I went off Effexor ( Venlafaxin) after twenty years! I tried Cymbalta ( Duloxetine) because it might have helped with pain but first of all, I was not myself, it hid any problem in my body I should know about like a sore throat that needed treating, it gave me such constipation that I got a blockage, made my thick hair fall out, and raised my blood pressure go sky high. I went off it but not as slowly as needed. You need a compounding pharmacist to go off these meds as slowly as is needed because the drug companies do not provide for slow weans with smaller doses of the meds they make! Well, I first got a LOT of pain. Then I got depressed. I still take two fifty of Depakoate for mood stabilization and to fend off irritability that came when I tried to decrease the dose to two fifty once a day for a week. It is hard with these drugs because they impact mood and it messes with our reactions to life. I mean, it is hard to figure out what we should be like! I mean either we are too docile or two hyper..........too spontaneous. We are dealing with brain chemicals but with some of them like with Duloxetine, you are dealing with many more chemicals that impact many more bodily systems. Chemical soup. They don't know what they are doing manufacturing this stuff and they sure are not about to try the drugs on themselves. Right now I am focusing on doing all the things I need to do spiritually, socially, mentally, and physically to get through seasonal depression from being a New Englander. Situational hazard in my book. I would love to go south with the birds for every single winter!