Long term effects AFTER withdrawing from Effexor

Well, that’s reassuring as one positive from Effexor since inflammation is a major trigger for disease and cancer. I’ve been fighting my primary care doctor to let me wean down efffexor XR 75mg to 37.5mg and she’s like dealing with a timid child who doesn’t know if she should turn right or left so she chooses the stand still. It’s baffling to me how some of these MDs become doctors. I told her I was on 150mg for a few years and with my previous MD I simply said I want to get off this medication so cut my dose in half and they did and I was fine. Now, dealing with a new MD who acts like I’m asking for open heart surgery from a dentist when I ask for the lower dose. Unbelievable. I’ve heard it’s extremely difficult getting off Effexor completely so any recommendations for the weaning process is much appreciated. I don’t want the emotional numbness I’ve had since getting on the Effexor. It’s made me less social, more avoidant, less motivated to do anything, almost like I developed some kind of phobia about getting ready to go somewhere causing excessive worry about being late, which leads to delaying or refusing to start the process - therefor I end up exacerbating the tardiness fears by making myself late because I wouldn’t just get in the shower or whatever- so I either end up really late or missing out completely, but most often I cancel plans & appts I make because I don’t want to deal with the stress of getting ready & out the door. I never had any issues pushing myself to do things I didn’t want to do, but had to do for whatever reason, prior to getting on this dam* medication. I also had no idea it was extremely difficult to get off of and potential to cause permanent and/or long term problems once it’s out of the system. It’s infuriating to think about these unknowns never being remotely mentioned to me prior to the prescribing. As in there is no way I would’ve consented to taking it with the known risk/reward positivities. Especially, considering my depression was induced postpartum and exacerbated from high level long term stress from my job that finally made me turn to a doctor for medication to relieve depression/anxiety. Never had depression before giving birth and stress from my job was severe prior to, but never unable to cope with it until I had my son. I feel like a more appropriate plan would’ve been to advise me to take a leave of absence from work until I was able to address the postpartum depression via treatment. Not doing so was a a recipe for disaster walking me into the lions den of antidepressants. It’s effected my life in ways I will feel for decades to come and I wish I could go back and make the decision never to get on the medication in the first place. I knew better being in the medical field, but I thought there was no other way to keep all the things in my life manageable. Has anyone been able to get off Effexor and get back to who they were before beginning the medication?

Definitely slow down the dose level when titrating off.
As Looplu 79 says, drop down dose , (with ever smaller Pill sizes) each time, as the side effects (withdrawal) effects begin to lessen.
Anyone still getting legacy side effects after a long & careful titration off? I am still getting allergic reactions over 2 yrs after a 3 yr titration off EFFEXOR / VENLAFAXINE . Including, swollen mouth / lips every day on waking & Blood spots on head. I have read it can take 4+ years for these legacy effects to stop. Any similar experiences? I seem to be very rare with this type of prolonged side effects issue.

I slowly halved my Effexor from 150 to 75 w/o any side effects and stayed with that about 5 months until I had a major anxiety attack and decided to go back up. I am 79 and I just want to be comfortable in the later years. I must be very fortunate not to have these terrible side effects.

Hi just doing researching again and saw your post from 2018, I too was on Effexor for 15 years, I weaned off it in Nov 2012 and by March 2013 was my first ER visit that started my eight year chronic pain journey that has destroyed my life, and left me a shell of a person, it has been the mystery of my lifetime, I'm a cancer survivor and fought hard in my twenty's to survive endometrial cancer, after that to a successful business owner, raised my family and enjoyed life and I did suffer from some depression and anxiety and had a few other health issues but not that took away my quality of life and now I am completely bedridden in eight years, I have been to over 30 different doctors trying to get help/answers with all the pain throughout my body, in eight years now I have been diagnosed with Lupus, Chronic Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis, Cervical Disc Disorder with Radiculopathy, Intercostal Neuralgia, Bilateral Occipital Neuralgia, Costochondritis, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Migraines, Bile Reflux, Meningiomas in my brain, etc. it just goes on. I had none of this before except I did suffer from Migraines all my life. The Pain started in my left ribcage and spread from there, when I went off the Effexor I had gained some weight from it at 175 pounds I am 5 foot tall, my normal weight was about 130, now I only weight 85 pounds because I can't eat much of anything, I have weighed under 100 pounds for four years now, and I've had to have all my top teeth replaced because my jaw bone was shifting and cracking, I had so many procedures and two surgeries, nerve blocks, and trigger point injections 700+ in 8 years, with over 400 just in the last three years all over my body rotated biweekly and I have to be on pain medication and sleeping pills for years, I feel like I will die any day I'm 58 years old, For years Dr. would take blood tests, MRI's, CT's X-rays and tell me I was fine, bloodwork looks fine, test look fine, but I was in so much pain I couldn't stand it, I didn't know why I was loosing weight or feeling such bad pain, I was scared, most dr's made me feel it was all in my head and treated me unkindly, all I was asking for was help I was scared, until the damaged started to show up on the MRI's, labs etc. and my health begin deteriorating and now. I have brought it up many time with dr's I have seen about any connection to Effexor since I had such a hard time getting off of it, but I just get that blank stare or they can't say. I would really be interested to know if anyone else has had anything similar happened to them or someone they know.