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@mommapsych

@sharonlou I can't see my earlier reply to you and I want to make sure you get it😄 We counted the little balls and discovered that one little ball roughly equals one mg. I say roughly because some of the balls are really tiny and some are a little larger. We started when she was on 150 mg and we would take her down 5 every couple of weeks. Once she came down under 100 we've had to slow down to 1-2 every couple of weeks. For us a long and slow taper has worked. We've had advice from medical professionals to to faster but that did not work. We tried to go from 150 to 75 on docs advice and it was immediately bad. I think that in the end it will take us a year and a half but it's worth the wait to not have the major withdraw symptoms. Gemma has had headaches and slight dizziness 1-2 days after a reduction but that's really been it. I slip an Advil in her pill sorter on the day of and day after a taper and she is fine. Anything we can do to support you just tag us!

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@mommapsych Thanks so much for your replies! I copied them as I tend to forget details and also I may show them to my new psychiatrist whom I'm hoping will be supportive in my efforts. I have read in other comments that some people are helped by an additional medication as they are weaning off of Effexor and I would need him to prescribe that. I'm also going to check with my pharmacist to see if he has any knowledge in this area with the hopes of having backup in case the PDr is resistant. I am so sensitive to even a short delay in taking this med that I'm pretty certain it will be a difficult process getting off of it. But I've learned so much here that I'm sure I can do it. So helpful to hear success stories such as yours.