Intro: NVbar

[NVbar]

Hey everyone,

 

First off I think it's really great that there's a community that supports each other in coming off of these horrible drugs. I don't really have that support in real life from friends, family or medical professionals who don't understand what it's like.

So I want to say thank you to everyone on the SA forum. Really.

 

Anyways a short history of my drug dependancy:

I've had brief stints with Paxil and Citalopram prior, but since 2004 I've been solely taking Effexor XR 37.5 mg for anxiety.
There have been a couple times when I dropped dosage too fast, and paid for it. But since finding some resources online like this one, I've been reducing by counting beads since 2013. As of today I'm down to 7 beads left. 

 

So far I was finding 1 bead a month reduction to be working ok, but since I've gotten to about 10 beads it's gotten more difficult, with anxiety and other side effects appearing the next day. At that point, I go back up to the previous dosage to hold for about a couple weeks, and try again. Worked so far until a few days ago I went from 7 to 6 beads, and got hit hard. Interestingly, in previous cases I would feel withdrawal symptoms the next day, but in this case it wasn't till about 3 days later I had nausea, headaches dizziness and the rest I'm sure your familiar with. I did notice increasingly vivid dreams up to that point however. 

 

Looks like I might be at that oh-oh threshold point I've read about on here. I should probably try to switch to regular Effexor tablets and make a solution, but because I've been reducing by beads I don't have an accurate measure of what mg dosage I actually am at. Ballpark average no. of beads in the Effexor brand I'm taking is about 100, so I'm guessing around 4mg?

Anyways, this is just supposed to be an intro, so I'll post my questions in the appropriate forums in a bit. Thank you!!!!!

[Rhiannon]

Hi NVbar!

 

The first thing I noticed is that you say you were going down by one bead a month steadily. That works fine at higher doses but it looks like you've reached the point where one bead is too high a percentage of the total. 

 

If you do have the option of going to liquid, that's probably your best bet. You'll be able to control your increments and make them as small as you need to.

 

Meanwhile, it's time for a hold for at least two months, maybe more. You've probably gotten a bit ahead of your body's ability to adapt to reductions. Take a break and hold your dose until it can catch up. You can use that time to explore your options.

 

Congratulations on getting down so far so successfully, that's inspiring!

[NVbar]

Thanks Rhi, but I've actually read quite a few of your posts and I think that you're actually the inspirational one here!!

 

 

[dalsaan]

Hi NVbar,

 

I second Rhi's advice.  It is  (more) difficult at the bottom end so finding a way to go at snails pace and manage the percentage of your drops is the way to go.   I also agree with Rhi on the hold.   Give yourself a holiday from tapering while you develop your strategy for the final push.

 

Glad you found us and well done on your achievements so far

 

Dalsaan

[NVbar]

Thanks for your support dalsaan. Looks like I'll park where I'm at for a little bit more.
 

I noticed your getting a solution made at a chemist...is that expensive and how's that working for you?

[westcoast]

Hi NVbar, and welcome. I joined last August and the site has been a tremendous help.

 

I cold-turkeyed Effexor without knowing what I was doing, a few times, and ended up on a three day psych hold, almost arrested twice, etc. Am building back my life as we speak.

 

I am glad you are able to taper, and hope the liquid idea works for you.

 

Hard to believe Effexor is available from doctors. It did work for me in much the way speed would have. Only sadistic criminals would espouse such a substance, in my opinion. It elevated my mood and erased my worries over cancer treatment. I was cured of Stage 4 cancer, only to find myself a semi-psychotic wreck. The irony.

 

Anyway, glad you joined and hoping your taper goes smoothly! My way was for the birds.

[mammaP]

Hi NVbar, welcome from me too. I am tapering effexor and had the same problem with the last few beads.

I agree that holding for a few months would be a good idea right now. You almost have your brain back, and

holding will just give it a bit more time to renew and stabilise.  I developed my own method at 4 beads which 

works well for me but my capsules contain 400 beads per 75mg so twice as many as yours, which means my

cuts are half  yours and I still had problems!  Liquid would definitely be the best option if you can get it, or

tablets to make your own.  My own way of reducing the last couple of beads is this. 

 

The beads I have vary in size from a grain of sugar to about 0.5mm. The differences are barely visible but

I use a magnifying glass and started to take  4 of the largest beads.( I have them in a small black box and

empty a capsule into it  ). As I always take the largest they become smaller as time goes by, thus reducing

the dose. When they are done I open a new capsule and start to take 3 of the largest beads, then 2. Now I

have just gone down to 1 bead. You do need to make sure that the box is secure and the beads can't be

lost. Because you have gone down gradually you can't open a new one and start to take the largest again

because it is too high, I discovered that 'by accident' when mine were lost....twice! 

[Fresh]

Hi NV ,    Welcome!

 

The problem with small amounts of beads is that some of them are "fillers"   and not active ingredients.    So if you accidentally get 3 fillers out of 6 , then you've halved your dose.

 

Making a liquid from a whole capsule can give you a more even reduction.

 

I also find your journey  inspiring . . . thankyou.

 

Fresh

[NVbar]

Thanks for the support guys. Fresh, I'm not entirely sure that true, at least I hope not. You can't make a liquid from the XR capsule.

 

mammaP, I've been meaning to get a hold of you! I have questions for you.

 

I've been struggling the last couple weeks since I dropped from 7 to 6 beads. Hit with panic attacks (haven't happened in years), brain fog, nausea and the works. Usually if I drop too fast I recover after updosing after a couple days, but this time I've been hurting since that first introductory post and it's really scary. I don't seem to be getting better and I'm not sure if this is my previous tapering catching up with me.

 

I think I understand what you are doing with sorting beads by size. But, there are only about 130 beads per capsule in a 37.5mg Teva Effexor XR. That means my taper until I drop by a bead will be shorter than yours...so I'll have to find someway around this. They also look pretty damn uniform size by eye.

 

I also wanted to ask you if longer holds worked for you or not?  It took you almost 2 years to go from 5 to 1 beads...amazing patience. I'm just worried I'll revisit 6 beads again in several months and have to go through this all over again.

 

Did you find WD effects more severe the lower the beads you went? I saw you had to updose to 4 beads in Feb 2012. What happened? Were you in wd for 3 months until you updosed??

[Fresh]

My comment above is what my compounding pharmacist told me . . . he was compounding Cymbalta but I think the premis is the same.    ; )

[NVbar]

bump mammaP?

[Rhiannon]

NV, MammaP has a lot going on in her life right now and she's having to spend more time in the world away from her computer. You might try sending her a PM asking her to check your thread as soon as she gets back.

 

As far as the ongoing WD symptoms that you're having, that aren't fading the way you expect and hope them to, I think you're right, it's likely due to you going too fast for a while and continuing to cut even though your symptoms were getting worse. Now your body is saying NO. I know it's scary, you've had some bad experiences in the past and you know it can get a lot worse. But you did taper this time and I don't think it's going to get as bad as you may fear.

 

And the sense of "it's never going to end" is really just another withdrawal symptom. It's going to end. Hang in there, hold, allow your body/brain some healing and regrowing and adapting time, as much as it needs.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, NVbar.

 

I think we discussed this elsewhere -- your best bet might be to make a liquid from regular Effexor and take a tiny amount, perhaps 0.10mg, as a "booster" if you get withdrawal symptoms when you go down to 6 beads. You can do this when you feel the symptoms, more than once a day.

 

You may need to do this as you continue your reduction to 0 beads, then you'd be on the liquid only.

 

Fresh, you cannot make Cymbalta or Effexor XR into a liquid. Your pharmacist was mistaken.

[NVbar]

Rhi, I didn't know that about mammaP, I sincerely hope she's doing alright.

 

Thanks for the reassurance though, today I'm feeling better. Last night, I was better except I had a manic episode with my Dad (new symptom?) and ended up telling my parents the whoolllle thing which was pretty difficult. I think sometimes when you read too much on the internet or even on some of these forums, you can get discouraged when you know how many people are suffering, especially with those (rare) cases of protracted wd for YEARS after which scares the hell outta me. 

 

I'm trying to find some medical professionals who will monitor me now, and maybe even assess if I'm ready to come off of meds. Dare I say entertaining thought of taking 7 beads indefinitely? Dunno.

 

 

Alto, I think I'm just nervous about switching to liquid and having a bad wd reaction. I found some interesting info on that, going to post in the Effexor thread.

 

You may need to do this as you continue your reduction to 0 beads, then you'd be on the liquid only.

 

You mean using these 'boosters' after dropping to 0 right?

[Altostrata]

No, I mean taking a little booster of regular Effexor now and then while you're reducing the last batch of beads, and possibly afterwards if you get symptoms.

 

What do you mean by a "manic" talk with your dad?