Posted by ankh on January 14, 2004, at 14:14:34
In reply to How long would these withdrawal symtoms last?, posted by creeppedOutWendy on January 14, 2004, at 9:47:31
> It has been a week since I quit Effexor completely. I have been expereincing pretty much every symptoms posted by others. I was taking half dosage of what I was taking for three weeks before I quit it completely (My doctor recommended this). I'm taking it ok, but not sure how much more I can handle this. Does anyone know how long these withdrawal symptoms would last?
>
> Thanks
>OK, I can speak to this from personal experience -- I tried a different antidepressant every winter for years.
Effexor was by far the hardest to quit, and the one I most wanted to quit because of the bloody dreams and migraines (though I will always be grateful for having experienced migraine auras during that time -- somehow we can forget pain and remember beauty even when they happen together -- a good thing for me to have learned).
But about getting off this stuff:
Here's what finally worked for me -- taking 50 milligrams per week of Prozac for three months.
Yes, I mean that -- a tiny amount, once a week, and that held off the Effexor withdrawal.
I get winter depression (and recently diagnosed attention deficit, maybe from childhood concussions plus a recent one). So I was on the upswing through the withdrawal period anyhow --February, March and April.
My mood was going up anyhow, and it was time to quit the winter's drug, but just INCREDIBLY hard.
Fortunately my doctor had heard whispers about this in the hallways between presentations at psychiatric meetings -- this was before withdrawal was admitted to be a problem.
----> So, short answer -- consider asking for
----> a very, very, very small dose of Prozac,
----> which is a persistent drug; a fraction of
----> the usual daily dose taken once a week
----> got me off Effexor.Good luck.
poster:ankh
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040114/msgs/300707.html