Posted by med_empowered on April 18, 2005, at 13:13:32 [reposted on April 20, 2005, at 8:18:50 | original URL]
In reply to How long do Effexor XL withdrawals last?, posted by The_Resistance on April 18, 2005, at 12:44:49
Hi! Usually, your best bet with anti-depressants is to do a taper of around two weeks, sometimes more if you're dealing with something tricky, like Paxil. Effexor is one of those *tricky* anti-depressants where you can't really tell someone how long to do a taper (varies, but if you're in the 100s-300s, I'd do at least 3 weeks, then take a bit of prozac, just like you're planning on) OR how severe the withdrawal will be, or how long these symptoms will last. It just varies sooo much. Personally, I did low dose effexor, cold-turkey discontinued it, and after a few days of intense nausea and strange dizziness, I was fine. Some people, it seems, get withdrawal so severe they opt to keep taking Effexor, albeit at a lower dose. And some people who withdraw from anti-depressants (or benzos, or stimulants...so on and so forth) keep having problems even after a gradual taper and total "washout" of the med from their system. BASICALLY, what I'm trying to say is that all anti-depressants are tricky, and Effexor is trickier than you're standard AD. A good doc will understand this and try to accelerate or slow-down the taper as needed. Based on the experience of friends and my own experience with tricyclics (which have effects similar to effexor...but with more side-effects), I'd say expect kinda big problems in week one, a bit fewer in week two, and some weird "withdrawal emergent" effects once you're completely off the stuff...those may last for a week, give or take; after that, you'd be well advised to talk to your doc about doing something. I'd recommend getting some anti-nausea stuff soon (Pepto-Bismal worked for me...maybe just b/c I like the taste) and some back-up insomnia fixes in case you get tolerant to benadryl. Also, if you're going to take another anti-depressant, you may want to start after you make your 2nd or 3rd "cut" in dosage....sometimes that helps with withdrawal, sometimes it doesn't. Also, you may want some advil, tylenol, whatever (I would say aspirin, but the whole stomach irritation thing could make the nausea worse)...I personally used Midrin for some of my withdrawals; its an RX, but you can get OTC migraine-specific drugs. If you're prone to anxiety, you may want to get something to help with that, too, if you can. If you get tremors or shakiness, clammy palms, etc. ask your doc about propranolol (Inderal is the brand name in the US, I think)...it helps, sometimes. Try to minimize operating cars or anything else that could be dangerous (I had my worst car accident **ever** doing Paxil w/d) and tell your friends and family you may be kinda mean for a little while. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:486906
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050323/msgs/486907.html