Caught COVID while down-titrating venlafaxine a little too quickly. Ignorant of venlafaxine's withdrawal symptoms, I was absolutely terrified when my brain experienced what I can only describe as an electric shock every time I moved my eyes. It amounted to nearly two weeks of bedridden hell. Moral of the story? Don't mess with your meds when you're weak as water and expectorating green nastiness.
Abominable. They never fully went away even after nearly two months of weaning myself off venlafaxine. It was so bad that I eventually just went back on it 😔
It took months for the zaps to go away fully after I'd slooowly tapered off. It was the most effective antidepressant I'd tried, but side effects a real bummer.
Later, TMS zapped the depression out in a desirable way.
i experienced this from mirtazapine. it took months to recover from it. brain zaps, chills, fever like symptoms, the whole snri withdrawal crap. i will never ever go on mirtazapine again. i tried getting off it one time before that and failed bc i just couldn’t deal with it. 2 years later (this winter) is when i did it and went full send bc i wanted off!!
Did you find yourself really fatigued on mirtazapine, by any chance? I trialled it for about two weeks many moons ago and literally couldn't lift my head off the pillow for the duration. Amazing that you got off it in the end, knowing how awful the withdrawals are
Did the drowsiness lift after that first month? As much as we might complain about them, anti-ds are kind of a lifeline. Similar to you, I got (some) of my life back with venlafaxine. Kudos!
That sounds horrible. I’m currently on venlafaxine and the withdrawals from it are horrible. If I forget even one day I know it. Can’t imagine having COVID on top of that.
The one day thing is so true. I suppose the rapid onset physical withdrawals keep you consistent with taking them.
And yeah, it was honestly the worst. To add insult to injury, my own GP dismissed my withdrawal symptoms complaints because he believed there was no way a person could still be in withdrawals so acute after nearly two months. Venlafaxine just isn't a drug to be trifled with...
I had mine split up into two seperate doses because I couldnt make it 24 hours before withdrawal symptoms started. Its so bad. Its also the reason im still alive at all though so Ill take it.
Oh god that fucking suuuuuuuucks. Ive been on a really high dose for over a decade now so Im 100% doomed if I ever need to stop. Ive been able to stop in the past to try other meds but its the only thing that actually works for me so I just accept that in an apocalypse situation without pharmacy access im going down.
I was on venlafaxine and vraylar. I had the horrible sweating symptoms from vraylar so my dr told me to get off of it. I was on 9 mg. I ended up in the hospital with neuroleptic malignant syndrome and nearly fkn died. Took months to feel "normal" off of vraylar. Still on venlafaxine and want to get off of it. One time I went 2 days without taking it and I went into a mental breakdown like I felt as if I was just losing sense of reality, impending doom, dizzy, delirious, "who am i", etc. It was horrible and unlike anything I've felt before. If I don't take it for one day then that "breaking" feeling happens so I am strict with taking it. If I don't take it in the morning then I also know I will sweat like crazy while I sleep and have horrific nightmares. I want so badly to get off venlafaxine but am honestly scared to. These meds are no joke.
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u/Limp_Childhood_5485 11h ago
Caught COVID while down-titrating venlafaxine a little too quickly. Ignorant of venlafaxine's withdrawal symptoms, I was absolutely terrified when my brain experienced what I can only describe as an electric shock every time I moved my eyes. It amounted to nearly two weeks of bedridden hell. Moral of the story? Don't mess with your meds when you're weak as water and expectorating green nastiness.