Misc Coming off 300mg Venlafaxine? Scared - 21/F

[Siamesecats69]

Hi,

I'm a 21 y/o female from the UK. I have been on 300mg of Venlafaxine for almost 3 years to help with manic depression and severe anxiety - my doctor also put me on this medication to help with my M.E which I have suffered from for approx 3/4 years and still continue to.

Recently, I have been having extreme stomach upset, uncontrollable vomiting, nausea and a bunch of other horrible symptoms and I've decided it's time for me to come off of this medication for good as every day seems to get worse for me... My M.E symptoms (muscle/joint pain, memory problems, brain fog, extreme fatugue, anxiety, depression etc) have not improved whilst on venlafaxine, if anything I feel like they're getting worse and I'm losing control and I won't lie, I'm scared. I also take pregabalin (50mg) but that's it, I was prescribed a bunch of things including Gabapentin, Codeine, Amitriptyline but decided to stop as I didn't want to be on TOO much medication. So, I turnt up at the docs uncontrollably vomiting and he agreed that venlafaxine isn't my best option (why did I get put on it in the first place, this isn't a drug for treatment of M.E my doc said??? why didn't they warn a 17/18 yr old girl of the severe withdrawal or other various problems that come with this drug???) - my main question is: he told me to reduce my dosage by half and only take one capsule a day - 150mg, will cutting down from 300mg to 150mg give me extreme side effects? He's prescribed me with lansoprazol to help settle my stomach and also Cyclizine Hydrochloride to help ease with nausea and sickness - will I be ok? I started yesterday and whether it's just my head or the withdrawal (doubtful, it's been one day) I am so so anxious and worried I'm going to lose my head.

I smoke cannabis every day and have been for almost 2 consecutive years and I find that is the only thing that helps with my anxiety/depression and soothes my muscle and joint pain so I'm looking to get off these meds and medicate with cannabis, I have a close friend who has done this for years and swears by it.. Any thoughts?

I don't know what to do or who to turn to, nobody takes me seriously and I can feel myself slipping into a hole and I'm worried I'm going to hurt myself. Thanks for any replies, I really appreciate it.

P.S. I'M SORRY IF THIS IS IN THE WRONG THREAD, I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO POST IT I JUST NEED HELP

 

[Spurs_1882]

Sounds nasty and I too would question why they put such a young person on such a heavy drug.

I would suggest that WD at that rate is going to be quite unpleasant. So it's a question of whether WD is more unpleasant than the effects of the drug. This guide, https://www.crazymeds.us/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Meds/Effexor, which I trust, suggests tapering at 37.5mg per week. Why is your GP suggesting you taper so quickly? The only thing I can think of is that the vomiting etc is so bad that he thinks it's better to do a very quick taper. Perhaps you should ask him more about this.

One other option could be to switch to prozac. This has a long half-life and is an easier drug to taper off from, plus it has a similar mechanism of action to venlaxafine. You could talk to GP about this.

Did the vomiting happen suddenly? How were you on the drug before, considering you've been on it for 3 years? Did it help at all?

I'm not really qualified to discuss the cannabis use. It doesn't agree with me, makes me very anxious, so I've never used it much. I'm sure there's people on here who can discuss the pros and cons of long-term use.

 

[kleinerkiffer]

Recently, I have been having extreme stomach upset, uncontrollable vomiting, nausea and a bunch of other horrible symptoms

Could be

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome is characterized by recurrent nausea, vomiting and crampy abdominal pain. These symptoms have been reported to be improved temporarily by taking a hot shower or bath or more fully by stopping the use of cannabis.

Wikipedia

As spurs said, 150mg is a big jump and antidepressant withdrawal is really really nasty, I'd say try taking 50mg less every other day and see how it goes

 

[dus_aster]

As has already been said, taper slower!
Venlafaxine is available in 25, 50, 75, 100, and 37.5 (iirc) milligram dosages that will serve you a hell of a lot better than 150/day.
Taper slowly, and you are unlikely to suffer serious w/s symptoms; at 150/day it is almost inevitable, however.
Were it me, I would request an Rx for 25mg capsules (of a quantity equiv. to your normal dose) and reduce by 25-50 a week. At that rate, it doesn't require undue strength or stamina to withdraw: just patience.

Depending on whether you are trying a different med, it might be advisable to start treatment halfway through your taper.

Keep thee well: if you do it slowly, you do not have a whole lot to worry about. Best of luck; I've been there, and it is less scary than it sounds on paper/screen!

 

[Siamesecats69]

First off, thank you guys so much for replying, you don't know how much discussing this is easing my mind.
It's not been too great for me with the docs, I feel kind've ignored. I have been to them several times regarding my symptoms that aren't aided from my medication (such as dizziness, nausea, anxiety, depression, muscle/joint pain etc etc).

The thing is, in my experience with venlafaxine has its ups and its downs, as any medication does - it has helped with my anger issues and although it helps with anxiety and depression I seem to have bursts where I'm fine and then even longer bursts of pure misery, I can't even describe the lows I've experienced whilst on these meds, especially recently. Therefore for me the bad outweighs the good and I feel like I need to cut them out completely if I'm ever gonna find something.. if that makes any sense.

To answer your questions: Over the past few weeks I have woken up during the night and experienced spontaneous vomiting episodes for no apparent reason, the previous few times to my most recent (early last week) I'd vomit once or twice and then go back to sleep and be fine, no continued nausea, but, this past week I woke up around 1am with a severe migraine which stopped me getting back to sleep and I tried everything I could until an hour later I started vomiting and didn't stop until the 8pm the next day - bearing in mind I hadn't eaten anything at all so I was literally just wretching until I felt like I was going to pass out, couldn't even hold down water. I visited the doctor on that day (was throwing up in his office, classy...) and he thinks the continued use of venlafaxine has damaged my stomach somehow and I need to get off of them so that's when he gave me the Lansoprazole and Cyclizine which I tried to take but obviously just vommed them back up. I haven't vomited since then and that was early last week.

I've been on Prozac before and it didn't seem to help much. I don't really know what to do, should I even use prescription medication to help with my issues? I know it sounds petty but I just cannot stand vomiting, I avoid it at all costs haha!!!

As has already been said, taper slower!
Venlafaxine is available in 25, 50, 75, 100, and 37.5 (iirc) milligram dosages that will serve you a hell of a lot better than 150/day.
Taper slowly, and you are unlikely to suffer serious w/s symptoms; at 150/day it is almost inevitable, however.
Were it me, I would request an Rx for 25mg capsules (of a quantity equiv. to your normal dose) and reduce by 25-50 a week. At that rate, it doesn't require undue strength or stamina to withdraw: just patience.

Depending on whether you are trying a different med, it might be advisable to start treatment halfway through your taper.

Keep thee well: if you do it slowly, you do not have a whole lot to worry about. Best of luck; I've been there, and it is less scary than it sounds on paper/screen!

Thank you for your kind words and suggestions, I myself was extremely skeptical about halving my dose (obviously why I came here) as last year I was travelling in Holland and I ran out of venlafaxine, I had to wait 4 days until it was shipped to me and I can say I've never felt like that before, it was awful - hence why I'm so scared of the withdrawal but is my doc doing it for a reason? When I was in the doctors office and he suggested this tapering I asked him if I'd get withdrawal because I know Venlafaxine has a nasty withdrawal and he straight up said no. The first word that came into my head was bullshit.


Also, regarding cannabis, it seems to be the only thing that stops my nausea (apart from the cyclizine I'm taking now), it helps with my aches and pains and my mood.