Venlafaxine - Dizziness & Zaps

Treatment and medication
1

Hi all,

I've been on venlafaxine for around 8 months now after being on a few SSRI'S, I wanted to try Venlafaxine as one of its side effects is weight loss, unlike SSRI'S.

I'm currently on 75mg, my question is, if I for example take my tablets at 8pm and forget to take my next dose, at around 9.30pm I start getting these symptoms of withdrawal eg. Dizziness, zaps, lightheaded.

This is new to me as I've never had this happen with other antidepressants, I've tried Citalopram, Sertraline and Prozac.

I was kinda under the impression that once you've been on these tablets a while, they are in your system and withdrawal symptoms would only start after a few days, not hours.

I did mention it to my GP last month he said he'd not heard of that happening before, at that point I asked him to increase my dose to 75 from 37.5 as I didn't feel much benefit from the lowest dose.

Any advice would be welcome,

Thanks

2

I have been on maximum dose now down to 75mg daily .I have put wt on ! Threw out, the head zaps start within hours it's a horrible feeling that's how I ended up back on them after going cold turkey, it's the worst medication I have ever had .

3

Hi, Chris,

after 14 years I still get the 'zaps' + dizziness - like an electricity bolt flies around my skull in a split second, The other difficulty has been food intolerances, which, though they may have existed in a very small way, exposure to Venlafaxine has meant I cannot assimilate any energy food- carbs sugars, animal fats or milk. My advice - be aware.

4

Phillip can you elaborate please on these intolerances you have ?