Withdrawing from EffexorXL

By Pegleg Sunday, March 07, 2010

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I have tried to quit taking Effexor due to financial difficulty. Damn, they are over $5.00 a pill where I live for the generic.

After I've been off Effexor 2-3 days, I start having a bad squealing in my head. Not just the ears, but in the head. Then, after 3-4 days , the squeal gets more intense and seems to be going in every direction. Six days is the longest I've been able to stay off Effexor. By the sixth day, the noises in the head start to sound like there is intense air pressure being squirted from all directions in my head simultaniously. It is a pain in the A@@ ! The sounds going everywhere in the head make it hard to walk , because it will throw me off balance.

Also, very difficult to sleep or concentrate.

I talked to my Pharmacist 1st, about getting off Effexor. He was not interested and said, " well, just cut back a little at a time".

I told my Dr. about trying to stop taking Effexor. He said pretty much the same thing as my Pharmacist. Then, when I called my Dr. and told him about the side effects of withdrawalI was having, he called in a cheap, over the counter, motion sickness drug. Give me a break..

I have tried 4 times, to stop taking Effexor/Venlafaxine. I have failed everytime, due to the side effects of withdrawal.

Comments (5) | Add comment

Pegleg

3/ 7/10 11:41pm

Does ANYBODY know how to get off Effexor safely ?

I need HELP.

LyraStorm

3/ 8/10 12:51am

Hi,

Yeah Effexor is terrible. I had a similar thing happen to me in withdrawals. You should definitely ween off it very slowly. If you have been on it for a long time minimise your dose by the smallest increments possible, staying on the slightly lesser dose each time for at least a week before minimising it again. You will probably still have that noise thing in the head - for me it was like a 'jush, jush, jush' thing, like I could hear it and it was moving about at the same time and threw me off balance like you said - like my head was walking in space or somethign but worse. It lasted for a week or two once I was completely off of it.

Unfortunately thats the only advice I can give, take the weaning off of the pills slow and steady. Good luck

Pegleg

3/ 8/10 11:04am

Thanks. I couldn't figure out how to spell the sounds that were going on in my head.

Paul

3/ 8/10 6:50am

There are people who have dealt with successfully getting off this drug who will respond, I think. Until then you can read a medication review about Effexor that erely Me, a writer and community leader for this wrote. It is the comments you should read to get some insight, plus a search of the word Effexor will bring up other information.

Under the above, orange "Manage" button, you will see a link to information about Effexor withdrawal. It can be done but it is one of toughest drugs, from what I read to withdraw from. Good luck.

Pegleg

3/ 8/10 11:06am

Thank You.

Withdrawing from EffexorXL

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