@shermananski
Having to clean up cat poop and barf upon arrival home last night would have upset most of us. @cp6401 used "stress fragile" in the post above yours--that's how so many of us are during this process of getting off/reducing Effexor and even, afterwards.

To go from 225 to 37.5 "over the past several months" is pretty fast. Many here have found that going sloooowww works best, especially as you get down to lower dosages. Dropping to just 37.5 already might be too soon. If your agitation persists and/or increases, consider reinstating to your previous dosage, stabilize there and wait weeks, or even months before reducing again (but reduce by only 5-10%, or less). Rushing the process may mean you ultimately can't get off Effexor because the withdrawals are too awful.

Eighteen months out, I am still mindful of what I watch (nothing frenetic, violent, or disturbing), read (cozy mysteries, or romances are okay), or listen to (no atonal, or dissonant music)–some things are just too agitating. However, life doesn't always cooperate; I have cats, too and that homecoming would have set me off as well. I find it helpful to distract myself when I become agitated--I take a walk, put on a comedy, or look at YouTube videos (I like the TooCute cat/dog shows and the English Heritage How to Victorian Cooking shows--Mrs. Crocombe is wonderful and the comments crack me up).

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