effexior - can anyone tell me how to quit taking it?  When I quit for 3 days I am so much worse than ..?
365784
Effexor is highly potent as well as addictive. The withdrawal is unbearable, believe me. Talk to your psychiatrist and try having him ween you off it in small doses. You'll probably need painkillers of some sort to numb the effects of the withdrawal. Good Luck
479008
You should NEVER stop taking this medication without slowly tapering off.  Cut the dose down a fourth every four days and you can slowly get off the pills.  The first four-five days after quitting are horrible and tough, but day six is a beauty and it is all gone and life is good again.  No you won't sleep during the four days after you quit - but you will catch up after the four days are over! Please taper off slowly - it is the only way!
404961
I was on 20mg anti deppressants for 9 months, which was called Paxil.  I was running out and I had moved 10 hours away from the doctor that prescribed it to me, so I decided to get off of them.  I cut them in half and I didn't feel any different and then I threw out the last few pills I had.  That's when I had withdrawals, which was horrible!!  I've never been through withdrawals with anything and it was so bad that while I was walking to work one day, I had to turn around and go back home because I just couldn't make it.  It lasted for a good week and finally I was off of the pills for good.  I can't say that I'm cured, but truly and honestly I don't want to go back on the pills.  I was told that I did the wrong thing and I should of consulted a doctor before getting off of them, which I think you should consult your doctor before you get off of the pills for good.
875459
Effexor is one of the hardest SSRI's to stop taking. You are probably still have some SSRI withdrawls. The withdrawls are sometimes so slight that you don't know that you are having them. I think it would be best if you called your local pharmacy for a question of this type. Also remember that it could take up to 6 months for something herbal to take effect.
972397
No, antidepressants aren't something to tango with.\n\nWhile you feel that you can just stop taking them, talk to your doctor. You need to let your psychologist prescribe lesser amounts. \n\nLike with any medication given to you, especially long-term medicines, you need to talk to your doctor before quitting. The withdrawal from an antidepressant could be worse than you imagined. \n \nMake an appointment for next week.
593318
I am sorry that you are not feeling well. I don't know how long you have been taking your medication, but it takes 4-6 weeks for it to actually start making a difference. I know it is frustrating, because we are used to taking a Tylenol and feeling something almost immediately. I would suggest not drinking any tea to lose weight. It is dangerous, especially when you are taking other medication. It might even be negating the effects of your meds. The best way to lose weight is to go outside and take a walk! You don't have to run a marathon or work out for hours to feel better. Taking a walk is very good for anxiety and depression as well. I know that when I am depressed and feeling down, the last thing I feel like doing is getting out and doing something. Believe me though, as soon as you get out, you will feel better. You will also feel like you are accomplishing something, which will improve your mood. Losing weight is only the secondary effect. I know you think that losing weight would make you happy, but that has to come from inside. When you start improving your life in other areas, you will have the strength to start new things. Exercise is the best mood booster! I hope you feel better soon, and good luck to you!
556758
This is the reason you aren't supposed to take it for more than few months at a time. It is a temporary fix. I used to take it and I can tell you it sucked coming off of it. I was on the lowest dose before i quit it too. It helped me alot between starting a new anti anxiety drug (effexor) and waiting for it to kick in which takes up to a month. Xanax changes you. it makes you numb to the good and bad of life. I use it to get past days I know i couldn't do on my own. However I try my best not to take it except in emergencies. You should talk to your doctor about how to best come off of it and possibly substitute it with an SSRI or similar drug that isn't addictive.
594710
I've found that first you have to make it through like 3-5 days of withdrawel. Do not be around anyone that smokes. Then avoid being around anyone that smokes, second hand smoke is even worse. You have to change your attitude and tell yourself good things like only losers smoke!, or my clothes will smell better, I'll be more attractive, and brush your teeth more, chew gum, candy, etc... avoid bars and alcohol. Because people that drink, smoke! Your friends will have more respect for you , but first they need to go through the my buddy quit now I need to quit stage. Don't presure them to quit if they force you or tempt you their not your freinds, your real freinds willl respect you, for example not smoke in you car, at your hous they'll go outside. And last but not least go cold turkey. NEVER use nicotine products, they'll just keep you addicted. And most of oall thank God for helping you quit all the time and healing you from this dreadfull illness!
589984
I am on Effexor and am in the process of coming off of it.  I was on 300mg, now am on 225mg.  So far I really haven't noticed any debilitating symptoms, and I feel like I have more energy.  Not too much dizziness, which is good.  I do experience the 'shocks' but not much.\n\nI've been told that the last small doses are the hardest to get off of -- when you get down to 37.5mg.  I'm not looking forward to it, but my psychiatrist tells me that most people actually do not experience severe symptoms like people complain of on the internet.  And if you are having a hard time and your doctor offers you a small dose of Prozac to relieve your symptoms, take it!  It won't be hard to get off of like Effexor, and it really will help with your withdrawal symptoms.  At least give it a try.\n\nGood luck!
694347
it should take a while to settle in? Fluoxentine[prozac] is different too seems it doesnt have the "kick" real prozac has?notice a difference with anger issues with generic stuff? probably just another scam the drug co. are pulling on us??
867759
How to Stop Taking Paxil, Paxil CR: Your doctor should be recommending that you reduce your of the CR dosage by 12.5mg every four days. You should probably make it five days because Paxil's discontinuation syndrome is so harsh. That means putting up with the suck-ass side effects for longer, but trust me, it really sucks less this way.  Based on the 15-20 hour half-life.  If your doctor says something that's slower than that, go for it!  I'm all for slower discontinuations.  Four to five days is the fastest you can step down the dosage.\n\n\nHow To Safely Stop Taking Psychiatric & Anti-Epileptic Medications\n\nLots of people hit this site wanting to know how to stop taking their crazy meds.  That's understandable.  There are many good reasons to stop taking the meds.  There are also many bad reasons to stop taking them.  I'll try to help you sort out the good from the bad reasons.  But if you do have good reasons, you have to stop taking the meds safely.  Sudden or rapid discontinuation can lead to many problems.  This guide is just to use to make sure that you and your doctor have worked out a good discontinuation schedule for a medication, presuming you have the luxury for such. \n\nYou must work with your doctor! You are not qualified to make this decision on your own.  Got that?  What you and your doctor need to do is work out a discontinuation schedule for any medication.  This is the reverse of the titration schedule (if any, which I'm actually against), which was the plan of how your dosage was increased.  The discontinuation schedule is the plan of how you'll decrease the amount of a med you'll take.  Ask your doctor what it is based on.  There are three things a discontinuation schedule should be based on:      \nthe half-life of a drug \n\nlooking for the return of any symptoms \n\nexperience with taking someone off a med \n\nThe last one is either other people going off the same med or you coming off of the same or other meds.  Or both. \n \n\nIf you're lucky enough to get an explanation from your doctor, the half-life of a psychiatric medication is often explained like this, "It's out of your body in that many hours, but it's still in your brain." That's a gross oversimplification, but it's close enough for government work. Here's a way to picture the half-life in action. Take a glass and fill it half full with some beverage. Now fill it the rest of the way with water. OK, now empty it half of the mixture out and top it off with water. Keep doing that until you have something you'd drink and that could pass as water. The number of times it took to do that is the half-life, expressed in a quantity of water, of a particular beverage. Try it with a different beverage and you'd get a different half-life. Half-life means how long it takes for half of the metabolites to get flushed out of your system. The half-lives of meds is expressed in time because the process of adding water to the glass is more-or-less constant in your body. And in the environment for the half-lives of radioactive materials. So using Effexor (venlafaxine), if you're down to your last 37.5mg dose after 20 hours you'll have 18.75mg left in your body. Twenty hours after that you'll have about 9.4mg left. And so forth until it's gone, about 80-100 hours after your final 37.5mg tablet. Please, don't get all Xeno's Paradoxical on me, after four or five passes, as it were, a med is so broken down that the effects shouldn't be noticeable. The only real variable is not if it's four or five times the length of the half-life, but if you metabolize the med quickly or slowly. These half-life numbers are the based on the arithmetic mean averages from clinical trials and studies. Read the pharmacokinetics section of the med's PI sheet carefully to see what the known range of a drug's half-life is.\n\nAll right so where does this "In your brain bu
531479
Well you're gonna be cross, you're getting one mean monkey off your back!\nTry some relaxation excercises, or go to the store and buy some Celestial Seasons Tension Tamer tea and sip on that. Will help improve your mood and make you less tense.\nThe overall withdrawl symptoms will last around 2 weeks, so bear with it and keep up the good work! You may be a bit grumpy but you have MY admiration for having the balls to even try. \nIf someone says something to you, just make sure you let them all know that you are trying to quit smoking and apologize for your testy behavior. They will  understand and support you during this time......be patient with yourself and cut yourself a little slack because you will get past it!
1156094
Go to a doctor and ask for wellburine it is  a anti depresson.It works great I quit 3 years ago and i havent wanted one .TRY IT
1077668
yes. stop taking wellbutrin and try something else. your body is telling you something
1092141
well currently I am taking Phentrimine (prescribed by the doctor). I lost 12 Pounds in three weeks there alright. I have to honest though they make you real hype but I love the boost of energy it helps me at work. They keep you going for 12 hours so they tell you to take it early in the am. It's only one pill unlike zantrax or hydroxy cut those you have to take like three to four pills a day. Phentrimine is only 1 small pill a day and you can even cut it in half if you like to cut down the strength. It makes your mouth dry so you will almost have to drink the water you should already be drinking. well thats if youre like me I hate water so the pills drive me to drink lots of it.
673626
I have been on Effexor for 6 years, I try not to forget to take it or I get all shakey and dizzy the next day.  I don't think I've gotten nightmares from missing it.
723301
You have to wean yourself off of it slowly. Don't just stop taking it. Decrease the amount you are taking by half, for a few days until your body gets adjusted to the lower dosage, then lower it again, and so on, until you are off. GOOD LUCK!! P.S. Be sure your Doctor knows you are going to stop taking this medication.