I've read some posts that mentioned doctors prescribing some new med to begin before the taper was complete -- near the end of the taper -- so you could ask your psychiatrist about that. How am I feeling mentally? Good question! No anxiety and I seem to be getting a little more energy, which is a huge reason I wanted to go off Effexor. The others were that I was depressed, no motivation, felt everything was pointless. I wasn't suicidal, but I'd decided that if it was time for me to go, that was ok with me. (A bit of background: I've been on Effexor/venlafaxine for 25 yrs, put on it for depression, SSRIs made me feeling like I was coming out of my skin so my dr decided to try something that was completely new, I'm tapering off a daily dose of 150mg XR, but I certainly didn't start that high, it's been gradually increased over the years as it became ineffective.) I read the first few chapters of a new book, ``Lost Connections,'' where the author had gone through exactly what I was going through, and he talked about earlier research studies on anti-depressants which had been ignored. I read more about those studies and decided I'd had enough. (I especially liked ``The Emperor's New Drugs'' and ``Anatomy of an Epidemic'' as well as ``The Antidepressant Solution: A Step-by-Step Guide to Safely Overcoming Antidepressant Withdrawal, Dependence and `Addiction.' '' Personally I certainly don't consider it an ``addiction'' -- having experienced addiction, I can tell you that it's a totally different beast!) Reading is one of my passions, so I did other reading, too -- googled a lot of information and found blogs on withdrawal which motivated me even more. Basically, I want my life back! The main symptoms I've had during withdrawal have been lethargy, sleeping lots and lots, a short temper and eventually insomnia (for which I finally started taking 3 mg of time-release melatonin -- it isn't hard to find -- I got mine at CVS). I've also taken various vitamins and other supplements and I drink lots of water to help flush out my system. Some depression, too, but that's nothing new. As my motivation increases, my depression decreases. Each of us has our own experiences as we taper, which is why it's been so helpful for me to look at the lists of symptoms and read other folks' posts. I've been gentle with myself, even pampering myself at times, and have been able to say no, no, no when asked to do things I didn't want to do or feel like doing. The house is a mess and so is the yard, but that's tough. I'll get to them eventually and heaven knows they aren't going anywhere. I've also tried to get myself to take walks and I've watched comedies on DVD/TV -- laughing is a hugely underrated therapy. I've discovered that whenever I actually laugh out loud, I feel better. (Norman Cousins, the late editor of Saturday Review, discovered this for himself, as he described in his book ``Anatomy of an Illness''). This is a loooong post -- if you've read to the end of it, thank you! Hope some of this will help!

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