My Venlafaxine Taper -Efexor XR
https://www.reddit.com/r/MadOver30/comments/1dimv0h/my_venlafaxine_taper_efexor_xr/
created by FuelMore4022 on 18/06/2024 at 09:54 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 top-level comments (showing 1)
- **Disclaimer: don't stop any antidepressant or medication cold-turkey, and don't do it without medical advice and supervision.***
- *Age first prescribed medication:** 16
- *Other medications over the years:** Lexapro (escitalopram), Setraline, Pristiq (desvenlafaxine), Valdoxan (agomelatine), Mirtazapine, Paxam (clonazepam), Valium (diazepam)
- *Consecutive time on Efexor XR 75mg**: 9 years
- *Highest dose**: 150mg (4.5 years, not consecutive)
- *Dose at start of taper**: 75mg
- *Time to taper off:** 7 weeks
- *Strategy**: I've seen other brands of venlafaxine that have hundreds of tiny balls in them, but the brand I used only had six balls. The strategy was simply to reduce the dose one ball at a time. I would take the dose for a minimum of one week/ seven days, and stay on that dose until I had been withdrawal symptom free for seven days. That is to say- if no withdrawal occured, the next dose on the taper could proceed on day seven, however if on day four I was experiencing nausea, headache, dizziness, brain zaps- the counter starts again until seven days pass feeling ok and the next decrease starts on day eleven.
- *Weeks 1-2:** These proceeded completely fine and normally, I noticed no change in mood and no physical symptoms.
Day 1-7: 5/6 balls
Day 8-14: 4/6 balls
- *Week 3:** Starting on day 15 the dose was down 50% to 3/6 balls. I continued fine for the first three days, and then starting feeling withdrawal. It was not as bad as I'd experienced before when I forgot a dose- by mid afternoon I'd feel sick, dizzy, tired, mild brain zaps and a sensation I can only describe as brain nausea, which would increasingly worsen until I took my next dose. Withdrawal at 50% taper was noticeable but not as severe as missing a full dose. I stayed at 3/6 for two and a half weeks before I felt ok again.
- *Week 5:** Started on 2/6 on Day 32. Again, felt fine for a couple of days before mild withdrawal kicked in again, a little less than the 3/6. Stayed here for 11 days. Notice at this point more fatigue than usual, disrupted sleep and vivid dreams on top of the more obvious physiological symptoms. Some anxiety and overthinking especially at night. At this stage the excess sweating kicked in and is only just calming down now (4 days on zero dose)
- *Week 7:** Started final dose of 1/6 on day 43. Surprisingly there were no new side effects. This stage lasted only 7 days, and it was with some trepidation that I took my last done last Friday (At time of writing it is Tuesday the following week.)
- *Week 8/Week 1 post Efexor:** Some mild brain zaps, brain nausea and fatigue which kicked in on Sunday afternoon. Appetite is a bit on and off. Mentally doing ok during the day but sleep is so disrupted that night time while lying awake can be a bit of a spiral of hopelessness if I don't catch it and nip it. Very vivid dreams and periods of wakefulness and for some reason it is impossibe to get comfy in my very comfortable bed. I keep waking up with dead arm or pins and needles but I'm unsure if this is a side effect or becaue Im tossing and turning so much I'm falling asleep in weird positions.
- *Verdict:** Doctor support essential. I wish I had used the brand with more balls to go even more gradually on the taper. I want a good nights rest and hope it settles soon.
Much worse than going off any other medication but not as bad as I feared, especially given I'd stayed on for so long because stopping seemed like too big a task.
I think I'm gonna be ok.
Comments
Comment by slushrooms at 18/06/2024 at 18:34 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Don't envy you. I need to start lowering my dose as I want to come off it completely. Been sitting at 115mg for 2 years. I found going down 37.5mg every second day for 2 weeks was tolerable, staying at dose-37.5mg for a month, before dropping down again.
Only reason I'm still taking it is that I'm anxious about the destabilization associated with reducing dose!