Kristi29

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.