Just cut my Effexor in half again

[mrgorth]

Down to 37.5mg/day. Wish me luck.

[DemExpat]

1. I remember that you mentioned you were cutting down....

and wish you all the best in this, mrgorth.

Are you and your doctor trying to get you off completely, or just to a much lower dosage?

DemEx

[mrgorth]

2. I'm trying to get off completely

Yesterday was my first day on 37.5 and was fine. Forgot to take today's until 3:30 and had a little head swimming. I hate that sensation. I really want to be off this stuff. If I can, that'll be it for the anti-d's. I'll only have restoril for sleep and I see no reason to get off that. I want my life back.

[bling bling]

3. Good luck!

I hope your experience goes better than mine did. I am SO glad that I toiled through the withdrawal process though. It took a long time before I felt better but that medication was keeping me down in so many ways. It was helpful for awhile, then it stopped being helpful and started becoming a source of major problems. Again, I'm so glad I'm off of it.

I'm not entirely opposed to trying a different anti-depressant again should I need one in the future. But I will never take that med again. I'll only take something that I'm sure won't cause withdrawal problems when I go off of it. Although, I'll have to do my own research on that and not trust what the doctors say about it. My doctor (at the time) acted like I was lying to her about my withdrawal symptoms from Effexor. She said she had never heard of anyone else having any withdrawal problems!!! (Of course she had also told me in the beginning that Effexor was weight-neutral. HA!).

[_TJ_]

4. Good luck!

Effexor is a pain to come off. I hope you go reeeeal slow!
Take 37.5 every third day for a few weeks and you should
be ok :-)

[DireStrike]

8. Can you tell me what you've experienced on Effexor?

I'm on 225 mg of Effexor XR. I know from nearly running out a few times that I can do alright down to 75mg.

I've been on this for a LOOONG time. I can't even tell what it does anymore. All I know is that if I stop taking it I feel... well, you know. Every time I talk to a doctor about getting off, they hedge and mumble and can't seem to make any statement. The closest I've gotten is that my current doc mentioned a a "standard" or "average" time to take the drug is 5 years. This was after I told him that I'd been taking it for at least 5 or 6 years... and he didn't even suggest that I might be able to go off soon.

What problems did you notice it causing? I've heard some non-medicated people describe people on antidepressants as flat and silent, which describes me to a T around people I don't know very, very well. If I could get rid of that problem, I would be able to effectively socialize, which would fantastically improve my life and make it easier for me to deal with other problems.

And... it isn't weight-neutral?! I've slooowwly been gaining weight, which I attributed more to a decline in physical activity than anything else, but....

[mrgorth]

5. Just started

37.5 every other day!!!

[mrgorth]

6. Wow.

You wouldn't think 37.5 everyday to every other would make that much of a difference.

[bling bling]

7. Effexor has a long half life, or something.

All I know is that the withdrawal symptoms I experienced were really difficult to deal with, both physically and mentally and it lasted a long time. I found some Effexor discussion boards very helpful while I was going through it. I don't remember the names, I juste googled "effexor withdrawal" or something. There were tons of people that went through the same thing I was going though. It was good to know I wasn't alone. Of course, for some people it was much worse than others. Some people didn't even seem to have any withdrawal symptoms at all. I envied those people.

Please keep us posted.

[EFerrari]

9. Best of luck to you. Some docs prescribe phenobarbital

on a very short term basis to help with withdrawals.

If your symptoms persist, I hope you make a lot of noise.

:)

:hug:

[mrgorth]

10. I'm doing well

by openning the capsules and talking small dosages of the little balls inside. I'm just going to keep going until I'm on nothing.