@wynnaa I went cold turkey, but was on 37.5, so a quick drop. I had been on it for quite few years however. It still sucked badly for about four weeks, then the symptoms receded for maybe two more before I didn't notice them anymore.

Brain zaps are what lasted the longest. Initially I had nausea and a lot of vertigo, but those resolved fairly quickly.

Over time Effexor slowly flipped me until it began making me suicidal, which is a known response with young people, but highly uncommon at my age (I was 59 when I stopped). I had only begun seeing a psychiatrist a few months prior to stopping, this after a trip to the psych ward and a late-in-life bipolar 2 diagnosis (I believe it's correct, as it explains pretty much my whole life). I needed to flat get off of it. I have repeatedly told friends and family if I hadn't stopped it when I did I would have followed through by now. I'm 100% convinced of this. I was tail-spinning fast.

That was two-and-a-half years ago.

I found a study right in that period that I've been unable to relocate. It was about a correlation between bipolar 2 patients, antidepressants, and suicide. I wish I'd bookmarked it. It was NIH or some other reliable source; I'm real careful about where I get medical information. It described the previous three years of my life up until then like a biography. Daily suicidal thoughts, uncontrollable anger, eating and sleep disorders, and on and on. The study noted that Effexor was the antidepressant most frequently associated with this reaction.

I actually found it on my own, realized that I'd likely found the cause, said "I'm done," and quit. My psychiatrist knew about the study but was skeptical that this was what had happened to me until I went in two weeks after quitting and she recognized immediately that my whole demeanor had shifted for the better. It's rare. She'd never seen it before. She has since told me she's using what she saw in me as a reference for what to look out for with future patients.

My therapist saw the sudden shift as well. I went from evasive and monosyllabic for months to being unable to shut up. One week I was as unreachable as ever. I'd quit the day before but didn't tell her. Two weeks later at my next appointment (I'd informed her by then that I'd stopped the medication and that my psychiatrist knew) I was prattling like crazy before I even sat down. The only time in my life I've ever made someone's jaw drop. She just stared at me stunned for almost a minute before she could think of something to say. From there on out (I'm still in therapy) I've been pretty talkative.

Saved my life getting off of that pill. I'm taking Lamotrigine now, which has kept me pretty stable.