Thank you for sharing your experience, it’s so important we talk more about withdrawal symptoms. For disclosure I’m a child and adolescent psychiatrist (hello- love your work!!) and it’s worth folks also knowing that not everybody experiences withdrawal symptoms. But many do especially if on meds for a while and at decent doses. If anybody is thinking about tapering down, please discuss with your psychiatrist/prescribing doctor-it’s always best done as a team, with careful monitoring :)
Hi Priya, thanks so much for writing! Love having a psychiatrist here! Also good to know that not everyone experiences withdrawal symptoms. And yes, definitely good to make sure one's doctors know if a patient is planning to decrease or wean off!
Oh man, I was on Cymbalta for my fibromyalgia for only a couple of years, and it took me eight months to wean off it! Eventually I was taking a fraction of a tablet every other Saturday - because if I missed that I'd get the brain zaps! Just. What the fuck. I'm grateful I had a nutritionist and internal medicine doc to help me out or I probably would have been told to just deal rather than weaning super slowly. They were adamant that brain zaps were not okay, and they helped me be patient while it took for-fucking-ever. It's infuriating how little we get told about what our meds can do to us.
I was on cymbalta for depression for a few months and lost insurance so I only had a couple weeks worth to wean off. It was horrible. So glad you had a supportive team and the time to do slowly!!
Oh wow! If I ever do wean off, I will go soooo slowly. Thankfully, my psychiatrist is on board with that. I would love to see a nutritionist or naturopath also just to have some other resources. Thanks for sharing!
Well timed post. I’m about the age you were when first prescribed them and I’m heavily considering starting some form of antidepressant in the next few months, but deeply wary of the difficulty I’ll probably have coming off them. Tough decision I guess.
Hi Fletcher! Thanks for sharing. It really is difficult. My advice would be to start slowly with whatever med it is and try to find a somatic therapist if possible. SSRI/SNRIs can be super helpful and I would never want to persuade anyone to not go on them. You could also just try a low dose for a bit and then see if you're comfortable going off (also obviously talk to your doctor!)
As someone who has taken venlafaxine for 6-7 years, I empathize with this. I’m going to be bringing up deprescribing in a few weeks, because I’m not sure it’s adding benefit anymore, but also because I don’t think I’m in the same place of needing said benefit. Thank you for sharing this 🩵
Thank you for sharing your experience, it’s so important we talk more about withdrawal symptoms. For disclosure I’m a child and adolescent psychiatrist (hello- love your work!!) and it’s worth folks also knowing that not everybody experiences withdrawal symptoms. But many do especially if on meds for a while and at decent doses. If anybody is thinking about tapering down, please discuss with your psychiatrist/prescribing doctor-it’s always best done as a team, with careful monitoring :)
Hi Priya, thanks so much for writing! Love having a psychiatrist here! Also good to know that not everyone experiences withdrawal symptoms. And yes, definitely good to make sure one's doctors know if a patient is planning to decrease or wean off!
Oh man, I was on Cymbalta for my fibromyalgia for only a couple of years, and it took me eight months to wean off it! Eventually I was taking a fraction of a tablet every other Saturday - because if I missed that I'd get the brain zaps! Just. What the fuck. I'm grateful I had a nutritionist and internal medicine doc to help me out or I probably would have been told to just deal rather than weaning super slowly. They were adamant that brain zaps were not okay, and they helped me be patient while it took for-fucking-ever. It's infuriating how little we get told about what our meds can do to us.
I was on cymbalta for depression for a few months and lost insurance so I only had a couple weeks worth to wean off. It was horrible. So glad you had a supportive team and the time to do slowly!!
Oh wow! If I ever do wean off, I will go soooo slowly. Thankfully, my psychiatrist is on board with that. I would love to see a nutritionist or naturopath also just to have some other resources. Thanks for sharing!
Well timed post. I’m about the age you were when first prescribed them and I’m heavily considering starting some form of antidepressant in the next few months, but deeply wary of the difficulty I’ll probably have coming off them. Tough decision I guess.
Hi Fletcher! Thanks for sharing. It really is difficult. My advice would be to start slowly with whatever med it is and try to find a somatic therapist if possible. SSRI/SNRIs can be super helpful and I would never want to persuade anyone to not go on them. You could also just try a low dose for a bit and then see if you're comfortable going off (also obviously talk to your doctor!)
As someone who has taken venlafaxine for 6-7 years, I empathize with this. I’m going to be bringing up deprescribing in a few weeks, because I’m not sure it’s adding benefit anymore, but also because I don’t think I’m in the same place of needing said benefit. Thank you for sharing this 🩵
Ah yes! Thank you for reading and sharing your experience, Bryn!