Posted by SLS on April 19, 2005, at 9:08:43
In reply to Re: Two months off of effexor-still in hell, posted by Readersleaders on April 17, 2005, at 20:19:47
> Hi,
>
> You say you tapered, but how fast did you do it? According to Dr. Ann Blake Tracy (she has worked with anti-depressant effects for the last 15 years, says if it was too fast you can suffer from withdrawal a lot worse and for a longer time. She also says figure tapering time by how long you've been on the medication and then cut that in half. I was on Effexor for 3 1/2 years before I began to taper, so it's going to take me at least 1 1/2 years and a bit more to taper slowly enough so that I don't send my body into tantrums!I am having a difficult time accepting the formulation of this doctor for developing a taper schedule. I had been taking 300mg of Effexor for over a year, and was able to discontinue it in less than two weeks using a flexible-dosing strategy. I have been on and off Effexor several times. I am not invulnerable to the brain zaps and other nasty withdrawal effects that come with an ineffective taper strategy.
I don't know how to put it more tactfully than to say that I find a taper period to discontinue Effexor lasting more than six months to be unacceptable.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:484916
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050323/msgs/486358.html