I am so sorry you've had such a horrible experience!! I've read (and my doctor confirmed) that because venlafaxine has such a very short half-life, trying to taper by using it only every other day is really hard on the body because it never has a chance to really get rid of the drug -- sort of a yo-yo effect -- you take it out, then you put it back in, so the body doesn't know what the heck is going on. I'm fortunate, I guess, because I had the XR capsules so I set up a taper schedule where I've gone down an additional 50 beads per week. It's maddening to open the capsules and count out the right number of beads, but so far it's made my taper much easier physically. None of those godawful zaps or dizziness or nausea, which I've had several times before when I didn't get my scrip refilled in time! A 50-bead reduction is not quite 15.5 mg, so it's been easier on my body. I have 2 and a half weeks left to go -- 95 beads/day this week, 45 beads/day next week, then 30 for a day, then 25 for a day, then 20, then 10, then 5. (My doc said I can probably stop completely when I get to 45/day because that's less than 14 mg. I may try it; I'll see how brave I feel! The total tapering time for me will be about 3 months -- I was on 150/day (486 beads), I started small with 10 beads/wk for 2 wks, then boosted it to 20 for 1 wk and decided to up it to 50 because I was doing ok. I'll be very interested to see what I experience when I take none at all. I'm so glad you're getting medical care and I really hope things will get much better for you very soon!!!

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