Going off of SNRI's

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I was wondering if anyone's gone off of taking SNRI's and what they experienced?

I am going to eventually talk to my doctor about not taking Strattera anymore, and when I look online about withdrawal symptoms it says there are none, which IMO is absolute BS since it makes me suicidal and makes my OCD act up (tics, compulsions, etc.) whenever I miss a few doses. Even if that's abnormal I doubt that there are no withdrawal side effects, especially after taking it for years.

I'd like to know what to actually expect so that transition from taking it to not taking it is more manageable and I can look out for any serious problems.

I didn't know Straterra was classified as an SNRI? I googled and yup, you're right! I had no idea!

I've never taken SNRI so I can't help. My daughter took SNRI and was warned it would be really hard tapering off when she switched to an atypical SSRI. I think it turned out being easier than she expected, but that was a switch rather than discontinuing altogether.

I've quit SSRI and Tricyclics, and replaced them with others. I'm on a stimulant now for ADHD. I can go a day or two without it but then I just get really tired.

Come to think of it my boyfriend quit SNRI and had a rough time but it didn't last very long, maybe a week or two of anxiety and nausea.

i had to quickly titrate myself off of strattera when my insurance suddenly stopped covering it. i felt like my IQ fell through the floorboards pretty quicklike.

Just to clarify neither of them were on Strattera specifically. They were both on other brands of SNRI and used them as antidepressants rather than ADHD meds. I don't know if that makes a difference considering they were still classified as SNRI, but the chemistry must be different from Strattera based on how they worked.

I know some SSRI are harder to quit than others, so I'm sure it's the same with SNRI.

My daughter is asleep but I'll ask about her transition period when I can. She's prone to emotional turbulence from trauma and she had a lot of meltdowns around the time of her SNRI / transition. She actually liked the SNRI so that wasn't an issue, but I remember she was nervous about the switch. She wasn't diagnosed HFA when she was going through all this, so she didn't know what was going on emotionally and that made it all more difficult. They switched her to an Atypical SSRI and she's doing a bit better I guess (relatively speaking), but I think her ASD diagnosis also gave her a lot of insight and she's also benefitted from being home on lockdown for nearly two years. That really cut down on the sensory-social overwhelm.

Anyway .... She was formally diagnosed with ADHD two weeks ago and ironically she has her final appointment with the neuropsychiatrist tomorrow, to receive her prescription for meds. We don't know which med they're going to prescribe yet so if it's Strattera we can ask a lot of questions and I'll let you know what they say, or what the insert says when we fill the prescription.

My partner was on a different SNRI than my daughter and not for very long. He had a hard time starting them and a hard time quitting them too. He felt sick all the time and had some PTSD outbursts when taking and when stopping. I doubt that would relate to what you're taking for ADHD though.

The worst experience I had was with a drug called Mirtazapine which is a Tetracyclic for anxiety / depression. I remember wanting to die, both in terms of suicide and in terms of feeling incredibly sick when I took it. Pounding headaches, days off work, nausea, vertigo, and wanting to kill myself. Not a good cocktail. Going off it was hell too. But that's not an SNRI.

I'll try googling for you, and I'll let you know if MD is prescribed Strattera!

I was just thinking, ADHD isn't just about attention. It's also about emotional dysregulation and interpersonal challenges which can lead to meltdown-type behaviour. There's a lot of good info on the site called ADDitude Magazine:

https://www.additudemag.com/

I wonder if your response isn't a medication withdrawal per se, but maybe it's just a return of unmedicated ADHD behaviours?

had a senior moment, sorry

Update - MD woke up and said the transition wasn't too bad. It lasted about a week and it was mostly anxiety. She can't remember if there were headaches or whatever because it was a few years ago. Don't forget she was also going onto SSRI at the same time.

I wonder if you have more trauma / anxiety in general compared to when you were younger or not taking ADHD meds.