Posted by SLS on August 15, 2005, at 10:44:57
In reply to Re: What are brain zaps and brain shivers?, posted by Kimbersaur on August 14, 2005, at 14:05:40
Hi.
I had a great deal of success tapering from 300mg of Effexor within two weeks using a flexible-dosing strategy. This method becomes most important once you arrive at 25% of your original dosage. I would not drop from 37.5mg to 0mg. You still have room for further tapering.
You might want to try first taking smaller doses of Effexor more frequently during the day. This helps compensate for the drug's short half-life and produces more stable blood levels. How small can you divide your dosages? I took amounts of Effexor that were small enough to require that I take it 3-4 times a day. I probably worked down to 6.25mg doses. The "flexibility" lies in the freedom you allow yourself to take small amounts of medication only when you need to. It might actually be best to wait until withdrawal symptoms begin to appear before taking the next dose. Try not to let the symptoms persist for more than an hour, though. This is not only represents unecessary discomfort, but it might also be counterproductive in that it sparks a worsening of symptoms when they appear subsequently.
I wish I had the energy to write out in more detail the particulars of the flexible-dosing strategy. Perhaps you can look back at some of my previous posts. There really isn't that much more to say, though, if you grasp the fundamental principles.
1. Use smaller doses more frequently during the day.
2. Dose only when withdrawal symptoms appear
3. Try to use only enough drug to last 6-8 hours
4. Reduce the dosage of drug as the body permits
5. Try to use 6.25mg doses towards the end. Precision in dose size is not absolutely necessary, though. Approximations are sufficient. The flexibility in dosing period allows for this.
6. If 6.25mg lasts for more than 10 hours or further dosage reductions proves impractical, you might then consider complete discontinuation.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:540859
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050712/msgs/541894.html