Posted by omegon on March 9, 2004, at 16:34:42
In reply to Anyone tapering off Effexor using Prozac????, posted by leegirl on March 8, 2004, at 8:01:55
I was on efexor for around 3 months, ending at 225mg. I stopped (due to mood swings and extreme tiredness) without tapering (thanks to my ill-informed doctor) and started prozac 20mg next day.
That next day I was functional at work but somewhat confused and disorientated, with "brain zaps". The next two days (weekend) I didn't get out of bed, nightmares, etc. Withdrawals then gradually reduced and were largely masked by the prozac by day 6 - I didn't miss any days of work, though it took a couple of weeks to stop feeling weird. (stayed on prozac a couple of months, but discovered it doesn't agree with me at all once it reaches full effects)
I haven't experienced efexor withdrawal without a substitute drug, but by comparison with other people's reports, 5 days is quite short to be feeling functional again, so it seems the prozac probably helped.
> Hi All,
> I need some help and some answers. I have finally tapered myself from 150mg of Effexor daily, to 37.5 mg every other day. This has taken me almost a full year to do, and it has been one of the most horrible and wrenching experiences of my life. Before the Effexor nightmare began for me, I had been on Prozac for abot 5 years and it worked pretty good. I've been reading some posts where people who are tapering from Effexor are also using Prozac or Wellbutrin to help wean. Could someone who is doing this please write back and tell me about how it's working for you? I thought perhaps, 20 mg of Prozac either every other day or everyday, might help me overcome this final phase in the Effexor horror story....man, I can't wait for that crap to finally be gone from my system for good. I still get the awful withdrawal effects if I'm late with my every other day dose!
poster:omegon
thread:321964
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040308/msgs/322501.html