In another post you said that your strange and bother-some symptoms were caused by effexor.

I am currently on effexor and am trying to ween myself off of it, actually I took my last dose yesterday which was part of a 3 month weening process. How did the effexor cause all these things and how did you learn that it was the effexor?

What dosage of Effexor where you on?

You mentioned something about having a dangerously low potasium level, is this a result of the effexor or something else.

I am very concerned as I have many of the same symptoms you spoke of, I do not want to end up in the er because my potasium levels are low.

Thank you so much for listening, and I look forward to any information you can give me.

peace

terry

I was on 75mg effexor for 4 years. I had no side-effects for the first 3 years, unless I ran out of pills and missed a dose. My problems started this past March,and my doctor thought they (chest pain, left-sided numbness,feeling faint) were due to anxiety, so he increased the effexor. All of the problems got a lot worse and that's when I decided to go back to my normal dose of effexor. I started having blood pressure problems and doc thought it might be due to the effexor, so I started weaning off. A week after being on 37.5, I noticed the chest pain and numbness and tingling had gotten a lot better. I realized then it was the effexor. This is after having a MRI, heart monitor, and all kinds of expensive tests. I could not get off of effexor so the doctor switched me to zoloft and I started having the same problems with my heart. I'm almost off zoloft now. My nurse told me to take 12.5 every other day, then every two days, etc. until I reach 7 days. It has been 5 days now and I'm not sure I want to take another pill after 5 days. Has anyone else heard of tapering off like this?
I'm not sure if the effexor is what caused my potassium to drop. I also stayed very dehydrated for days after the potassuim dropped. I drank several liters of fluid and still had to go to the hospital and get IV fluids, which only helped for a day at a time. After 2 weeks I finally got better.
Good luck to you! Sounds like you've been tapering slowly, so maybe you won't have any problems coming off effexor.

thanks for the info!

peace

terry