I'm tweaking because I stopped taking my Effexor!! What do I do

[Carlton Mason Leighton]

I don't know what to do. I am so afraid of taking medication and I hate my psychologist, he is an insensitive jerk. I haven't taken my Effexor for two days now (I'm on 150 mg) and I am falling apart! I get random bursts of sudden dizziness and I feel hungover! Please, what do I do?

[tinmuning]

Drowsiness is one of the reasons associated with discontinuation of the drug--so you're not the only one who had that problem. However, when you were prescribed with Effexor, the doctor assumes that the benefits you may get from the drug outweighs the possible side effects that you may experience with it. Stopping the drug without doctor's advice may be more of a problem rather than a solution for you. If you have problems with your doctor, you can always seek a second opinion. But if you have no choice but to see the one you have, then you still have to tell him that he needs to address your concern. Otherwise, you'd be liable for whatever happens to you if you don't take your meds since you were the one who did not follow your doctor's instructions.

[Kieron M]

There is reputable UK website on medication isssues. I've included the link to Venlafaxine - the UK name for Efexor. It goes into the various things you can do in scenario like this, there called discontinuation symptoms :

http://www.choiceandmedication.org.uk/en/medications/94/

[*Jenn*]

effexor is something that you cant mess with, you cant just go off of it cold turkey, you need to go to your psycologest (maybe a different one) and they can tell you how to safely take yourself off of it if you truly dont want to take it anymore.