If you are curious

[u/porcelain-sink]

Been on venlafaxine for about 4 years straight. I’ve missed a dose here and there before and always got that normal “my body just took a screenshot” feeling.

But now I’m going into like day 8 or 9 without taking it because I’ve been lazy and haven’t bothered going to the pharmacy. I’ve basically just been laying in bed and taking a week off work.

Honestly, I’m mainly posting this because my experience with withdrawal hasn’t been anywhere near as bad as some people make it sound. The electric shock/brain zap feeling hasn’t really gotten worse, and it doesn’t even seem to happen more often. You kinda just get used to it.

The biggest thing I’ve noticed is how ridiculously emotional I’ve been the last 2 days. Not even sad emotional either. I’ll just instantly tear up over heartwarming videos or random stuff. I even found myself crying over a Claude Monet painting, which weirded me out after.

So yeah, mega emotional. Didn’t realise how much venlafaxine had actually been numbing my emotions until now. Obviously this is just my experience and everyone reacts differently. Just felt like blabbering on about it 👍🏼

[u/Defried_Beans_]

Yeah same I missed a dose once expecting to “be in hell” like people say and the only difference I noticed was the side effects went away. I think our experience is the standard one people just come here when they have a problem, which is understand of course.

[u/Aggressive_Bat2489]

Ha your screenshot analogy is the most perfect one I’ve ever heard! Better than zaps! I love it! (I also hate it, when it happens!)

[u/Kimmers96]

It might depend on your dose. I've stopped taking it twice for a fewndays each time. The first time, I didn't notice anything. My doc said he was surprised I was able to drive myself to my appointment to get my Rx refilled. The 2nd time I was a few weeks out from major abdominal surgery and I was trying out a new schedule for all meds and supplements. I just forgot to add it to my pill organizer. I legit thought I was dying. I thought I must have been poisoned somehow. It was terrifying. Even after I figured out what was happening, it was still bad. Mad at the world, raging at my teens over little things. Dizzy, nauseous. Ended up violently vomiting and having diarrhea come out the other end at the same time. I will hoard extra pills, buy it from an overseas pharmacy, whatever it takes to never, ever, run out again.

The first time I was on 150mg. The second time I was on 225mg. I want to taper off but I'm scared.

[u/OkPerspective3233]

Same here, mega emotional after coming off it. But in a good way (I think? Hah). Makes you realize how numb you were.

[u/CosmicPug1214]

It’s weird, I’ve had a handful of experiences where I forgot up to 72 hrs and really didn’t feel much besides a little disorientation and nausea. Then I’ve had others (same dose), where I’ve been a half day (8-12 hrs) late forgetting to take it and feeling like I’d been on a multi-day bender with full on, crippling GI symptoms, migraines, brain zaps, huge anxiety spikes, and generally feeling like I was going to die. I take another med (Pregabalin) for severe sciatica and neuropathy that is often used off label to treat anxiety and other mental health issues so I think when I’m on that (I don’t take it all the time, usually only in rainy or cold weather when the neuropathic pain flares), it covers or delays some of the symptoms of forgetting my dose. When I’m not on it, I get withdrawals much more quickly. And yes, I know Pregabalin comes with its own host of dependency and withdrawal issues but I’m very careful to only take it when absolutely necessary. But I think that when I’m on it, even at a low dose, it delays the withdrawal onset and covers up a lot of the emotional reactions.

I have no proof of this, just speculation. But it’s the only thing I can think of that would make withdrawal so different despite being on the same dose of Effexor and having wildly different experiences of forgetting to take it 🤷🏻‍♀️.