Posted by SLS on February 21, 2005, at 8:37:33
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal - physical symptoms, posted by SamIAm on February 18, 2005, at 11:53:27
> When I went completely off from 37.5 to 0 I started itching randomly from head to toe. At one minute it was my arm, then a few minutes later it was my foot and so on. This is a withdrawal sympton. I had so many withdrawal symptons I was put back on the medication at 75mgXR, but now I am going to try and wean more slowly using the tablets instead of the capsulesXR version. The tablets come in 37.5mg and 25mg. You can buy a pill cutter for around $4.00 at any pharmacy (got mine at Walmart).
It has been my experience that it is better to take smaller and smaller amounts of Effexor several times a day than to take larger amounts only once a day. I tried to take the smallest amount that would allow me to go 6-8 hours without symptoms. You will have to get creative as to how to cut tablets into smaller and smaller pieces, but they don't have to be exact. I think it should be satisfactory to cut the 25mg tablets into quarters if you can manage it. I doubt you will need anything smaller than 6.25mg to work with towards the end. There will be a point, of course, when you will be forced to go to 0mg. It is difficult to predict at what point this will become necessary. When you can no longer reduce the dosage by a miniscule amount without withdrawal symptoms persisting, that's when you discontinue it all together. You only have to experience one withdrawal period this way, and it is greatly reduced in severity. Again, I strongly recommend that you plan on taking these small doses of Effexor 2-3 times a day. Try not to allow withdrawal symptoms to persist for more than a few hours. Do what you need to with dosing to accomplish this.
I would emphasize that this strategy is what has consistently worked for ME. In the meantime, continue to post questions here asking how others have been able to minimize the withdrawal symptoms. I'm sure you will get some excellent suggestions.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:459548
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050214/msgs/461199.html