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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by John2222 on May 9, 2003, at 23:51:47
After taking Effexor XR for approximately a year (up to 112.5 and 150 mg/day), I am trying to taper and quit it. It did a fine job of helping with mild depression and anxiety during the year.
HOWEVER, I am having trouble (HELL) trying to quit. I'm down to 1/2 of 37.5 and experiencing constant high frequency ringing in my ears and head.
But my question is...with lots of other having same withdrawal problems, what are the other anti-deprssants/GAD's that are worth considering? Or is withdrawal from all of them this bad?
It's like the cure (withdrawal) is worse than the disease (depression/gad).
I took Zoloft about 10 years ago for awhile, and had none of these problems during withdrawal, but honestly I don't think it was as good at relieving the deprssion.
Am I in a catch 22? Only the worst AD's work?
I am soooo frustrated and now fearful of ever getting off this, and ever trying anything else!
Posted by linkadge on May 10, 2003, at 1:30:20
In reply to Effexor alternatives ???, posted by John2222 on May 9, 2003, at 23:51:47
Everybody recognizes Effexor as having the worst withdrawl symptoms. You are definately not alone in your journey. Most others have minimal withdrawl effects.
Do your best to taper slowly. But, if after a few weeks of gradual tapering the depressive mood does not subside, then the depression is returning.
The symptoms of withdrawl you are experiencing do not last forever. Even after taking the upper dose of a drug, you should adjust to a new lower dose of it within a month.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Many have found that omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil capsules have helped the withdrawl from antidepressants. For more info just ask
Linkadge
Posted by Snoozy on May 10, 2003, at 12:20:25
In reply to Effexor alternatives ???, posted by John2222 on May 9, 2003, at 23:51:47
The good (?) news is that Effexor is probably the worst when it comes to withdrawl. I wasn't given any warnings about tapering, and just stopped taking it. You can imagine how fun that was. Paxil can be bad too.
I never had a chance to try it, but I hear that low doses of Prozac, because of its very long half-life, are used to help with withdrawl from the shorter half-life drugs like Effexor. You may want to ask your dr about it.
Did you want to stop taking Effexor because it wasn't working anymore? I'm sure the veterans here can give you some ideas on what you may want to consider trying next.
I know it can feel like a catch 22 sometimes. I would say don't let fear of going through another Effexor-type withdrawl stop you from trying other medications. If the Effexor did help you, then I would think some of the other drugs might help too.
Good luck to you.
> After taking Effexor XR for approximately a year (up to 112.5 and 150 mg/day), I am trying to taper and quit it. It did a fine job of helping with mild depression and anxiety during the year.
>
> HOWEVER, I am having trouble (HELL) trying to quit. I'm down to 1/2 of 37.5 and experiencing constant high frequency ringing in my ears and head.
>
> But my question is...with lots of other having same withdrawal problems, what are the other anti-deprssants/GAD's that are worth considering? Or is withdrawal from all of them this bad?
>
> It's like the cure (withdrawal) is worse than the disease (depression/gad).
>
> I took Zoloft about 10 years ago for awhile, and had none of these problems during withdrawal, but honestly I don't think it was as good at relieving the deprssion.
>
> Am I in a catch 22? Only the worst AD's work?
>
> I am soooo frustrated and now fearful of ever getting off this, and ever trying anything else!
>
>
Posted by John2222 on May 10, 2003, at 13:53:58
In reply to Re: Effexor alternatives ??? » John2222, posted by Snoozy on May 10, 2003, at 12:20:25
Thanks for your suggestions. Actually the Effexor XR was working fine for me and after a year felt that I could handle it on my own with Effexor. But the tapering has turned out to be worse than I expected.
Today I went back to ~18 mg (1/2 of a capsule) and I'm feeling better, but still have that high-pitched whine in my head and ears. I think I'll keep at this level until that all stabalizes. And then, either decrease some more or stop.
My dr suggested taking it at this dosage every other day for 2 weeks, then every 3rd day for 2 weeks, then stopping for good.
Anyone tried this method?
John
> The good (?) news is that Effexor is probably the worst when it comes to withdrawl. I wasn't given any warnings about tapering, and just stopped taking it. You can imagine how fun that was. Paxil can be bad too.
>
> I never had a chance to try it, but I hear that low doses of Prozac, because of its very long half-life, are used to help with withdrawl from the shorter half-life drugs like Effexor. You may want to ask your dr about it.
>
> Did you want to stop taking Effexor because it wasn't working anymore? I'm sure the veterans here can give you some ideas on what you may want to consider trying next.
>
> I know it can feel like a catch 22 sometimes. I would say don't let fear of going through another Effexor-type withdrawl stop you from trying other medications. If the Effexor did help you, then I would think some of the other drugs might help too.
>
> Good luck to you.
Posted by Snoozy on May 10, 2003, at 15:58:45
In reply to Re: Effexor alternatives ???, posted by John2222 on May 10, 2003, at 13:53:58
Hi John -
Your doctor sounds pretty enlightened - I'm amazed at how some of them seem to have no concern about letting patients know about withdrawl after 7 + years on the market and probably millions of patients. (Sorry, this seems to be turning into my personal crusade - you had a taste of what the withdrawl can be like, and I am determined that the needless suffering of withdrawl stop!)
I did recently very slowly taper off Xanax (which can be one of the worst benzos to stop) and I think the same approach would work well for Effexor. It sounds like you can cut your pills? My Xanax was in tablet form and I got a pill cutter from the drugstore for a few bucks. I would use the cutter to reduce the dose as small of an amount as I could. Then I would take that smaller dose once, then go back to my previous dose for 6 days. (I was being ultra mega super-cautious!) The next week I would go to 5 days of the old dose, the smaller one day, and so on, gradually decreasing the number of days I took the old dose. Once I had gotten to the new lower dose on a daily basis, I would cut the dose again and go through the same process. (Let me just say that I was doing this completely on my own - therefore the cautiousness).
Finally I was down to actually taking nothing for one day. Went through the 5, 4, 3, 2, every other day routine. About 2 months ago, I had a no Xanax day. I didn't take any the next day, and I felt ok, so I didn't take any after that. I hadn't planned on totally stopping at that point, it just happened. I was completely surprised that I got through the whole thing ok without all of the cells in my body screaming in agony.
It would be nice if they made Effexor in a liquid so that you could easily titrate the dose down, but I only see tablets and ER capsules (for US and Canada at any rate).
Well, I hope you found that helpful if you were able to wade through it! I would say just take it as slowly as is comfortable for you - as I said your doctor sounds pretty enlightened. Keep us posted on how it goes!
> Thanks for your suggestions. Actually the Effexor XR was working fine for me and after a year felt that I could handle it on my own with Effexor. But the tapering has turned out to be worse than I expected.
>
> Today I went back to ~18 mg (1/2 of a capsule) and I'm feeling better, but still have that high-pitched whine in my head and ears. I think I'll keep at this level until that all stabalizes. And then, either decrease some more or stop.
>
> My dr suggested taking it at this dosage every other day for 2 weeks, then every 3rd day for 2 weeks, then stopping for good.
>
> Anyone tried this method?
>
> John
>
Posted by Geezer on May 10, 2003, at 22:24:28
In reply to Effexor alternatives ???, posted by John2222 on May 9, 2003, at 23:51:47
Taper down to the point where the withdrawal gets heavy, then switch to 5mg. Prozac every other day for 10 days, then just quit the Prozac. Then you and your pdoc can decide what to try next. All your doing is taking advantage of the long half life of the Prozac to let the seratonin rebalance. At the dose of "Side-Effexor" you were on you weren't getting any norep. benefit anyhow. The Prozac D/C method really seems to help people-check it out with your pdoc.
Best of Luck,
Geezer
Posted by TR on May 11, 2003, at 10:10:23
In reply to Re: Effexor alternatives ???, posted by linkadge on May 10, 2003, at 1:30:20
I think the suggestion concerning Omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil may have been a good one. My withdrawal symptoms from Effexor weren't that severe, and I was consuming a large number of fish oil capsules each day. Of course, one could have had nothing to do with the other, but you never know.
Posted by John2222 on May 11, 2003, at 17:21:42
In reply to Re: Effexor alternatives ???, posted by TR on May 11, 2003, at 10:10:23
> I think the suggestion concerning Omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil may have been a good one. My withdrawal symptoms from Effexor weren't that severe, and I was consuming a large number of fish oil capsules each day. Of course, one could have had nothing to do with the other, but you never know.
I've seen lots of comments about using fish oil. I've been taking 2 capsules a day for some time, but recently started taking one more (at lunch).
How many/much is needed to help with the withdrawals?
When I last tapered I felt fine for about 2 or 3 days then WAM--felt awful. Maybe some more fish oil would eliminate the wall!
Posted by Bill L on May 12, 2003, at 9:53:58
In reply to Effexor alternatives ???, posted by John2222 on May 9, 2003, at 23:51:47
I agree with the other posters that taking Prozac while tapering off Effexor is suppoesed to work very well.
I think that you should seriously consider staying on Effexor since it has been working well for you.
This is the end of the thread.
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