... and I had a sick father.I have gained 40 lbs and don't think I eat more than I always have. I didn't think this causes weight gain. I want to get off but I am not sure how I will be. Do I have to wean off this?
I have been taking effexor xr 150mg for about 3 years. How do I stop taking?
- Posted:
- 3+ months ago by debez2
- Topics:
- effexor, effexor xr, anxiety, weight, anxiety and stress
Details:
Responses (3)
Debez2,
If you stop taking Effexor abruptly you can have severe headaches and nausea or worse withdrawls. The best thing to do is talk with your doctor before stopping this, or any other med, that you've been prescribed and have been taking for a while. Also, he may want to prescribe some other medication to help with your anxiety. Hope this helps.
I would recommend tapering down to reduce the side effects. I have stopped taking Effexor before cold turkey and the side effects were not horrible but not pleasant either. You could expect headaches, lethargy, nausea. Basically, I felt like I had a mild case of the flu for about 7-10 days then it started to get better. I have heard that most of that doesn't happen if you taper down slowly.
You may want to consider that it is not the Effexor XR stimulating your appetite. However, the possiblity exists that it could. So, if you are wanting to discontinue it, unless you are having life threatening situation, such as an allergic reaction to this medication, do no stop it abruptly as the other posters indicated. Call and go into your clinician's office and request a written taper down schedule for you to follow so that you may avoid the "flu" phenomena. Then, while you are there, I would recommend that you ask your provider if you could have your thyroid physically examined and lab testing TSH, Free T4 just to make sure that your thyroid is working as it should. Good luck.
