I am sorry to read that you are suffering the horrible effects of trying to leave Effexor behind. I have been through it myself and it can be horrible. I have been on 450mg of Effexor/Venlafaxine (along with a lot of other psyche meds) for 25 years. At this point Venlafaxine is part of my DNA.

My doctors have approved my request to titrate off of Effexor we began two weeks ago by dropping by only 37.5mg (the smallest they make) so far so good. The last time I tried it myself I went to fast and very bad things happened. Then again I tried to ease the pain with alchol and marijuana, so there's that.

Before we started on Effexor I changed my diet, started exercising and titrated off of Seroquel and Lorazapam/Ativan. I also read a book “Brain Chemistry” by a doctor Palmer of McClain and Harvard (I recommend the book to everyone) Mayo Clinic could probably help just as much.

Each of these changes made the next one possible. I've also been able to stop some of the drugs prescribed to treat the side effects of the drugs I was on. Seems like for every psych med I drop I get rid of two other drugs that treat the side effects.

We also found that many of the drugs I have been on suppress testosterone(T) leading to a host of problems. When tested I was low on T on all test, one critically low. Together we decide to boast my T while decreasing my meds. The idea is to hopefully limit my suffering while I try to detox my body. Right now I feel the best I have in decades.

Of all the drugs I've taken Cymbalta is not one of them so I can not comment.

I wish an easy journey. They say the brain zapas go away, I hope that's true the last time was a nightmare.