first day with no effexor

[AAD]

well ive been on effexor for about 8 years i would say. Been taking the 150 dose. decided i didnt want to be on it anymore and began weening off of it as per my Dr. stepped down to 112.5 for 2 weeks the 75 for two weeks then 37.5 for 2 weeks. Today was my first day with no meds and it was horrible. Very anxious and panic attacks. That all to familiar tight chest feeling is the one that bothers me the most. Also a very overall cloudy feeling, also loss of appetitite, cant concentrate and at times feel high as a kite. Day 2 tomorrow wish me luck....any tips greatly appreciated.

[cjdelphi]

I was on 150mg effexor daily for 6 months I just stopped dead, first day felt nothing, felt nothing for about 4 - 5 days.

on the 6th/7th day I felt really tired and quite nauseous this got worse over the next few days and then I got tingles on the brain like someone was hitting my head with a hammer which caused a reverberation which bounced across the hemispheres of my brain, to begin with they would last up to 2 - 3 seconds.

after 3 days of getting this every few hours, these shocks became quicker but more frequent and soon they stopped after about a week of this and feeling just ill and basically sea-sick lack of energy, the brain shocks only were only lasting half a second or less.

first week - felt nothing.

second week - feeling ill, sea sick every day

third week- feeling these 'brain shocks'

fourth week - felt ok, just the occasional 'brain shock' every few hours

fifth Week - feeling absolutely fine again


I did not find Effexor to be of any real help to me I still felt really anxious and no change really, i would say it helped my anxiety less than 10% if anything it helped to realize when i was getting anxiety (something I did not realize until 1 year ago)


I'm now on 40mg of Paroxetine (1 year after stopping with effexor) and i believe it's helping me a lot more than effexor did, I find myself coping better in social situations, i'm more me or rather more the person I find myself thinking in my head to say outloud but never do.