Anxiety and Venlafaxine dose reduction

[grvjoe]

Hi all,

I am a 23 year grad student. I have been an anxiety patient for 6 years now. Been on Venlafaxine for 5 years..on different doses.. 37.5-75-150 mg...have been back on 37.5 mg a day since the past 1.5 years..after having some personal setbacks in the past few months, my anxiety levels shot up, and had to depend on Lorazapam for a few weeks...I am now under psychotherapy and trying to reduce Venlafaxine further..I dunno why but I am sick of this drug..its been difficult to reduce my dosage and dependency without suffering some really scary withdrawal symptoms :(..

some of the worst symptoms I faced while reducing from 37.5 mg per day to 37.5 per 2 days included: Headaches,Confusion, really bad vertigo,Fatigue,Brain Shocks and general sadness and anxiety..its strange but these symptoms started after a week of my dose reduction..I hope I can make it and get rid of medication for good!

Cheers,
Joe

[jelly2010]

Hi and
I'm sorry that you are struggling but I'm sure you'll find support here.
I don't have any experience of that particular med but I hope you find what suits you soon!
J x

[Katie22]

I have just read your post.....I'm worried I'm just on my third day of this med , PLEASE say its gonna help, have tried prozac, and mirtazapine. And could you tell me if there are many side effects to it also.

[grvjoe]

Hi Katie,

I can tell you a bit from my experience. Venlafaxine is a good medicine, you will need to give it a couple of weeks for some improvement. Sadly, like any other medicine it has its sideeffects which vary from person to person. In my case I had dry mouth, constipation and headaches when I started 5 years back but they gradually reduced as I got used to the medicine. I guess the worst thing about Venlafaxine is the withdrawal effects, DONT leave this medicine cold turkey and also ensure you dont skip doses as it can really cause you some problems.. I am gradually tapering off the medicine slowly but can still feel the withdrawal symptoms :(..Also look into therapy as well, I realized it was not a good idea to just depend on Venlafaxine to cure my anxiety and panic disorder so now I have started to take some therapy sessions and its working well.

Good luck!
Joe

[Katie22]

Thanks Joe,

The doc has perscribed me 37.5. twice a day, and I'm only on my third day. Got very anxious about taking them. Today I feel alittle weird, fidgetty, alot more anx. I really do hope they help me. I also have asked for CBT and to attend a local group...

[kittikat]

Hi &

Good luck with your Ven reduction, I hope you feel better soon

I have just read your post.....I'm worried I'm just on my third day of this med , PLEASE say its gonna help, have tried prozac, and mirtazapine. And could you tell me if there are many side effects to it also.

Katie, I just wanted to say I am on Ven, was on the same dose as you for 8 months and it really helped me. I have recently increased to 112.5 a day due to some stressful issues in my life and I an feeling really good most days now with just a few ups & downs.

Remember, there are horror stories with all these drugs, I too had a terrible time on other anti d's but settled really well on Ven with just minimum side effects. Hang in there...I hope it works out for you

Kitti

[Katie22]

Kitti,

Im so pleased that there are good things about this med, how long before you started seeing a difference.. I'm sorry it sounds like I want an instant cure (like everyone) lol but Im feeling pretty low at the moment, as the other medicines never helped but had the side effects.

---------- Post added at 12:19 ---------- Previous post was at 12:12 ----------

Kitti,

Thanks for your reply, can you tell me how long it took for them to start working( I know everyone wants an instant cure) lol, only having tried the other two meds and had the side effects, am feeling pretty down at the moment,

[kittikat]

Kitti,

Im so pleased that there are good things about this med, how long before you started seeing a difference.. I'm sorry it sounds like I want an instant cure (like everyone) lol but Im feeling pretty low at the moment, as the other medicines never helped but had the side effects.

---------- Post added at 12:19 ---------- Previous post was at 12:12 ----------

Kitti,

Thanks for your reply, can you tell me how long it took for them to start working( I know everyone wants an instant cure) lol, only having tried the other two meds and had the side effects, am feeling pretty down at the moment,

Katie, I will be honest and say it must have taken about 5-6 weeks before I really noticed that I was feeling better. The side effects were not bad, just really dry mouth, broken sleep, loss of appetite, a little 'brain fog' and a bit up & down with my mood and anxiety...certainly all very manageable. Hang in there hun, and I will say don't be in a rush to increase as I really feel it takes a good 6 weeks for things to start to settle. I promise you that for me it was the easiest start up drug I had tried and I have only had one very minor panic attack since being on this medication (9 months now). I wish you the best of luck with it. Feel free to PM me anytime if you need to talk or are worried about anything xx

[Pipkin]

Katie,

I second Kitti on this. This is my third time on Ven in 10 years and it works great for me. The first couple of weeks usually bring a few side effects (mine were fuzzy head, a bit nauseous and anxious) but it soon passes. The only side effects I really get now are jaw-clenching (I know, weird isn't it?) and some vivid dreams. It takes a few weeks to kick in but stick with it. Honestly, for me it's been a life-saver.

Kitti's right about the horror stories you read. Every drug has problems and people only tend to write about the negative. Regarding withdrawal, well I've done it twice and survived. I didn't even take a day off work through it, though it was tough at times. The most important thing is to focus on getting better. Anxiety at its worst is 100 times worse than any effects you'll get from ven.

Take care

Pip xxx

[Katie22]

Kittikat and Pipkin.

Thanks so much for your replies, really appreciated.. Think Im just being negative at the moment, having been on meds that dont work for me. And thank you, Kitt I may just PM if thats ok, for some support.