From the experiences recounted on this forum, doctors routinely give/recommend to patients tapering schedules that are TOO FAST. Your doctor may be guiding you, but only you know how you feel; unless you're in a big hurry for medical reasons (i.e., Effexor is making your blood pressure spike dangerously, or you're pregnant), slow down–WAAYYYY down. You will know if you are tapering too fast–withdrawal symptoms are the big tip off.

I was only ever on 25mg regular-release Effexor/venlafaxine--it came as very small (approx 1/4 inch), flat, dry tablets; usually round, but occasionally my refills were 5-sided, or oval-shaped; color was usually pale pink/salmon, or yellow. These were all very easy to cut with a pill cutter. You could cut these into halves, quarters, or even smaller with a razor blade, or Exacto knife and mix-match to get smaller doses as you taper.

Folks have opened the capsules and counted/removed beads; it is tedious and is somewhat hit-and-miss as the number/sizes of beads within a capsule varies from capsule to capsule within a bottle of pills. Your doctor could specify a specific brand of capsule--@farm_mom found Teva had the most consistent size and number of beads within a capsule. See @sandij, or @doorman on how to count/throw out beads to taper.

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