forgot to take my effexor xr 150 yesterday, went into full withdrawal this morning. Took my dose for today, feeling better but still sick and awful. I feel for opiet addicts as the withdrawel is said to be similar, insane bone aches. I now feel more resolute about drugs being bad generally
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Mental Health Venlafaxine/Effexor XR
- Thread starter 90sdance
- Start date
plumbus-nine
Bluelighter
Oh yeah, I was on venlafaxine for years despite it not working really anymore but I was scared of and unable to bear the withdrawal syndrome. I think it is similar, also in symptoms including sweating, diarrhea, anhedonia etc., to moderate strength opioid withdrawal. Just that it takes longer, longest time I went were I believe 5 days, after that my tolerance was down from 300mg to ~75mg, meaning that 75mg were enough to keep the withdrawal away. It indeed takes just one day or half without taking the usual dose and withdrawal sets in.
My way out was to switch to fluoxetine with its week-long half life and thus integrated taper, and use Kratom against the remaining symptoms. Now I'm finally clean off any antidepressant for 2-3 months and while the first one was still hard due to nervousness and other PAWS stuff so do I now feel like before while on these 300mg's of venlafaxine.
For how long were you taking the effexor, and against what symptoms (depression, anxiety etc)?
My way out was to switch to fluoxetine with its week-long half life and thus integrated taper, and use Kratom against the remaining symptoms. Now I'm finally clean off any antidepressant for 2-3 months and while the first one was still hard due to nervousness and other PAWS stuff so do I now feel like before while on these 300mg's of venlafaxine.
For how long were you taking the effexor, and against what symptoms (depression, anxiety etc)?
Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
Yeah, this snri is horrible to quit and it's been said it's one of the hardest snri to quit and slow tapering takes many weeks and IT IS still exhausting. Been there done that, three times.
LivingOnValium
Bluelighter
Venlafaxine is the devil himself. I was on 300mg/day on Efexor about good
twp and half years. I couldn't tolerate venlafaxine withdrawals at all, so he switched my medication to sertraline, which was a lot easier to wean off than from efexor
twp and half years. I couldn't tolerate venlafaxine withdrawals at all, so he switched my medication to sertraline, which was a lot easier to wean off than from efexor
depression and anxiety. It was longer than what i said aswel, must have been over two days without (mind was in a total mess). Felt like every bone in my body was broken, drenched in sweat, stomach pain. I have been taking it a long time, like over 8 years.
plumbus-nine
Bluelighter
Do you want to quit the venlafaxine, either because of working no more or to get rid of the physical addiction?
I am still fighting with PAWS and will for some time but I am very glad to be off that bastard venlafaxine for good.
I am still fighting with PAWS and will for some time but I am very glad to be off that bastard venlafaxine for good.
I dont know if it every really worked to begin with tbh, maybe a bit for anxiety - i used to get depression in the mornings and periods of anxiety (any improvement has been mild). It has sapped allot of energy aswel. I also want to get rid of it so im no longer dependent on that psychotic medical system that i recently saw going into full meltdown. How can we depend on a system like that ? Every time i ask about this online people say just go with the standard withdrawal that any GP will say to do, but tons of users claim this is ridiculous as its too fast. Somebody is bullshiting, and this drug is way too powerful to mess around with. Thanks for your suggestions re other substances to transfer onto and mitigate the effects. Id like more suggestions of this type from people who know whats up, also any time-dosage templates for the slowest possible taper would be appreciated.
re ''just ask your doctor they will inherently know the best thing''
I will be discussing it with my doctor but i want alternative opinions thats why im here. Allot of doctors are clueless about this drug and its potency. Come to think of it im actually very pissed off that this was prescribed to me in the first place. It was prescribed by a supposed specialist aswel (psychiatrist). I get the feeling allot of these guys are on the Phizer payroll tbh, prescribing people with this shit when it isnt needed. I have actually learned allot in the meantime about various softer supplements and herbs that can be used to aid with anxiety. It really is insane that i was put on this stuff when there are far safer compounds available. Lesson learned anyway, do not trust the medical establishment.
plumbus-nine
Bluelighter
Yeah, I was astonished by the ignorance of a few high profile docs, they throw diagnosis like schizophrenia around like it was candy but don't know what they're doing. Same with prescriptions, and I was still lucky I guess because I mostly got what I wanted (note, I didn't say what I needed). They would just infinitely continue myself on SSRIs and fucking antipsychotics which I always binned straight after trying and realizing they just induce anhedonia and brain fog but no relief at all for me.
I can only recommend fluoxetine to get off venlafaxine. I still got some withdrawal but nothing compared to cold turkey.
I'm not sure neither whether Venla or any of the psychopharms I got mostly for social, then generalized anxiety and eventually depression - if they ever did anything beneficial for me while dissociatives come with instant, true antidepressant effects and for fucks sake are much less addictive physically than the average psych med. They are mentally but that's a other story.
I also think that SSRIs can and do induce depression when used long term due to depletion of serotonin possibly - they block the transporter responsible for reuptake and thus recycling of 5-HF and synthesis of 5-HT without supplementing 5-HTP is a slow process because of a rats limiting thing.
Oh, about venlafaxine withdrawal, I almost forget. The herb kanna does a good job as well, the time before I was using that and it was similarly effective as fluoxetine but without week long half life and being another psych drug. Its a SSRI though. They say in people without antidepressant tolerance it should bring you a MDMA esque effect but I think this is overstaded. But it is much more effective than 5-htp alone and both together might be even better.
I can only recommend fluoxetine to get off venlafaxine. I still got some withdrawal but nothing compared to cold turkey.
I'm not sure neither whether Venla or any of the psychopharms I got mostly for social, then generalized anxiety and eventually depression - if they ever did anything beneficial for me while dissociatives come with instant, true antidepressant effects and for fucks sake are much less addictive physically than the average psych med. They are mentally but that's a other story.
I also think that SSRIs can and do induce depression when used long term due to depletion of serotonin possibly - they block the transporter responsible for reuptake and thus recycling of 5-HF and synthesis of 5-HT without supplementing 5-HTP is a slow process because of a rats limiting thing.
Oh, about venlafaxine withdrawal, I almost forget. The herb kanna does a good job as well, the time before I was using that and it was similarly effective as fluoxetine but without week long half life and being another psych drug. Its a SSRI though. They say in people without antidepressant tolerance it should bring you a MDMA esque effect but I think this is overstaded. But it is much more effective than 5-htp alone and both together might be even better.
Fuck effexor even coming off 6mg's of clonazepam and 150mg's of morphine cold turkey wasent as bad as coming off low dose effexor cold turkey The brain zaps are fucking torture.
plumbus-nine
Bluelighter
I can only recommend the herb kanna for SSRI withdrawal, some 20x extract snorted worked better to quit venlafaxine than switching to fluoxetine, and faster as well. Just do a cross taper and then stop the kanna. Too much gives a decent headache but this was the only side effect I got.
It's definitely known for being able to produce quite the "discontinuation syndrome".
penultimate
Greenlighter
- Joined
- May 4, 2021
- Messages
- 15
Seems to work wonders for some people but venlafaxine *freaked me out*. I quit after 4 weeks at the usual dose and still think I felt "brain zaps" even though I tapered off. It upped my heartbeat, raised my BP, vivid weird dreams - like a dysphoric amphetamine. Oh - glaucoma is a possible side-effect? Yeah, never had it, but I know what it feels like now - your eyeballs get hot and feel like they're ready to pop or something (raises intra-ocular pressure). There was no way I could see taking it long term, I can easily imagine there might be long term or permanent changes to brain function after being on that stuff for years. If there can be for alcohol there can be for venlafaxine. My dr. was cavalier switching me to it w/o warning.
I went back to citalopram, which as been the only SSRI that's worked for me. What's funny is that lexapro does not, even though citalopram is a generic for it. The two are isomers and should be identical except for dosage. But they're NOT, at least for me. The lesson here is that people's responses to these drugs are incredibly individual. Notwithstanding, venlafaxine is a very powerful drug and people should really be made more aware of that if my experience is any example, thanks!
I went back to citalopram, which as been the only SSRI that's worked for me. What's funny is that lexapro does not, even though citalopram is a generic for it. The two are isomers and should be identical except for dosage. But they're NOT, at least for me. The lesson here is that people's responses to these drugs are incredibly individual. Notwithstanding, venlafaxine is a very powerful drug and people should really be made more aware of that if my experience is any example, thanks!
Jerry Atrick
Bluelight Crew
Thank you for sharing your experience. I just came in here to say that Citalopram is a generic for Celexa, not Lexapro. I think you are thinking about Escitalopram. Cheers!
plumbus-nine
Bluelighter
They made the same with methylphenidate, released D-mph (Focalin) to get more patent time and said it was superior but in fact it had more affinity to the NET transporter than racemic methylphenidate for whatever obscure reason and I found Focalin to be inferior to racemic MPH. Maybe it's similar with citalopram. Think I've only been on the racemic citalopram and it worsened my impulsivity which venlafaxine didn't.
Its not really sustainable is the issue. They used to give morphine for depression/anxiety back in the 50's. Rampant abuse led to their withdrawal, suffice to say. I don't know too much about the efficacy of opioid replacement therapy in depression/anxiety, but suboxone seems to have some promise in certain cases. Of course there are countries that offer classic opioids for opioid addiction, but I don't know how well they work against depression/anxiety in those cases, as opposed to just doing away with the desire to use.
plumbus-nine
Bluelighter
When I was on maintenance and taking morphine and methadone daily they made me depressed, with adjunct antidepressants and even partially ketamine being non effective. I wouldn't recommend opioid full agonists for depression. There will be exceptions for whom it works but my own experience and what I heard from others they rather don't work. Buprenorphine might be an exception, I think it did make me having less dark thoughts but that was it, no mood lift.
Methadone while great for pain is awful for making you depressed.
I'm on hydromorph for MS and 30 minutes after I take it my mood feels better. And I'm tapering but I will always be on pain meds, I just want a lower tolerance.