My Neurological Nightmare Withdrawing from Effexor XR

Here is my story about the nightmare I have gone through trying to withdrawal from the antidepressant drug called Effexor XR (Venlafaxine).

Fifteen years ago I had severe pms and my physician prescribed 75 mg of Effexor XR.  Unfortunately, I would need to take this pill daily and never go off it cold-turkey.

What is Effexor (Venlafaxine)?

“Venlafaxine is an antidepressant in a group of drugs called selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SSNRIs). Venlafaxine affects chemicals in the brain that may be unbalanced in people with depression.

Venlafaxine is used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety, and panic disorder.”

First Effexor XR Reduction

In September, 2016, I went to my physician for a check-up and my blood pressure was a bit high.  I discussed Effexor XR and wondered if that could be a factor in the reason for my increase in blood pressure.  I decided that I did not want to take any chances and therefore I needed to be taken off this drug.  I had been on it long enough.  My physician agreed with me and prescribed 37.5 mg Effexor XR a day to begin the reduction.  I took 37.5 mg for about 3 weeks.  I was very happy that it seemed to be going so well and maybe it was time to reduce the pill to 18.75 mg.

Emergency Room Scare

After 3 days of taking 18.75 mg per day, I began getting severe, intense, piercing headaches in the temple of my head that would begin around 4:00 – 4:30 and last all night.  I had hydrocodone from a previous injury and took that hoping it could reduce the pain but it didn’t affect it at all.  I’d get up the next morning and take my Effexor XR pills, feel better, go to work, come home and start the entire painful evening all over again.  By the 3rd day, I was exhausted, frustrated, and felt terrible.  My blood pressure was 209 by the time I got home from work.  I knew that something was very wrong and I couldn’t go another night in pain.  Therefore, my husband took me to the emergency room.  By the time I reached the hospital my blood pressure was at 204.  They admitted me and took a million tests.  Found nothing that could explain why my blood pressure was so high.  The doctor decided to give me a blood pressure pill to see if that would help lower my rate.  Within an hour, it was down to 189.  I told the emergency room doctor that I was going off Effexor XR and had just reduced my dose a few days’ ago; Could this have anything to do with my symptoms?  He came back to my room 45 minutes later and told me that he did not believe that the reduction of my medication caused the symptoms and that I should see my regular doctor for further investigation.  We went home frustrated because we still didn’t have any answers to what caused my symptoms and how to stop it from reoccurring.

Once I got home from the hospital with no more answers than when I came in, I decided it was time to do a little research of my own by my trusted friend, Google.  I hit the jackpot.  What is even more frustrating is that if that emergency room doctor had just done 1 search on Google, he would have answered my questions.

Effexor XR Withdrawal Research

Physicians have been prescribing this powerful antidepressant to thousands of people for many years.  If you decide you want to no longer take this medication, you cannot just go off it cold-turkey.  If you try, your body and mind could begin to feel the debilitating symptoms of withdrawal including but not limited to:

• Anxiety
• Confusion
• Anger
• Crying spells
• Depression
• Dizziness
• Electric shocks “brain zaps”
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Insomnia
• Irritability
• Loss of appetite
• Mood swings
• Nausea
• Nightmares
• Pain
• Panic attacks
• Vomiting

Effexor XR is known to be one of the most difficult drugs to withdraw from, especially if you have taken it for a long period.  It is difficult to withdraw from because of its strength and short half-life of the drug.  It only lasts in your system for approximately 1.15 days and within 2.52 days without the drug, your withdrawal process begins.

Second Effexor Attack

I sent an email to my physician explaining my trip to the emergency room and the research I had found.  She prescribed me with 25 mg Effexor non XR and told me to take 1 pill 3 times a day and then begin to taper off when I felt better.  I felt like I was back to square one.  How am I going to get off this drug?  From October to January, I was able to reduce my pills and maintained a steady 25 mg a day and was doing pretty well with very minimal side effects.  One symptom I noticed was that my head itched at night but didn’t seem too bothersome.  Doing so well, I reduced my dose to 12.5 mg the second week in January.

This was a huge mistake.  I started getting a severe headache at the base of my skull.  The pain was so intense that I could not function.  It felt like massive spasms that radiated from the middle and went up the back of my head and down my neck and shoulders.  It didn’t dawn on me that this was from withdrawal of Effexor because it was in a completely different spot than before.  I have also had several neck issues due to car accidents and thought that maybe my neck and back were out.  With the rest of my hydrocodone, I got through the week and finally felt some relief for a few days.

Third Effexor Attack

Within a few days, the symptoms were back in full force.  I was now out of hydrocodone and been up all night.  I went to a walk-in clinic because I couldn’t wait for my doctor’s office to get me an appointment. At the walk-in clinic, the doctor didn’t ask many questions.  He barely touched my neck and prescribed 6 hydrocodone pills and 6 muscle relaxers.  Knowing how much pain I was in, I knew that I needed more pills than had been prescribed, therefore the next day I went to my normal physician for an examination.  As I approached the counter to my doctor’s office, I did not look good at all.  I felt like I was going to pass out and the nurses all saw that I was in distress and ran for a wheelchair.  My blood pressure was out of control.  My doctor did an exam and we discussed my symptoms.  She felt my neck and could feel the spasms and gave me a few shots of pain medication to reduce the pain, prescribed more hydrocodone and sent me on my way.  We never discussed Effexor as a possible contributing factor to my symptoms.

So here I was at home and given the same remedy that I had already used and it hadn’t helped me with the excruciating pain.  I tried cold packs, hot packs, icy hot, hot showers, hot bath, muscle relaxers and hydrocodone.

It was time to make an appointment to my chiropractor.  He took x-rays and told me that my neck was in poor shape.  I knew that since I had been in 7 car accidents.  He thought that maybe my vertebrae were rubbing together and causing the pain.  He said that he felt confident that he could help me.  He prescribed over the next few weeks 8 adjustments and gave me a device to use daily to raise up my vertebrae and hopefully eliminate the pain.  After two adjustments, I still had absolutely no relief.  Therefore, I made an appointment for a deep tissue massage hoping that it could help relieve some of the pain.  Unfortunately, that made no difference in reducing the pain.  After the fourth adjustment and still no relief I needed to review the past month for possible answers.

I started to look back over the past month to try and see a pattern of when this started, what was I doing and how long was it lasting.  It hit me when I realized the pain was happening at a certain time every day.  It had to be Effexor.  I immediately took 25 mg of Effexor and within one hour my blood pressure had decreased from 189 to 154.  My headache subsided and for the first time in 3 weeks I could sleep through the night.  What an absolute nightmare!  So here I am back to 25 mg of Effexor.  I absolutely cannot go through that type of withdrawal again.  This is the worse antidepressant drug on the market.  These types of withdrawal side effects can have a major impact on your quality of life.  Trying to get off this has taken its toll on me.  Since I have been on this drug for so long, I could ultimately be stuck on this antidepressant for months or even a year.

I hope my story can help others become educated about Effexor XR, the benefits, side effects, and the horrifying withdrawal process.  Best advice, don’t take it at all.