Originally posted by fairnymph:
Yes, Effexor has some of the worst withdrawal symptoms of any drug -- and I'm shocked (and horrified) that your gf's doctor didn't warn you of this.
The most common withdrawal symptoms are: dizziness, nausea, headache, depression, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, and my personal favorite, electric shocks (just wait until these start; they are really freaky!).
At least your gf's doctor put her on a taper -- one should NEVER attempt to stop taking Effexor without a taper. I would say that if you gf is particularily sensitive to the withdrawal, to just do the taper as gradually as she needs to. I'd bet that she'll probably be ok with the current 37.5 dose, but make sure that she tapers really slowly -- i.e. she should stay at the 37.5 dose for a full week before tapering down to 25 mg. Also, if she needs to take an in between dose (i.e, 30 mg for a couple days), then by all means, she should do so.
At least she was on a low dose -- so she should be able to wean off the Effexor completely within a few weeks. I was on 450 mg and it took me about 6 weeks (and lots of electric shocks etc) to taper off Effexor.
Btw, this type of question belongs in the Health Q&A forum, not in Other Drugs.
She isn't trying to get off it, just lowering her dose. She was complaining to her doctor that she has some trouble comprehending some things and she read that effexor could cause this. So he lowered her dose from 50mg/day to 37.5mg/day. Would that cause have withdrawl symptoms?
I didn't mention this, but last night we went to the bar. She is NEVER a mean drunk, but she got extrmemly mean with me last night, followed by depression.
She takes 1 25mg pill in the morning, and half at night. Should she taper to the 37.5mg by taking 1 and 3/4s pills? Also, should she take 1 in the morning and half at night? Or even it out by taking 3/4 in the morning and 3/4 at night?
Do you think she'd be able to roll on this dose?
Sorry about posting it here. You can move the post to Health Q&A. Thanks for all the help.
edit: BTW: She's taking effexor for anxiety. Not depression.
Verbal
[ 20 May 2002: Message edited by: verbal ]