Discontinuing venlafaxine - what to do about extreme fatigue?

@tisme My independent pharmacist gave me a bottle of empty capsules, a tiny funnel, and a little plastic tray with pinched corners. I empty one 37.5 mg capsule into a small clear glass bowl, press my fingers onto the granules and count them as I move them to a clear glass custard dish. I pour those onto the tray, and funnel them into an empty capsule, cap and repeat. I do this over a plate with a rim, to catch any escaping granules.
To start, I counted the number of granules inside three capsules--an average of 136. (The number may vary by manufacturer.) Then I calculated how many beads I needed to remove for the next lower dose. I'm doing reductions of no more than 10%.
My pharmacist assured me I could do it, and he was right. Good luck.

I wholly agree with you. I was put on 300mg Effexor by my psychiatrist some 4 years ago. No consultation, no advice, no warning. It’s been hell getting off it. Have managed to bring it down to 150mg after two months of weaning, and so far so good. But I know this second half will be a lot more challenging. But U’m utterly determined to rid my body of this terrible drug. Patience and faith in the process! Keep you eyes on the end product and keep going!

I'm about 6 weeks post taper myself, done by myself because no one would listen to me. My pristiq destroyed my metabolic system. Raised my cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure and messed with my exocrine insufficient pancreas to the extent I might be diabetic now.
18 years of this medicine, 100 mg. This is the hardest withdrawal or thing I've eliminated from my life but I'm hopeful that my physical health will return, somewhat and am looking forward to giving Esketamine/Spravato a try. Never ever ever again will I put an oral antidepressant into my body again, I'd sign up for a lobotomy before even considering such a thing.
Your post made me feel so validated in my decision and also reaffirmed how crappy the withdrawal really is.

I just went off Effexor starting Jan 1 with very little problem. I was on 225 mg for over 20 years. I did some research and decided to use a Prozac bridge. I called my psychiatrist and told her that is what I was doing so she gave me 37.5mg Effexor and 20mg of Prozac. I was on 75mg and took that to 37.5 and added 40mg Prozac. I had no withdrawal symptoms. I stayed on that for around 5 days. I then dropped the 2nd 37.5 and added another 20-40mg of Prozac. I did the same thing with the next 2, 75mg of Effexor and changed to Prozac. I ended up on 40 mg of Prozac and I stayed on that for a few months because there are some residual withdrawal symptom. In the 3rd month, for 3 days I had migraine headaches that started at 5pm to 11pm. The next day it was 5pm-8pm and the last day the migraine started at 5pm and ended around 6pm and that was it. They then went away. Then a week later I was having trouble with my being able to remember things which was scary and that happened for 3 days, too, and then went away?! As the brain readjusts strange things can happen. I am fully off the Effexor and Prozac and feel better than before so far. I had diarrhea for at least 2 years and couldn't figure out why. Drs. did all kinds of tests and it turned out the Effexor turned on me and when I was down to 75mg of Effexor the diarrhea stopped!! I was on it so long I didn't suspect it was the cause of the diarrhea. I was also on Trazadone to sleep and immediately started being able to sleep when I was off the Effexor?? It feels like the Effexor was revving up my whole system. You can get off Effexor without suffering.

I am also going through a miserable withdrawal after having been on venlafaxine ER for many years. I wanted to share an unusual symptom. I wake in the night with pain in my hands. I bought a pair of hand braces which help, but I also saw a hand specialist who suspected carpal tunnel syndrome and ordered nerve testing. My tests were positive for carpal tunnel in both hands. I thought it was strange that I had no such symptoms before weaning off venlafaxine. The dr. that did the nerve tests suggested that the venlafaxine may have masked the symptoms while I was on it. I looked it up on the web, and he was right. Here is what AI wrote: Yes, venlafaxine has the potential to mask the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). As a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), venlafaxine is effective at treating neuropathic pain and chronic pain conditions.
Here is how it can affect the diagnosis and experience of carpal tunnel syndrome:
Pain Reduction: Because venlafaxine acts on the central nervous system to modulate pain, it can mask the tingling, numbness, and pain associated with nerve compression, such as in CTS.
Delayed Diagnosis: By masking the pain and sensory symptoms, a person might not realize the severity of the nerve compression in their wrist, potentially delaying a proper diagnosis and treatment
There are also several medical sites, such as NIH, that talk about it. Has anyone else had this experience when withdrawing from venlafaxine?

@njoys I was told to open a capsule onto a black piece of cloth, count out the beads take 10% out and put the 10% in a gelcap, I would have to do it for each capsule as you're not always guaranteed to get the same number of beads in each capsule.

@sallyo420 - glad you were able to do a full taper and that your psychiatrist was able to come up with a way to get it done that worked for you without suffering - or at least not for long.

Check out The Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines, or Mark Horowitz/Outro online. There is such a thing as "protracted withdrawal syndrome" which occurs ". . . in an unknown proportion of patients after stopping psychiatric mediations." It happened to me: about two months after completely tapering Effexor (TWICE), I experienced immediate and horrific withdrawal symptoms overnight. I was forced to resume at a lower dose and am now tapering more slowly--in the middle of what I hope to be a two-year withdrawal from a maximum 75mg dose of Effexor.
Only you can decide your next step. There is a lot to learn about withdrawing from Effexor on this website. I will admit that during withdrawal, I had to force myself to get up, get out of bed, and become physically active. Physical exercise helped me as much as anything; mornings were the worst. I eventually had to resume a lower dose of Effexor, become stable at that, and then begin to wean myself off again, decreasing by no more than 5-10% after becoming stable at each dose.
Good luck.