I stopped cold turkey about a year-and-a-half ago. I don't advise this, but in my case, after long term use, it began driving me into a very dangerous depression and causing serious behavioral issues and self-harm actions. There are studies showing this is a rare but documented response. I was on it for 20 years, yet somehow managed to ride out the worst of the withdrawal in about four to six weeks. After that I had months of surging emotions, although I was good with this as, looking back, I feel that Effexor shut down a lot of my capacity for feeling the fullness of life, both the joy and the sorrow. I was emotionally flatlined except for extreme rage, which began developing as I tumbled into massive depression and is very uncharacteristic of me.

It became a nightmare drug for me, and even my psychiatrist is in full agreement that the antidepressant was what was fueling my severe and deepening depression. 18 months after quitting, she's all but cut me loose. She's not worried about me harming myself now (I was hospitalized about two years ago).

I've grown deeply critical of how the drug is handled. I was never told about the difficulties of quitting it (I'm an outlier for being able to wean off of it so quickly; I've heard no end of nightmare stories from others). I was never told about the black box warnings that, it turned out, applied to me. It was prescribed by a family physician who just handed it to me and said if it doesn't work, come back. No medical monitoring. No psychological monitoring. No warnings. Nothing. Just take it and hopefully you'll feel better. Frankly, I don't know if a lot of general practitioners are even aware of the potential pitfalls of it.

I have come across this story on forums repeatedly. People are prescribed it, but not told that quitting it could be a brutal and prolonged experience. They only find out when they decide to quit. This should not be happening.

Antidepressants do save lives, but patients need to be making informed decisions. But in my case, as well as that of many I've seen who have recounted their experiences on forums, this simply doesn't happen.

I did switch to a different provider, a much younger P.A. who is fully cognizant of the possible negative side effects of antidepressants. As I was relaying my experience, he told me that he's very cautious with antidepressants, informs patients before prescribing them that if they need to quit, it could be extremely difficult, and if they do decide to try them he has them to come in regularly for a emotional and physical checks. That's how it should be.