Effexor - withdrawal and pain

Hope123

Hi, I'm new to this forum and I'm hoping someone here might have been in the same boat as me.
I took Effexor for just over 3 months. I was on the lowest dose - 37.5mg per day. I started to get very bad tingling and then I got burning pain in my feet and legs. GP said it was side effect of the Effexor and to stop taking it. So I did. Now I'm 3 weeks and 2 days on and I still have the burning pain in my feet and pain in my legs. I do think it has improved a bit because last week my legs were getting really bad cramps and spasms. But the pain is enough to bother me and it's not easy to forget about it.
I've been to the GP 3 times in the last few weeks. He's checked my bloods and also did some neurological tests on my legs and is still convinced its the Effexor. He told me it could take 3 to 4 weeks. I go for cranial osteopathy and I've found that the burning is worse afterwars so that treatment is obviously having some kind of effect on my nervous system.
I'm not looking for medical advice but i'm wondering if anybody else has experienced this. I think I'm looking for a little bit of hope that it will actually go away as it's not nice at all.
There is some info on Google but I can't find much in Ireland. Hopefully I'll get some feedback here

wexie

Hope123 wrote: »

I'm not looking for medical advice but i'm wondering if anybody else has experienced this. I think I'm looking for a little bit of hope that it will actually go away as it's not nice at all.
There is some info on Google but I can't find much in Ireland. Hopefully I'll get some feedback here

I took Venlefax/Effexor for a few years (and in much higher doses) and know exactly the tingling feeling you're describing.

It does eventually go away but in my experience you may have a few weeks of it yet. For me it become less constant and would just pop up here and there for a day or so and then eventually disappeared altogether. In the words of my psychiatrist : it's nasty stuff

Hope123

That's good to hear that it eventually went away. Thanks for posting 😊 Also good to talk to other others who have been through it. My GP hasn't been overly helpful, just offering me other meds to take to counteract the side effects and telling me wait it out. It's been nearly 4 weeks now and I've read that it can be 6 to 8 before you see an improvement but everyone's different!

njs030

Hope123 wrote: »

That's good to hear that it eventually went away. Thanks for posting 😊 Also good to talk to other others who have been through it. My GP hasn't been overly helpful, just offering me other meds to take to counteract the side effects and telling me wait it out. It's been nearly 4 weeks now and I've read that it can be 6 to 8 before you see an improvement but everyone's different!

Have you tried the other meds to counteract it?
I take it to counteract horrendous side effects of another med (isn't it strange how they balance each other!) and if your side effects are so bad maybe it'd help you to do the same for a few weeks?

Hope123

The GP offered me gabapentin for nerve pain but he said if possible I should try and stick it out. I seem to be sensitive to these meds that work on my nervous system. So i decided not to take it. Some days i can think yeah this is just withdrawal but other days im not so positive.