keep me in ur thoughts i stop effexor today and if any of you have ever been on effexor you will KNOW the withdrawals are the worst ever. im only on the starting dose and im already preparing for horrible withdrawals.

god i love antidepressants, being unable to cum is exactly what makes people happy right

they got me eating a molecule

effexor angel !!

Me: depressed af literally too anxious to leave the house (agoraphobic) and caught in a time loop of my own feral grotesque nightmare in which I die before experiencing living.

My sister: why didn't you do the dishes today?!

Anyone have experience with Effexor AKA Venlafaxine

?

Please share🙏🏻

I was on lexapro before this - a few months ago

Spent the whole night researching about neurotransmitters. I feel like I know more now that what my psychiatrist cared to explain me during a whole year.

So You’re in Effexor/Venlafaxine Withdrawal

Had some provider change bullshit and went from 225 mg a day for years to cold turkey for five days. Effexor’s pretty famous for being The Fucking Worst withdrawal wise, but it honestly works great for me. I’m a dumbass with ADHD, so I often end up without a day or two, but HOO BOY five days was a lot.

Unfortunately, most withdrawal advice I’ve found it targeted at people who are intentionally going off Effexor and focused on working with a doctor and weening slowly, not super relevant to me. I wanted to write up what I’ve learned to help other people who might be going through the withdrawal and not have access to Effexor or a doctor. None of this magically fixes it, it’s just making the shit timeframe until you can get your meds a bit less shit.

Note, this is pretty much all personal experience, and there’s not much research. This is not formal medical advice, and if you can talk to a professional, please do. Also note that I have a number of side conditions that may influence my experience. (Withdrawal is actually something that can be so personal.)

Know the Emergency Signs I’m not gonna fully list symptoms here, plenty of people have done that, but know which symptoms are normal ‘yup this sucks‘ symptoms and which are ‘oh shit‘ symptoms.  If you’re in this situation, I imagine the odds are good money is part of the problem, but know Urgent Care and the ER will usually give you an emergency prescription, so if you feel like things are getting that bad anyways, it’s good to go before it gets worse.

Don’t Drive I can’t drive ever, but pls don’t do this in withdrawal. I know you might have obligations, and I know calling a ride is expensive, but getting in a car crash is more expensive.

Try Not to Be Alone If you can, ask a friend over, go to a family members house, whatever you can. A lot of the emergency signs (delirium, seizures, losing consciousness) mean you can’t seek care for yourself. It’s good to have somebody around who knows what to look for. The biggest danger to people in Effexor withdrawal tends to be the mental symptoms. If it’s safe, let your loved ones know that you’re at higher risk for self harm and suicidal thoughts, and what you’d like them to do if  they’re worried. Most situations aren’t going to be that bad. Usually, it just sucks, but like... it’s good to have somebody around who can bring you soup and listen to you feel sorry for yourself. Treat it like having the flu, and know you deserve the same care as anyone else in that situation. (Yes, even if it’s ‘your fault’ you ran out of meds. If punishing yourself for not thinking ahead/missing an insurance detail/forgetting something worked, I’d never miss a dose.)

Chill Out Your Nervous System A lot of the symptoms (brain zaps and shivers esp) are your nervous system going out of control, so doing calming techniques can actually help. Getting hugs, bundling up somewhere cozy, and doing deep breathing is legit medical treatment for soothing out a haywire system.

Track When In the Day It’s Worst Being sick, unfortunately, does not always mean you don’t have shit to do. I realized pretty quickly my shakes were a ton worse at night, so, even though I didn’t want to do much during the morning, if it had to get done, that’s when it was going to happen. It can also be good just so, when you’re symptoms are at their worst, you can remember that it won’t be like this the entire time until you get meds.

Indulge Cravings When your body’s doing heavy lifting, it starts yelling for whatever weird shit it thinks might help. That’s what weird pregnancy cravings are, and that’s what you need now. Save the diet for later, get a little lax on the grocery budget, and have zero shame about replacing dinner with pickle juice mixed with gatoraid or whatever. If you deal with nausea, try to stick to small meals of whatever seems doable. My personal buddy was Morningstar Veggie sausages since they’re high protein without being too dense or fatty.

Medicine Cabinet Helpers Dangerous layman advice!!! I saw medical pages advise it but still be careful!!! That said, holy shit, those dramamine lemon ginger chews are my best friends now, followed shortly by melatonin gummies and advil.

Room Temp Baths Hot baths can be a lot on an overtaxed nervous system, but I found pleasantly warm water was very pleasant.

Sick Day Entertainment When electronics are overwhelming, books are hard, you can’t get out of bed, and you desperately need a distraction, it’s good to have things you can handle. Some ideas -Calling somebody -Audiobooks/podcasts -Coloring Honestly, more suggestions here would be great. My go to was podcasts, but I know a lot of people, trying to track a podcast in withdrawal sounds like hell.

Anyway, cheers to making it out the other side, because you will. In the meantime, spoil the shit out of yourself.

You forget to take your meds and get a headache. I forget to take my meds and have an intense sex dream about a man dressed as a cat.

We are not the same.

I love how mirtazapine and venlafaxine is dubbed as "California Rocket Fuel"

Thank you Dr. Stephen Stahl for that wonderful name we should officially give all meds ‘street drug like’ names

Venlafaxine my beloved ♡

Off topic to this blog, but I just started venlafaxine and I'm wondering if anyone out there has had good results from taking this medication.

The Tumblr tag and the reddit page are full of posts about how the first week sucks and how the withdrawals are absolutely brutal, and that's on top of all the posts from people who started having nightmares while taking it.

And now I'm nervous lol.

Tfw you have a side effect of your antidepressant that only 0.1% of people have:

Medication is so funny. I feel the urge to do something self destructive or dumb as always, but I'll get quickly distracted by a book or a game or something cute/inexpensive to buy.

Before meds, I'd set my life ablaze just to feel something because I felt unloved/unlovable, and half an hour later I'd be cursing myself for it

Failed Relationships - Effexor

I paid the money, I took the test. It was meant to tell me what relationships were likely ‘effective’ with my genetic type—and which weren’t.

Open blouse and a pendant that hangs down past your clavicle: you gesture to me with mystical signs. Asked me to help you with one little thing, then you would help me. I never realized until too late that your projects always somehow became my projects. I looked forward to you, and to our every day together. But ‘tomorrow with you’ was always so far away. Everything with you was so far away, so unlikely to fall into my hand, so far out of reach.

When I left you, I cried and cried. I wrote poetry, I read nostalgic stories, I sobbed about movies. I should have left you slowly, but the end of you seemed so far away. And I was so tired.