[culot]

Effexor is one of the nastiest ones, even when not tapering off of it. A missed dose can mean brain shocks, and withdrawals can mean months of that, sometimes strong enough to knock you down.

I am ever surprised that they continue prescribing that one. Of the 10 I've been on that one was the harshest by far (though many others also had severe, dangerous side effects).

[hercynium]

I agree, as I've missed a dose here and there over the years and experienced the intense paresthesia and headaches and nausea from withdrawal.

Background: I've lived my entire adult life (and most of my teens) with severe chronic depression. In my early 20's I started taking pharmaceutical treatment, and once I found the right drug (after trying many over the course of years) my life became manageable. SSRIs helped but I experienced severe nausea on most of them, or worse. It was only when I tried SNRIs like Effexor that things started to get better. YMMV, IANAPsychiatrist, etc, etc.

A few years ago I switched from Effexor to Cymbalta. Same class of drug - The Effexor simply wasn't helping as much as it used to and the switchover was done with a long taper-down and replace period. I even bought a lab-grade scale to measure out the contents of the capsules so I could cross-over smoothly.

All that said, Cymbalta has the same withdrawal effects, on about the same time scale - a single missed dose. But I wouldn't give it up unless something better comes along. I still struggle with my depression and the SNRI is just one tool in my toolbox for managing it.

[ozmaverick72]

I have been taking Effexor for more than 10 years. Two years ago I thought it was no longer being effective for me so I tried to taper down and stop taking the mediation. Over a period of weeks I dropped down from 150 mg to 37.5 mg. I could not drop from 37.5 mg - I experienced complete insomnia and terrible anxiety and I started to experience tinnitus. I went back to see a psychiatrist who initially didnt believe that everything I was experiencing was due to withdrawal - I had to fill one of my old scripts and prescribe myself my original dose of Effexor to get back to some semblance of normality. My anxiety and sleep levels returned to normal but although the tinnitus lessened its still there today. I worked with my doctor and eventually decided to increase the Effexor dose and it has helped greatly with my anxiety and depression. Apparently there arent many people who have reported tinnitus as an Effexor sessation side-effect. My doctor says it must just be coincidence - anyone else experience the same thing ? Just a word of caution to anyone thinking of stopping their medication - do it slowly and with the support of a doctor. I thought I knew what I was doing but I probably reduced my dosage too quickly and maybe this ringing in my ears is the price I pay.

[coolthrowaway]

I experienced tinnitus when I started either Celexa or Lexapro. It started on the second day. It was pretty bad and I quit it the next day. My doctor said that she had never heard of that happening.

[ComputerGuru]

I just quit it (as a migraine prophylactic discontinued to a very delayed onset of lethargy side effects) and had a hell of a hard time explaining to my neurologist about those brain shocks. They were horrible for the first two weeks and so disorienting, and they persisted for well over a month. And that is with severe titrating of dosage to the lowest sold (37.5mg).

I used to err on the side of double-dosing rather than miss a dose if I wasn’t sure, it is an absolute hell of a dependency.

[selectiveshift]

I’ve been off Effexor for almost three years now and I still get shivers when I think about the brain zaps.