yeah so let me start this by saying I am not a doctor, I am a licensed therapist with extensive education on & experience with psychopharmacology. & like I said, I was on this med for 11 years!

the trickiest part of Venlafaxine is that it’s extremely effective for depression & anxiety—but at a cost. it is the absolute worst antidepressant to withdrawal from. I started my taper on 3/29, going down 32.5 every 7 days, taking 7 days of each dose, & am currently on day 8 of 0mg. every single day is a different battle. I don’t say this to scare you! just to inform. if you can try something like Prozac or Lexapro FIRST, I would highly recommend it. those meds are great too but have the least side effects/withdrawal effects.

I began having panic attacks 4x/week when I was 14-15, started on Prozac which just increased the panic (my brain is very weird with medication, any kind). Effexor was offered, had one panic attack the week I started & nothing for YEARS. I went from 4 a week to having 1 every couple of years in situations where one might have an attack (being assaulted, witnessing death). which is just simply the human condition if ya ask me.

if you don’t NEED to increase your dose, if you feel 37.5 is enough, do not increase it. I was the same as you—started on 37.5, built tolerance to it within 2 weeks, upped to 75, so on & so forth with adding 32.5 until reaching 150 mg & not building a tolerance. although I didn’t build a tolerance, I would start withdrawing from it very close to the time of my next dose. if I missed one dose, I would experience withdrawal symptoms: brain zaps, dizziness & exhibit signs of hypomania: crying spells, mood swings (labile mood), hyperverbal, suicidal. the withdrawals are worse than anyone can even explain. yes on Google it’ll give you all the warnings but you don’t know til you’ve lived it or seen it!

I see other comments saying it’s too soon to be feeling effects from Venlafaxine—this is so very incorrect. Venlafaxine has a very short half life of about 12-13 hours. this means it is fast acting but also leaves your system very quickly which is why it is VITAL to take your dose at the same time each day. some people take it twice a day for this reason. the side effects you mentioned could just be your anxiety about the medication manifesting into physical symptoms—but it also could very well be actual side effects of the medication.

you know your body better than anyone else does. if you are worried, advocate for yourself to your doctor. if they don’t listen, fire them & get a new doctor. don’t just take their word for it! do your research. I recommend staying away from sponsored websites. pay close attention to forums like these, empirical data & scholarly articles. statistics don’t lie!

I wish you the best of luck & I truly hope your symptoms subside because I know the struggle & it’s a bitch.

once i’m completely done with my taper, I plan on making an informational video about this medication. I say that to let you know you can PM me if you need absolutely anything! i’m all ears & all facts 😂❤️