vision, absence of personality, anxiety, memory loss and inabilty to retain something i was just given and the list goes on. The worst thing for me is the insomnia. I can fall asleep ok, but I always wake up between 3 and 4 am. I then go in and out of light sleep until I have to get up the next morning. All my doc does for this is give me more meds, Lunesta and then Ambien. They not me out but I still wake up early and they just add to the drowsyness during the day. Can onyone relate to any of this? I just feel so alone in this fight to get off meds. Can anyone please help me with the insomnia?

Hey guys,
I've been three weeks completely off effexor.
I am now back at work, and I have much more energy.
Most of the side effects are tapering off (brain zaps, dizziness, sweating), but I am having really bad stomach pains (they wake me up in the middle of the night) and some "digestive problems". Has anyone else experienced this (re: effexor tapering)? I don't know if it's b/c of the effexor or something else. It does not seem to be going away...I'm not sure what to do.

Congratulations Kat, that is awesome news. Yes, stomach issues & diarhea are withdrawal related, everytime I drop I go through a bout of it. If you are worried though you should probably talk to you doctor just to make sure (not that they know too much about the side effects of Effexor but what are you going to do).

Jon33, I am sorry you are going through so much, it is a real shame the Doctor is combating your symptoms with more drugs. I am going through withdrawal with the help of a naturapath, could that be an option for you? I can't relate with the imsomnia but the rest of it is definately familiar. It annoys me that there is no real professional help with withdrawal from a prescription drug but lots for withdrawal from a street drug.

Kerry

Kerry & Jon,
I completely agree about the doctor situation concerning effexor. My doctor told me I would have no side effects after I stopped taking the drug, and she didn't take me seriously concerning the symptoms I was having. And she kept throwing drugs at me also...I was extremely fatigued and she wanted me to go on something for that.
The best help has been the research that I have done myself: this site and other web research.
Jon, all of your symptoms are completely valid; I've had the same thing, so have others on this site. I would suggest working out a lot. My symptoms & sleep are always better when I do. Hang in there!
Kat

Hi Kat,
I was wondering when you were going to check in...I'm glad you're finally off the Effexor completely. Congratulations. I finally came back to work too and everything is great. The transition went really well. I hope your transition was smooth too. As for the digestive problems, I"m having them to. My problem is constipated and I"m doing everything naturally to find something to help me with this. The last thing I"m going to do is get back on prescriptions. I'm trying Milk of Magnesia and stuff like that.
sherri

Hi Sherri,
I'm so glad you are doing okay. Thank you so much for your support during that rough time. I even had to battle my insurance company b/c they shorted me 2 days of disability payment!
Yes, I've been downing Pepto Bismol! I'm just waiting for it to go away!
It has also been hard emotionally...I now know I was pretty numb to everything on the effexor. Now that I am off, I feel like I am having to learn my feelings all over again, learn how to react to things. It's been really hard.
Again, I'm glad you are back at work and doing okay!
Kat

Thanks Kerry and Kat,
It's nice to know Im not going crazy. Even though my doctor looks at me that way when I describe my side effects. The other thing I am really worried about is my vision. I went to an eye specialist about the dancing lights. He looked in my eyes and then sent me to have an MRI done of my brain. That scared the crap out of me. But fortunately it came back clear. Does anyone have any explanation for these strange dancing lights?

I began taking the drug Effexor XR six weeks ago when my doctor mentioned taking it to releive menopausal symptoms instead of hormones. I was initially excited and two of my co-workers praised the pill(But they have never tried to stop it nor want to). I was prescribed 37.5 mg. The first week was hell. My two co-workers, the doctors office and the pharmacist all told me to hang in there and it would get better. The second week i uped my dosage to 75 mg. My body seemed to be adjusting. However, i still felt like my body wasn't really me. In the morning when i wake-up my hands are shaky, i have frequent headaches, still have hot flashes, and when i lay down, I am extremely aware of my heartbeat, which is odd for me. I still continued believing i was just adjusting to the drug and that it would all just go away.
During my fifth week on Effexor, i went to my family practioner (who did not prescribe it, my gyno did) and during my exam (which was for a sinus infection) he discovered that my blood pressure was high, almost dangerously. I've always had normal blood pressure. He asked me to take my blood pressure twice a week for a whole month and fax him the results. I came home and started researching on the internet and to my dismay, Effexor is most likey the cause of the spike in my blood pressure. It's one of the adverse side effects I was told after calling a pharmacist, who said call your doctor and get off the drug immediatly. I was told all this during the Thanksgiving holiday and I'm not able to contact my doctor until Monday. I found this site and I'm now scared to death of this drug. I want off starting tomorrow. Sounds like my doctor probably won't have a clue on how to get me off the drug.
My question here, is how long will the withdrawals last and what kind of symptoms can I expect after being on it for six weeks? I'm so upset that my doctor, whom I trusted, would put me on this evil drug that is supposedly "not addicting". Thank you for listening to me, but I'm so scared and would really appreciate all your help and answers.

Hi. I took one 37.5 pill this a.m. Around noon time I started to have a stabbing pain above my left eye.I called my Dr. about stopping. She said to take one 37.5 pill daily for a week than one 37.5 every other day then one 37.5 every 3 days. Then one pill for one day.Then nothing. What do you suggest? Should I open a pill up the 2nd week and take half everyday. Then one quarter every day for the following week? Please someone answer,I would appreciate it.

Hi Stone, as usual your doctor is as educated in this as most doctors out there....which is really sad. That would be the conventional way to come off a medication that doesn't give you withdrawal symptoms from one missed dose. You need to take a dose everyday in order to minimize your withdrawal so your suggestion is much better than hers. From my own personal experience I have been doing my drops with a month or two in between. I have also found that the time of month that I do my drop is absolutely key as to how much withdrawal I get so my drops are timed for 2 days after my period starts when my hormones are at their most stable (for me at least).

My initial withdrawals last a few days (maybe 3 or 4) - nausea, dizziness, unfocused etc. but the secondary ones seem to hang on longer - brain zaps, emotional ups & downs etc. I am currently down to 19 mgs (from 150 mg in April...I have really taken my time to get off it) and am planning my final drop after the holidays when things are settled down as I have heard the last one is the worst.

I hope this helps, and I am sorry that no one has responded to your post, normally this forum is fairly busy so I guess everyone has been consumed with holidays and thanksgiving. Hang in there, we are all here for you....honest.

Kerry

I haven't posted in a while but I have occasionally checked to see how many new people are on the site. Incredible that doctors have not caught on to the problems of withdrawal from the E.

I am now 3 months E free. Except for some periods of ups and downs, the only major symptom I seem to have left is the zaps. They still have not gone away.

Jon33, I had blurred vision the entire time I was on the E. My ophthalmologist (who seemed to know more about E's side effects than the doc who prescribed it) said that 90% of time time the vision would return to normal and mine did.

Stone, I am on bp medication so my bp was controlled chemically, but after stopping the E my blood pressure dropped 20 points on the top and 10 on the bottom to below normal. I have reduced my medication.

Good luck to all of you who are still weaning off. Things will get better, you may not think so right now.
The one thing I have learned and appreciated most out of this experience is the fact that without the lows you cannot have the highs in your emotions. E took that all away. It was nice to be a zombie for a short time, I was able to get my life back together, but I sure enjoy being me again.

Again, my thoughts and prayers are with you all during this time. - Sheila

To all experiencing Effexor withdrawal, you have my sympathy! I'd been on 300 mg of Effexor XR for depression about 8 months before tapering off. I found it to be unreliable as an anti-depressant. I was re-diagnosed by a new doc as Bipolar II and placed on Lamictal. While ramping up on Lamictal, I tapered off Effexor. Based on what I've read, my doc had an aggressive tapering schedule. Just 7 weeks from 300mg down to nothing. From 300mg all the way down to 37.5, I don't remember any problems. But the day after my last 37.5 dose, I experienced a number of symptoms. My first day without was this past Saturday. Mostly it felt like I had the flu: nausea (no vomiting thank God, and it's nausea and hunger at the SAME TIME) diarrhea and fatigue. And also the shock-like feeling or "brain zaps" as some call it. I find that when lying down, the brain zaps are not as bad. I also find I can "invoke" a brain zap by shifting my eyes from side to side. My only other symptom is sensitivity to light. I'm on day 5 of withdrawal and I feel there is improvement, but having read that some people have had withdrawal symptoms for 6 months or longer really concerns me. My doctor (not the one who put me on Effexor, but my new doc who's taking me off in favor of Lamictal) told me it should only take 5 - 7 days. Thankfully, from a depression standpoint, my mood is good. The withdrawal has caused me fatigue, but not the "depression" fatigue where I'm tired all the time AND I feel that I'm a loser, that I hope I die in my sleep, feel hopeless, etc., etc. I'd like to know from others here, how long did it typically take to recover from the withdrawal? My second question involves the suggestion by some that Effexor "morphs the brain" or does some kind of permanent damage like LSD. Does anyone have any scientific/medical evidence of this?

Note that my doc said that taking a single 10mg dose of Prozac has been shown to help alleviate Effexor withdrawal. I've not tried it so I have no idea if that works, but I thought I'd share it anyway.

I sincerely wish all the best to others experiencing this withdrawal.

- Paul

Hi,Thank-you for answering me. I'm on day 3 of 37.5 aday.Yesterday I felt so sick to my stomach at work that I almost went home. Today wasn't as bad but I still have the headache and I now no what a "brain zap" feels like. I started having them right away. Does anybody have an Idea on how long it will take me to withdrawl since I was on it for a short time? I was thinking that if I divide my doses in half weekly I should be done in one month. Does that sound about right? Debbie

Stone, try using Chaser for the headache, it really works. As a matter of fact I am still using it for headaches, it is better than tylenol or aspirin. You can get it at Walmart. It is in a red box usually at the end of an aisle in the pharmacy department. It is a hangover remedy but works wonders on the E headache..

Hello all,
I just read the past couple of days worth of postings, and I truly understand what each of you are going through. To answer the questions of "how long does the withdrawal last": I weaned off effexor and have now been completely off of it for almost 5 weeks now. In my case (and others have found the same), the third week completely off is when you start feeling better. Even now at 5 weeks off, my stomach is still not at 100% and I still get brain zaps, though not as bad. It has also been very hard dealing with the new highs and lows in my emotions, which I know are normal but were suppressed by the Effexor. I am very concerned at the suggestion that Effexor alters your brain permanently; I have never heard this. Does anyone know o f any research on this?

Kat,

How long had you been on Effexor and at what dose?

- Paul

150 mg for 3 yrs

Hi everyone, Cat thanks so much for the "chaser" Info. I did buy some today, I work at a Pre-school and having a headache with yelling kids is tough. It helped alot! The last 3 nights I have been falling asleep okay but I have been waking up around 3:00am with the worst nightmares. Its like a thriller movie going on within my head.I woke up so frightend this morning that I went and bought 2 nite lights today to help me go back to sleep. I usually do not remember dreams but I do remember these dreams in detail. How long do these last? I also discovered through some blood work that I had 2 weeks ago that my Cholesterol is very high. My Doc suggested putting me on Lovastatin. I have always had normal to low Cholesterol. So I did some research and guess what, 1 in every 1,000 people on E have raised high Cholesterol levels due to the drug. I have decited to not add Lovastatin to my body. I will wait untill I'm about 2 months completly free of E then I will re-due the blood work. So E has raised my blood pressure and raised my Cholesterol to very high levels. So it might be a good Idea for for everyone to also check your levels. I HATE this drug. Debbie

Debbie (Stone), thanks for that info regarding cholesterol. If you had been on this site when I was tapering off, you would know that I was also struggling to lower mine. I have done so many things over the past year to get healthy. My cholesterol was only 250 last spring but my doc was threatening to put me on drugs. I told him no that I wanted to give it the natural try first. I also told him that if I wanted to ruin my liver (which cholesterol drugs have the capability to do) that I wanted to do it with beer and wine, he laughed and said, give the natural way a try. As of the end of Oct. I am down to 219. I stopped the E in August. I have been taking a natural juice tonic, 4 oz. honey, 5 oz. pure apple cider vinegar, equal parts of grape juice and unsweetened apple juice to make a gallon. Drink 8 oz. a day. (I forget a lot and manage maybe 4 times a week) I just found out from a new acquaintance from California that flax seed is all the rage out there for cholesterol lowering. I bought some seed and grind 1T at a time (it has to be ground or it just goes thru you) and add it to some yogurt. (Yogurt is great to mix things in, I used to put my little balls of E in it when I was tapering down). The flax seed is also great for regulation. But I don’t go to the doc again until end of Jan so won’t know if it is working. Also, stay away from too many sweets, trans fats (it’s in most commercially baked goods) and cut down on alcohol consumption for the triglycerides. Also take fish oil and I have added flax seed oil too. All this stuff is so good for you and not a real trial to take.

My detox from the E went rather smoothly, I had major problems but not as many as others did, and I think it is because I was trying to lower my cholesterol at the same time. Also, I stopped ingesting anything with aspartame in it in August. I really attribute the fact that I have not become depressed after weaning off E to that fact.

I suffered those horrible nightmares during detox too. They will go away. But they are pretty awful at the time. Mine always seemed to relate to unresolved conflicts from my past.

I’m glad the Chaser works for you. I love it. - Sheila

Hi, Everyone.
I also wish to share my exprience of tapering of the Effexor.
Started: April 15
Dosage: 75mg once a day
Effects: Very helpful in my personal situation:
a) Marital problems: stress, anxioty, anger and depression - read of for about 90 percent. Effect Understand everything, but completely num to feel mentioned above way. Feeled very comfy - nothing penetrates.
b) May 15- Car accident, if not the drug, probably whould end up with stroke or heart attack, G-d forbid.
c) Separation with restriction order, believe or not I didn't do anything, she(my wife) just decided to play vuh-bank and reed of me in the most disgasting way.
My reaction: understand everything, emotions - ZERO!
I thought - WOW, GREAT. Who could think to go thrue such hussles so easy.
But Wait a sec. is this the way I'm going feel till the rest of my life? No way I thought. I want to get myself, thinskined,worrying, carying, loving and even crying as much as possible BACK!
Ok, so I tried to taper of by skipping day or two - bad bad idea: sweating, getting dizzy, electroshokes in my left hand, swaying from dizziness, oh man I could not take it. My phsycologist - really good man(by the way it wasn't his idea, but fully of my wife and for the sake to preserve the merriage I started with an effexor)told me that I should do it gradually and very very slowly.
After several weeks of going back to normal dosage use, I sad to my self enough is enough., just do it!
And very next day I simply stop to take it.
Oh, boy, that was very hard to feel dizzzy and sweaty every second, but I started to pay an attention that somehow my dizziness is connected to my vision. If I tried to keep my looks(eyes)in steady and calm position - not to move my head to quick, simply play slow-motion behaviour I was feeling much and much better.
I quit it at November 9, 2005
and today is December 4, 2005. Cannot say that everything is perfect, still have ocational but very lite flashes of dizziness, which became very easy to handle after description above.
Unfortunatly still num in my fellings, hoping it will past also one day. I understand all of you guys and wish to all of you full and happy recovery with only positive results. I'll be in tuch with you to provide to you my further progress(hopefully)towards recovery.

Hullo Everyone, I havent posted in a good 4 months but I have been effexor free since about May 1st of 2005! I had taken the meds for 2 and half years. My first post was back on page 5 of this forum thread. If you read that you will see the state I was in, like most of you I was at the end of my rope trying to free myself from this stuff. I was tired of allowing life to pass my by and not give a damn that it was.I had gained 60 pounds or so. If you follow my posts over the two months following you will see the stages that we seem to go through when coming off this. First was the side effects...brain zaps, headache, insomnia, crazy dreams, rage (very short fuse with perfect strangers), tiredness, diarhea (that lasted me two months). Next stage I was SOOO emotional as I was detoxing it hit me how bad I had been when on the meds. I was lifeless. Then I went through a chatty stage (you can see that in some of my posts lol). Finally the light at the end of the tunnel! It wasn't as if one day I woke up and it was great. Gradually each day was a little better then I would take a step back and about 4 months into my Effexor free life I contemplated going back on another anti depression med. Though I don't knock them I just wanted to stay away. I worked through a 3 week period of major depression in about September but FINALLY things started moving up for me.

Have others noticed the change? OMG from top to bottom of my family everyone has noticed several have commented that it is good to have me back. That really put in perspective to me how far gone I really was in my numbness. My father-in-law is not a flatterer he's an old time straight shooter and says it like he means it. Has mentioned several times to my husband how good it is to see me myself again and how he really enjoys my company. Since I lost a bunch of weight about 40 pounds he now calls me skinny and the last time I walked into his house he asked me if I was going to blow away soon. LOL It feels great. The weight didn't fall off about two and half months after I stopped the medication I started a diet and excersize routine nothing major but with the energy I had now I was getting outside and doing more anyways. I had tried unsuccesfully several times while on Effexor to loose weight but it was just a futile job.

So for awhile it was too hard for me to come here to see the forum. It was a painful reminder. But now 7 months later I feel wonderful. I currently have no side efffects of the medication and though life isn't perfect for me or anyone else. I am living it and enjoying the goodstuff and working through the bad.

Those of you who are new or in the middle of the detox YOU CAN DO IT! Do not accept more meds to deal with this unless YOU want to go that route. I know several people have done the taper down method and I started that way but for me it was just prolonging the inevitable...the days when I had none in my system so I one day said FORGET IT and stopped taking them (though I was not so strong as to toss them in case things got so bad that I had to grab one and eliviate my mania)I schedule the day without my pills around time when my husband would be there to help me...day 3 and 4 were hell and he actually took a day off from work because I was a wreck. I lied on the bed and he held my hand while I just cried in utter torment from the zaps, to the tiredness and insomnia. After day 7 it was two forward and three back sometimes, but alas after a month or so my husband himself took my pills down and asked me to flush them. He wanted his wife back and he wanted to see them gone. Sooo I flushed em and though it wasn't overnight he has me and our marriage hasn't been this strong or fullfilling EVER. OH and the sexual side effects of course are gone and well that has been AMAZING!!!

KEEP your heads up! Feel free to ask me anything I will be checking back in!

Merry Holidays!!!

Jami Effexorfreeandlovingit!

good morning to all

I have not been on the site for a long time, but i do think of all my old friends who were so supportive to me & my daughter when she began her effexor cold turkey withdraw back in May'05....happily, the support of this site continues, but sadly, there are always too many new friends in the same boat.

Steph has been effexor free since 5/12/05...she fought the terrible side effects, took no other drugs or supplements to lessen her withdrawls...i am very proud of her! She is graduating from Iowa State in 9 days, yea no more tuition!!!!

Laurel, sheila, melissa, bonnie, laura, bee,jami... happy holidays to you all...i hope you are doing well & have a happy HEALTHY New Year!

~dawb

ooopps

can't even spell my name

~dawn

Ok, so I have been off E for one week now after being on it for three months. So far I am experiencing brain zaps espescially when i move my eyes from side to side, but that seems to be subsiding. The other noticable side effect is extreme fatigue. I am tired when I wake up in the mornings and stay sleepy and tired all day and collaps when I get home. I usually wake up every night around 3 or 4am. I also am having bad dreams almost every night and sweat heavily while asleep. I am also experiencing dizzyness durring the day when standing and walking around. Are these symptoms normal, if so how long should I expect to have them? I just want me back!!!!

Jon33 congrats first on starting the torture of getting off the medicine. I too had horrible nightmares that were seemed so intense! Every side effect you named I had plus many more. I think you should notice a big difference in the equilibrium in the next week or 10 days. The sleeping and sweating thing slowly dissipated for me over the first month and half. Your energy level will seem much better once your more steady on your feet but after 6 weeks or so I would say a major difference. If you can make it through the next week you are home free your body will take two forward and one back sometimes. I never tried the "chaser" hangover medication that so many others here had tried but I did happen to notice it is on sale at RiteAid if you have one close. It was said to help the headaches the zaps and just general hazy feeling that you probably have right now. It is cheap to I think like 4 dollars for a little package of them and all natural I believe. If your having really bad aches and pains in your muscles and joints try warm baths with Epsom salts they were my savior. I think our bodies store this medicine and it tries to suck it from every spot it can while detoxing the sweating could end up being a great cleansing of it from your body. Drink lots of water and if you can't seem to get into a good sleep try some benadryl a half hour before bed or a unisom or tylenol pm that will also help with the aches along with it. I can't stress how much better I felt after I took something to help me sleep a little more soundly and I actually got some good sleep.

Anything else just let us know but yes it will get better and your doing GREAT!

Jami