The withdrawal effects are what keep folks on this medication. Tapering off slowly minimizes them; the stories on this blog show that most tapers are TOO FAST--the drops are too steep and the wait before dropping again is too short. Skipping days puts you into withdrawal every other day.

Effexor's effect on your brain neurotransmitter levels is very powerful and it takes TIME for you to adjust to lower levels of the drug, especially if you've been on it long-term.

You can read on here where others found relief by going back to the dosage where they weren't having withdrawal symptoms, or at least, having symptoms they could handle and stabilizing there for weeks/months before tapering by much, much less and much, much slower.

Have you told your doctor(s) today what is going on? What is their advice? Especially re the prescriptions you have? You can ask if these would be helpful to your current situation.