Hello.
I am trying to swap from Effexor to Sertraline as Effexor has horrible side effects for me. I have also been on Citalopram and Fluoxotine but they gave me awful fatigue. My GP is fairly confident in Sertraline as the best AD to the least side effects. I need to come off of the Effexor first though. The withdrawal is brutal. I have got down from 150mg to 10mg by cutting the pills with a knife. It is the last bit that is so very hard. As I could not cut them accurately to a smaller size, my GP has given me Effexor liquid. The plan is to take 2.5ml (equivalent to 18.75 mg) each day and add 2.5ml of water back in to the solution so that I am taking a very slightly weaker mixture every time.
This is a great theory but will leave me on less than 20mg of Effexor for months. Whilst this is ok for me physically, I need to be on some form of ADs. The depression is terrible.
I have done a great deal of research and have read that it is possible to cross-taper Effexor and Sertraline. I have just started taking the 2.5ml of Effexor liquid and am now taking 25mg of Sertraline. Am I safe to up this to 50mg of Sertraline whilst slowly weaning down from 2.5ml (18.75mg) of Efferxor.
I know the instinctive answer is to ask my GP but quite frankly they just don't know enough about this. I could do with some experiences from real people who have been there.
Many thanks!