Dizzy head Venlafaxine withdrawal

[Kandyflossclouds]

Coming off Venlafaxine from 150mg to 75mg as couple of weeks, now decided to go cold turkey as 2 days and boy don’t i feel it. Today it’s not the usual brain shocks, but my head is dizzy, a weird dizzy and when I move my eyes I hear a strange noise in my ears 😑🙈 can anyone tell me when this will disappear? Soon I hope. Had contacted doctor but they hadn’t bothered returning my call. Just want off
it now so persevering

Why aren't you dropping gradually? Cold turkey symptoms can last 3-4 weeks (and are awful) Can you speak to a nurse at the surgery if you can't get a gp appointment?

Will try to contact doctor again in morning @Scont as this feeling is really unbearably. Tbh I know now I should have went down to 37.5 first then off but I will speak to doctor IF I can to see what I can do next. Support from them really haven’t been great.

i remember once seeing someone write about hearing their eyeballs moving in their head and now I know exactly that feeling. The nightmares I had also last night is making me scared to sleep tonight. What a horrible drug.

I went through this two years ago when I came off venlafaxine and can remember how awful I felt! You have my sympathy!

I had a plan with my doctor where I gradually reduced by 37.5 each week until I was off it. The brain zaps were the worst (like an electric shock to your brain) and sometimes I felt so dizzy that I had to lie down and close my eyes. I felt really unwell for about two days and then was fully over the symptoms after a week. I really think that the gradual reduction of my dose helped though and I’d strongly advise you to do the same. My doctor worked out a gradual reduction plan for me so hopefully yours can do the same?

Good luck and hope you feel better soon x

In case it helps, my reduction plan was like this:

Original dose = 150mg tablet
Week 1 = 75mg tablet AND 37.5mg tablet
Week 2 = 75mg tablet
Week 3 = 37.5mg tablet
Week 4 = Nothing!

Thanks @Rummykitten i have no other option today only to take 37.5mg. I couldn’t tolerate the dizziness any longer. It really was unbearable, though as couple of hours it’s gone thankfully. I will continue it for another couple of days and slowly…very slowly continue to taper down. Last night was hell again. Scared to sleep and when I did the nightmares were horrid. I just want off it. But sensibly this time

Need of these tablets, down to 25mg now and my temper is shocking. Like never before. Does anyone know why or have experienced this?

I've dropped from 150mg via 75 to 37.5 in about 2 months. I am noticing the drop to 37.5but it's manageable. Try this and see.
It's a bugger to come off for sure!

Thanks @Tortiemiaw

I have went from 150mg, to 75mg to 37.5mg and now taking the small tablets out of capsule. But my anger is scarily bad to the point I am scaring myself. It’s just not me. Im saying things I just do not mean and lashing out. I’ve never been like that before

Oh, sorry, I misread. I know what you mean about the anger coming back - I've felt pretty grrr and a bit all over the place since being on the 37.5.

Desperate to come off it, though. I've been taking it on and off for over 20 years

@Tortiemiaw desperate too. Ur nearly there, keep going. I think it’s a horrible drug. What is ur reason for coming off?

I feel much more stable and together now. Lots of better things have happened in the past ten years and I really want to try being 'me'.!!

That’s great @Tortiemiaw

yes it will be nice to feel yourself again. How will u finally go off them? From 37.5 to what?

When you open the capsules, each small tablet is 12.5 mg. I was told to taper down slowly by reducing by 12.5 mg at a time. I am now on 12.5 mg every other day.

Every time I try to stop, I get the dizziness and the weird detached thing, like you're watching a film of yourself but with a time delay of a couple of seconds.

I actually think its a great drug as it is really effective, more so than a lot of others I was prescribed. It is just so hard to come off it when there is zero support for the withdrawal.

@unsync thats great ur down to 12.5mg. I get what u mean about the dizziness. I could barely even drive. I’m now down to 25mg, but my anger is so bad as couple of weeks since lowering my dose. I lashed out twice now and pushed my DP which is very unlike me. I feel like I’m a different person and it’s unnerving me.

If you're experiencing that level of anger have you considered upping the dose again? I'm currently working on reducing mine, but have reduced from 75mg twice a day to 75mg and 37.5mg and have stayed on this for 2 months now before starting to reduce the 75mg dose. My GP advised a slow and gradual reduction given the length of time I've been taking it. Maybe a slower reduction would help you.

@drowningbutwaving i couldn’t up my dose again, no way. I can’t wait until I am off this. One year of taking different anti d’s and I can honestly say they have made me worse. I stupidly thought at the beginning it would be a magic pill to make me feel on top of the world. I was very wrong. I’ve struggled as year to find one that suited me. Also very little help from doctor. Now I so desperately want off them and I can’t. I think I need to go slower. I went off them cold Turkey a few weeks ago for 3 days and had to get back on them quickly as I could barely function

Im sorry that yours not getting enough support from your GP. It's hard finding the right AD sometimes, is there maybe something they
Could prescribe that you could take while reducing the venlafaxine? Doesn't seem right that you are suffering with anger as badly, that was one of the biggest issues for me before starting AD so I hope that I don't have that when racing further. Good luck x

Please follow the guidelines here

www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/treatments-and-wellbeing/stopping-antidepressants

Stopping too quickly is dangerous.

I personally don't think you're ready to come off of them and without sounding rude you don't have any understanding of them either. To just suddenly stop is incredibly dangerous and a really silly decision. I think you need to reconsider what you are doing. To me you don't sound ready at all.

I haven't had the anger issues, I have occasionally been irritable, but that was circumstances rather than the medication.

I would echo the PP and query whether you are ready to come off ADs? Have your circumstances changed? Did you receive counselling? Coming off too soon when you really need them to function can be disastrous.

Having said that, you do have to come off very slowly, I was on the maximum dose of 375 mg for a number of years and it has taken me over a year to get to 12.5 mg. I was fortunate in that I had a doctor in my gp surgery who specialised in drug withdrawal and was very helpful and supportive.

I'm now going to wait until I have a quiet month where I can stop and having the dizziness etc won't impact too much on what I need to do, I'm planning on September.

With venlafaxine I would literally be taking at least double the amount of time to come off it and be cutting up the tablet at 37.5mg if need be.i get vertigo if I miss 3 hrs without them. I had citalopram before and had no issues with withdrawal but venlafaxine is known to cause issues so the longer you take the better .good luck

24hrs not 3 hrs!

When I drop down, I usually stay on that dose for at least a month before reducing again. Have you had any help with how to manage your anger? There are techniques you can learn to help you cope.

@Mollymalone123 @unsync @BusterGonad Thanks so much for your helpful replies. Maybe I am not ready, but I truely believe I am. To me they are making no difference to me and at times have made me so much worse. When on fluxotine, the 2nd I tried, they made me suicidal which I hadn’t been before. They just have been horrendous for me. I have got through a lot in life without any, this is why I am truely cross at myself for going on them. A doctor once recently thought my depression is circumstantial and I think he was right. My circumstances still are not rosy but I can get the light at the end of the tunnel with it.

could it be discontinued syndrome I am experiencing? Anger like this has never been an issue before. It was low mood.

@Kandyflossclouds My anxiety and depression turned out to be situational too. Once I had separated from my abusive (now ex) husband, my mental health improved so much.

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is amazing as sometimes you can't even see the tunnel. I found a lot of help on Instagram of all places, mainly for inspiration and resilience. You can get there.

Think how you would be with a friend going through what you are going through, and talk to yourself the same way. It takes time, but you will get through this.