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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Should I Taper Off Effexor Before Taking Zoloft?

I started Zoloft 50mg today and stop taking Effexor. I have been on Effexor 150 mg for 3 wks and on 75 mg previous to that for about 3 months and 37.5 mg for several years before that. My PCM suggested I switch to Zoloft 50mg for a week and then to Zoloft 100 mg after to see if I feel better. Doc Bienenfeld, should I have taper of my Effexor usage first or that is not really something I should worry about?
posted on Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Twitter Fri, 30 Jun 2017 Answered on
Twitter Fri, 30 Jun 2017 Last reviewed on
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Addiction Medicine Specialist,  's  Response
It gets out of the system pretty rapidly (about a day) so tapering isn't really necessary. Furthermore, the withdrawal effects of antidepressants are going from some antdepressant to none. So being on any antidepressant overcomes the withdrwal effect.
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Should I Taper Off Effexor Before Taking Zoloft?

It gets out of the system pretty rapidly (about a day) so tapering isn t really necessary. Furthermore, the withdrawal effects of antidepressants are going from some antdepressant to none. So being on any antidepressant overcomes the withdrwal effect.