1st Effexor Update

"I had been on it until 2021 when my doctor switched me to Effexor." — @Melz

Hi @Melz, and welcome! I'm on Effexor too. Why did you doctor initially switch you to it?

"I'm down to 37.5. I've been stuck here for months. My nurse practitioner tapered to 12 mg in am and pm and all hell broke loose. Crying non stop. Agitated, feeling exposed if I'm not in bed under covers. My stomach is in knots. I went back up to 37.5 bc the np said " I gu..." — @Melz

I'm really sorry about your experiences. Going from 265 mg down to 37.5 mg in a year is a very rapid taper. These drugs are very powerful, especially one like Effexor which has an extremely short half-life. Unfortunately, most doctors are taught that these drugs are correcting a chemical 'imbalance,' which has never been scientifically proven. And their training is lacking when it comes to deprescribing and anything related to withdrawal symptoms from the drugs. The best course will be to stick with consistent doses and hold for a very long time until things stabilize. Are you on brand-name Effexor or generic? If generic, make sure you get the same manufacturer for each refill as people can have issues if the pharmacy switches manufacturers. As Based Psychiatrist said, there are lots of your fellow members that are tapering this drug. I have quite a history with this drug in being harmed when I missed a dose and then tapered it too fast. I hope you'll be able to give yourself some time to rest and recover while things stabilize. Hang in there, it does get better! Reach out anytime. Catina 💜

You went down already a lot and yeah the last ones are the strongest to get rid of. Especially when taken for long. But I'm sure you will do it. Sometimes I wish as well to have never even started, but I have to say that they really helped at the time.