Lexy: tapering off Effexor

[Petunia]

That's a good sign you were able to feel hope and happiness for a while.  You might find this topic on the windows and waves pattern of recovery helpful:

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/82-the-windows-and-waves-pattern-of-recovery/

[Lexy]

Thanks Petu,

 

Also this forum has helped me a lot because of people like you

[Lexy]

Update:

 

Still holding at 48.5

My headaches are getting less intense, but still about a 7 overall.  They lower in intensity during the evening or early morning.

Could it be the Effexor side effects and not the withdrawals? 

 

Mood swings come and go during the day.

 

I think I coming down with a cold, at least I think it's a real cold.  

Is it ok to take cold meds?  

[Petunia]

I can't take cold meds, the strongest thing I can handle is one aspirin for a headache.  But you may be different.  If your cold gets bad, perhaps you could try a half dose and see how it effects you.

 

Perhaps others will have some advice about this.

[Lexy]

Help missed dose!

Saturday my family and I went out of town for the day.  On the way i realized I had forgotten the Effexor!! 

I"m currently holding at 48.5mg, breaking the tablets in half since they are not extended release.  I took half the pill

in the morning and did not take the next dose until i returned at 11:30pm that night.  When I got home i quickly took the pills.

I even took an 1/8 of a Xanax  as I was feeling irritable and a little jittery.  Doctor had prescribed Xanax and Effexor

for panic attacks and anxiety. But I hardly ever take the Xanax only when I was getting a lot of panic attacks last year. Doctor had prescribed Xanax 3 times daily as needed.  From the beginning I did research and did not want to get addicted to these medications, I took Xanax only when I was in middle of panic attack.  I don't think effexor helped the panic because at the highest dose 150mg I started feeling severe anxiety and social phobia which I had not experienced before going on meds.

 

The next day I felt numb the whole day and my headaches returned.  Today I a lot of nausea and vertigo, anxiety, etc.  I hadn't felt this bad for a while. I've forgotten to take my nightly dose  before where I would awake and see my pill box with half a tablet in it, I would get some symptoms but not as intense as now.  

 

Before the missed the dose i had been feeling better: headaches had dissipated (not as intense all day) , mood swings were getting low,

Alto had recommended to hold on my taper which I have been doing.  I even had thought of starting to decrement again this week but now

I dont know how long this will take.

 

Has anyone felt this bad after one missed dose? I did take the full dose that night.

Also would and 1/8 of 5mg  Xanax make me feel numb for a whole day?  

[Rhiannon]

You mean 0.5 mg Xanax, right? 

 

Given your history you may be extra sensitive to even very small amounts of psych meds.  That seems to happen to people. I know it's happened to me. 

 

I agree with Alto, this seems like a time to be holding your taper for a while until things seem to settle down and plateau out.

[Lexy]

Rhi

 

Thanks for your reply.

I'm having a lot of vertigo, other symptoms have lessened. I feel stupid

And angry at myself for putting myself in this state of misery by forgetting.

I will keep holding.

[Meimeiquest]

Hi Lexy, You 're doing so well you will get over this little setback! Several of us have accidentally taken too much medicine (I took double once) and thrown ourselves off, but it is just temporary. You amaze me with your maturity!

[Lexy]

Thanks Meimeiquest,

 

I feel I had to grow up quick on this drug.  

I have tried to learn everything i can to try and help myself.  My Mother has also been a great help. 

 

I've learned more from this forum than anywhere else where I sought answers. Most importantly I know Im not alone anymore.

 

On the Today show this morning they had a segment on how a 20 yr old had depression and was talking about 

how he felt during his high school years.  He used to try and hide what was going on inside and pretend everything was fine from the outside.  One day as he was writing his suicide letter he realized he had never talked about was he was going through to anyone.  He decided that he owed it to himself and others to talk and keep talking!

 

People my age feel there is a stigma of mental illness, be it; anxiety, depression, etc.  

I don't have a strong voice yet but hopefully when I recover from this I can help other young people who are going through this.

[Lexy]

Update: still holding on the taper

 

After forgetting a dose last week, im slowly getting back to

Where i was before the missed dose. Although headaches are back, the vertigo and nausea have lessened,

 

I have an appointment with my doctor Friday. I tried calling to get a telephone consult just to do

A refill on my meds: Venlafaxine, and Zofran for nausea.

But the receptionist told me he wanted to see me. I dread having to go because I feel so much

Animosity towards him. He put me on this pill that made me feel 100 times worse! Also he is so condensing

When he tells me he has had other patients on Effexor who haven't had so many withdrawal symptoms.

I told him I've read other people's stories online and he just brushes it aside and tries to

Talk me into trying something else. I told him I'm not going on any other meds.

I would not be able to know if it's side effects or withdrawals on the new or old drug.

I'm taking my phone and putting my timer on so as to try to go over the 15min consult because he

Always tries to go over the time to increase his fee.

 

About a year ago when I dropped my dose in half and had been practically bedridden

I went to see him, my Mom came along and she told him she was very concerned that

I would fall into depression, he replied, "oh, that's a given."

That's was before my Mom and I started reading about all the withdrawal symptoms. She felt more at

Ease going online and finding out that depression can be a withdrawal symptom.

 

 

 

I've read other people's posts and so glad to hear many are doing better.

[Altostrata]

Your doctor sounds like the sort no one should have to see.

[kaza31]

hi lexy

 

hope all goes well for you on Friday  and you get your refill of meds without any hassle from your doctor..

 

remember stay strong

 

take care

 

Kx

[flong]

One of the turning points for me when I reaslized there was something about this drug that wasn't working for me was when I accidently missed a morning dose and doubled the evening dose. It was just over a year ago. About 30 minutes after I took it, I was in bed trying to sleep and suddenly had one of the worst panic attacks of my life, just out of the blue. 8-hour hellride panic attack, I've only had about 10 of these epic panic attacks, but they ALWAYS have something to do with psych medication. Ever since I started to taper off Effexor, I have only had 1 of these horrid panic attacks, and it was at a time where I had reduced too much and too fast.

How are things going? It sounds like your doctor is basically useless. Many doctors, especially family physicians, are not educated in the realities of using psych medication. Naturally, if you get your information from the pharmicutical companies you wouldn't understand why anyone would have a problem with these drugs. A good doctor will learn just as much from their patients as a text book or drug companies.

[Lexy]

Hi flong

 

Yes he useless I call him my drug pusher. I see him only for my prescriptions.

There should be a test given to patients before they start on

Meds to see if these drugs can help or will they go through

Hell.

 

Am I able to take motrin for headaches?

[Lexy]

Hello everyone

 

Can anyone help with the headaches? I've been holding over two months

And headaches are not lessening, any suggestions?

 

Can it be the generic immediate release is the culprit? I'm very apprehensive

in switching to effexor xr brand name. Has anyone made the switch to brand name

and felt better?

 

Tylenol only lessens it by one degree of pain!

 

Headaches usually start in the afternoon.

 

Please all replies will be greatly appreciated!

[Meimeiquest]

Lexy, How does your head hurt? Can you find a trigger point? It's a place that is usually a tiny bit swollen that hurts when you rub it, and the pain follows out from there. Chiropractic has helped me quite a bit, especially if the pain seems to be coming from the back of your neck or head. If it's a different type, maybe acupuncture would help? Ibuprofen helps me more thanTylenol. Hopefully someone will have some easier ideas. My dad had a tiny bit of reflexology training...if you can find so,e sore spots in your feet, especially around toes, it might help to rub those out. Hope you feel better soon!

[Lexy]

Thanks Meimeiquest,

 

My Dad goes to a chiropractor, he says he will take me. I'll let you know. Thanks again.

[Lexy]

Im seriously thinking of switching to brand effexor, I cannot function with these headaches. ALthough Ive heard that the tablets are easier to taper slowly.  Has anyone switched from generic to brand while tapering? 

[Altostrata]

Have you been taking the generic all along?

 

If so, switching to the brand name is a long shot to help the headaches.

[flong]

If they're effexor headaches, motrin will likely work. Ibuprofen is the main ingredient, primarily an anti inflammatory and blood thinner. At least thats what worked for me. However, be double-sure to stick to reccomended dose...it has a mild interaction with effexor at higher doses, though I never experienced that. I DID however with cold medication once though. It was absolute hell. Just be careful...but it sounds like you are which is awesome.

[Lexy]

Meimeiquest- last couple days

Headache point is between the eyes and forehead.

Other times they are on the back of my head to the neck area.

 

Alto- when I was at 150mg for 6 weeks a year ago I was on effexor XR.

Then I cut down to 75mg I went on generic tablet immediate. It's bee a full year

I've been on the generic.

 

Flong-Thank you and I will try Motrin.

 

Thank you all for your replies and support.

[Lexy]

Went to chiropractor and he said I have scoliosis. Dr said that's the root of my headaches. Funny I never used to have these types of headaches before. I did feel a little headache relief after the session. We'll see if it lasts.

 

I switched to Motrin as recommended by Flong, and has helped more than Tylenol.

 

I will be going back to see the chiropractor.

 

Things I use to soothe headaches:

 

Motrin

Hot or Cold eye gel mask

Hot flaxseed filled neck roll

Hot apple cinnamon tea

Magnesium

Omegas

Chiropractor

Self accupressure

Pain relieving gel

 

Any other ideas?

[Lexy]

Help anyone

 

My headaches had lessened and I proceeded to decrement from 48.75 to 47.5, but now anxiety has returned. I can't tell the difference if this is part of WDs or that my GAD is back. Before starting on effexor anxiety was not this bad. I did have panic attacks and I think the anxiety was coming from not knowing what I was going through.

 

Anyone doing a micro taper off of Effexor? If I hold for a while will anxiety lessen? Ive already been decreasing by about 1mg/monthly in order not to experience heavy WDs. Sometimes I feel I should go faster since I'm still experiencing WDs.

[Altostrata]

It's possible this withdrawal symptom will last only a few days.

[Meimeiquest]

Somebody told me once that it is impossible to take a nice walk and be really anxious at the same time.....I don't know if it is true but at least it is free

[flong]

It's possible...however sometimes the ONLY thing you can do is wait it out. The best thing about it is, anxiety and panic attacks don't last forever. 

[Lexy]

Thanks all, anxiety was lower today. I will decrease and hold.

I don't want to know how or where I'd be if I hadn't found this site!

Thanks again.

[Lexy]

Yesterday I had mood swings just about all day. Mostly depression and some irritability.

 

I might be whining but I don't understand why I'm so sensitized to this (effexor generic immediate release) drug.

I was only on 150mg for 6 weeks a 13 months ago. I made the mistake of cutting 50% off but it's been a year, shouldn't I have stabilized by now? I stayed at 75mg for 3 months, may be I should have held longer before tapering.

 

Or could it be that when I started my taper I should have been going slower and holding?

 

When I was tapering at 10-5% I would feel nausea, some dizziness, and of course the fatigue.

But now since I've been micro tapering and holding, it's non stop headaches, mood swings, anxiety. It's one or the other EVERYDAY. It's so disconcerting; just don't know how to proceed anymore....do I keep holding?...do I keep micro tapering?....do I taper faster?

 

Help

[Lexy]

PS

 

I'm weighing my tablets on a digital scale. Each tablet weighs .100g

I take two 25mgs. Breaking them in half to take throughout the day.

I'm at .190g decreasing by .001 weekly.

 

I'm barely going down 1mg monthly.

 

I had put a hold for the months of Sept and Oct. Due to headaches, but still no relief.

 

Anyone please!?

[Altostrata]

I'm sorry, Lexy, there are no easy answers for your situation. Perhaps try another hold?

[Petunia]

Hi Lexy,

 

I just read back through your entire thread and a few things occurred to me. 

 

First its that you originally went on medication because of experiencing a trauma, which caused panic, anxiety and then became categorized as PTSD.  From what I understand, difficulties which arise from unresolved trauma, generally don't just go away by themselves.  I think they may get expressed differently over time, especially based on how a person tries to deal with them.

 

It sounds like 150mg of Effexor was too much for you and caused increased anxiety, but perhaps once you stabilized on 75mg, it may actually have been suppressing some of your PTSD symptoms.  From what I understand, I think you were taking Xanax occasionally too, and that may have been helping to suppress symptoms.

 

But now you are not taking any Xanax and your dose of Effexor is much lower.

 

This is what I'm thinking, perhaps along with symptoms of withdrawal, some of the symptoms of PTSD caused by unresolved trauma are starting to break through, but not in exactly the same way as before, because you are still on some medication.  If you haven't dealt with and healed from your earlier trauma, its going to still be there in some form, if medication was doing anything, it was  suppressing the symptoms, not curing the damage done by trauma.

 

 

I am guessing you went through a trauma to "earn" the diagnosis of PTSD? Are there any non-drug treatments available to you right now?

 

I've done a lot of time in therapy for PTSD due to severe abuse in childhood and later in a marriage, and of everything I've done the things that helped me most were EMDR (hands-down awesome) and body-based, body-oriented therapies.

 

CBT hasn't been terribly helpful for the PTSD, although it has helped with the aftermath, self-esteem issues, etc.  As somebody said once, PTSD isn't a cognitive problem, it's a limbic problem.  

 

Anyway those are the things that have helped me most. Drug therapy for PTSD never helped and only got me into a lifetime of trouble.

 

In most reasonably large towns/cities there's at least one therapist with experience working with PTSD and EMDR...may or may not be covered under your insurance, though,depending.

 

 

I also have a diagnosis of PTSD and have done a lot of counseling and support groups, while I was on medication. The CBT gave me some tools which never really worked at the time, but I learned a lot about myself and why things were happening.  The support groups were very supportive, but I didn't have any kind of therapy which actually worked with 'curing' the trauma. I had trauma in my earlier life, but I was also still in an abusive situation, and mostly concerned with surviving and safely removing my daughter and myself from that.

 

Since coming off medication (too fast), along with withdrawal, I've also been dealing with past trauma, it seems to be coming up spontaneously and if I hadn't done all the counseling and support groups and learned what I have, I would probably be much worse than I am now, having full panic attacks and completely housebound, or poly-drugged and maybe even institutionalized. 

 

I hope someone else will offer their opinion, but perhaps it might help for you to hold your taper for quite a while and focus on finding some therapy to help you recover from the damage done by your earlier trauma.  You may only need a few sessions if it was an isolated incident.

 

At the moment, its impossible to know if what you are experiencing is withdrawal, your previous issue or a combination of both.  Once you heal from the trauma, you could continue with your taper and be fairly certain that any symptoms are withdrawal related.

 

Petu.

[flong]

I 100% agree that finding help for any deep issues is SO important. More important than the kind of worry you're putting into getting off the drug. As always, finding a balance is going to be ideal. We can help give advice on tapering, explaining symptoms, reassurance, etc. But you need to talk to someone about PTSD. I've never experienced anything PTSD-related...it sounds like hell, and Im so sorry you have to deal with it.

Basically, you KNOW getting off Effexor is going to be easier once you get a conversation started about your underlying issues. Again, good luck, check in lots here, we got your back!

[Lexy]

Thanks to everyone.

 

You are all great!! At my age Its difficult to talk yo my peers. I just feel they don't understand or can't relate to e erytging I'm am going through. But thanks to this site I know I can have support, complain, seek advice, ask questions no matter how dumb or stupid I might sound, I know you all understand and are willing to help.

 

I may noy be able to help because I'm in the middle of WDs but I can give everyone love and support.

Also I send my prayers to all.

[Lexy]

I need help...today I woke up feeling dizzy but just feeling it inside my head.

Also anxiety has been coming back, not sure if it's WDs or my GAD returning.

 

Is it possible that effexor was helping to stave off anxiety? When I think back the reason why I cut my dose was due to the extreme anxiety and agoraphobia I was feeling on 150mg. As soon as I cut I felt anxiety relief.

Now that it's coming back Im not sure where it's coming from.

 

I feel I'm tapering very slow now after holding for 2 months.

 

I started on effexor Aug 2012 and I was only on this drug at highest dose for 6 weeks. It's got such a hold on me that I can't get loose from.

[Petunia]

Hi Lexy,

I'm sorry you are struggling with increased anxiety symptoms, I wish we could answer your question about where its coming from.

 

At the moment, its impossible to know if what you are experiencing is withdrawal, your previous issue or a combination of both.  Once you heal from the trauma, you could continue with your taper and be fairly certain that any symptoms are withdrawal related.

 

 

Its possible that 75mg was actually suppressing the PTSD symptoms of anxiety, and now you are on a lower dose, they are returning, but if your symptoms are worse in the morning, but improve later in the day, that's possibly and indication of withdrawal effects, but I'm just guessing here.

 

I'm a bit confused actually. You wrote that when you dropped from 150mg to 75mg, your anxiety decreased, but in your signature you have written that at 75mg you had severe withdrawal.  Have you ever felt stable at any dose?

 

You may want to try an updose and see if your symptoms improve, or hold a little longer.

 

I wish I could be more help, maybe someone else has some ideas.

 

Petu.

[flong]

One of the good things about tapering off this drug is that every day is going to be different. There are some things we can count on. Like, if we go down in dose too much or too quickly, it will kick our asses. And likewise, if we stabilize for a while, things will settle. I just realized after counting how much I've actually be decreasing over the last several months, I'm only going down about 2 mg per month, and I'm absolutely feeling it when it happens. Don't worry about taking it slow.