withdrawel symptoms of effexor/venlaflaxine

[heidi123]

Hi
Ive been taking venlaflaxine for 12 months for ocd/anxiety along with bupropion for motivation. I have been tapering off venlaflaxine for 6 months no problem but am now down to the last 37.5 mg. I stopped taking it 3 days ago and have felt overwhelming dizzy and weird and have rushes all over. I feel a bit sick as well. Has anyone else experienced this and if so how long does it last
thanks

[SADnomore]

Normal, no worries. :) Have you been cutting down the bupropion at the same time? ... Made me feel as though i'd been shot out of a cannon, that did! :ohmy: Then again, I could have been taking too much ...

As to how long you will be off before the withdrawal symptoms last, that varies. Not the drug to be taking if one plans to drop it in future. If things get to be too much, you can try going on a slower-acting drug like Prozac for a bit, then withdrawing from that. Supposed to be much easier, as a small amount will be still in your system for longer, and lots of people get no tough symptoms at all then.

Marie xx

[dedalus]

Hi
Ive been taking venlaflaxine for 12 months for ocd/anxiety along with bupropion for motivation. I have been tapering off venlaflaxine for 6 months no problem but am now down to the last 37.5 mg. I stopped taking it 3 days ago and have felt overwhelming dizzy and weird and have rushes all over. I feel a bit sick as well. Has anyone else experienced this and if so how long does it last
thanks

How quickly were you tapering the venlafaxine? The general rule of thumb is to reduce by 10% of your current dosage every 4 weeks. It takes a long time to get to zero. There is a wealth of information here.

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/272-tips-for-tapering-off-effexor-and-effexor-xr-venlafaxine/

It sounds like you stopped cold turkey at 37.5mg and you are probably suffering withdrawal symptoms now. What is known as discontinuation syndrome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSRI_discontinuation_syndrome

How are you doing now?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Wow, so the NHS are prescibing buproprion when they feel like it (guidance is just for smokers trying to quit). Very interesting for others on here.

When I came off Citalopram I had the same issues. Reducing from 20-10mg for 2 weeks first gave me some woolly heads, zaps, balance issues and a bit of nausea due to this. Coming off completely after that increased them a fair bit for about 10-15 days but it was manageable. Nothing like starting on them which the opposite in terms of how ill they made me feel.

The switch to Fluoxetine as Marie says is the favoured approach. You will find that guidance on the MIND and Rpsych websites.

[pulisa]

It's best to taper down gradually from the 37.5mg dose. Total withdrawal from ven is possible but you must be careful to take things very slowly when reducing. This drug is notoriously tricky when it comes to complete withdrawal but no professional will tell you that! Just wanted to give you another option from the switch to fluoxetine-my daughter has been off ven for 6 months now.

[angels22165]

Hi

Just would like a bit of help please, was increased to Venlafaxine 225 a day last Friday from 150 from Monday had serious itching and eruptions GP told me to go back on normal 150 for next two days which is today to see if helped, it didn't he said I've had a allergic reaction to the medication and to stop it from today and then wait till Monday and commence Citalopram, I was shocked I said to the GP what just stop! He said yes you cannot take anymore due to the reaction, this has me very worried with going cold turkey, I know it won't help me worrying but heard so many horror stories of people just reducing this med not just stopping, he has given me diazepam to take twice a day to help.

Just would like any people's experience please - really unnerved me.

Thank-you Julie

[dedalus]

Hi Julie,

I am guessing that you have been taking venlafaxine for a while. It sounds strange that you have had an allergic reaction to an increase in dosage with that drug though. Especially if you have been taking it at a lower dose for some time. Perhaps it is possible though. I wouldn't really know.

You are right in what you say though. There will probably be some major withdrawal symptoms if you stop venlafaxine abruptly. 150mgs is a relatively high dose. I am not sure if citalopram would compensate for the venlafaxine. I have heard of people switching from venlafaxine to prozac but they generally take both for a while before discontinuing the venlafaxine.

I don't like giving advice about these sort of things but in my layman's opinion I think that it might be best to continue on venlafaxine at 150mgs for a while.

The intensity of the withdrawal can depend on how long you were taking venlafaxine also. I have been on this drug for 8 years now and have tried to slowly taper off it at 10% per month and there was always withdrawal. So, I would imagine that if you go from 150mgs to 0mgs overnight then you will have some major withdrawal symptoms. Of course, it would depends how long you were taking it, as I said.

I hope that that is of some help to you. Please let us know how you get on!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Julie,

I am guessing that you have been taking venlafaxine for a while. It sounds strange that you have had an allergic reaction to an increase in dosage with that drug though. Especially if you have been taking it at a lower dose for some time. Perhaps it is possible though. I wouldn't really know.

You are right in what you say though. There will probably be some major withdrawal symptoms if you stop venlafaxine abruptly. 150mgs is a relatively high dose. I am not sure if citalopram would compensate for the venlafaxine. I have heard of people switching from venlafaxine to prozac but they generally take both for a while before discontinuing the venlafaxine.

I don't like giving advice about these sort of things but in my layman's opinion I think that it might be best to continue on venlafaxine at 150mgs for a while.

The intensity of the withdrawal can depend on how long you were taking venlafaxine also. I have been on this drug for 8 years now and have tried to slowly taper off it at 10% per month and there was always withdrawal. So, I would imagine that if you go from 150mgs to 0mgs overnight then you will have some major withdrawal symptoms. Of course, it would depends how long you were taking it, as I said.

I hope that that is of some help to you. Please let us know how you get on!

She has created a thread about this here if you want to join the support:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=177110

[dedalus]

Thanks Terry. I saw that.