Sadly, many on here can attest that many doctors do not know how to taper someone off Effexor. Trying to taper by skipping days means that the levels of Effexor in your body will yo yo dramatically; this drug has a very short half-life already which makes it hard to get off of. You'd do better to reduce the amount of drug you take at each dosing. You reduce by a small amount, stay there for weeks, or months until you aren't experiencing withdrawal effects and then make another small step down.

I’m not a doctor, but going off Effexor on the weekends? That sounds like a recipe for misery! Just ween. Ween slowly. If you get to a point where you feel bad, you’ve gone too fast. Consider talking with another medical professional or an accessible pharmacist. This is a really big deal that your doctor should be taking very seriously.

This is way too fast to taper. Your doctor doesn’t know how to taper. I can’t fathom how she decided this was the proper way to taper an antidepressant especially Effexor. It’s probably the hardest one to get off of.

I completely agree with @texasduchess! I believe you’d be better tapering, the yo-yo ing is so much for your body to handle and quite frankly, I don’t understand how someone can be successful doing every other day. It’s been a week an a half of my off Venlafaxine completely and I’m starting to feel great! I did it by tapering and yes, it was tough, but I feel like it was much more manageable than every other day. Again, I am NOT a doctor, but felt this was the best way for me to go about it!

Good luck! We are here for you! 💜