Effexor withdrawl and symptoms, please help _{Page 107 of 140}

I drink grapefruit juice or make a tea of the fruit w/ honey allspice berries and cinnamon sticks - almost EVERY day.

What causes the toxicity?

Your dream will be hard to recreate in an image but I see where you are going with it. Im just not sure I want to reveal my current state of mind to my photo group. It will be dark- nonetheless.

I can't can't can't wait to be back to myself again. Re: sex drive......... slowly i feel an interest again, i didn't feel interested for a very long time.

PERSEVERENCE

CYP3A4 Inhibitors
In vitro studies indicate that venlafaxine is likely metabolised to a minor, less active metabolite, N-desmethylvenlafaxine, by CYP3A4. Because CYP3A4 is a minor pathway relative to CYP2D6 in the metabolism of venlafaxine, the potential for a clinically significant drug interaction between inhibitors of CYP3A4-mediated metabolism (such as erythromycin, fluconazole and grapefruit juice) and venlafaxine is small. However, concomitant intake of CYP3A4 inhibitors during treatment with venlafaxine is not recommended.

Hi! Ems, Twis and EFP. I still have a very little dizziness from time to time, but almost not noticeable any more. I do find at night that I get hot flashes during the night, but attribute that to the menopausal thing. I am taking black cohosh, evening primrose oil and Estroven, but understand it can take several days for it to actually help. I'm going to talk to my doctor about some sort of estrogen replacement other than Premarin. I never had the aches and pains that you all are describing other than the little bit of arthritis that I believe I have. I just simply made up my mind that when all of this started, that I wasn't going to let it beat me or get me down because I did not want to take it any more, period!!! I really think that though there are physical symptoms that we all are or have gone through, your attitude has a lot to do with it. We are all at different stages of getting off the evil 'E' and we all have our ways of dealing with it, but try every way that you can to do the mind over matter thing and think of the big picture when all is said and done. There is a whole lot of life to be lived once this over! Hang in there!
Pam

I am new to this forum, but not new to 'E.' I have been on Effexor for a year now--Prozac before that. While it helped at first, I find I am turning into a Zombie. I cannot wake up in the a.m. and when I do, I feel like I need to ask 'did anyone get the license plate of the bus that hit me?' My head feels 'full' all of the time. I have accidentally missed a day of meds and immediately get the 'brain zaps' or as I call them 'zingers.' Just like another posting stated, I get the 'moody bitch' syndrome too. I can handle nasuea, headaches, zingers, and the like, but the uncontrollabel anger and bitch syndrome scares me the most. What if that never goes away? What if I drive away everyone I love with that? Is going off the meds worth that? Or should I just poison my body so I can 'drug myself into someone tollerable?'

I am going to begin talking to my Life Coach and physician about going off of this drug. I am tired of being tired on it and want to feel again. But I am truly scared. I found the man of my dreams and we are engaged. He loves me for who I am and knows all about my meds. He says, 'whatever it has taken to get you here, I love you.' He is wonderful. Can I put him through the withdrawal and subsequent failure of such?

Help me here. Those of you crossing the plane to the other side. I need your advice and help.

Dear FreeFromE,

I have also seen a lot of rage on other boards from going off effexor. My husband is out of town and I have been doing this alone. We talk on the phone for hours a day, and have not had one argument during this time until yesterday. That was the only time I felt angry. Everyone is different, but for me, he was my strength and was kind and supportive because I didn't come at him angrily. Yesterday we argued because I was a bitch to him. We made up and I explained to him what I was feeling. He had me read to him from other people going through the angry feelings, and understood it was about a normal withdrawl symptom. His goal is to get me off the effexor, no matter what, and he is very supportive. But, he is a kind and loving sort of a person. If this man is the man of your dreams, and loves you no matter what, you need to be able to count on him for such a thing. Life is full of such things and who would want to be married to anyone who can't stick it out in the hard times. My suggestion is that he reads boards such as this and others so he knows what you are in for and doesn't think every little thing is just you acting badly. I think I didn't have much anger going through it because there was not anyone around to irritate me or to expect me to do anything for them.

I wouldn't even consider failure as an option. After day 7, you can't go back on Effexor right away anyhow; it cause s even more problems if you do.

I think the trick is to be alone as much as you can if you don't want to get bitchy and to be of a mind that you are doing this because you want to. That is only my opinion though. Others will have ideas that may work better for you.

13 days effexor free, no withdrawal symptoms all day long, even after going out to a stressful meeting. I just feel like I haven't slept enough. like a tired feeling. I kept expecting that maybe symptoms would start up again, but they did not. Not even any hot/cold flashes. I even turned the heat back on -- I had it at 60 for the hot flashes. I think a few more days of good sleep and eating well will fix everything. There is hope. Hang on!

EFP,
thats interesting that you had no symptoms on a busy work day. i was out all day for work and was initially worried about any withdrawal but i was busy all day and at the end of the day i realised i hadnt experienced ANY withdrawal - no dizziness, zaps or nausea! maybe we just need to keep our minds busy.

my guy said a really important thing at the weekend - that i now need to get effexor out of my mind - mentally. i.e stop thinking and talking and focusing on it so much. i think hes right too. he said, i need to move on and put the horrid experience behind me. its out of my body but im still thinking about it and letting it consume me mentally!

Today is day 12 effexor free and i feel ok at the mo. only thing is my jaw on right side is really hurting when i chew - wierd but maybe not withdrawal - not sure.

ems xx

ejb199jsd,

Thats a big deal for my wife. It's been about a year since she went down to zero. When a commercial comes on for the E we turn the channel. She doesn't want to know what goes on here in this forum. Forget it all together. (Unfortunatly, that means we won't be hearing from you much anymore!)

It's true you can think your way back into anxiety or depression. It's also true that you can think your way up to a positive, excited outlook on the future.

Focus on all of the things in your life that are unknown and take charge of them. For me, that was finances. Now that we have a set budget and we know exactly how much we will have in savings next year because of our discipline, a whole sector of 'unconscience anxiety' has been removed. Focus on turning all of those 'unknowns' into 'knowns'. That worked great for us, anyway. It's a lifelong process, because you will never have it all mapped out exactly (and it would be boring if you did), but some things just feel better to have under control. And working on it gives you a goal and an accomplishment that actually means something to your life and future. It keeps you pretty darm busy, too!

mikemo -we are fortunate in the UK not to have the big pharmas advertising their drugs on TV! That would really make me angry. when i really think about what ive been through and everyone else it makes me really really angry and i feel like i owe it to other people to bring wyeth to justice! they owe an awful lot of people an explanation. right im gonna stop before i start working myself up lol!

yes ultimately it means i need to leave the forum behind too - i dont intend to right now as its been helping to read the other posts on even more effexor free days and support each other with our journeys to freedom! but when im ready then yes, i need to cut forums/articles/petitions all out and just get on with life!

my finances are def an area that needs overhauling - although with the wedding, i think its going to be a while before we have savings for anything else. i guess the wedding is keeping me busy at the mo! ill have to post a pic of my happy effexor free self after the wedding in july!

ems x

Hi! Ems and EFP. So glad to hear that you both are doing so well! A huge round of applause to you both. I'm feeling great and I like what Mikemo said about not even thinking about 'E' anymore. You/we have all made the journey and are now off to bigger and better things to focus on. I think I will peek in from time to time and see if there is someone else out there that needs some support from time to time. I think it's important to give support to the 'newbies' and let them know there is another life that is much better for them if only they will go after it! Way to go ladies!
Pam

ejb, Ditto on your second paragraph. Yesterday was the first time I had an entire day free of withdrawal symptoms. I will feel ok disconnecting the life-line shortly, but I would feel it an injustice to bore everyone to tears with my suffering then just disappear into the void without some solid documentation as to the lovely resolution. I would feel that I was being disrespectful to just eat and run, so to speak. People here have been my comrades in distress and I care about their resolutions as well. I figure another day or so should do it. In the meantime, no one has to read anything I post if you prefer not to. I do it to take care of myself like I could not do when I was depressed. Positive human connections, however small, help to heal the brain. That being said, I am truly grateful for all the support and kindness I have been given here. It has been a place of hope and acceptance in a very difficult time.

ALL:

Day 7. I went back to Bikram yoga today. First time since 2-29.

think any positive steps we take toward our future happiness can only be good - and make us feel good - NATURALLY.

I still have some aches and pains and dizziness, but Im not going to complain. I know soon I will be free from this and look forward to a beautiful summer.

Thank you all for your support... but don't leave me just yet.

Hi All

Haven’t posted in a while but just want to share my progress. Today is day 4 of being Effexor free. It's taken a long time to get to this point as I tapered very slowly in fear of the withdrawals, I started Tapering in October. I had been on Effexor for 14 years and am very happy to finally be free. I have very mild panic at the same time each day I used to take my capsule but I'm guessing that's only normal after 14 years of taking it religiously.
My withdrawals aren’t as bad as I expected but I do have brain zaps most of the day worse late arvo/evening, feel disoriented, hot flashes which I've had the whole way through, stomach upsets, mild headaches, pain in joints but not severe at this point and bad dreams which have never subsided over the tapering. I'm a grumpy nasty person to be around at present and feel a little depressed, can cry at the stupidest of things but I'm sure this will go away in time. I'm really happy to be off E.

This is a great forum and it’s got me through allot of really bad times and I no it has with others as well. It is a lifeline and Mikemo is a blessing but it’s everyone being there for each other that is truly inspirational. I read each and every post but haven’t had allot of drive to do anything let alone posting.

Twisi you are just in front of me being E free and I’m so glad you have made it. We posted each other quite awhile back and it’s really interesting reading posts from back then to see how far we have come and all others on the same journey, it’s been a really hard journey and I no it’s not totally over yet but the light at the end of the tunnel is right there.

Best of luck everyone.
MandyC

Pam, EFP, twisi, mandy - all! i def dont intend to leave just yet and EFP, i totally agree with your post. id feel like id just used you all and then shot off if i left now! and yes, i want to be able to hopefully help others who will end up on the same journey as us guys. i want to give people the hope and knowledge that they CAN get off Effexor - and yes it isnt easy but its damn worth it!

im so so proud of us all for doing so well - we are all off this horrid drug and have all supported each other with our dizzy spells, nausea and aches and pains.

Twisi - hang on in there. i was still feeling it at 7 days. im 13 days today and feeling soooo much better than when i was at 7.

Mandy, the light is so there for you - at four days in i was feeling the withdrawal but im 13 now and doing so much better. i was on the E for 7 years and started tapering in Dec last year. i also had stomach upsets (diarrhea) and the disorientated feelings - and also the crying at everything! im doing much better now tho.

right, back to work, hope everyone has a good weekend. will prob pop in later or tomorrow.

Ems x

Hello All,
Today it is 2 week since I took my last effexor (I refuse to capitalize it; it may indicate respect.)

I feel normal again for the second day in a row. I slept great last night for 14 hours. Still occassional bad dreams, but now they are funny. (I dreamed some girl interrupted my date and got my boyfriend. I asked her what was so good about her that he would leave me. She pulled down her black tank top, and there were 8 breasts in a row across her chest, covered in tatoos. They were like the size of a silver dollar,and she was bragging, I have 8 breasts.) It's funny now.

I talked to my doctor yesterday, and he said it would be ok if I got off the effexor. LOL. I didn't want him to stop me. I am glad, because I didn't want to get in trouble with my probation officer, I am on probation with a DUI I got when I first was put on effexor. You can't drink on that stuff...it's dangerous. I woke up in jail with no memory of how I got there. That was 2 years ago, my probation ends next month. So glad to kick effexor out the door and turn over the welcome mat....

I was just looking back at my old posts and it's so sad how the symptoms would subside for a few hours and I would think they were gone.

Just want to remind anyone in early days, it was normal for me that the symptoms would go in waves. After day 5, they would partially leave for a time, then cycle back around. That went on until day 12 after which they culminated in one rash of anger, then vanished completely. Don't be concerned if something leaves then comes back. It was part of the process I went thru but it ended fine. Days 4 and 5 were the toughest, but the last days got more frustrating because it felt like, OK Time for this to END. Then it did. Hang on!

Hi all --

Slept 15 hrs and feel like a poop. EFP you are right - there's no pattern, rhyme or reason to this - we just ride with it.

I had some wierd dreams as well... strange and scary, but I don't remember. Eight breasts huh? Sounds like a dachsund.

About the alchohol and effexor. I had some of the strangest episodes and many time could not remember after only a few glasses of beer or wine. This is what prempted the withdrawal. My husband could not figure out what was happening to me and got online. This is when we realized it was e.

Twice I fell, once backwards down the front hallway stairs (thank goodness i didnt break my neck, another time I fell on our sisal rug in the living room and wound up in ER with eight stitches in my lower lip. (nice scar).

I spoke with my Dr. about these episodes and asked her if my meds had any interaction and she said no.
She said that as we get older our tolerance for alchohol decreases and I may want to consider not drinking at all. She wanted to give me ambien to sleep. I refused.

I think I was overmedicated to begin with (300 mg for HOT FLASHES)... and that was part of the problem.

Ill bet she's collecting a nice stipend for pushing the stuff.

MandyC -- glad to hear from you. You disappeared for a few months - no? Good for you and jump on in the boat with the rest of us and lets ride it out together. We're here for you dear.

Lets have t-shirts made:

'Hey Wyeth: Anti-Depress This!'

Twisi, you are making me laugh. Ever since about 5 days off e I am laughing again for the first time in 2 years on it. My body is so not used to laughing that every time I do, the muscles around my ribcage ache. It's wonderful. When I was on e, I used to just think to myself, 'That's funny.' Now I laugh, right out loud!

About the alcohol and effexor, here is what drugs.com has to say,
Avoid drinking alcohol, which can increase some of the side effects of Effexor. Using too much of this medicine in addition to drinking alcohol can cause death.

I have read some other posting boards about alcohol and effexor, and people report blacking out sooner, excessive desire to drink, and like me, waking up in jail or a hospital not knowing how they got there.I quit drinking after that, thank God, but you know my doctor never told me not to drink on it. Of course, he also told me that when I would get off it I would only experience, 'Mild flu-like symptoms'

Oh AMbien, LOL that's a good one, good thing you didn't take it. That's the drug that makes people get out of bed while sleepwalking and eat, cook, and drive their cars! I love their commercial, it says, 'As advertised in (some) food magazine.'

Back on track to the withdrawal resolution, today was the 2nd day feeling very well. Went to console a girlfriend whose husband died, fixed a flat, cooked, and am going out to a meeting this evening. I feel a little tired, but no symptoms and my mood is solid great. Day 14 no effexor.

I'm glad to have found this site! Want to share that I've cut back from 112.5mgs of effexor, prescribed by my gynocologist for hot flash relief. It seemed to give me the worst flashes I'd experienced since entering perimenopause! I went off on the MD after he insisted that withdrawals only occurred if effexor was prescribed for psychiatric symptoms. Mind you, I am a Social Work therapist with some 28 years in the field. I convinced the MD he was dead wrong!!! Anyway, I've been weaning myself off since late December, and am down to one 25mg pill. Experienced mild zaps, uncordination, memory problems, ringing in the ears, irritability, and that was taking myself down in 10% decreases about every 10 days, counting the beads and all. Finally got down to a 25mg capsule. I was gonna score it down to 12.5 beginning tomorrow, after having been on this dose for 12 days, and suddenly the withdrawals started up again! Is this common??? I was doing so well! All the other side effects, with the exception of weight gain of 20 lbs, seem to have subsided. And that includes the horrific SWEATS that I thought were normal menopausal things! Now, I think I need to go slower coming off and it's a DRAG!!!!!

Also, what's the deal with not eating bananas?????? I knew about the grapefruit juice not mixing with this drug, but bananas??????

Would also like to recommend a book by Joseph Glenmullen: The Antidepressant Solution. Nice guide to coming off.

HEY !
EFP... my husband I were reading your post and remembered.... i actually did try ambien to sleep for awhile, and we remembered because I was eating while sleeping and my husband remembered -- funny now but scary then. Ill tell you some funny stories tomorrow..... i promise it will make you laugh.

Hi Accordionlady, welcome. I guess I got that from the following quote on

Items to remove from your diet for EFFEXOR. Bananas, Turkey, Barley, Chamomile and many other everyday items can interact with EFFEXOR and make the withdrawal process more difficult. http://www.labelmesane.com/effexor_withdrawal.html

There are over a hundred pages of posts on this exact forum, I hope you find some good help and support from reading and posting. It helped me. If you go back a few pages and look for posts by mikemo you will find tapering suggestions to avoid what you mentioned.

I got down to 80% of a 37.5 mg capsule and went cold turkey. I am glad I did, personally, but I didn't have to go to work or take care of anyone. I don't think my withdrawals were any worse than other people's, in fact I don't know why, but I never got nausea and vomiting. I was lucky. 12 days, no symptoms. Other people here posted that they did a much longer taper. I just made a decision that I wanted to get it over with and went for it. I am not recommending that, I just am sayiing that's how I did it. The medical advice is to taper to 37.5 and quit, so I figured it wouldn't kill me. There were times I was thinking maybe it could, because of rapid heart rate mainly. I don't know if tapering more gets rid of that or not. Mikemo has a suggested taper that includes spiking back up to deal with what you are talking about. I know he's talked about it in posts in the last 2 weeks.

Twisi, my sides are hurting alot now from laughing so much in the last 2 days. I love that you have a funny story to share. I can finally laugh again!! YAY.

Oh yeah Accordianlady, when I said 12 days no symptoms, I didn't mean in 12 days I had no symptoms LOL I meant on the 12th day of no effexor my symptoms went away for good.

UH-OH! LOLOLOLOLOL! I made a huge pot of vegetable barley soup last week and that's all I was eatin'. Then, I had this yen fer bananas and went out and bought a bunch. I eat turkey just about DAILY! Just checked out the website you recommended. Thanks so much!

Hey, I've just switched to 25mgs of regular effexor. They're tablets that are scored. Have noticed a return of withdrawals (mild, but there) since I switched from the capsules I was opening up and dividing. Any recommendations as to tapering off the tablets? Please forgive me if I've asked this before. The memory is affected.....

Marilyn (AKA:Accordionlady)

ok
we have a liebher refrigerator which beeps if it is open too long, my husband was sleeping and woke up when he heard it only to find me alseep in front of the fridge, when he said my name, i froze and looked at him -- cheese stuck to my nose -- fridge beeping -- eyes blank......... an image that provokes hilarious laughter whenever we bring it up to each other.

Marilyn, those tablets are not time release like the XR. That's probably why you noticed a change. Check back in the post logs for tapering info by Mikemo. I just quit when I got down to 80% of 37.5 and spent 12 days withdrawing.

Twisi, OMG I am still laughing!!! That's hilARious. People that live alone can go on and on doing it and not even knowing. Some people figured it out when they started gaining lots of weight and found unusual things around the kitchen every morning. I laugh when I see their tv ad, because at the bottom it says, SEE OUR AD IN COOKING LIGHT MAGAZINE. ( I looked it up and cooking light is USA's top food magazine!)

Marilyn, those tablets are not time release like the XR. That's probably why you noticed a change.