Effexor Withdrawal Symptoms★MY EXPERIENCE @Bangkok

It has been around 2 years passed since I was diagnosed with "mild stage of Bipolar disorder".
 (FYI, an article about myself. → Who is "Running Wife in Thailand"? Why running?)

I was seeing a doctor in Japan to get trerated by medications. Of course, I have been seeing a doctor at a local clinic of Psychiatry in Bangkok to get medications, too. 

A year and little more was gonna be passed since I moved to Bangkok. My mood had been relatively stable, so I had tried to reduce a dosage of my medications with my doctor. BUT... I had been sttruggled with WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS. Well, that was very tough and hard for me.

So, in this article, I am going to talk about my experiance: withdrawal symptoms of Iffexor(antidipressant drug). 

If you are taking similar medications, or, you are bothered with withdrawal sympotoms, please read my article. 

In addition...
If your important person (your family members, boyfriend, girlfriend, bestie..etc) is struggled with similar situations, please try to read, too!

However, please note that the contents of this article might be mentally tough for some people. (I am trying NOT to make you feel like that though!💪)

ーTable of contentsー
■My medication history (past & present)💊
■Withdrawal symptoms (14-days)👻
■Things to be careful of
■To the next...
■Wrap-up!

 

■My medication history (past & present)💊

Dec.2020 - Jul.2021 (approx. 7 months)
- Started with Iffexor 37.5㎎. Increased to 75㎎*3 tablets/day.
- I might have taken Mirtazapine before bed time...

Aug.2021 - Jul.2022(approx. 12 months)

Added medication of Litium Carbonate because of some episode familiar with a manic state happened.

Aug.2022 - Oct.2022(approx. 3 months）

I hoped to decrease my dosage of medications before move to Thailand,
- Decreased and stopped Mirtazapine →NO withdrawal symptoms

- Reduced to Iffexor 75㎎*1 tablet/day →NO withdrawal symptoms
- Kept taking Litium Carbonate.

Oct.2022 - Oct.2023(approx. 12 months)
Kept taking the same dosage of medications above in Thailand.

Oct.2023 - Nov.2023(approx. 1.5 months)
- Decreased to Effexor 37.5㎎*1 tablet/day →NO withdrawal symptoms
- Kept taking Litium Carbonate.

Nov.2023 - Feb.2024(approx. 2 months)
- Stopped Effexor →Withdrawal symptoms came out!!!

- Kept taking Litium Carbonate.

Yup, my medication history is a bit long😅
Anyways, I had been taking Effexor for 3 years by changing its dosage. 

■Withdrawal symptoms (14-days)👻

Day-1

I was out in the morning. After came back to home around the afternoon, I started to feel like car sickness and nausea. I was not able to eat dinner. It was hard to drink water since it caused nausea strongly. 

Day-2

I was too tired physically and mentally to sleep well. I guess I had a bad dream. Dizziness (which was like car sickness) and nausea strongly continued. I felt anxiety and cried because it seemed that this symptoms never get better. In addition, when I feel strong nausea, more likely to get paniced and cried a lot. I ate a banana, yogurt, and a sweet potato for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was Udon (Japansese noodle) without any ingredients. I could eat some food this day, but after meals, I always felt nausea, which was very uncomfortable. It was easier to drink sports drink than water.

Day-3

Same symptoms as Day-2. I felt more anxious. I was kinda thinking that it might be easier to be dead than endure this withdrawal symptoms. 

Day-4

Same symptoms as Day-2. My anxiety was getting bigger and bigger. I was able to contact with my doctor at night, so talked about my symptoms, then my doctor told me to take a medicine prescribed last time we met :Fulox 20mg*0.5 tablet/day for 6 days in a row. I felt a bit better after talked with my doctor.

Day-5

Felt little a bit better with dizziness and nausea. Took shower in 5 days! My appetite was slowly getting back. But, I had a bad stomach somehow...

Day-6

Dizziness got better a bit. I had still nausea. My back got hurted because I was lying down all these days. I wanted to lie down but I was not able to because of the back pain, which was also stressfull for me. But, I was getting my appetite back.

Day-7

Compared to Day-4, my symptoms got much better. I was able to visit the race-collection of the marathon I applied for. Also, I could go grocery shopping with my husband. But, it was very tough to keep standing up,and sunlight and indoor lightning were too bright for me. 

Day-8

Still feeling like car-sickness. Sometimes, I had nausea and bad stoumach, too. I got to be able to cook easy meals by myself. 

Day-9

Stiffed shoulders and neck. Little a bit nausea. I started to go walking outside for 30 minutes and sunbathing. Still had a bad stoumach.

Day-10

In addition to stiffed shoulders and neck, I had a migraine. Feeling like car-sickness made my body imbalanced. I could go walking around and shopping, but my eyes got very tired because of sunlight and indoor lightning. But I could cook some easy meals.

Day-11

Stiffed shoulders and neck. My body was still imbalanced. I was able to do housework in the morning. Also, able to take motorcye-taxi around 2km without car-sickness. 30 minutes-walk. Cooked dinner.

Day-12

My shoulders and neck were getting better. Very sleepy day, instead. I went sunbathing for 30 minutes in the morning, but it did not improve my sleepiness. I was doing housework and cooking meals. But, not very active because of dizziness and imbalancing. 

Day-13

Still sleepy all day. It felt like there was a weight on my shoulders. I walked outside for 1 hour in the morning. Took a nap for 2 hours. Cooked dinner. I was able to use my computer for a short time.

Day-14

I tried yoga in the morning. I got to be able to get on a bus to go outside with my husband. To prevent car-sickness, I took a motion sickness medicine and had gummies and mint tablets. I was still not good at the place crowded with people and the place with super bright lightning since they caused dizziness. 

How was my 14-days withdrawal symptoms?

After Day-14, symptoms got slowly beter and better. 

 

During these days, I kinda found out that....

The toughness coming from withdrawal symptoms is similar but a bit different to the toughness coming from side-effect when I started to take Effexor. (This might be MY CASE though....)

□The toughness coming from side-effect when I started to take Effexor, is like...

I did NOT care anything. WHATEVER. Even when I got feeling better from the side-effect, I was still feeling down and not motivated.

□The toughness coming from withdrawal symptoms, is like...

I just wanted to get out from the toughness and ask people to help me out. When I got feeling better from the symptoms, I felt like eating delicious meals and doing what I want to do.

■Things to be careful of

✅Kept myself hydrated because I continued to take Litium Carbonate.

✅Since my body was more likely to get stiffed, I had "Butterfly Pea Tea" to improve my good blood circulation!

✅Tried sunbathing, walking outside, and yoga as much as possible to create serotonin.

■To the next...

My next phase is reducing a dosage of Litium Carbonate. 

So, I need...

💡To stock up on microwave meals, pre-packaged foods, and canned foods etc.  at home. 

I didn't prepare and stock up on anything this time. Both me and my husband feel that it's necessary.

💡To share the schedule of reducing medications with my husband. 

I didn't pretty much share the date when I was going to decrease or stop my medications. Therefore, it must be hard for my husband to understand what was doing on with me. The withdrawal symptoms may happen after reducing a dosage of Litium Carbonate, so we talked that it is better NOT to have or plan big events those days each other. 

■Wrap-up! 

In this article,  I talked about my experiance of Effexor withdrawal symptoms. If the contents are mentally tough, sorry for that 💦

When the symptoms happen?, How strong the symptoms are?,

... We all have different symptoms. I do understand it's not easy to talk.

But in my case...,

to know other's experiences and symptoms is saving my feelings and very helpful for me. That's why I am sharing my experience here.

If people who are taking similar medications, 

or people who are bothered with withdrawal sympotoms, 

or people whose important person is struggled with similar situations, 

read this article and take this as a reference, 

it makes me happy🍀