Posted by SLS on April 13, 2006, at 7:41:56
In reply to Effexor withdrawal...NIGHTMARES!!!!!, posted by LadyKate on April 13, 2006, at 2:01:51
You really need to take smaller and smaller amounts of Effexor every day in order to prevent withdrawal. Skipping days does not work.
Many people open the capsules and count pellets.
Personally, I have had success with a flexible-dosing scheme that involves taking very small doses of Effexor several times a day. I begin doing this once I'm down to 37.5-75mg a day. I basically use Effexor like one would use aspirin to treat a recurrent headache. I wait until the withdrawal symptoms just begin to reappear before taking my next dose. I try to take only as much as is necessary to last 6-8 hours. One of the advantages to flexibility is that you don't have to be so exact with dose sizes, as long as you wait until the next reappearance of symptoms before taking your next dose. Just try to approximate doses such that you don't go more than 12 hours before needing to take more.
I have had success coming off of 300mg of Effexor within two weeks on several occasions. Previous to trying the flexible dosing strategy, I experienced a pretty intense withdrawal syndrome.
From what I have seen, it seems that the longer you allow intense withdrawal symptoms to persist, the longer it takes to recover once the medication is discontinued. People who claim that withdrawal symptoms lasted for weeks and months are the ones who chose to discontinue the medication abruptly - go cold turkey.
People here report that using Benadryl (diphenhydramine) helps to lessen the intensity of withdrawal symptoms. I don't know if it will help with the nightmares, but hopefully you won't have them anymore once you change your withdrawal strategy.
Skipping days does not work.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:618788
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20060412/msgs/632515.html