Trying To Get Off This Hell Of A Drug! (Top voted first)

I have been on Effexor xr for 15 years, started at 150mg for about a year & was like a zombie, switched to 75mg where I've been for the past 14years, I've gained so much weight it is killing me, my doctor did every diagnostic - thyroid, PCOS that could possibly make me gain after eating right & running 5k a day. The scale stays the same or rises, we did a hormone evaluation & came to the conclusion that for lack of a better word my metabolism is shot, which can be a side effect of long term Effexor use. She's cut me down to 37.5mg for 2 weeks to wean me off. I am terrified of the side effects when I stop. Are there any suggestions that may make it easier?

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Effexor weaning is a very long process. I started it a year ago at a dose of 75 and the highest (after only a few months into taking it) i was on was somewhere in the 200 mg range. It is an absolutely terrible drug. If it has truly helped anyone without demonstrating a side-effect I would be amazed. I argued with my psychiatrist that I wanted my life back and only after my boyfriend stood up for me did she agree to taper me. Effexor was making me hostile and suicidal, I have the scars on my arm for life. We started by dropping me from the 200 range straight to 75 mg. I think this was a ploy by the dr to have me begging to be back on--the withdrawal was HELL. Brain zaps, nausea, fatigue, irritability, aggression, hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, and the worst of them was neuropathy. In the worst place a woman can have neuropathy. She dropped the dose again, quickly, to 37.5 mg, no relief. Then soon to the lowest dose, 25 mg, all the while communicating my symptoms and how I was now convinced I had permanent nerve damage. My dr didn't care. She pushed more drugs my way but I'm stubborn and kept off of everything. Then one day I'd had enough and flushed the effing pills down the toilet. Not having that emergency pill was a nightmare, but only for a few weeks. I loaded myself up on Omega 3, that was a BIG help. And while it may have mixed reviews, Marijuana did wonders for my brain zaps and nausea. I'm now 24 days off the s***. I STILL have the symptoms but most are something you can live with. However, my med freedom came with a cost. I now have what is called PGAD-- persistent genital arousal disorder. Not much is known about it other than it can be caused by snri and ssri discontinuation. It deals with nerves. It is not at all pleasant, but instead intrusive and a constant feeling of being aroused physically but not mentally. I equivilate it to rape. This is what Effexor did to me. The doctors push this drug on people without telling them Effexor is potentially a lifelong commitment and that it can REALLY damage you. When I told my dr this she told me to leave her office and if I felt suicidal to call the hotline. She wanted nothing more to do with me because I refused medication treatment. I'm bow seeing a gynecologist/specialist about my very embarrassing condition. And I do plan to take legal action against my doc for basically throwing me to the curb when all I did was share my concerns. As a doctor she should have been respectful and at least pretended to care. I'm a human, not some lab rat. My advice to you is take the process slow. Reduce the dosage little by little and don't give in because of how difficult (and believe me, it is difficult) it is. Effexor is one of the hardest drugs to come off of. Some people ask to pair the weaning process with Prozac, and apparently this has positive results. Try those Omega 3 vitamins, they helped me. Lots of rest combined with keeping your mind busy (if that makes sense) will help, too. To anyone trying to get off Effexor I wish you the best of luck. It is a hellish drug and should not be Wyeth Pharmaceuticals bestseller that makes hundreds of billions at the expense of the patients. It is a poison that should not exist.

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Sorry you're going through this! Reason I wanted off is the weight gain I've gained over 200lbs - if my marriage survives me coming off this poison I'll be surprised!

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