Symptoms: Brain zaps, Insomnia, Tinnitus, Muscle/joint pain
My doctor prescribed Effexor as an off-label treatment for fibromyalgia pain. I felt pretty good on it, but I didn't really notice much of a difference in the pain area. What I did notice was that if I missed a dose I would start getting brain zaps. They were very disabling symptoms and difficult to describe unless you've had them yourself. It occurred to me that if my brain was producing such serious symptoms as a result of just missing my dose for a few extra hours, then what kind of long-term damage was this medication doing to my brain?
I did some research and discovered one of the most important things to know about SSRIs and SNRIs: their half-life is 26 hours. That means that only 2 hours after a missed dose, there are going to be side effects.
I decided that since the Effexor wasn't helping my fibromyalgia much anyway, that I would start getting off of it. I talked to my doctor about it and she prescribed a lower dose. She was one of the typical doctors that estimated 2 to 4 weeks for tapering. The biggest mistake that doctors make, mostly because they have no idea, is that tapering consists of getting to the lowest dose, and then take a pill every 48 hours instead of every 24 hours. This is impossible. Even at a low dose, the half-life of 26 hours kicks in and you get the brain zaps (or whatever other symptoms you might get).
I tried telling her this, and she said that she'd never heard of such a thing. So, I went to the drugstore and bought a bag of empty capsules. Then I pulled my Effexor capsules apart and found out they were full of tiny little balls. I literally counted the number of balls in each pill. I can't remember the number, but there were hundreds of them.
I began making pills with half of the lowest dose. Then after some time (like maybe 3 weeks or a month) I would take half of that amount again, making homemade pills. I got down to the point where I was literally taking a capsule that had eight balls in it, but if I stopped I would get brain zaps. I went down to four tiny little balls, and took my time, and eventually was able to get to every 36 hours and then stretch to every 48 hours. Then I was able to get off of them. I still got brain zaps, but they were mild and manageable. It took a year for them to stop.
I couldn't have done this any other way. I still suffer from insomnia, and unfortunately I'm dependent on zopiclone to help me sleep. At least with the zopiclone, if I miss a dose my only side effect is not being able to fall asleep.
I hope this information helps anyone who's trying to taper. The biggest takeaway is that you must take at least a little bit of the medication every 24 hours or you will suffer.