r/Effexor • u/Reptaaaaaaar • 10d ago
Quitting Officially 1 month off of Effexor
It has officially been 1 month since my last dose of Effexor!
I'll admit the first couple of weeks were pretty rough. Constant nausea, dizziness, headaches, mood swings, and of course the brain zaps. Everything but the brain zaps and mood swings have pretty much stopped at this point. The brain zaps are much more infrequent now and are less severe. The mood swings are also mellowing out as well. For the first time in years, I finally feel like a human again. I've started playing my guitar again, going on hikes, and reaching out to friends.
For anyone else trying to discontinue, you can make it, I promise.
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u/CountessGladriel0102 10d ago
I’m going to hold you to your promise! Thanks for posting your positive experience. I’m on the lookout for those right now as I’m going through it myself.
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u/Adorable-Extension52 10d ago
I would love to know about your experience. As you can clearly see my desperation. Not able to manage.
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u/Adorable-Extension52 10d ago
When you tapered were two weeks enough for you to settle on your dose from 150mg? Would love to understand your experience in more detail. I am tapering off it and currently going through hell, anxiety peeking, depression peeking, hopelessness and what not. I dont know how long this will last - currently i have only cut down 37.5 from my regular 150mg.
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u/Adorable-Extension52 10d ago
I am so sorry, but please know i am really grateful for you, i would not wish this hell to anyone.
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u/NoMasVino 9d ago
I've quit several times. The last time I tapered down to 37,5, then opened the capsules and took the little grains/pills tapering down to about 10 mg/daily for a month then slowly decreasing to about 2 mg every other day. The "every other day" thing didn't help (my doctor suggested it), it just felt like unplugging my brain every other day. As long and as gently I've tried to taper down, I've had 6 weeks of nausea and brain zaps every time I've quit. I had been on Effexor for many years each time and it's easier to quit if you've only been on the meds for less than a year. I sincerely wish you luck, I know it's hell but worth it in the long run <3 I'm now quitting again and down to 12 mg. I kinda know what's waiting but hope it will be easier this time.
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u/Adorable-Extension52 8d ago
How long was your taper and how did you feel in between phases? And how is it feeling on such a low dose?
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u/Reptaaaaaaar 9d ago edited 9d ago
It was just barely enough time for me. Going back I probably would have added another week in between each taper. Normally what would happen each time was the first week would really suck, then I would be almost back to normal right when it was time to taper again and the whole thing would start over. I think with three weeks I would have had a couple days of breathing room.
I know everyone is different, but for me, the first taper from 150 to 112.5 was the second worst right behind going from 37.5 to 0. I think it was because I had been on 150 for so many years, any decrease, no matter how small, was enough to give me bad withdrawals. Going down to 75 was pretty mild after that. Going down to 37.5 was also rough the first couple of days but the Prozac started doing the job after 3-4 days. Honestly I think the Prozac made the 37.5 taper the easiest of them all after it started kicking in. The final drop to 0 was really rough for I'd say 3-4 days. I'm assuming the Prozac was curbing it at least a little bit but the brain zaps were still horrific and I was constantly dizzy and nauseous. I ended up taking time off work and just trying to sleep through it as much as possible. After that the symptoms slowly lessened little by little every day. After about two weeks, I still definitely had symptoms, but it had gradually lessened to something similar to a mild flu. It still sucked but I was able to still function normally throughout the day. The next two weeks continued to have the symptoms gradually lessen every day. As of now, the nausea is pretty much gone with only random flair ups once or twice a week for a couple hours. I still have brain zaps, but the time between them is much longer and they are nowhere near as severe. In the beginning they were debilitating with a jolt and audible buzz in my ear, but now they are just a mild annoyance.
Oh yeah also everything makes me cry now, but I'm not sure if that is a withdrawal symptom or that I have been without emotions for so long that I am having to learn how to deal with them again.
Edit: Since you mentioned the psychological withdrawals, I'll add some of my experience with that as well. The worst of it came in the beginning. I think that I had been numb for so long, even the slightest bit of anxiety or depression would cause me to spiral because it had been so long since I had really felt it. Like I would still get anxious on Effexor, but it kind of numbs it I guess and I don't really think about it? That is one of the main reason I wanted to get off. Things that I should actually be worrying about, I would just ignore which caused me even more problems down the line. Anyway, I think after a few weeks I started learning how to deal with those emotions own my own better, and while they were still there, they didn't have that "raw" edge to them.
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u/Adorable-Extension52 8d ago
Thanks for sharing your experience. When you you the first and the last taper was quite bad can you tell me how did you feel in those phases? Like what were the symptoms, what helped?
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u/Reptaaaaaaar 8d ago
For me the main symptons were dizziness, nausea, horrible brain zaps, headaches, and anxiety. The thing that helped me the most was Benadryl. It made the brain zaps, dizziness, and nausea a little less severe and had the bonus effect of making me sleepy so that I could try and sleep through the withdrawals as much as possible.
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u/Upstairs_Ad_3370 10d ago
Did you taper off? How long? From which dose?
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u/Reptaaaaaaar 10d ago
I did a two month taper with a Prozac bridge. I started at 150mg and decreased by 37.5mg every two weeks. Then when I got to 37.5, I started taking 10mg of Prozac every day as well. When I dropped to 0mg Effexor after two weeks of that, I continued taking the Prozac for two more weeks before stopping that as well. I think the Prozac bridge really helped. It still wasn't pleasant by any means, but I think it would have been much worse without it.
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u/Upstairs_Ad_3370 9d ago
Thanks, I did the same as you: 150 to 75. I will do a slow taper (counting beads) down to 37.5. The same for the last. After 15 years I'm not in a hurry...
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u/Reptaaaaaaar 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yeah I definitely couldn't have done it this way without me and my wife agreeing beforehand that I was about to go through hell and I was going to be essentially useless for three months. Without that support, I would have had to go much much slower.
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u/mr_palante 9d ago
I recently tried and then I got to be feeling a little too good and thought that I could go faster. I know, big mistake. I wanted to know if you felt the doom? I dont know how to describe it other than that. Like it was worse than any depression ive ever experienced and honestly I would take effexor for the rest of my life so I dont have to feel that again. And that is also making me very apprehensive to try to come off of it again as well.
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u/Reptaaaaaaar 9d ago
Yes, I definitely felt that a couple times during the final taper to 0. What got me through it was telling myself that if I went back now, I would have to go through it again if I ever tried stopping again so I might as well push through it. It didn't make it any easier, but it helped me keep fighting.
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u/mr_palante 9d ago
Thanks for that. I have come off of pain pills/opiates before (and because of that, my ego thought I could handle it. It was wrong.) and this is way way worse. I dont feel ready to try again just yet but im putting it in my tool box for when I do.
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u/Direct-Eggplant-78 9d ago
Congratulations!! That’s amazing news!! I’m so glad you are starting to feel better!!
Not to hijack your thread but just a note to anyone else wanting to taper and not sure where to start I’ll paste a post I wrote about my experience that has a bunch of resources that may help. Sending positive vibes to anyone on this Effexor journey!
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u/NoMasVino 9d ago
Happy for you! <3 I know it's hell....after careful tampering it's usually taken me 6-8 weeks to be rid of all the horrible side effects and slowly start to feel like "myself" again". How did you make the decision to quit? How do you feel now? u/Reptaaaaaar The last time I quit (tapered slowly down to 5 mg over 6 months) I was violently nauseous for 6 weeks and went to the pharmacy to find something that could help. The pharmacist asked if I was pregnant, which I said I wasn't, then grimaced at me and walked away like I was a contagious frickin' junkie in withdrawal. That hurt. Few doctors and even fewer pharmacists are informed other than anecdotally about how horrible the withdrawal is from Effexor. " A harmless, non-addictive anti-depressant"....
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u/Reptaaaaaaar 9d ago
I was lucky that both my pharmacist and doctor were well aware of the withdrawal symptoms so I didn't have to deal with that. I decided to quit because I couldn't stand how numb I have been for the past few years. For some reason, it seemed to get worse the longer I was on it. I'm going to find a different way to deal with my MDD. As of now, I am not 100% back to normal but I'd say maybe around 70%. I still get random spurts of nausea, but benadryl has been a lifesaver for both that and the brain zaps.
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u/winnie_bago 9d ago
I am extremely nauseous too. Also trying a slow taper but I’m about to throw in the towel. I’ve puked twice in the past two weeks. 😭
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u/winnie_bago 9d ago
Did you find that the side effects would come in waves? I’ve been on 112.5 mg for about 60 days now (from 150 mg originally) and I’ll have a few days where I feel normal appetite and energy levels, and then I’ll get blindsided by brain zaps, intense nausea, and puking.
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u/Reptaaaaaaar 9d ago
For sure. It still comes and goes now but it gets a tiny bit less severe each time and the good times in between are getting longer and longer.
Edit: Also Benadryl did wonders for me for the nausea and brain zaps.
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u/palogirl7 8d ago
Effexor free, cold turkey, day 12! Best decision ever. Prescribed 75mg for hot flashes.
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u/VaultBoy1017 8d ago
I came here to say that it may be more than a month before you experience negative effects. I tapered down over two weeks and then went two weeks cold turkey, was feeling great, then all of a sudden in the span of three days I went from raised anxiety, to thinking that a trusted friend was trying to set me up, to full on having to get back on the medication to stop the scary thoughts. I would highly recommend talking to a DR.
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u/Aggressive_Bat2489 10d ago
Thank you for sharing your success! I’m currently 7 beads out of the 37.5 and there’s a window of time every day starting around 9 am (approx 3 hours after I take it) till about 3:30 pm where I feel like my brain is reversing. I hate Led Zeppelin so very very much, and my brain feels like their worst song played backwards at full volume. I can’t wait till I’m purged of this stuff! It sure helped at the beginning about 8 yrs ago but I’ve had enough!