I have been completely Effexor free for about 2 weeks now. I went down from 4- 37.5 capsules a day to zero by gradually reducing by one about every ten days. When I was at full dose, if I missed a day, I would not only have the usual side effects but that night, I would have nightmares that would rival the Freddy Krueger movies! Now that I am two weeks into an Effexor free life,, I still have pretty bad dreams every night. I am hoping that they will subside eventually. I have also experienced all the other symptoms described by others with the exception of brain zaps. Never had those. I have mood swings like crazy and am an emotional train wreck a lot of times, but only for short periods. If this is what PMS is like, I owe a lot of women in my life a major apology! At the time I was prescribed, I think Effexor was the right choice. It definitely did help where other meds did not. But there is definitely a price to pay for this help. I wish you all strength through your withdrawals. I'll let you know my "lessons learned" once I'm on the other side of the tracks.