Withdraw this late??

[kkwa]

I only was on Effexor 75 mgs for two months. I started tapered down from Effexor 75mgs to nothing Last Saturday to Sautrday. By last Saturday- almost 1 week ago I was had completely stopped Effexor. For the last 5-6 days no Effexor at all. I just started 20 mg of Prozac last night and t this morning I have just now started to get brain shivers and stomach pains and night sweats like you wouldn't believe!!!! Shouldn't I have gotten these one week ago when I was tapering or even Sat or sunday when I completely stopped, what can I do? I thought I was in the clear. I am so dizzy, and feel terrible. Why did it take my body so long to react to this when I tapered a very small dose over one week, not to mention that Effexor has such a short half life??

[Dr. Tamer Fouad]

kkwa,
I hope you are feeling better already. You are right the half life of venlafaxine is only 3-7 hours. However, it is safer if you have been on the drug for more than 6 weeks to taper it over 2 weeks. It is very unusual that the symptoms be delayed till one week after. Did you feel better by taking the effexor again?

[kkwa]

Thanks so much for your reply! I am feeling much better now. I did not take any Effexor to make me feel any better even for the short term. I felt bad for about 2 more days after that. I am now back on Prozac which was great for about 1-1/2 years and then just pooped out. I have been off it since July, then tried Lexapro and Then Effexor.

I also thought that is was unusually to have the withdraw side effects so late...could this have anything to do with my metobolism, would my metabolism be so slow that it took me that long to get it out of my system? I I have gained a lot of weight over the last nine months. Would this be an indication that I have an unusually slow metabolism? Thanks again for your help!

[Dr. Tamer Fouad]

My best guess would be that it was not a withdrawal reaction and that your metabolism seems fine.