Please help me
I started Velafaxine in Sept 2024 after having terrible anxiety. I was on 75 mg and was doing good, but gained about 20 lbs. Hating my weight gain I started weaning myself off in jlJan of 2026. I took 10 beads out every week until I got to the middle of March. I don't know why, but I just stopped getting my refills (so stupid I know and I fully regret it) I did great and felt great until the past couple of weeks (May 2026). My anxiety is back and I'm panicky. I can't eat, sleep and I'm barely functioning. I didn't think it was due to withdrawing until I read something in Reddit and it clicked that that's what this probably is. I took about 120 beads (there are 246 in a 75mg capsule) yesterday, thinking I'm just restart venlafaxine so that I never have to feel like this again. I later read the post on Survivingantidepressants.org about reinstating and not doing too much. Well this morning i woke up and I'm 10x worse. I realized I probablytook too many yesterday and i took 5 beads today.I  I tried reading more posts about reinstating but my mind is mush and I can't concentrate. Please help me, do I reinstate? Am I reinstating a good amount? What else can i do? I'm desperate. Please help me, I don't feel like I'll survive this feeling of doom and panic.

Hi

I’ll write you a better reply tomorrow. Just wanted to respond quicker for you.

I think reinstating is a good idea. I wouldn’t jump the dose around though. Your initial RI was obviously too high.

I’d suggest a dose around 2.5-5% of your original dose and hold that for 7-14 days and then assess.

Unfortunately jumping your dose higher might have made things a bit worse for you so this may mean things will take longer to settle down.

What brand are you taking? Is it xr?

Chippy

Thank you so much for your reply

I'm taking er, I'm not sure of the brand

2 minutes ago, CND27 said:

Thank you so much for your reply

I'm taking er, I'm not sure of the brand

Got you. Is it Effexor xr or just a generic?

It's generic

Just now, CND27 said:

It's generic

Ok. Thats a bit more simple as the bead size isn’t something to worry about we don’t think with generic brands.

We normally suggest counting the beads in a few capsules to get an average bead count to work from. It’s probably not a big issue for you as you are ri a low dose and the bead counts relative at this point unlike if you were tapering.

We have a bead counting post in the tapering section that’s worth a read. There is also a RI document too.

Tapering Capsules That Contain Beads

Reinstating an Antidepressant

Thank you again, I'll read those right now. This is absolutely awful

2 minutes ago, CND27 said:

Thank you again, I'll read those right now. This is absolutely awful

Welcome to the forum...this is definitely not where any us us thought we would be. I am glad you found us.

Who is your manufacturer? It should say on your prescription label or you could call the pharmacy. It is important to stick with the same manufacturer moving forward.

And are all your beads a uniform size?

Thanks. 😊

Edited May 17May 17 by LostinCanada

3 minutes ago, CND27 said:

Thank you again, I'll read those right now. This is absolutely awful

Pleasure. I’m very sorry you’re having such a rough time. We all understand.

13 minutes ago, LostinCanada said:

Welcome to the forum...this is definitely not where any us us thought we would be. I am glad you found us.

Who is your manufacturer? It should say on your prescription label or you could call the pharmacy. It is important to stick with the same manufacturer moving forward.

And are all your beads a uniform size?

Thanks. 😊

The manufacturer is Epic Pha and the beads are all the same size and color

I know I took too much yesterday, do we know how long this can take to recover from doing that?

23 minutes ago, CND27 said:

beads are all the same size and color

If there are any that are too big or too small, just toss those ones.

24 minutes ago, CND27 said:

know I took too much yesterday, do we know how long this can take to recover from doing that?

Everyone is different. The important thing is starting small and slowly increasing if necessary. Sometimes there is immediate relief, more often it takes a couple weeks to have symptoms lesson, but for some it can take a few months to truly stabilize.

❤️🙏

Welcome to the forum.

As the others have said, it's difficult to put exact timeframes on things, but what is clear from the stories of others is that reinstatement is usually best done low and slow.

They have already given you some practical advice, the hope would be that on a low dose you stabilise in time. It's important to not keep changing it around and to give this some time to work, and then reassess. Normally a couple of weeks is a good amount to see if it is starting to work or if you need to do another slight increase.

16 minutes ago, Luke said:

Welcome to the forum.

As the others have said, it's difficult to put exact timeframes on things, but what is clear from the stories of others is that reinstatement is usually best done low and slow.

They have already given you some practical advice, the hope would be that on a low dose you stabilise in time. It's important to not keep changing it around and to give this some time to work, and then reassess. Normally a couple of weeks is a good amount to see if it is starting to work or if you need to do another slight increase.

Thank you, I'm praying it works soon.

If I want to get back on my normal dose eventually, how do I do that? Just keep goinv up slowly until i get there? After going through everything I have lately, I may just take it the rest of my life so that I never have to feel this way again

6 hours ago, CND27 said:

If I want to get back on my normal dose eventually, how do I do that?

Generally speaking, that is not advised after going cold turkey from these drugs. Your central nervous system has become sensitive and something called kindling can happen.

These drugs are very powerful and the doses they are prescribed at cause the body to be absolutely dependent on them.

You will find a much lower dose will probably have the same effect.

Please read this link on kindling as well:

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/27800-hypersensitivity-and-kindling/#comment-610557

This link may also provide more info relevant to your circumstance:

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/4244-how-long-does-it-take-to-stabilize-after-reinstating-or-updosing/

Hey @CND27

Welcome to the forum properly this morning! 😃

 

This is a volunteer-run, community forum aimed at helping those who are tapering and/or experiencing difficulties with psychiatric medications and withdrawl syndrome. We are not medical professionals and cannot offer medical advice. We simply offer support and opinions which you could use as talking points with a medical provider knowledgeable in withdrawing off psychiatric medications.

 

Please familiarise yourself with the forum rules and the disclaimer located here: Guidelines

 

Please make sure your signature is kept up to date with your drug history. This will allow members to see some basic information about your drug history and situation so that they may help you best. Information on how to do this is located in the FAQs section above, but here is a direct link: Update Signature

Once this is done, future posts made by you will have this signature turned on by default. For this reason please keep it clear but condensed as possible.

Please use the format outline here Preferred signature/drug history format

I'm so sorry to read about the tough time you've had recently you will find plenty of support here for sure.

13 hours ago, CND27 said:

Well this morning i woke up and I'm 10x worse. I realized I probablytook too many yesterday and i took 5 beads today.

Hope things are a litte easier today? What dose/bead count did you settle on in the end? 5 beads isn't probably that far off correct tbh maybe tad low, based on your bead count of 246 per capsule somewhere between 6-12 beads would be about right as a start point.

Each bead is about 0.3mgai of drug (ai=active ingredient), your dose for 6-12 beads would be 1.83mgai - 3.66mgai.

10 hours ago, CND27 said:

If I want to get back on my normal dose eventually, how do I do that? Just keep goinv up slowly until i get there? After going through everything I have lately, I may just take it the rest of my life so that I never have to feel this way again

As @LostinCanada has said, it isn't as simple as that unfortunately.

A couple of things are happening here.

1. Your brain is missing the drug it has become dependent on to function correctly. You are not additcted to it and it doesn't fix any mental health issue, the brain has just adapted to it being there, removing it too quickly causes WD symptoms. Often adding the drug back in, answers the brains call for the drug and relieve those symptoms.

It is worth understanding that the higher the dose of an AD the less effect on the brain it has proportionally. So it isn't likley that you need a full dose of the drug to help cushion WD symptoms. In fact, as you have found out, too high a RI can cause problems.

To give you an idea 75mgai (full dose) of Venlafaxine has around 85% 'effect on the brain', but 12 beads or 6.66mgai has around 35% it may be increasing to around 10-20mgai (33-66 approx beads) is required to give you around 50-65% 'effect on the brain', but honestly this may be too much for you. We have seen that doses of around 30% 'effect on the brain' have been all people need to stablise their symptoms. Listen to what your body is telling you and don't rush to increase the dose, hoping it will be a short cut. Often this just makes things worse. Check in with us here and let us know how you are doing would be my suggestion before increasing.

2. When you stop an AD quickly, it isn't as simple as the brain is missing the drug, so putting it back doesnt solve the issue. Stopping the drug, continuing to be off the drug for some time, and then RI a high dose of the drug, all cause an injury, these events are referred to as kindling and the injury is called WD injury or sometimes ABIND. This is something that only time can heal. Adding in more drug won't fix this for you. It is really important to understand that now your CNS is dysregulated you can't go back to how things were. These drugs are not good for us anyway, and they cause long term health issues and tbh are a ticking time bomb for most I think. I would suggest after you have stablised and found your 'WD normal' baseline, I would consider tapering off the remaining dose (we can help you do this safely) and then allowing your nervous to finish healing from a drug free position.Tapering Information

I wish there was a timeline for how long stablity takes. We would describe 'WD normal' as symptoms you can rate as 1-3/10 with (10 being the worse you can imagine) for a consitant period of time.

Whilst you stablise it is seen things can get a little better and then a little worse again, we refer to this non-linear healing pattern as 'waves and windows', so don't be concerned if this is what you find to be the case. The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

Do let us know how you are today?

 

In the mean time this is what I would do if I were you:

 

-Stay Hydrated 

 

-Eat a good clean whole food diet, avoiding processed foods and sugars.

 

-Stay away from caffeine, alcohol and antihistamines and any other psychoactive substances.

 

Supplements are to be avoided initially, as they often irritate our nervous systems. Try to get your nutrition through food.

 

Down the line, you may wish to introduce Fish Oil and Magnesium. Those who can tolerate them have found them calming to the nervous system. Be careful try one at a time and start low and see how you get on should you choose to try them.

 

A daily walk is very important as much as you can manage, if you can manage it. Gets you your fresh air and Vitamin D does wonders for your mind!

 

You are very welcome here and I hope you find the site supportive.

Chippy

11 hours ago, CND27 said:

Thank you, I'm praying it works soon.

If I want to get back on my normal dose eventually, how do I do that? Just keep goinv up slowly until i get there? After going through everything I have lately, I may just take it the rest of my life so that I never have to feel this way again

As the others have said, I think you're better off starting on a low dose, and IF you need to increase, do that slowly, in small steps until you find a dose that you're stable on.

Exactly what that is, doesn't really matter.

7 hours ago, LostinCanada said:

Generally speaking, that is not advised after going cold turkey from these drugs. Your central nervous system has become sensitive and something called kindling can happen.

These drugs are very powerful and the doses they are prescribed at cause the body to be absolutely dependent on them.

You will find a much lower dose will probably have the same effect.

Please read this link on kindling as well:

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/27800-hypersensitivity-and-kindling/#comment-610557

This link may also provide more info relevant to your circumstance:

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/4244-how-long-does-it-take-to-stabilize-after-reinstating-or-updosing/

That makes sense, thank you so much

4 hours ago, Chippy said:

Hey @CND27

Welcome to the forum properly this morning! 😃

 

This is a volunteer-run, community forum aimed at helping those who are tapering and/or experiencing difficulties with psychiatric medications and withdrawl syndrome. We are not medical professionals and cannot offer medical advice. We simply offer support and opinions which you could use as talking points with a medical provider knowledgeable in withdrawing off psychiatric medications.

 

Please familiarise yourself with the forum rules and the disclaimer located here: Guidelines

 

Please make sure your signature is kept up to date with your drug history. This will allow members to see some basic information about your drug history and situation so that they may help you best. Information on how to do this is located in the FAQs section above, but here is a direct link: Update Signature

Once this is done, future posts made by you will have this signature turned on by default. For this reason please keep it clear but condensed as possible.

Please use the format outline here Preferred signature/drug history format

I'm so sorry to read about the tough time you've had recently you will find plenty of support here for sure.

Hope things are a litte easier today? What dose/bead count did you settle on in the end? 5 beads isn't probably that far off correct tbh maybe tad low, based on your bead count of 246 per capsule somewhere between 6-12 beads would be about right as a start point.

Each bead is about 0.3mgai of drug (ai=active ingredient), your dose for 6-12 beads would be 1.83mgai - 3.66mgai.

As @LostinCanada has said, it isn't as simple as that unfortunately.

A couple of things are happening here.

1. Your brain is missing the drug it has become dependent on to function correctly. You are not additcted to it and it doesn't fix any mental health issue, the brain has just adapted to it being there, removing it too quickly causes WD symptoms. Often adding the drug back in, answers the brains call for the drug and relieve those symptoms.

It is worth understanding that the higher the dose of an AD the less effect on the brain it has proportionally. So it isn't likley that you don't need a full dose of the drug to help cushion WD symptoms. In fact, as you have found out, too high a RI can cause problems.

To give you an idea 75mgai (full dose) of Venlafaxine has around 85% 'effect on the brain', but 12 beads or 6.66mgai has around 35% it may be increasing to around 10-20mgai (33-66 approx beads) is required to give you around 50-65% 'effect on the brain', but honestly this may be too much for you. We have seen that doses of around 30% 'effect on the brain' have been all people need to stablise their symptoms. Listen to what your body is telling you and don't rush to increase the dose, hoping it will be a short cut. Often this just makes things worse. Check in with us here and let us know how you are doing would be my suggestion before increasing.

2. When you stop an AD quickly, it isn't as simple as the brain is missing the drug, so putting it back solves the issue, stopping the drug, continuing to be off the drug for some time, and then RI a high dose of the drug, all cause an injury, these events are refered to as kindling and the injury is called WD injury or sometimes ABIND. This is something that only time can heal. Adding in more drug won't fix this for you. It is really important to understand that now your CNS is dysregulated you can't go back to how things were. These drugs are not good for us anyway, and they cause long term health issues and tbh are a ticking time bomb for most I think. I would suggest after you have stablised and found your 'WD normal' baseline, I would consider tapering off the remaining dose (we can help you do this safely) and then allowing your nervous to finish healing from a drug free position.Tapering Information

I wish there was a timeline for how long stablity takes. We would describe 'WD normal' as symptoms you can rate as 1-3/10 with (10 being the worse you can imagine) for a consitant period of time.

Whilst you stablise it is seen things can get a little better and then a little worse again, we refer to this non-linear healing pattern as 'waves and windows', so don't be concerned if this is what you find to be the case. The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

Do let us know how you are today?

 

In the mean time this is what I would do if I were you:

 

-Stay Hydrated 

 

-Eat a good clean whole food diet, avoiding processed foods and sugars.

 

-Stay away from caffeine, alcohol and antihistamines and any other psychoactive substances.

 

Supplements are to be avoided initially, as they often irritate our nervous systems. Try to get your nutrition through food.

 

Down the line, you may wish to introduce Fish Oil and Magnesium. Those who can tolerate them have found them calming to the nervous system. Be careful try one at a time and start low and see how you get on should you choose to try them.

 

A daily walk is very important as much as you can manage, if you can manage it. Gets you your fresh air and Vitamin D does wonders for your mind!

 

You are very welcome here and I hope you find the site supportive.

Chippy

Thank you so much, that all makes so much sense yet no one tells us that when put on these.

I actually had a really good evening yesterday. Around 5 pm, my symptoms disappeared and I actually felt like I could load/unload the dishwasher, straighten up the bed, and eat a piece of pizza, which seemed completely impossible yesterday. This morning though, I'mback to being jittery and tearful, so that's disappointing. I read a post yesterday about accepting things for how they are at this moment, so I think that's helped me this morning. I'm going to accept that I may just lay around and cry all day, but that's okay.

I did take 5 beads yesterday and I went ahead and upped it to 6 today, so that it can be a better percentage.

I'm so thankful to have found yall, I would be lost right now

Edited May 18May 18 by CND27
Typos

4 hours ago, Luke said:

As the others have said, I think you're better off starting on a low dose, and IF you need to increase, do that slowly, in small steps until you find a dose that you're stable on.

Exactly what that is, doesn't really matter.

I'm so glad I asked, that makes sense

2 minutes ago, CND27 said:

actually had a really good evening yesterday. Around 5 pm, my symptoms disappeared and I actually felt like I could load/unload the dishwasher, straighten up the bed, and eat a piece of pizza, which seemed completely impossible yesterday.

This is very encouraging to hear.

2 minutes ago, CND27 said:

This morning though, in back to bring jittery and tearful, so that's disappointing.

Don’t be discouraged, it’s really common to feel worse in the morning’s. Just the fact you felt better last night is great. Hang onto that. It’s very non linear all this I’m afraid.

3 minutes ago, CND27 said:

read a post yesterday about accepting things for his they are at this moment,

This is fantastic that you have already established this very important principle. It’s a daily renewed practice. It will slip but you’ll relearn it and it will help loads. There is a post all about I in the coping strategies area. Have a read and listen to some of the videos in that thread.

5 minutes ago, CND27 said:

did take 5 beads yesterday and I went ahead and upped it to 6 today

Ok. Good to know. Id stay there for at least 10 days and let us know how you are. You’ve responded well to the lower dose. Very good to see. You may choose to dial it up a bead at a time, but just deal with that as it comes. There is no magic number. Everyone is different.

6 minutes ago, CND27 said:

I'm so thankful to have found yall, I would be lost right now

Really pleased with to hear that. It’s why we run the site. Doctors should help with this stuff, but unfortunately they are totally unaware. Well most of them. It’s getting better but not by much.

Acceptance is key - Why does acceptance feel impossible?

3 hours ago, CND27 said:

I'm going to accept that I may just lay around and cry all day, but that's okay.

Good for you....this is the hardest thing many of us have had to deal with. The worst part is that we went to the doctors to receive help and we trusted and believed them. They made the decision for us without telling us the risks and damage.

This is an iatrogenic injury....I found it so interesting that they have an actual definition for harm done by doctors and "medication".

1 hour ago, LostinCanada said:

1 hour ago, LostinCanada said:

1 hour ago, LostinCanada said:

This is an iatrogenic injury....I found it so interesting that they have an actual definition for harm done by doctors and "medication".

That is really interesting.. my mind is just blown on how there's no education involved when prescribed these. You all are saving lives by being so supportive and helping those of us who would be completely lost in what to do from here. I would have just reinstated a normal dose and kept taking it, thinking it would eventually help me, then I would be way worse than I am now and I just can't imagine. I wouldn't be able to live like that. Thank you all, I'll keep you updated and after 10-14 days, I'll ask for guidance on what to do next.

8 minutes ago, CND27 said:

You all are saving lives by being so supportive and helping those of us who would be completely lost in what to do from here.

We have been where you are and honestly still struggling but understanding this is the drug and not you is huge.

I encourage you to read the FDA pamphlet for your drug. The side effects of these drugs are exactly what they say they fix....and in withdrawal those side effects are multiplied with more things added.

Check out this:

https://antidepressantrecovery.org/topic/180-daily-withdrawal-checklist/?do=getNewComment