# Coping with Effexor Withdrawal



## Madam (Oct 11, 2010)

Howdy lovely peeps....

I am currently going cold turkey from Effexor and am on day 6....needless to say SSRI withdrawal is hell on earth and I will spare you the gory details  Unless you really want to know the hell I have been going through....nothing wrong with a little bit of sadism LOL

I have a history of Social Anxiety (didn't leave the house for a whole year - huraaaaah for the internet) and depression. I have been on Effexor for 5 years and while yes it dulls the 'down' emotions it also dulls the 'up' emotions...I cannot remember the last time I was really moved by something deeply or laughed - and by that I mean reallllllly laughed 'picture hysterical laughing whilst nearly peeing your pants' - I miss the empathetic old me which is my reason for stopping Effexor.

My withdrawal self medication has been:
Stopping with Caffeine (bye bye 5 cups of coffee and 3 liters of cola a day) and hello 4 liters of water a day
Only eating Fruit and vegetables
Taking 3 x St John Wort a day
3 x Omega 3-6-9 a day
1 x Vitamin D3 a day
and 1 xmultivitamin with minerals a day.

Things were going ok-ish until I read that some folks used Tramadol to help with withdrawal and you'll never guess....I have a medicine cupboard full of the stuff from a severe back hernia I had last year so took these also... wow it felt great!!!!!!!! Last night I skipped taking the Tramadol and this morning I feel like I have been hit by a truck all over again and been reversed over by the truck several times....clever me thought to investigate Tramadol after having taken it 'shrugs at her idiotic self' further only to realize it is a distant cousin of Effexor and has the same SSRI withdrawal effects when you stop using it - whoopppeeeeeeee 

No wonder I felt great I might of well just swallowed Effexor again - tsk tsk

So on my path of self medicating because believe it or not my doctor doesn't seem to have a clue or even know of SSRI withdrawal nevermind what 'brain zaps are' I am hunting for something to ease my withdrawal so I can make it....

I read on here that Rhodiola, Magensium & Vit B can help...

So my question is...

Can I mix Rhodiola with St John's Wort?
Can I safely swallow omega, magnesium, omega fishoil, Vit B and Vit D as well a a multivitamin everyday?

Really need a Herbal God Doctor who knows all these things as normal Doctors don't seem to have a clue.

My own doctor is offering me Oxazepam for withdrawal but I am not too keen as these are also addictive... I just see a chain of withdrawal from one drug to the next....

Sorry if this is a long post and a bit on the rambling side..the withdrawal is turning me into a incoherent monster at times :sus

Can anyone help or give advise or share what helped them?


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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

when i went through effexor withdrawal, i just smoked a lot of weed and it helped tremendously...totally got rid of the nausea and eased everything else.


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## Madam (Oct 11, 2010)

Thx for your reply!

Weed is absolutely no problem to get seeing I live in Amsterdam but I never liked the stuff...I get a bit emotionally unstable when smoking it (twice in my life) - hysterical laughing to hysterical crying in a snap of your fingers maybe what I smoked was too strong but if you thought medicine was confusing try walking into a weed shop here where they offer over 200 different weeds...ideally I want to curb it the natural herbal way which of course could include weed 'grins' but it's not really the route I want to take...mainly also because I have a beautiful little 6 year old running around the house and a stoner mum might be a bit much  Poor little thing is already suffering enough from monster withdrawal mum at the moment....

Can I ask if you were successful with your withdrawal from Effexor...how long it has been and also how long it took?? How long do you have the withdrawal for??


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

Quitting a drug like Effexor cold turkey isn't a very good idea. I found it hard to even slowly taper myself off of it. How many mg's a day were you taking?


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## Madam (Oct 11, 2010)

I have tried the tapering method 3 times already...it just doesn't work for me....hence the cold turkey as I feel it is the only way I can manage.

I have been on 75mg for 5 years now... this is day 6 of withdrawal.

Brain Zaps
Vomiting
Dizzy
Night sweats and terrors
Fever
the usual....

I have to admit with tapering I felt worse but would also NOT recommend cold turkey to anyone - I know it is dangerous and not for everyone.


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## ninka (Sep 28, 2009)

hey madam, how's your tapering going?

i am currently trying to wean myself off of 150mg a day. i've tried cold turkey, but the withdrawal symptoms almost killed me, so now i take 50mg every other day and i feel...well...manageable, uh.

my question: can i take st. john's wort *while* i still take low doses of effexor? or is it dangerous?


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## Madam (Oct 11, 2010)

Hi Ninka,

I feel your pain - truly!!!!! 

I have been completely off Effexor now for 5 weeks - I still cannot believe I made it myself yet! 

I am eating normal again i.e. junk & crap LOL but have continued with the vitamins & herbal remedies... I have now also reduced the St John's Wort to 2 a day.

I still have moments where my head is fuzzy and withdrawal kicks in lightly and St John's wort helps me.

It is a natural SSRI booster and as you have gone down in miligrams I would think it would be ok but I would check with a doctor...the thought SSRI Shock Syndrome scares the heck out of me!

I'll be thinking of you & good luck!!!!


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## jaipurIndia (May 16, 2011)

I'm using a venlafaxine capsule,it contains little granules.I'm decreasing 2 venlafaxine granules daily.I've reduced so much without withdrawal.Today I've taken only 12granules without withdrawal.this technique had been told to me by my doctor.
My doctor prescribed me that for my sad mood and anhedonia but this ****ing med,made my sadness worse.later it turned into apathy,anhedonia and sexual side effects after 3 month of treatment.i went to dr. & i said i just want to quit my med,tell me the method to how to quit without withdrawal and he did so.now I'm feeling fine and happy except for sometime.i think I've gained my normal life back.if I got depression, i will just use psychotherapy instead of this ****ing antidepressants which causes me problems and dependence.I think this medicine caused my neurotransmitter's receptor down in first place so it made my sadness worse.beware who take antidepressants.there's r lots of ppl who cant get rid from antidepressants bcoz of severe withdrawal.dependence makes ur life like hell,it also gives u financial crisis sometimes.


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## Madam (Oct 11, 2010)

Just a quick update on this thread as there has been a new reply.

It worked... I am finally off of Effexor! I stopped at my first post in this thread and went to hell and back but have come out great!

The first month was tough - especially the brain zaps, sweating, night terrors and dizziness

I got out of bed at week 6 of withdrawal one morning and just collapsed and couldn't walk - I was sure I had done myself some long term brain damage of some sort from coming off cold turkey. Turned out I had middle ear infection and my balance was way off LOL 

The withdrawal did seem never ending and I was truly paranoid I could not function without Effexor or had done myself long term damage...but it has all gone .. 

No more panicking if I miss a dose... I am able to laugh and cry at things again and feel all round more human and connected again rather than a zombie.

Anyone coming off I wish you all the best and remember cold turkey is really not for everyone...I reckon it would be impossible if you have a daily job and things to take care of daily. I took time off and my family took care of everything else for me.

Don't worry about the side effects too much...they will pass... and believe me if I can come off of them anyone can xxxxxxxxx


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## d829 (Jul 29, 2010)

good for you madam - I never took that drug, only ativan and I am tapering and it's not easy.

good luck !


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

Wow impressive :boogie
Are you able to cope without any ADs or Psychiatric medication other than herbal remedies and such? if you are then thats great 
Sometimes people are prescribed SSRI/SNRI meds and they would have been better off without them to begin with but because tolerance, withdrawal and rebound depression are all common, you sort of have a bumpy road ahead when you decide to stop

Me personally, i withdrew from them over one month and was completely EFFEXOR XR free for just under four weeks and i could not handle the nausea, depression, OCD and constant eating, so basically everything effexor stopped, started up again once i stopped so for me they are my favorite Antidepressant medication

Tiredness, headaches, insomnia and lack of appetite are always going to be around but i would take those side effects any day over a mental breakdown :afr


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## Madam (Oct 11, 2010)

My exerience with Effexor and the withdrawal when coming off has completely put me off any and all drugs for life I think..

I have gained a lot of weight since stopping and my social anxiety is a bit more but not so much that it is affecting me greatly .. the pros for me outway it.

I am still on the herbal route adding St John Wort as well which seems to help me a lot. Unfortunately after years of no sex drive anymore it has still not kicked back in again since stopping...

I say though that if it really does help you then why stop...it can be a good drug from some people.


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## RUFB2327 (Sep 28, 2008)

I took effexor for a little while about 4 years ago, also stopped cold turkey. Felt like sh*t for a week straight. Besides the constant headaches, feelings of nausea and body aches, the part that actually bothered me the most was waking up in the middle of the night soaked from sweating. You just feel nasty laying there in your bed while you can't stop sweating even if you have no covers on.


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## Madam (Oct 11, 2010)

Yip the sweats were pretty bad for me also...whole body soaking wet even when cold...night terrors (really vivid nightmares) were also bad...

Good thing is that I sweat a lot less all round now being off it...


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## blendergasket (May 17, 2011)

My experience with Effexor was not good and I got off of it by tapering it. It was many years ago so I don't remember what my initial dose was but I had extended release gel caps. I decided to get off of it during finals in college. BAD IDEA. So I waited to the break and began to ween myself off of it. 

I realized during the finals attempt that just going cold turkey was a bad Idea (body jolts and hallucinations of giant black crows staring down at me) so I decided to ween myself from it slowly. 

I began with however many pills I was taking minus 1/3 of a pill. Then maybe 3 days later I removed another 1/3 and 3 days later still the last 1/3. I continued this til I was free of it. It worked thankfully. 

The company that makes effexor has great SEO skills. I tried to google them and find out what bad effects were related to it right when I got on the prescription but found nothing too serious. It was only after I was trying to quit and seeing the giant crows that I, in a moment of desperation googled Effexor and evil together and got a clearer idea of what was up with this drug. From what I read there are people who partook the clinical trial of it and still have not been able to ween themselves of it yet it was still somehow approved. WTF is that!?!

Anyways, good luck. I'm brand new here and have a lot of social anxiety that's been effecting me a lot recently. I came to this forum while doing research on antianxiety meds. I am beginning to work on a website devoted to antidepressant/antianxiety med horror stories such as what I just described and what has effected good friends of mine. If any of you folks have any stories you want to share please let me know.


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## Bacon (Jul 4, 2010)

Effexor Cold turkey is a nasty withdrawl! good luck on it.


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

See for me the weight gain and increased SA would be enough to have me back on effexor, well it was getting that way on the nortriptyline (noticeable weight gain, avoidance and irritability creeping back) so for me it was the only option as i am not in a country or town where i can freely trial a range of new or possibly better ADs, i mean getting wellbutrin is proving extremely difficult and i have been off benzos for a good few months now but i would not mind something as the looming depression and exhaustion is always there but no pill will get rid of every single issue so effexor is a pro that outweighs the cons
like madam said its good and useful for some people but not all


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