vegetable, tapering off Venlor XR

[vegetable]

I have been on Venlor XR (the Effexor generic) for about seven years and decided to come off them this month. I started on the first of March, with a 25% reduction (I was taking 150mg and am now taking 112.5mg). I felt drowsy and nauseous for the first few days and have had minor headaches on and off. I've read about "brain zaps" and wondered if anyone here's experienced those?

 

This is the first time I've tried tapering. I've tried going "cold turkey" before but felt awful and ended up going back on them.

 

I'm planning on maintaining this dose for a month before dropping down to 75mg for a month, and then 37.5mg for a month before stopping entirely.

Any thoughts?

[Daisy]

Vegetable,

Vegetable,

re brain zaps: Yes I have experienced brain zaps. To me they feel like a split second of severe vertigo accompanied by a sound in my ears. They repeat one after another 4 to 6 times. Along with them is a weird, split second numbness or mild shock like sensation in my face or left leg and foot. Moving my eyes or head seemed to bring them on.

 

When I did not know what they were, they would scare the s**t out of me. I told 2 doctors about them. One did a brief neuro exam which was normal. The other did an EKG, which also was normal. The 1st doctor suggested a specialized test to check for an ear tumor. The 2nd doctor sent me home with medication for migraines and literature on symptoms of brain trauma. I did no further follow up. I just kept them to myself. AS far a I was concerned, my symptoms made no sense. I did not want to be labeled as some crazy lady with a psycho somatic illness.

 

The drug I was on at the time was Paxil. I do not remember if the zaps happened when I accidently skipped a dose or what.

Now I am on Effexor xr and tapering. When I went cold turkey, the zaps, along with a lot of other symptoms were hard to manage. I have since reinstated Effexor xr at a very low dose. Most days the W/D symptoms are managable. But currently I am taking a break from work, therefore my stress inducers are minimal. When I go back to work, I may need to up dose to function.

 

Love and peace

[Altostrata]

Hi, vegetable. I'm sorry I missed your first post -- it was attached to the Effexor topic in Tapering. I moved it here.

 

Thank you for joining us.

 

We suggest a slower taper of 10% per month based on your last dose. This protects your nervous system. If you get brain zaps, it's a sign you are tapering too fast.

 

How are you feeling now, after taking a 25% drop in dosage?

 

For your next dosage decrease, you might want to take about 100mg (a 10% decrease from 112.5mg). Venlor XR isn't available in the odd dosages, that's why we were discussing weighing the capsules and counting out beads, so we could make our own customized dosages.