I agree with you. I think my feeling of extreme anxiety/fear/worry now is a result of Effexor withdrawal because I did not have a problem with anxiety before I was prescribed Effexor for hot flashes. At that time, I wanted to avoid hormone replacement therapy. 75mg/day did not prevent hot flashes, by the way, but I thought it lessened them. Anxiety brings on additional hot flashes in my experience, so perhaps that is why Effexor is prescribed as an "off-label" treatment for hot flashes? It should not be--because withdrawal is worse than hot flashes, according to what we are experiencing. I weaned myself off 37.5mg/day Effexor by adding more hours and then days between doses, and experienced no negative results until recently--which mirrors my experience the last time I weaned myself off the drug. My pharmacist says 37.5mg/day is a mild enough dose, if I need to return to it--but I don't want to be dependent on it and I want to avoid its many negative side effects.