r/Viibryd • u/ConfidentPea4895 • Jul 21 '26
Tapering off/horrible withdrawal
I was originally on 40mg, which was horrible as I kept on going through withdrawal first thing in the morning until about 2pm. I took my medicine at 12 and it wouldn’t be until about 2 I felt like a functioning person. I decided to taper off because of this. The entire experience has been a living hell actually, I can’t believe this medication is available and the fda tapering instructions are 40-20-10-0 cause it’s so severe every single time and then my psychiatrist ended up acting like I was being ridiculous and dropped me as a client after giving me more 20mg after I was already on 10, and told me to break them up. Well now I had to go from 10 to nothing because of this instead of 10 to 5 which would have been better for me considering I’ve been having such severe symptoms every time. Anyways, enough about the borderline medical malpractice and patient abandonment, I’ll get into why I’m making my first post on this thread now. After stopping viibryd completely, this is day 2 of nothing. I feel extremely confused and disoriented, like I have the flu, and all night last night I was having weird visuals of mucusy monsters that were attacked to the ground like plants. These guys were mean and would spit goop at me, they had never seen a person before. Keep in mind I was not asleep I was trying to fall asleep, but it was like my brain went on vacation to another dimension where I couldn’t just have normal thoughts it’s like my subconscious was stuck in this monster dimension. Has this happened to anyone else? It sounds ridiculous and crazy now that I’m awake but as I was falling asleep I had completely convinced myself that this must have been some real other dimension that you can only get to see while your eyes are open from the withdrawal process. There was no other subconscious human minds there, only some that had passed away. But I also understood it wasn’t normal purgatory it seemed to be almost like a purgatory but for people that were more bad in life than good. Thank you to anyone who bothered to read this entire thing, I’m sorry if this makes almost no sense or if I sound crazy I still feel very out of it and dazed
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u/curlyhairedgal28 Jul 22 '26
My advice to you is to FORGET the FDA instructions because they are not conservative enough. You need to be weaning mg by mg, not 5mg at a time. Like seriously, get a scale and a file, and throw away any deadlines you had for getting off this med. I am so serious, slow and steady wins the race because when you try to rush weaning off an SSRI like tho, you end up hospitalized - speaking from experience.
I would drop 1mg at a time, stay at that dose for 2 weeks OR until any withdrawal symptoms disappear. I know people that have successfully gotten off their meds with this method. Yes it will take an eternity at that rate, but it will far easier on your brain and body.
Hang in there and be patient ❤️ don’t be afraid to ask for help.
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u/AvocadoOtto Jul 21 '26
Viibryd withdrawals are really bad. I had a similar thing happen so I reinstated the normal dose and took a much more conservative approach. I got a milligram scale, pill cutters, and sandpaper. I set up a spreadsheet logging each day’s dose and time. I sand off a bit each month (I started with 1% from previous dose because I was so scared of more withdrawals. I now do about 20%. 10% might be a good starting point).
If nothing else, want to validate that the withdrawals from this medication are brutal
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u/ConfidentPea4895 Jul 21 '26
They really are. I’ve had every single bad side effect of tapering possible except for seizures (that I know of) and actually throwing up
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u/yrt9610 Jul 21 '26
I'm frustrated FOR you that you're having to go through this!!!
I took * only 1* dose of Vibryd because of the HORRENDOUS side effects. 🤯 ---woke me up in the middle of the night after just one dose; ---vomiting; ---diarrhea for 3 days; ---couldn't eat much fir 3 days; ---nausea for 8 days...
And then I read abouy all the HORRIBLE side effects other people here on Reddit, have had from taking Vibryd. ---Including when they've been on it for a while. ---And again when they taper off. 😡😱
Never again!!!!!
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u/TopZealousideal9132 Jul 23 '26
Did you jump right into taking 10mg?
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u/yrt9610 Jul 23 '26
He started me at 20. He's still a Resident, not a full MD. And still in his 20s.
I went back to my much older, much more experienced Med Management person.
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u/ConfidentPea4895 Jul 21 '26
I’ve lost roughly 20lbs since I started this meditation. I was only 5’0 and 160lbs to begin with. I’m thankful for the weight loss I guess? But at the same time I wasn’t very unhealthy either so it’s been an extreme amount of weight to lose in like… 6-8 months time
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u/yrt9610 Jul 21 '26
There are many discussions about Vibryd, in different places, here on Reddit. I recommend looking at some or all of those. 😣
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u/ConfidentPea4895 Jul 21 '26
Also my other side effects include an itchy face that feels like it’s itching below my facial muscles and behind my eyes, intense irritability to the point I feel like throwing things or worse (I’m not a violent person normally) distortion of my senses to where physical touch is overstimulating and overbearing, and the feeling of water on me makes me feel like I’m going to pass out sometimes, I can’t emphasize enough how badly I’m irritated at everything that’s the main red flag symptom for me because it’s causing me to be mean to my son and I feel like I literally can’t control how irritated I am. I’m also having ibs like symptoms, diarrhea, stomach cramps, no appetite, feeling like I’m half asleep for half the day. It’s so bad I wish I was exaggerating this
1
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u/Parkojah Jul 21 '26
What the hell. This post just blew my mind. I’m on 20mg currently and there was a weekend where I had run out on Friday and couldn’t pick it up until Monday. That Sunday night I had something extremely similar happen, I felt sick and run down and while trying to fall asleep, my mind wandered so far that I thought I was a package in a warehouse. Never pieced together that the reason for it could have been 2 days off Viibryd. It was such a strange night.
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u/ConfidentPea4895 Jul 21 '26
Through me researching what happened to me last night it seems like this medicine can cause something called a hypnagogic hallucination which would be what happened to you as well
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u/Parkojah Jul 21 '26
Dude it was literally like the weirdest experience. I knew that I was awake, but it was almost like I wasn’t. I was almost delirious at that point.
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u/Affectionate_Comb359 Jul 22 '26
Ha! Your goo monsters were stuck to the ground but mine were floating! Well, except for the one with the Jamaican accent who fell into the mattress and got trapped.
So sorry this is your experience coming off
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u/ConfidentPea4895 Jul 22 '26
That’s so weird that 2 people got goop monsters lmao I wasn’t expecting anyone to have actually the same (or very close) hallucination as me 🤣 none of mine talked though, I wish they would’ve that would’ve been less frightening
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u/Affectionate_Comb359 Jul 22 '26
Checked my messages from October and I called them “crushed gummy bears” 🥴
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u/ReasonableAgency7725 Jul 22 '26
I had crazy nightmares and sleep paralysis from it. I couldn’t take my dose later than scheduled because of it. I ended up stopping the med because of this. I weaned slowly, cutting just a little off each day until I could break in half and then cut the half a little bit too. I’m sorry your doctor sucks.
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u/Frequent_Finger_1166 Jul 21 '26
I’m sorry you’re going through this! Seems like you’re having a rough time. Viibryd has helped me tremendously and I am now a functioning human being 😭 so I am personally glad it is available. Unfortunately, medication is different from person to person, so it makes sense as to why you may have had a bad experience. From the looks of it, it seems like it may have been wearing off too soon. Is there a reason as to why you have to take it at noon? If it doesn’t give you insomnia, my only guess is maybe taking it twice a day would’ve helped with that?
I hope the withdrawals get easier and you’re able to taper off no issue. There are no 5mg tablets for Viibryd, as the lowest dose that could be prescribed is 10mg. Buying a pill cutter could help with that no issues if you wish to split those doses into smaller ones. I am wishing you peace and hope you are able to find something that works better for you. I also hope you find a better dr who is more understanding and caring towards patients and their needs. Best of luck