(Is it a hijack to say much about klonopin or other benzos in this Effexor thread?)
Yes, absolutely, taper those benzos really really really slowly!!! I was using such a low dose that quitting cold turkey seemed appropriate (a year later, a doctor even said so) and I still had massive problem.
By all accounts I have read, benzos may be safe, useful, and helpful for SHORT TERM usage only (at most a few weeks). Beyond that, they lose effectiveness and become downright addictive. Thus, if you have some short-term anxiety problem, okay, maybe. But if you have chronic long-term anxiety trouble, benzos simply aren’t there to help you, and if you try to use benzos for a long time you WILL live to regret it!
Lack of serotonin in the brain, (as the drug isn’t blocking their reuptake) meaning the signal doesn’t quite make it to its destination. Describing how they feel is more complicated. The only part I think I can describe is the sudden dizziness, and the one time I noticed that my vision went all snowy for a split second. And, yes, you can’t think nearly as clearly, as your brain tries to compensate.
If you have them, one fairly reliable way to invoke them is to look really quickly from one side of your eye to the other. This means you have to be very careful in your eye movements. Move slowly and give your brain time to interpret its surroundings.
As for benzos: they’re why I’m agoraphobic. I went off them too quickly. You do not want to be like me. I’m surprised I’m still alive. I sure didn’t want to be for months on end.
(Now whether the lingering effects are due to the benzos or just the traumatic experience of the withdrawal, I don’t know. Or heck, it could be SSRI withdrawal: things didn’t really get bad until the doctor tried to change that too, putting me on Effexor, which made me feel like crap.)
I hated Effexor because like everyone else, I’d occasionally miss a day. I tended to get the really vivid dreams at those times, which almost made it worth it, as long as I didn’t miss a second dose.
Then I had to have back surgery and they told me I had to go off of them cold turkey before I had the surgery. Never again. I refused to go back on them rather than risk experiencing that again.
I take Sertraline (Zoloft) now, and it seems to work as well as anything else ever has (not at all, I suspect, but better safe than sorry).
I was trying to wean off Effexor (it was causing me to gain a lot of weight), and my idiot GP, rather than prescribing the 37.5 mg pills for me, told me to just take the 75s every other day. It was the most horrific week of my life. Bad, bad doctor.
I ended up talking him into a prescription for the 37.5s, then taking those apart and splitting them in halves and later in quarters to finish tapering it down. That was tolerable, although still not fun.
‘Brian zaps’ for me, felt like when I moved my body or turned my head quickly, my brain got left behind. My vision would black out for a split second, my mind would go blank, and I’d get a flash of dizziness and sometimes feeling like I was falling (vertigo?). Sometimes I would start to actually fall, if I hadn’t already stumbled or crashed into something due to my vision cutting out. Then my brain would ‘catch up’ with a tingling sensation in my head and eyes not unlike electrical shocks. It was scary and unpleasant but quite like some symptoms of migraine I’ve had my whole life, so I was less freaked out I think than many people would be.
If I drove, it wouldn’t have been at all safe to do so while I having bad ‘zaps’. It was barely safe to walk.
I quit Effexor because I wanted to see what would happen, not because I noticed any negative side effects. I had no emotions while I was on it (which was surely useful when I wanted to die all the time due to life circumstances), so being off it past withdrawal I felt a lot better - able to feel cheerful sometimes, or sad when appropriate.
If I may ask, why did you stop taking all three cold-turkey? If it was on-purpose (and not for reasons beyond your control), why did you go cold turkey instead of slow taper? Were you aware of the side effects (worse than brain-zap side effects) of quitting them all of a sudden?
I have taken Effexor since 2004 and Paxil for about 5 years before that. Fortunately, I don’t get the brain zaps but I’m acutely aware if I’ve missed a single dose. I get tingly lips and vertigo within hours of a missed dose. Scares the crap outta me.
I’ve been having increased anxiety lately and really don’t want to go back to the doc for more drugs. I can usually ward off the anxiety attacks with a very low dose of Xanax but really hate that the next day the anxiety is usually worse than the first day. I call it a Xanax hangover.
I’m on 225 per day of the Ex as well. Been at least 6 years, not sure exactly how long.
I too want to get off the stuff, for no other reason than I fear what would happen if there was some reason where I couldn’t get any. Insurance snafu, supply problems, zombie apocalypse, whatever.
I did try sort of weaning myself a few years back and it did not go well.
I’m now working with my shrink to try to get off of it slowly. Though she’s reluctant to take me off of it because, “you’re doing so well.”
I told her I wanted a goal to shoot for so - if everything continues well, I get to drop down to 150 per day next spring. Not sure what happens after that.
Anywho - the withdrawal for me is pretty bad. Zaps, pseudo-flu like symptoms, vivid dreams, the whole gamut.
For those who have asked - I can’t think of any good way to describe what these brain zaps are like. It’s this odd electrical sensation, sort of like a static shock but different. I get them in my arms/elbows mostly. I’ll just be sitting there or whatever and I’ll get this weird jolt. And it will continue to happen - not sure how often, but enough to be very uncomfortable - until I get back on my dosage schedule.
Withdrawal from this stuff is so bad that I can’t miss a single dose or I’ll be paying for it. I carry one of those little pill containers on my key chain so that I always, always have some with me in the event that I forget a dose.
I was on a fairly low dose (maybe 37.5 mg; this was 10 years ago) and I didn’t have much problems quitting. There was the occasional whirling or spinning sensation (especially while dreaming), but I had those while I was taking Effexor as well.
When I was taking Effexor I experienced psychotic symptoms - hearing things that were not there. It got to the point that I felt as though I was being haunted. I also experienced terrible headaches. So I just stopped taking them one day. The headaches disappeared the day after I took my last dose, and the psychosis stopped within a couple of days. I’m not sure how long after because ever since my Effexor days I have trouble with my short term memory. My memory of the Effexor period of my life is especially hazy. My psychiatrist had me well over the maximum recommended dose.
I now have a new psychiatrist and am now on Parnate which is a very old antidepressant. It is considered to be quite dangerous - eating certain foods while on Parnate can be fatal. But it works for me better than any of the newer drugs.
From what i have read my case is not typical. Most people who stop Effexor cold turkey have horrific withdrawal symptoms.
Sorry, I didn’t see this. I was aware of the potential for side effects. Really, brain zaps were the least bad of the potentially serious ones, and doing it as I did it was really very profoundly stupid.
The meds were making things worse; specifically, they were making it so that I couldn’t work. Additionally, I began to suspect that the initial depression–that which had started everything–had more to do with my shitty-ass marriage than with inherent biochemical imbalances. The development of mild aphasia was the last straw; it scared the hell out of me, so I stopped.
I’ve been taking a dose of 150mg each evening before bed but decided I want to get off it.
3 days ago I started taking 75mg each night and so far it’s going well.
I’m getting some wild dreams but I feel no different during the day.
Not sure how long to stay on 75mg (one pill) before I go off it completly; I was thinking maybe 4 weeks?
Anyway I’ll keep you all updated on how it goes.
Ao far so good!
It’s been 5 weeks now since I quit and thisisthe first week it’s not so bad.
The first 4 weeks have been an absolute living hell; I hated myself, little things set me off, I just wanted to kill someone.
It’s better now, I still have a sort of faint head-ache in the background and some faint elecrical impulse charges but this I can deal with, I think the worst is over.
Never again will I ever go on anything like this, the withdrawl was pure hell.
I’ve been on 225mg for several years now (more than 3, less than 10 is the best I can recall for the moment). If I miss one dose, I’m OK. If I miss two, I’m in trouble. Brain zaps, can’t drive, blurry vision, feel very fragile, etc.
I have not noticed any side effects so long as I stay on the Effexor. At one time, I thought it was affecting my libido, so I asked my NP (nurse practitioner) if there was something else that I could try that might be better in that aspect. After a week, I was feeling as if I just wanted to sit and cry all the time for no reason. So, back to the Effexor. Incidentally, it turned out the drug was not to blame for the libido/anorgasmia - it was the partner. No problems these days.
I wish it weren’t so damned expensive, but Effexor is the only thing that allows me to hold a steady job and all that, so I’m OK with the lifetime regimen. It doesn’t make me feel “happy” or drugged; it just keeps me from feeling the hopeless, helpless feelings that used to make my life miserable. I still deal with occasional mild bouts of depression or anxiety, but they are manageable. And, yes, I did the talking therapy (solo and group) for many years, so it’s not a cop-out from doing the “real work.”
Good luck to you in whatever you decide is best for you, BewareOfDoug.
I came off 150mg Effexor cold turkey in 2008 because I found out I was pregnant, and nobody could tell me what the side effects on the fetus might be. Cue three weeks of brain zaps (like someone’s hitting me in the face with a huge, terrifying invisible balloon) and feelings of dread. I coped with the rest of the pregnancy okay because I had something to concentrate on. Just as well, because I also gave up smoking at the same time.
I went back on 75mg a few months ago. I’d been coping with my anxiety and depression, but it was only ‘coping’, not living. I’ve figured out how to deal with several of my phobias and have learned different strategies to lessen my mental health issues, but I’ve admitted to myself now that I work better on them than off, because being off them is exhausting. I don’t intend to quit again so long as I have someone willing to prescribe them to me.
