9 minutes ago, Chippy said:

Yes it could be tolerance or just some adverse effects. Either way your body is responding well to bringing the drug load down, just balancing that with the Wd symptoms. Hopefully now you are in front of it, it won’t be too difficult a task. 😀

I often tell myself everything worth doing is hard ❤️

1 minute ago, callieflower said:

I often tell myself everything worth doing is hard ❤️

I think this is true! It’s a good reminder when in the thick of it!

April 26, 2026

Start switch to Effexor brand. Wanting to switch because I found a compounding pharmacy I trust to mix the beads adequately and they use Effexor brand. No noticable effects due to change so far.

Current dose is now 37.5mg Effexor + 75mg Auro generic total 112.5mg venlafaxine.

4 hours ago, callieflower said:

April 26, 2026

Start switch to Effexor brand. Wanting to switch because I found a compounding pharmacy I trust to mix the beads adequately and they use Effexor brand. No noticable effects due to change so far.

Current dose is now 37.5mg Effexor + 75mg Auro generic total 112.5mg venlafaxine.

Hope the switch continues to go well.

A bit more about how the past year or so has gone for me tolerance/sensitization and then taper, and what my symptoms have been.

Spring 2025

Seasonal pollen allergies very bad. Going outside for just a few minutes would trigger my symptoms, and I had to wear a respirator to walk my dog. Symptoms included irritation in throat, itchy eyes, skin rashes and bumps, and brain fog. The brain fog was the most difficult to manage and I think the worst its ever been. Sometimes I forgot what I was saying mid sentence, and getting through the day was a tremendous task. Also had a persistent metallic taste in mouth. I developed/discovered a lot of food intolerances, most notably seeds and grains. Started eating a modified AIP diet, have been able to add back a lot of legumes, rice, eggs, and dairy (if organic/grass fed). To this day I mostly only eat rice, yam, squashes, leafy greens, berries, mango, avocado, fish, tofu, lentils, chickpeas, yogurt, garlic, onion, ginger. I can now tolerate potatoes in moderate amounts. I have to cook everything from scratch at home, can't tolerate anything premade and can't eat out. I had previously (when on escitalopram) developed allergies (different reaction than seed & grain intolerace) to apples, carrots, dragon fruit, strawberries, and all stone fruits, though I can eat them if fully cooked. I am not sure if I had any/all of these sensitivites before ADs but I believe they have been heightened by the meds. I think some general pains in my body also increased in this time, joint pain in knees more common and general muscle aches.

Summer 2025

Better than spring thanks to less pollen, but wildfire smoke really irritated my respirtory system, and I got headaches and toothache frequently. I've had the typical vivid dreams the whole time on ADs but they were extra vivid in the summer. Also I was having suicidal thoughts around the end of summer (atypical for me).

Fall 2025

Feeling more autonomic dysfunction, very sleepy and sluggish, and my digestion was very slow, bloating, constipation, no appetite in day then suddeenly ravenous in eve. I also became incredibly sensitive to cold, it was so hard to stay warm, and I got a bunch of painful bumps on my skin anywhere the cold touched me for even a minute. I also had to pee urgently all the time. Many times I felt I was sleep walking through the day, or about to fall asleep at any moment, even while being physically active. Very fatigued all the time, moderate brain fog, and difficulty starting tasks. Joint pain in knees increased, muscles ached a lot and felt disproportionately fatigued. Drugs making me old before I'm even 30 lol. Checked my iron levels and they were OK, ferritin just a little low so started a supplement. Suicidal leading up to winter solstice, and following it as well.

Jan 2026

Developed sudden severe light sensitivity, which felt similar to heat sensitivity I have experienced the whole time taking venlafaxine. Then because I couldn't see hit my head, got a concussion and everything fell appart. Symptoms were extreme nausea, constant vertigo, tinnitus that sounded like an actual fire alarm in my brain, head pulsing, sound sensitivity, light sensitivty (even the digital clock on the stove was too much and I had to wrap my head in a scarf like I was in the desert), confusion/impaired cognitive function, easily over stimulated, cold feet but very hot/feverish body (it was a novel experience to not be at all cold in Jan). Then while I had all this going on I dropped my venlafaxine dose to 150mg, didn't specifically notice any effects since I think I was pretty maxed out on experiencing symptoms.

Feb 2025

Concussion getting better, now experiecing a lot of insomnia. Both trouble getting to sleep and waking. Still very sensitive to light, sound, emotional stimuli, and my startle response was very disproportionate because my nervous system was wound so tight. Still nausea and tinnitus that was now a low-moderate background buzzing. No more vertigo or head pulsing. Nausea would get a lot worse with any light exposure. Doing better as the month went on. Insomnia on going, and feeling emotionally vulnerable.

Mar 2026

Reduced venlafaxine to 112.5mg. First day akathesia, second day emotionally fragile and weepy, third day stabilizing in the acute wd phase. Insomnia, waking with cortisol spike in the night. Light and sound sensitivites decreasing as I can tolerate more and more. Nausea mostly gone/back to the low background level I've had the whole time taking venlafaxine, eating regular high protein meals keeps it at bay. Cognitive function improving steadily too. Brain still pretty foggy and feel easily irritated. Late March, very suicidal and crying a lot. For most of the time I've been on ADs I haven't been able to cry, so this was awful but also pretty cathartic and I felt a lot of relief after that has carried on.

April 2026

Improving more! Brain fog lifting, able to focus longer, able to look at screens. This is when I foind this forum and spent a bunch of time reading SA forum too. Tinnitus reduced to a low level background ringing, light sensitivity very manageable, mostly functional in daily life just by wearing hat and glasses, flourescent lights still difficult but can tolerate short periods. Feeling hope and joy, reminded of my own strength and resilience. Sleeping through the nights some nights, improving as the month goes on. Working on figuring out my taper plan. Then mid april emotionally numb to everything but physically all the things keep improving. No crying this month, and feeling much at all really. Then late april switch over to Effexor brand. Following my post yestedsay, I did feel a little emotionally fragile and slightly out of sorts in the evening, and I woke up in the night with cortisol spike. Today feeling tired but grounded and ready to keep going.

Its hard to pin down how exactly but I really feel overall better at this lower dose, and I feel like my nervous system is thanking me. I know its the right path to get off these drugs. Its going to be very hard but I can do it.

So far so good! Day 3 of the first phase of my switch, no symptoms to report.

2 hours ago, callieflower said:

So far so good! Day 3 of the first phase of my switch, no symptoms to report.

Great!👍 😀

Having a really hard time managing the warmer weather. Hear tolerance has been impacted the whole time I've been on venlafaxine and it feels like it gets worse each year. Summer is going to be difficult this year.

2 hours ago, callieflower said:

Having a really hard time managing the warmer weather. Hear tolerance has been impacted the whole time I've been on venlafaxine and it feels like it gets worse each year. Summer is going to be difficult this year.

Sorry to hear. A lot of us seem to have issues with heat tolerance. Makes the warm weather hard to deal with.