Tips on minimizing withdrawal symptoms from Effexor (aka Venlafaxine)?

I have managed to get completely off them a couple of times but always ended up going back on them too.
A very powerful drug!
I want to try again but I'm afraid that I'm going to end up in the same place full of terror, hopelessness & anxiety which I also experience being on efexor!
My psych wants me to try taking even more efexor, I currently take 150mg, which I'm not going to do. Depression has robbed me of any modicum of confidence.
At the same time being on efexor I feel like I'm only surviving rather than living.
I believe in my heart that the depression that I experience is as a result of "frozen grief"
Is it too late now to peel back the onion and feel the feelings?
Will I survive?

@kieran7 I agree with you that Effexor can turn on you. I ended up with diarrhea for over a year and after going to doctors who had no idea why this was happening. One told me it was my diet which was wrong. I went on the internet to see that Effexor can turn on you. I was also more hyped and jittery. I was on 225mg of Effexor for 20 years so I never suspected the medication. Doctors seem to dole out the meds but don't know everything about them which is understandable so it is up to us to research. When I got off the Effexor I actually was much calmer and the diarrhea cleared up. The doctors seemed so surprised. We have to take our health and these meds into our own hands. I would tell your doctor you want to try the Prozac bridge. It was so easy for me to get off of the Effexor with no withdrawal. Effexor does suppress emotions so that may be what is going on with you. Get the 37.5 mg Effexor and the 20mg of Prozac. I would switch one of the 37.5 mg with 20 mg to 40mg of Prozac depending if I started feeling the symptoms. After a week, I would drop the next 37.5mg and never went above 60mg of Prozac. At the end I was on 40 or 60mg of Prozac (I can't remember) and stayed on that for 2 months because that is how long the withdrawal systems from Effexor can last. Then stepping off the Prozac was very easy. Good luck!!

@hoping25 I am not familiar with this medication but I would ask your doctor is the prozac bridge would work for you with this medication. If not, is there another medication you can use as a bridge. I first searched the internet and found the Prozac bridge for Effexor worked well for others so I told my doctor I wanted to try it. Search the internet for your medication and what bridge may work. Going off these medications is insane and brutal. Hopefully, you will be lucky and find something like I did. Prozac is pretty versatile and easy to get off of. These withdrawal systems are almost inhuman. Doctors are so afraid of being sued they won't offer meds without a protocol. For some reason, they don't seem to care about the withdrawal symptoms. They have obviously never been through it.

I read some of the reasons Drs won't recommend a Prozac bridge going off SSIR'S and it is nonsense. Drs. are so afraid of getting sued they will just let their patients really suffer. Just take away some of the SSIR for the Prozac and wait until that SSRI is out of your system which I believe takes about 3 days. I would wait 3-5 days and trade more of the SSRI for the Prozac and again wait 3-5 days until I was only on 40-60mg of Prozac and I stayed on that for 2 months as some of the withdraw symptoms take awhile to go away but the body is physically off the SSRI so there is no Serotonin Syndrome problems. It worked so well for me and I had no adverse effect when I was in the process of removing the SSRI. I did not suffer the side effects which was worth the risk and it turned out there was no problem. I think we have to advocate for ourselves. They are more concerned about themselves than us at times. If you try it, good luck.

@sallyo420 thank you for replying. Yes the GP was pretty short in response but clear to have recorded it was my decision and against medical advice! He said no point in tapering any further.
I was on Prozac about 10 years ago and it was okay but since then I had an infarction of brain results in mild tremors of mouth and thumbs. Citalopram trial was awful - tremors increased and felt very anxious so stopped after a week. So ssris may not be good for me now. I have been off the Mirtazipine two nights now and the burning skin sensation was not as bad this morning so will see how I go.
Mirtazipine is a very sedative drug and good for sleep but I dread to think what it is doing to brain in long term!

@kieran7 I agree with you that Effexor can turn on you. I ended up with diarrhea for over a year and after going to doctors who had no idea why this was happening. One told me it was my diet which was wrong. I went on the internet to see that Effexor can turn on you. I was also more hyped and jittery. I was on 225mg of Effexor for 20 years so I never suspected the medication. Doctors seem to dole out the meds but don't know everything about them which is understandable so it is up to us to research. When I got off the Effexor I actually was much calmer and the diarrhea cleared up. The doctors seemed so surprised. We have to take our health and these meds into our own hands. I would tell your doctor you want to try the Prozac bridge. It was so easy for me to get off of the Effexor with no withdrawal. Effexor does suppress emotions so that may be what is going on with you. Get the 37.5 mg Effexor and the 20mg of Prozac. I would switch one of the 37.5 mg with 20 mg to 40mg of Prozac depending if I started feeling the symptoms. After a week, I would drop the next 37.5mg and never went above 60mg of Prozac. At the end I was on 40 or 60mg of Prozac (I can't remember) and stayed on that for 2 months because that is how long the withdrawal systems from Effexor can last. Then stepping off the Prozac was very easy. Good luck!!

@sallyo420 thanks for replying I have been off Mirtazipine three nights now and my anxiety is manageable but I can’t sleep past 3am due to histamine rush burning skin sensation so only getting four hours max for three nights feel very tired now and fear caving in. Cannot take any valerian or chamomile based support as on blood thinners. Prozac would not help me sleep either so feel a bit worried I will have to go back on Mirtazipine but that feels like failure- at what cost?