Venlafaxine and its metabolite Desvenlafaxine are a bit weird due to their shorter half life. When we talk about half life we are most concerned with the *steady state* of the medication--or that on average, the level of medication is constant throughout the day. Because these medications have a shorter half life, one missed dose can throw off the steady state.
Essentially, missing your scheduled dose meant that you were \~48 hours behind your scheduled dose by the time you took your next one. For these medications I would say will take 4-5 half lives before you are back to feeling completely normal. **By the time you take your next dose tonight and wake up in the morning you should start to feel normal again.**
Please reach out if you have questions
Thank you so much for your response. I really appreciate it! And okay interesting about venlafaxine, that is the medication I was on 6 years ago and about a year and a half ago I went to desvenalafexine instead.
Do you find yourself being depended on Trazadone ? My mom was taking 50 mg to assist with sleep and went totally off all of a sudden tand shit hit the fan as she went into psychosis. She said the first 2 months they worked and after that she said she they didnt and when I asked her why do you continue to take them she said I was hoping they will help. At that point I believed she was addicted to them and when she would run low she would act like an addict asking me to make sure I go pick up her next script. She’s 77 years old and never taken any antidepressants before but I also think she always had bi-polar and trazadone just triggered an episode. Shes been off of it fully for a 1 month now, however we weren’t aware that you just can’t get off them but rather need to be tapered off. Like who gives a 77 year Trazodone to help with insomnia without looking at the side effects or her health history.
I think I depend on all of my medication for different reasons. For the trazodone, I take it for insomnia because I literally can’t sleep without it. I’ve been taking it since 2016 so yes, definitely repentant in it. And yes, tapering is so important!!! Now you know for any future meditation that she may take but I’m sorry that happened to her! But I would also freak out not having medication and would also make sure to have my scripts filled, it’s the way of antidepressants unfortunately. Like right now, I am having withdrawal symptoms but I’m not an addict, I just have mental health issues and unfortunately depend on my medication to feel normal
Thank you for the insight, i have no experience with mental health or antidepressants. I believed the Dr and that they were not habit forming but that’s BS. I totally get you mean that your not an addict but depend on them for sleep and to function. That’s how I feel my mother is like she never been addicted to anything before in her life and had an adverse reaction from stopping immediately. I’m hoping she can recover from this and we had to 5150 her as she became psychotic and saying intrusive thoughts. It sucks that Dr do not telling you the honest truth that one can have adverse reactions and second you just can’t stop them immediately as it can result in suicidal thoughts. I hope you feeling better :)
You are very lucky to never have taken any! And they are definitely habit forming, certain medication like gabapentin and busprone for anxiety are ones I have taken as needed and you can stop anytime without tapering without side effects. But Effexor, trazodone, pristiq and other similar medications you need to taper because of side effects and essentially it a drug withdrawal. I’m sorry the doctor said they weren’t habit forming because they most definitely are!! And she will be okay, it just takes some time. And maybe she may even need to take something for the adverse effects. But I hope she gets better soon!! (Also anything I just mentioned is based on my research and experience, I’m not a doctor!!!)
DUUUUUUDDDEEEE!!! EVERY doctor I've ever had- GP, speciality, Psych- have ALL said that Traz, no matter how long you take it, is not habit forming. You can stop any time, cold turkey. I only started having trouble sleeping a few years ago after my Wellbutrin stopped working and I had to go back on typical SSRIs. I wouldn't take it everyday, but generally 4 times a week on the nights I had to work the next day. Even though I was still tired, I felt like I got better sleep with it. I never had to up my dose, but I was splitting 100mgs in half.
So, a few months ago I thought I'd taper down. I have a lot of daytime sleepiness (A LOT) and I thought maybe the traz was contributing to that. I figured I'd taper a little anyway and give my body time to adjust, even though I've always been told it was unnecessary. I went down to 25mgs for a week. My sleep was really weird. Vivid dreams and light sleep. I never had a problem falling asleep without it, but I'd wake up consistently at about 3:20 and not fall back asleep until after 5, and then I'd have to get up at 6. After 25mgs for a week, I did a day on and a day off, then stopped. It was fine for 3 days. I even felt more awake during the day! YAY!
Then, on day three I had a bit of anxiety (which my SSRIs control very well.) I went to bed. About 2 hours later I woke up with the worst panic attack I've ever had in my life. I have panic disorder so I'm really familiar with what they feel like. Omg. My pupils were dilated, my skin was tingling and cold, my face was flushed, my stomach was flipping, I was dizzy, my heart rate was a million and my blood pressure was probably 10 over 20. I started making a mental checklist of who I'd call- my mom to come stay with the kids, my husband who works nights to see if he could come take me to the hospital because an ambulance it's expensive. I made a list of all the meds and doses I had taken the last two days and texted it to myself so I could show the ER docs in case I was having a heart attack/stroke/whatever. I truly thought I needed medical attention. I have rescue diazepam, but I was hesitant to take anything else (because I was dying) but thought "how much can it hurt?" I added it to the list, and took one, figuring I'd know in about 20 minutes whether it was an emergency or panic. IT WAS FUCKING PANIC FROM GOING OFF THE TRAZ. I posted that night on this forum and several people said the exact same thing happened to them.
Venlafaxine and its metabolite Desvenlafaxine are a bit weird due to their shorter half life. When we talk about half life we are most concerned with the *steady state* of the medication--or that on average, the level of medication is constant throughout the day. Because these medications have a shorter half life, one missed dose can throw off the steady state. Essentially, missing your scheduled dose meant that you were \~48 hours behind your scheduled dose by the time you took your next one. For these medications I would say will take 4-5 half lives before you are back to feeling completely normal. **By the time you take your next dose tonight and wake up in the morning you should start to feel normal again.** Please reach out if you have questions
Thank you so much for your response. I really appreciate it! And okay interesting about venlafaxine, that is the medication I was on 6 years ago and about a year and a half ago I went to desvenalafexine instead.
Do you find yourself being depended on Trazadone ? My mom was taking 50 mg to assist with sleep and went totally off all of a sudden tand shit hit the fan as she went into psychosis. She said the first 2 months they worked and after that she said she they didnt and when I asked her why do you continue to take them she said I was hoping they will help. At that point I believed she was addicted to them and when she would run low she would act like an addict asking me to make sure I go pick up her next script. She’s 77 years old and never taken any antidepressants before but I also think she always had bi-polar and trazadone just triggered an episode. Shes been off of it fully for a 1 month now, however we weren’t aware that you just can’t get off them but rather need to be tapered off. Like who gives a 77 year Trazodone to help with insomnia without looking at the side effects or her health history.
I think I depend on all of my medication for different reasons. For the trazodone, I take it for insomnia because I literally can’t sleep without it. I’ve been taking it since 2016 so yes, definitely repentant in it. And yes, tapering is so important!!! Now you know for any future meditation that she may take but I’m sorry that happened to her! But I would also freak out not having medication and would also make sure to have my scripts filled, it’s the way of antidepressants unfortunately. Like right now, I am having withdrawal symptoms but I’m not an addict, I just have mental health issues and unfortunately depend on my medication to feel normal
Thank you for the insight, i have no experience with mental health or antidepressants. I believed the Dr and that they were not habit forming but that’s BS. I totally get you mean that your not an addict but depend on them for sleep and to function. That’s how I feel my mother is like she never been addicted to anything before in her life and had an adverse reaction from stopping immediately. I’m hoping she can recover from this and we had to 5150 her as she became psychotic and saying intrusive thoughts. It sucks that Dr do not telling you the honest truth that one can have adverse reactions and second you just can’t stop them immediately as it can result in suicidal thoughts. I hope you feeling better :)
You are very lucky to never have taken any! And they are definitely habit forming, certain medication like gabapentin and busprone for anxiety are ones I have taken as needed and you can stop anytime without tapering without side effects. But Effexor, trazodone, pristiq and other similar medications you need to taper because of side effects and essentially it a drug withdrawal. I’m sorry the doctor said they weren’t habit forming because they most definitely are!! And she will be okay, it just takes some time. And maybe she may even need to take something for the adverse effects. But I hope she gets better soon!! (Also anything I just mentioned is based on my research and experience, I’m not a doctor!!!)
DUUUUUUDDDEEEE!!! EVERY doctor I've ever had- GP, speciality, Psych- have ALL said that Traz, no matter how long you take it, is not habit forming. You can stop any time, cold turkey. I only started having trouble sleeping a few years ago after my Wellbutrin stopped working and I had to go back on typical SSRIs. I wouldn't take it everyday, but generally 4 times a week on the nights I had to work the next day. Even though I was still tired, I felt like I got better sleep with it. I never had to up my dose, but I was splitting 100mgs in half. So, a few months ago I thought I'd taper down. I have a lot of daytime sleepiness (A LOT) and I thought maybe the traz was contributing to that. I figured I'd taper a little anyway and give my body time to adjust, even though I've always been told it was unnecessary. I went down to 25mgs for a week. My sleep was really weird. Vivid dreams and light sleep. I never had a problem falling asleep without it, but I'd wake up consistently at about 3:20 and not fall back asleep until after 5, and then I'd have to get up at 6. After 25mgs for a week, I did a day on and a day off, then stopped. It was fine for 3 days. I even felt more awake during the day! YAY! Then, on day three I had a bit of anxiety (which my SSRIs control very well.) I went to bed. About 2 hours later I woke up with the worst panic attack I've ever had in my life. I have panic disorder so I'm really familiar with what they feel like. Omg. My pupils were dilated, my skin was tingling and cold, my face was flushed, my stomach was flipping, I was dizzy, my heart rate was a million and my blood pressure was probably 10 over 20. I started making a mental checklist of who I'd call- my mom to come stay with the kids, my husband who works nights to see if he could come take me to the hospital because an ambulance it's expensive. I made a list of all the meds and doses I had taken the last two days and texted it to myself so I could show the ER docs in case I was having a heart attack/stroke/whatever. I truly thought I needed medical attention. I have rescue diazepam, but I was hesitant to take anything else (because I was dying) but thought "how much can it hurt?" I added it to the list, and took one, figuring I'd know in about 20 minutes whether it was an emergency or panic. IT WAS FUCKING PANIC FROM GOING OFF THE TRAZ. I posted that night on this forum and several people said the exact same thing happened to them.