Hello fellow sufferers.
I feel like this drug, ( with similar chemical properties to pcp) is poison to my system.
I've been researching how to get off this drug-venlafexine. Here's what I found:

1. Some people can taper faster than others.
2. It is a good idea to start with a 10% taper and hold for a few weeks. Sometimes as long as 4
3. The next lower dose than 37.5 ER is 25mg IR. Which is taken 2-3x a day. And can be cut smaller.
4. 25mg IR is water soluble and this makes it easier to taper to the lowest possible dose.
5. Symptoms should be minimal or gone before next taper.
6. If a reduction gives you intolerable symptoms, reinstate and hold that dose for a few weeks before next taper. This means it was too much of a taper.
7. Some people take a year or longer to completely taper off this drug and that's ok.
8. Listen to what your body is telling you.
I was on 37.5er for a few years. It stopped working and was giving me terrible side effects. I wound up in the ER June 2022. I stopped cold turkey for a month and initially felt a little better. July I tried Prozac which made me terribly sick vomiting and diarrhea. Then I tried Pristiq which worked for about a week then made me extremely angry and aggressive and feeling very agitated. Beginning August I started 25 mg immediate release. Half a tablet three times a day. It did help but unfortunately with all I had done to my nervous system I was taking it sporadically. I had 3 days of no medication then I made a liquid out of my 25 mg IR tablet however what you should know is this enters the bloodstream very quickly. It made me quite sick at 6.25ml 2x a day. I tried one day to switch back to 1/4tab and immediately vomited.
So as of right now I am taking 1 ml of liquid mixture two times a day. This is a very small amount but it is staving off my withdrawal symptoms for now.