80th Effexor Update - Feeling Poor

August 14, 2026··

taper update

For some reason I had severe tachycardia all night last night. I remember having it one other time. I think my heart is fine; I've had it checked before. It must be related to the withdrawal somehow. Hopefully tonight will be better! I got the results of my lab work back this morning. My thyroid is still out of whack, so I will need to discuss with my doctor what to do about it since the Levothyroxine seems to cause me issues and I don't want to increase the dose. There is another drug called Tyrosint that I might try. The key is finding something that treats my hypothyroidism without it increasing my anxiety. My Vitamin D level is 31.7 and should be higher, but I can't tolerate supplements. I'll have to increase my sun exposure. It's frustrating when you need a supplement but your nervous system is too sensitized to handle it! My fasting blood glucose is 100. I'm very nervous about heading towards diabetes. My body needs a certain amount of carbs each day in order to sleep and function. I cannot handle eating a super low-carb diet. SO, I have to take other measures to help this issue. Evidently if you walk for 10 minutes after each meal, it brings down your glucose level by about 30%. I'm going to start doing this three times a day. Overall, I have recovered from the severe stress that I experienced last week and am feeling better in that respect. My CNS needs to keep strengthening itself. Hopefully it will become more resilient as time goes on. I hope everyone has a nice weekend! 🥰

Catina’s taper progress

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Dose (mg)

Mood (/10)

Venlafaxine (tapering) - Current dose 17.92 mg
Trazodone - 50 mg
Levothyroxine - 25 mcg

“Your brain and body know how to heal. Trust the process and keep going.”

Please Note: I am not a healthcare professional. Any advice given is based on personal experience and that of others in the lay withdrawal community.

4 Replies

guava3782d ago

Community AnchorAbilify · active

Dealing with withdrawal, a sensitive nervous system, and all those health bumps at once is so much to handle. I totally get how scary the high heart rate can be. When I had an adverse reaction to Prozac and took it for just 9 days, my resting heart rate stayed above 130 the whole time, and it was truly terrible. But you are resilient and already finding practical ways to adapt. Hang in there, you're going to make it through!

- Risperidone 1mg - 2months
- Prozac - 9 days (adverse reaction)
- Abilify - 15mg -> 10mg -> 7.5mg -> 5mg - 9 months - actively tapering
- Procyclidine 5mg - 9 months - actively tapering
- Propranolol - 20mg - 1 year - holding
- Xanax - 0.25mg - 7 months - holding

Duloxi842d ago

Community AnchorCymbalta · holding

Hi Catina, I'm glad you've been able to recover a little and that you're feeling better. I know what you mean about the episodes of rapid heartbeat. After my first tapering attempt, I experienced them on and off for almost two years. After increasing my dose too quickly, I also developed severe muscular tension. I've noticed that I tend to carry a lot of tension around my hips, especially the psoas muscle, as well as in my chest muscles. In my experience, tension in these areas seems to be associated with episodes of rapid heartbeat. I've also wondered whether tension around the thoracic spine could play a role. Does your rapid heartbeat always come on suddenly?

Cymbalta — 13mg — 17 Jahre — holding -with clinician - 90 mg – 2021: First tapering attempt.
60 mg – 2023: Second tapering attempt.
With a doctor's supervision—but unfortunately, a doctor who doesn't know how to properly taper off an antidepressant.

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CatinaStaff2d ago

Community AnchorEffexor

"I'm glad you've been able to recover a little and that you're feeling better." — @Duloxi84

Thank you!

"I've noticed that I tend to carry a lot of tension around my hips, especially the psoas muscle, as well as in my chest muscles. In my experience, tension in these areas seems to be associated with episodes of rapid heartbeat. I've also wondered whether tension around the thora..." — @Duloxi84

That's an interesting thought. I'll have to do some research on whether that could be a factor or not.

"Does your rapid heartbeat always come on suddenly?" — @Duloxi84

Yes, it did come on rather suddenly when I was trying to sleep.

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CatinaStaff2d ago

Community AnchorEffexor

"Dealing with withdrawal, a sensitive nervous system, and all those health bumps at once is so much to handle. I totally get how scary the high heart rate can be. When I had an adverse reaction to Prozac and took it for just 9 days, my resting heart rate stayed above 130 the wh..." — @guava378

Thanks Guava378. These drugs can affect the heart so much.

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