Looking for help and support in stopping Effexor

This is an eye opener for me. I know some antidepressants have unpleasant side effects. Most meds do. But to have withdrawals after taking this for a while seems to be contrary to the benefits of taking this med. I mean dealing with depression is hard but also dealing with Effexor withdrawal makes it even more difficult to manage your moods your health everything.

I am weighing the beads in the capsules with a mg scale I bought, then making new capsules with the smaller dose(mg). It's as accurate as I can be. It also preserves the extended release quality, as opposed to switching to immediate release and cutting pills.

I agree. I’m not happy with the doctor who prescribed this. I would never advise anyone to take it. He said nothing to me about the nightmare of missing a dose or to getting off it.

I hadn’t thought about the extended release aspect. Thanks for mentioning that.

It's been my observation since taking myself off of Efexxor and being on a few forums including this one that doctors generally don't inform patients about how difficult it is to quit taking. Pharmacists tell you not to stop taking it without consulting your doctor, but again, no discussion of how hard it is. I feel that this is wrong. According to ClinCalc, more than 2.8 million Americans are presently taking it (https://clincalc.com/DrugStats/Drugs/venlafaxine). How many are informed in advance? People go onto antidepressants for very real reasons, and some are desperate. Effexor is very effective for a lot of people. But they should be told. In too many cases, that's not happening.

Doctors and pharmaceutical companies seem to have no accountability. That needs to change. Laws should be passed to insure patients are fully informed regarding any and all drugs prescribed.

You can.
I take desvenlafaxine. I've had no withdrawals. It's been 50 days.

That's correct. I was stuck at the normal spot of 37mg. However, when I started the desvenlafaxine I also took 75 MG of venlafaxine for 3 days. Then stopped the effexor completely. It worked. I am now. On the 50mg of desvenlafaxine which I need. But when it's time to stop it, the step-down is much easier than stopping the effexor.

Wow, I'm surprised and envious all at the same time! Good for you!

The way I got off 25 years of 150mg Effexor (venlafaxine) was:
Cold turkey. No! Had a long, terrible experience.
Started again at 75mg.
Once I had stabilised, bought a 4-weekly pill dispenser and a pack of empty capsules.
There are 6 little white pills inside a 75 mg venlafaxine SR capsule.
Set one pill aside for the first 10 days, leaving 5 little pills in each capsule, thus reducing from 6 to 5. (used the original capsule). Marked the dispenser on the day I reduced the dose. Very easy to forget.
Set two pills aside for the next 10 days, leaving 4 little pills in each capsule, thus reducing from 5 to 4. Marked dispenser on the day I reduced the dose.
Then set three pills aside for the next 10 days, leaving 3 little pills in each capsule. Marked the dispenser.
Then set four pills aside, leaving 2 pills and got a strong reaction. Google said, talk to your doctor, but he didn't have a clue. Fortunately a student doctor explained ratios and fractions in stepping down from 3 to 2, instead of the gap between 4 to 3, so I went back to 3 little pills for 10 days, and stabilised, followed by 2 1/2 for 10 days, then 2, then 1 1/2, then 1, then 1/2, (when I needed to use the empty capsules) then an approximation of 1/4, manipulated with eyebrow tweezers, followed by crumbs and kept on at that for a couple of weeks until I decided that this was silly, so I stopped. Clean!
I'm posting this because, back then, I really needed to know it was possible to stop, and found nothing. It is possible. I've done it.