Brief Answer:
See detailed answer below

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

I went through your query in detail and understand your concern regarding withdrawal symptoms of Venlafaxine.

You have mentioned that you are currently on Venlafaxine and Bupropion. I understand when you say that since you feel no improvement on this medications, you want to stop it. However, I would advise that you discuss with your psychiatrist regarding alternative anti-depressants (like one of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, e.g. Sertraline, Escitalopram , etc). They just might be helpful for you.

Coming back to directly answering your query regarding withdrawal symptoms of Venlafaxine. You are right in saying that Venlafaxine can be a difficult drug to withdraw. It can lead to discontinuation symptoms if it is stopped suddenly. The major symptoms that you might experience would include rebound increase in anxiety, loss of appetite, headache and feeling excessively tired. You may also feel perplexed and nervous. There might be sleep disturbances and increase in dreams. Nausea is another common symptoms along with sweating and tremors. You might feel more irritable and agitated at times.

All these discontinuation symptoms are more common if Venlafaxine is stopped suddenly. You can observe certain precautions to help you prevent the symptoms:

- Don't abruptly stop Venlafaxine. You can discuss with your psychiatrist regarding slowly tapering it off (25-50 mg at a time).

- Always do it under supervision of your psychiatrist.

- You can be prescribed short term benzodiazepines for controlling the symptoms.

- You can consider another antidepressant which you can be started while you are withdrawing from Venlafaxine.

You can discuss regarding all of it with your psychiatrist at your next appointment.

Hope I was able to answer your query. If you have any follow up query, please feel free to ask. I would be glad to offer any help that I can.

Best wishes,

Dr. Sunil Gupta

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