I was on Effexor XR for many years, but it wasn't effective. I then switched to several other ineffective anti-depressants before ending up on Viibryd, which has worked for me. Any competent professional who has worked with Effexor XR would know you MUST taper off it. @smurf it sounds like some of the people treating you are ignorant and possibly incompetent. Unfortunately, in many places, there's a shortage of quality psychiatric professionals, so we end up with mediocre people treating core functions of our brain. It's not ideal. In part, it means you need to self-advocate—tell them what they should know. For example, to whomever told you she had never heard of side-effects from stopping Effexor cold turkey, suggest she google "Effexor withdrawal" and call you back when she's done reading the 100,000+ results.