Posted by SLS on September 9, 2005, at 7:51:42
In reply to How long? Help!, posted by TrishP on September 7, 2005, at 12:20:50
> I took my last 37.5 Effexor 2 days ago and I feel like crap. I feel like I have the flu. How long until this sick feeling goes away? Anything I can do to feel better?
Dropping from 37.5mg to zero is often too large a decrease to prevent withdrawal symptoms from emerging. You can either continue to taper the medication by dividing up the pills and taking small amounts several times a day or cross-over to Prozac and then gently taper off the Prozac. Doing neither might set you up to feel worse and worse instead of better and better.
I would choose to continue tapering the Effexor. Using a flexible-dosing strategy, one purposely waits for the withdrawal symptoms to appear, and then takes a very small amount of Effexor to make the symptoms disappear. Ideally, you would take an amount of Effexor that will last between 6-8 hours without symptoms. Once symptoms reappear, don't wait, take more Effexor immediately. It would be like taking aspirin for a recurring headache. How small can you cut the Effexor pills up into? You don't have to be exact. You can simply bite off small pieces as needed.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:551892
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050822/msgs/552658.html