Posted by soshie on October 31, 2003, at 14:41:33
In reply to Effexor withdrawal symptoms!, posted by Becky on October 2, 1999, at 22:03:30
Hi,
I was on 300 mg. of Effexor XR which was prescribed for panic attacks. I really wish that the dr. (who spent ~10 minutes with me before getting me on effexor) had told me of the side effects for withdrawl.
The meds did nothing for me, besides making me feel detached most of the time. I decided to come off of the meds - my dr. was on medical leave so I was on my own. Here is what I did
I decreased by 37.5 mg. per week until I got to 37.5. From there I opened my capsule and tapped out a little more each day. When I was coming off completely, I took two vacation days so that I could not have to leave the house. I went through the following:
Brain Shivers - these were awful, just awful. Thanks to the other posts on this board, I knew that they were normal - otherwise I would have thought I was dying!
Short fuse - I had a VERY short fuse. Thanks to my wife for helping me out!
I took Benadryl to help with the brain shivers - don't know why it helps, but it really did.
The Brain shivers were VERY bad for the first 3 days and then got better and better, with symptoms gone today - 3 weeks after going off the meds.
Please know that you can do this. The medicine is awful. I hope that it helps some of you, but when you come off, make sure that you have both time and support.
Good luck. If you have any questions, let me know.
poster:soshie
thread:12459
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031030/msgs/275310.html