effexor half life

The half-life of a drug is how long it takes for half of it to be eliminated from the bloodstream. Hope that helps.

It has a very long half life, though I can't give you specifics. The dose and how long you were on it does factor in. Your doctor should be able to help you with your questions on this.

The half life of Effexor is 5 hours which means it is totally out of your system in 25 hours. Effexor is not causing your symptoms... it is a return of depression from not taking an antidepressant.

I understand your situation so much so that I have decided I will take the lowest dose of Effexor for the rest of my life! I have tried stopping it several times over the past 10 years. Doctors need to really understand withdrawal problems before prescribing this drug! I wish you well.

Actually, Klonopin is a longer acting benzo that is actually used on a more long term basis than Xanax or Ativan because of its much longer half life. It is a benzo and can become addicting, however, talk to your doctor about it. Sane doctors do prescribe this for six months or longer because of the longer half life. Remember that we are not doctors in this forum, so just ensure you talk to your doctor about this.

If you want to know why it this works, a big part of it is the half-life of the medicine (Effexor is 3 hours vs. Prozac 70 hours....short half life means far worse withdrawal). Second is the receptors that Prozac hits vs Effexor which ends up reversing the withdrawal effect. Then when you finally get off Prozac it just slowly fades away over a 7 day period out of your body without any withdrawal.

Greetings all: **Possible Solution** I have been on 150 mg.'s of Effexor for about 6 mo.'s, and after realizing the withdrawal problems when missing a dose by a few hours, asked my prescribing physician to take me off of it. He immediately told me he would switch me to 50 mg. Zoloft for 10 days, and that would be it.

Your doctor is counting on the fact that Pristiq has a longer half life than Effexor XR. Being that Effexor XR is an Extendedd release formula it is kind of strange that you had such a reaction to just one missed dosage. Used to take 300Mgs of Effexor a day and missed a dose here and there and never had a problem.

My son wanted to get off antidepressants so the doctor suggested he go on prozac to counteract the wd from effexor.....(75mg) prozacs half life is 5 weeks , while effexors is less than 24 hours...so it's really hard to go off it especially if you have been on it for a while...even if they lower the dose to wean you it's pretty bad....withdrawal is awful. He's never been on Lexapro so I can't tell you if that will do the same thing...ease the withdrawal.

It has a very short half life which makes it near impossible to come off of. I was convinced for 8 years by my doctor that "I just need to be on meds the rest of my life." When in reality, my body was going through withdrawals. I finally took this into my own hands (and my Naturopath) and researched it. And, found ***********.org and "The Antidepressant Solution" book. I just wondered how long I would feel weird and if anyone here felt the same way.

It took me 3 months to wean off effexor, I tried it cold turkey, had vertigo, memory problems, Dr then lowered dose for 3 months, doing it this way stopped the side effects, but hot flashes r horrible

3-6 weeks, you can experience symptoms for up to that. Effexor does have a short half life however, so your symptoms should be wearing off by now. People can experience odd symptoms while withdrawing from this drug, but I do not think this to be the case. I would consult your doctor if after another week, this continues. Best wishes and good luck.

5 mg every other day for the past 1 year. so one day i just switched to prozac and instead of effexor i took 5 mg (half a pill) of generic prozac. took prozac 5 mg for 3 days and then stopped all meds. i got withdrawal symptoms but atleast 80% less severe. i have slight nausea for the last 10 days, occasional brain zaps which were more the first few days now down to once or twice a day, worst of all i got insomnia.

Tomorrow I start taking splitting the pill in half and taking half in the morning, half at night. After a week it will be only half a day, until I cut it out altogether. I would just love extra information that will help make this rough time as easy as possible. (because it is not the only medication I'm coming off of) Thanks.

Hi all, I am on Effexor 187.5mg for 9months now for depressiom and Klonopin for panic attacks...Recently my depression has come back like a lead pipe. All the great symptoms...fear of facing life, loss of interest, loss of motivation, its like I just want to lay in bed all day. I HATE feeling this way! DOes my Effexor need a MG adjustment? Lucky I see my doc in a week. Any feedback, anyone who has similar experience is welcomed.

If I were you, I wouldn't touch the stuff with a ten foot pole! It is the same as Effexor. The patent for Effexor will be up in 2010, so they came up with this miracle drug "Pristiq". 78% of patients on Effexor have withdrawals. Those are very, very high numbers. And, Wyeth (the maker of both meds) cannot confirm, they are only HOPING, that Pristiq will not have the withdrawals that Effexor had. They want to make money... period.

Effexor has such a short half life...that is why you feel so sick when you dont take it! Hang in there and get you meds as soon as you can!

Considering the half life of Effexor of 5 hours, in 25 hours it would be completely out of your system. Withdrawal from it could last a couple of weeks but it is unlikely to last any longer. Your anger and agitation are unlikely to be withdrawal symptoms ... it is more likely that your normal state of functioning due to a lack of the chemicals for neuroreceptors is the cause.

Does anybody else get (or know anything about) Effexor making you feel like a zombie? Every day I get up, get ready, go to work, come home and get back in bed. I'm living so small...even on my days off i'm in bed the entire day. I don't feel anything except...bad. That's the only way I could describe it. Just constantly physically ill or in some sort of pain.

My family has a history of depression and anxiety, much like yours it would seem. I was on Effexor XR for about a year and a half, and it was the best thing I ever could have done for myself. I went from feeling anxious and depressed every single day to coping very well with daily life (something I could not do on my own). I managed to go up to a healthy body weight as well because my appetite came back while on the medication.

My doctor has me on 75mg now for 3 months. I know when it is time for the half life to be over and I am having more problems, fuzzy, sick to my stomach. In the last 2 weeks I have been counting individulal beads because I want this to be over. Now last week my ankles were swollen, hand and face. Doctor said that I am in congestive heart failure. I didn't tell him about the effexor. I am scared. What should I do?

decided to quit taking it on a monday felt fine all week untill sun when i went into serious withdrawl! so as far as half life im not sure? but you can bet i was back on it mon! so i guess it was in my system for 6 days after i stopped. p.s.

Effexor half life

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