@babydoll
Effexor affects brain chemistry--particularly the amount of serotonin available. Serotonin in the brain is thought to regulate anxiety, happiness, and mood. Now that you're off Effexor, it is no longer boosting the amount of serotonin available. I remember that you asked your doctor for Prozac after a week, or so off Effexor. Prozac can also modulate serotonin, but has a longer-half life than Effexor and takes longer to work, so yours is another steady state question.
https://www.justanswer.com/mental-health/53wzh-long-does-one-dosage-prozac.html--
"Prozac has a half-life of 4-6 days. That means one pill taken today will be 50% washed out of the body in 4-6 days. So each pill taken between now and then adds to the blood plasma level.

In Prozac, for example, fluoxetine has the 4-6 day half-life, but its metabolite norfluoxetine has a 9.3 day half-life. So it can take longer to reach plasma levels for that chemical, so that would mean 18 days to reach steady state.

Just because you reach steady state doesn't mean you have reached full potential, or full reaction from a medication. Psychiatric medications are typically given 2-4 weeks before adjustments are made to allow for steady state to be reached, but also to allow the body to adjust to the chemical changes in the brain, and to allow the short-term negative side-effects to pass.

If your body processes medications at different than average, such as kidney or liver damage which may allow the medication to hang around longer than the expected half-life, [it can take a] longer time to reach steady state and a higher steady state amount in the body.

One other note, not all generics work the same, nor do generics always work as well as brand name. If you feel like the same dose is not working as well as a previous trial on the same medication, be sure to check that they were manufactured by the same company. The same medication may not give you the same reactions twice, because your body doesn't find it to be the same novel, unique, or intense change that it may have taken the medication to be previously. Kind of like the first bites of a cake taste sweeter than the following bites."

I had anxiety and panic attacks almost all the time when I tried quitting effexor. You will probably have to have some sort of med to help you through the anxiety attacks and go really really slow coming off of effexor.

I once had two good days in a row! That’s better than no good days, and proof that it’s possible to have good days!

I wrote in other posts about doing other, simple things like exercise, limiting sugar (because it’s really bad for you) , eating as healthy as you can, lots of good protein and veggies, sublingual vitamin B and maybe some CBD if you have it. Oh! Sunshine! Real honest to goodness subshine! And touch/be around soil (crazy proven health benefits!)

You will be able to do this. You will be able to get off and stay off pharmaceuticals. Just please go extremely slow and find a doc who will support your endeavors. There is no race and your body is always changing. I was on meds for over 20 years (Zoloft for a few the. Effexor XR for most). Since going thru menopause, I tried (for the second time) to ween off.

Aside from expected head spins, I’ve had good and bad days. But I HAVE had good days that I am not discounting!