Hello Everyone - I have read through the whole thread, and thank God I found it. I went on Effexor eight years ago (for menopausal symptoms) and have just ended my "relationship" with it recently by tapering off slowly. Still getting crying jags, which come in waves and are overwhelming, although they don't last long, but the brain zaps are gone. My hubs died last New Year's Eve, and I realized about half-way through the tapering process that I had picked a really lousy time to quit this drug. But then I figured I'm half-way through the tapering process so I might as well continue. I am now done with it, and I hope I NEVER have to take such a drug again because getting off it is horrible. I just wish I had found this site much, much sooner so I would have known that my withdrawal symptoms were "normal" and that I was not alone.