Withdrawal
Index
1. Introduction
These notes were prepared from action taken on a programme of venlafaxine
antidepressant reduction based originally on information taken from
various web sites. This allowed simple and effective elimination of
venlafaxine without withdrawal problems. This approach could be used
for eliminating other medication which builds dependency. Section
6 also gives details of the complementary activities, which were followed
to overcome the depression, none of which were recommended by any
of the medical staff involved. Even when the non-medical recipe had
clearly worked, the consultant psychiatrist was still in denial with
regard to the benefits of the path we had chosen.
This information comes from the information prepared and applied
for one person. The writer is not a medical practitioner but does
have a technical PhD and was therefore happy to investigate and evaluate
information available.
In this case the venlafaxine was not effective in alleviating or
eliminating depression but its use did coincide with the appearance
of several unwanted side effects; suicidal feelings, shakiness, rapid
heart beat, excessive perspiration and at the higher levels a foggy
brain preventing any clarity of thought. This is not surprising as,
in preparing this note, I have discovered that for most of the period
of the illness the prescribed dose was far more than the recommended
maximum even though both consultant psychiatrists repeatedly stated
that we were well within it.
The approach described here could be used either for elimination
or for reducing the dose to find an effective level at which side
effects are minimised. The manufacturer’s web site states it
to be a good drug because it works in 45% of cases as opposed to only
35 % for other antidepressants. This obviously still leaves a significant
percentage who are suffering from the negative effects of the drug
but who are deriving little or no benefit.
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