# What are withdrawl symphtoms of Antidepressents ?



## hasenfuss (Dec 28, 2006)

I know you suppose to taper of slowly when you come off from an antidepressent. I still hear people feeling not so good even when they come off slowly. What are some of the symphtoms ?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Usually it is the SSRI's or SNRI's that are the problem at the doses people take them for IBS (tricyclics are usually well below the dose needed to change mood).A lot of people never have symptoms at all.Of course some of these you can work yourself up into if you get over anxious waiting for something bad to happen.


> http://www.aafp.org/afp/20060801/449.htmlTypical symptoms of antidepressant discontinuation syndrome include flu-like symptoms, insomnia, nausea, imbalance, sensory disturbances, and hyperarousal. These symptoms usually are mild, last one to two weeks, and are rapidly extinguished with reinstitution of antidepressant medication.


If you are taking one that clears out of the body quickly they may have you take one that takes a long time to clear the body to ease symptoms.


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## MyOwnSavior (Dec 21, 2006)

I've read some real horror stories, especially regarding Effexorhttp://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/sig...i?effexor&1But for me, I had no withdrawal symptoms at all from Elavil (mainly because I'm not sure it ever did anything at all). On the other hand, when I stopped Effexor I did have things like electrical shock sensations in my brain, feeling dizzy, and so on. But these stopped after a while, although apparently (if you really read into what some people have experienced) for some people these things never go away...


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## degrassi (Jun 10, 2003)

Oh god, i'm trying to come off Effexor and its been Hell!I was on 75mg and weaned down to 37.5mg over a week or so. That went fine, no symptoms. How i'm trying to get from the 37.5mg(smallest pills available) to nothing. Its been terrible and I have felt like ####. Instead of taking the pill ever 24hrs I tried 36hrs. After the 24hrs I would start to feel dizzy, cloudy, nauseated, tired and just plain icky. After doing 1 1/2 weeks of 36hrs I have moved to 1 pill every 2 days. By the second day the sypmtoms have returned and I feel sick all over again. I have also noticed I have this feeling of rage and I am quick to snap and everything is pissing me off. Its been terrible and I wish I never started but I'm sticking to it. Effexor worked quite well for my anxiety(didnt' help my IBS-D) but its side effects of weight gain and sweatyness were not worth it for me so I wanted to stop. So i would suggest not starting anti anxiety/anti depressants unless you are ready to deal with the problems of coming off them. Not sure if all of them are as hard to come off of as effexor though.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I thought Effexor was hard to come off because it has a pretty short half life. (blood concentration drops quickly)I'm not sure if you are doing yourself any favors with the spreading them out routine. I'd have cut the pills in half or quarters rather than spread the time out.I worry all you are doing is prolonging the withdrawl time by dosing yourself just before things ease off. So rather than a week or two where ever day is a bit better than the last you just keep the vicious cycle going and have longer and longer bad times between doses. So you may end up with months and months of I just stopped taking the pills rather than ever really withdrawing completely.Sometimes they will put you on a longer acting antidepressant to finish off as it isn't as much of a rollercoaster as your blood levels do not spike and drop as much.If you haven't talked to your doctor about these problems, I would do so, there may be a better way.K.


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## MyOwnSavior (Dec 21, 2006)

degrassi said:


> So i would suggest not starting anti anxiety/anti depressants unless you are ready to deal with the problems of coming off them. Not sure if all of them are as hard to come off of as effexor though.


Well, I know Cymbalta is the "sister drug" to Effexor, so I'm guessing it's just as much fun to come off of... not that I've tried it yet (seeing as how it's drastically reduced my IBS pains so I really don't have any reason to). It's frustrating because drugs effect different people in different ways... Doctors really don't seem to know much about how a particular drug will effect an individual person, and so it really is just a kind of guessing game whenever they prescribe something. What frustrates me is how they kind of play Russian roulette with peoples' lives - and when you read about some of the horrible, worst case effects that these types of drugs can have on people, you realize that that is exactly what they are doing...So if anyone chooses to go on a drug like Effexor, I would really urge them to do an online search to find out all the (potential) side effects of the drug and see if it's really something they want to deal with, because I know lots of times (in my experience) doctors don't even talk about them, or they kind of brush over them as if they only happen to such a small number of people that there's no way they'd happen to you...


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## 18438 (Dec 14, 2006)

www.crazymeds.ushas all the info you need on effexor and cymbalta and the effects of coming off .... SSRI Discontinuation syndrome.


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## degrassi (Jun 10, 2003)

Kathleen M. said:


> I thought Effexor was hard to come off because it has a pretty short half life. (blood concentration drops quickly)I'm not sure if you are doing yourself any favors with the spreading them out routine. I'd have cut the pills in half or quarters rather than spread the time out.I worry all you are doing is prolonging the withdrawl time by dosing yourself just before things ease off. So rather than a week or two where ever day is a bit better than the last you just keep the vicious cycle going and have longer and longer bad times between doses. So you may end up with months and months of I just stopped taking the pills rather than ever really withdrawing completely.Sometimes they will put you on a longer acting antidepressant to finish off as it isn't as much of a rollercoaster as your blood levels do not spike and drop as much.If you haven't talked to your doctor about these problems, I would do so, there may be a better way.K.


I have talked with my doctor about coming off of effexor and I've also consulted a psychiatrist(my mom's as she is also stopping her effexor) and a pharmasist and they all say its best to slowly wean yourself off. If you are on a high dose and decide to just stop cold turkey you have have seisures and other problems. You can't cut the pill into smaller pieces as its in capsules and the smallest capsule you can get is 37.5mg. Everything I've heard/ read says to do the "skip a day" method.Here is what the http://www.crazymeds.us/ site says


> *How to Stop Taking Effexor:* Unless you need to discontinue Effexor XR at a more rapid rate, your doctor should be recommending that you reduce your dosage by 37.5mg a day every week if you need to stop taking it, if not more slowly than that. For more information, please see the page on how to safely stop taking these crazy meds. You shouldn't be doing it any faster than that unless it's an emergency. Yes, that means if you've maxed out at 375mg a day it'll take 10 weeks to get off of Effexor (venlafaxine hydrochloride). Believe me, it's better that way. You can try it faster and hope it works out. The odds are with you, but it's hardly a sure thing. Once you get down to that last 37.5mg a day you have several options:-If the discontinuation symptoms you're experiencing are mild, if you're experiencing any at all, then you may as well stop taking it. You're in the plurality of people who have taken either version of Effexor who could stop taking Effexor (venlafaxine) without too much of a hassle. -If the brain zaps or shivers and other discontinuation symptoms are still bad you can try taking one 37.5mg capsule every other day, or getting a prescription for generic venlafaxine in the immediate-release form and working your way down. As immediate-release venlafaxine comes in a variety of dosages you have all sorts of ways you and your doctor can work out a discontinuation schedule from there. -If you still can't stop taking it at a low dosage, you and your doctor may want to try Prozac (fluoxetine) prescription or samples. Generic fluoxetine will even do. 10mg a day is all you should need. Even with the proper discontinuation stopping the last 37.5mg can be hellish. Taking two weeks worth of Prozac (fluoxetine) will make the discontinuation a lot easier. So when you're off of Effexor and you cannot function, get on the Prozac for a week or two, then stop taking the Prozac. By that time you should find you'll have either no discontinuation syndrome, or it won't be nearly as bad. If worse comes to worst, there's always the liquid Prozac. Then you can work your way down from the equivalent of 10mg, or higher if 10mg was too low, to ever-so-slowly try to wean yourself off of the serotonergic part of Effexor that had its claws in you.


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## Guest (Mar 1, 2008)

I'm not being facetious - I'm genuinely curious - why would you want to come off them anyway? Presumably you were put on them for a reason, I have been on 30mg Mitrazapene (an SSRI) derivative over 2 years' ago now and don't think I'll be trying to taper off them for a very long time. I have depression which is addressed by rebalancing the chemistry in my brain. I think whoever tries is very brave and I would certainly NOT recommend doing so without very close work with your family doctor/psychiatrist or whoever is managing your treatment.The key seems to be very gradually - presumably if you feel terrible - perhaps that is your body telling you that you are simply not ready to do so - or if you have to - do so more gradually.Lets face it - if you have been prescribed anti-depressants - there is a reason for that - I think you'd have to be very sure you are physically or mentally "up to" the long, hard road off them.Good luck to whoever is facing this challenge - glad it isn't me.Sue


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

The every other day may be the recommended method. I just know for some things that just keeps you from making a full break and you just prolong with withdrawl rather than ever get off.I'm not sure if the "crazymeds" site is basing things on clinical evidence or not. I just went by what I know of half-life and some of the information I've seen where you may need to go to a longer half life to finish the wean off.Would they consider going to some other drug that is easier to finish the taper with. I know some doctors do that for those that can't just stop once they get to the lowest dose. Even the website you like says that may need to be done, and I have seen that on other medically oriented sites.If you haven't been talking to your doctor during this what sounds like a fairly long time of not being able to finish the withdrawl I would do that.


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## Tiss (Aug 22, 2000)

I took Nardil, an MAOI antidepressant several years ago. I was on it for about 4 years and the withdrawal was hell so I devised my own program. The doctor I was seeing had me withdraw waaayyy too fast and it scare the BeJesus out of me. Doctors really don't give a #### whether we feel like hell or not and they don't seem to want to listen about coming off these drugs in a humane, safe manner. After the 1st attempt at withdrawing (the doctor's way) I went back on them to get my blood levels stable and to help me stop feeling so horrible. Then, I started cutting each table into quarters and withdrew a quarter tablet every 3 weeks. I withdrew just fine doing it that way. I haven't taken effexor but my sister thought she was losing her mind trying to get off of it. I think the answer is you've got to be patient and go as slow as possible. I didn't care how long it took me as I knew at the end I would be off of it--whether it took 2 weeks or 2 years to withdraw. I am now trying to get off the benzos I've been on forever and am going to start Dr. Ashton's method. You might google that and take a look. She is out of the UK and I believe she has a tapering method for antidepressants too. Good luck!


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## degrassi (Jun 10, 2003)

SueV said:


> I'm not being facetious - I'm genuinely curious - why would you want to come off them anyway? Presumably you were put on them for a reason, I have been on 30mg Mitrazapene (an SSRI) derivative over 2 years' ago now and don't think I'll be trying to taper off them for a very long time. I have depression which is addressed by rebalancing the chemistry in my brain. I think whoever tries is very brave and I would certainly NOT recommend doing so without very close work with your family doctor/psychiatrist or whoever is managing your treatment.The key seems to be very gradually - presumably if you feel terrible - perhaps that is your body telling you that you are simply not ready to do so - or if you have to - do so more gradually.Lets face it - if you have been prescribed anti-depressants - there is a reason for that - I think you'd have to be very sure you are physically or mentally "up to" the long, hard road off them.Good luck to whoever is facing this challenge - glad it isn't me.Sue


I was prescribed Effexor becuase I had anxiety(constant nervous feeling and couldnt' stop my brain from thinking the same thing over and over) and depression. The effexor helped the problem but didn't cure it completely. So I felt the side effects I was dealing with(weigth gain and being constantly sweaty) weren't worth it. So i consulted my doctor and he asked if I wanted to try something else and I said no as I had already tried 2 others and had similar side effects. But I have good news, I'm finally off Effexor!!! I took my last dose on Feb 23rd! For 2 days after that dose I felt like #### but I just decided I'd rather feel like #### for a week then keep drawing out the process. By days 3-4 The dizzyness was starting to go away so i stuck it out. So far i'm feeling ok, I havent' noticed any worsening in my anxiety or depression. If I had known that the last bit of the weaning process would be that bad I would have asked to be put on something to help with the withdrawl symptoms, like prozac or something. So for anyone wanting to stop their antidepressants I would only do it under close supervision of your doctor and be prepared that you might feel crappy for a bit. I also found that taking gravol helped with the dizzyness/nauseated feeling I had from tapering it down.


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## Ashers86 (Dec 31, 2007)

> The effexor helped the problem but didn't cure it completely. So I felt the side effects I was dealing with(weigth gain and being constantly sweaty) weren't worth it.


You know, I wish my doctor had told me about the weight gain before I started it! She honestly didn't until a year later when my dose was increased. I was a little ticked, especially since it all made sense! I've always been a little over the average, but I have noticeably gained quite a bit within the same period of time that I was on Effexor. That royally sucks! I don't know that it's working much for me anymore though...You are honestly going to have to research the withdrawal symptoms of your specific med before you even try to taper off. I was briefly on Wellbutrin, but found that once my body was used to taking it, I entered a period of insomnia. Because of that, I was told to get off - but keep in mind that going off Wellbutrin suddenly could cause seizures. Effexor is also very hard to get off of - I dread the days I try to go off mine! Even if I'm just late or forget to take one, I get a severe migraine and an upset stomach - just imagine what kind of withdrawal symptoms I'll have!








Don't forget, it's not like a vitamin, it is a chemical we're putting in our body. Our body is used to taking it in, because if it's all done/prescribed the right way, it is a chemical that our body needs. It's the same as quitting smoking, it's not that easy to do because our body is going to act miserably.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2008)

Asher my darling - brother do I empathise re the weight gain. I've always been slim build - had put a little on with 3 kids but basically hovvered around 9 stone, had a waistline and a reasonable figure. I've been on mitrazapene for over 2 years and am now plump with hooooge boobies and am struggling to stay at around 10 and a half stone and I HATE being plump - it pisses me off that I can't wear tailored trousers, jeans or anything that would show off a waistline should I even have one. All my cousins and my sister are slithering into size 10 trousers and I look like Ma Larkin.However, I'm mentally well, working part time and am hopefully a decent mum to 3 lovely, lively kids, and hopefully not too bad a wife to my husband.You are young and I can imagine how much it must "suck" - I suppose its about weighing up the pros and cons isn't it. I'm 45 and frankly take a pragmatic approach to a life on anti-d's - yeah its not great being the size of a whale (well I exagerate abit) but the alternative (for me) is not really a life at all.Good luck to anyone on this type of medication - you are quite right - these medicines are serious buggers and need treating with respect.Sue


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## Ashers86 (Dec 31, 2007)

Aww, Sue you're so funny!I think the worst part is this - ever since all the bowel problems started, I couldn't wear tight jeans/pants. I've since thrown out all of my jeans and any pants that have a zipper and/or button. I seriously cannot wear anything like that. I get by with sweat pants. Mind you, I have found some nice ones (that I used for work) at Walmart that are the stretchy light material, but are actually form fitting. Those and I've got a couple of pairs of Yoga pants. Thats all I can wear.I feel crummy wearing this stuff because it does look baggy and sometimes sloppy. While I do wish I could drop those pounds that meds, etc. added on to me, I don't really care anymore. When it comes to my clothes nowadays, it's about comfort. So tank tops, sweaters and my Yoga pants is my outfit!Anyways, back to the topic at hand...


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2008)

Absolutely Ash but quickly before we do - leggings (which I SWORE I'd never wear again) and those tunic tops - bloody god send.Sorry topic starter - yeah back to the thread.Sue


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