Signed up just to answer you no the withdrawal isnt that bad., i take the meds allways before i go to bed, and if i miss the bed time dose and it goes half a day you might start feeling it. But its more in the 8-12h range.. Allthough i take remeron aswell., works wonders depessive wise, but aint to good on anxieties..

I found that alchohol counters the effect from that combo tho, so be careful with that. With the first drinks you "get down" so to speak. But doesent increase the effects from alchohol, so you can safelly have a beer or 12+

Allso opiates eliminates the effect on effexor and other ssri`s., i had cronic pain a few years, and zoloft, effexor had no effect what so ever. But then again, depression wise i didnt need em.

With that said, im trying to quit the meds tonight. Im having a few glasses of wine (for a better sleep) and im quite curious of what tomorrow will bring ill keep you posted., Iv tried a day before, and im expecting head aces :P

Experience shocks, and very mild head aches., but nothing to serious., im expecting it to subside in the coming days

But a good rule of thumb is to lower the dose by 20% over a spand of a month, until you are on zero, to avoid the bi effects. Im doing this without down scale, due to time :P

But after reading abit on the interweb, i found that some patients experienced alot of side effects when detoxing. This is a very powerful drug, and some might detox worse than others. Its not to be taken with mild depression.

I might be "lucky", or just resiliant, i dont know, but the detox isnt to bad in my case, and i whent cold turkey from 75mg venlafaxin a day.

The doctor adviced me to take venlafaxin instead of the standard effexor pills, because it worked better is what she said. Its the same substance but it might have been a better drug all together. If your thinking about effexor, ask for venlafaxin Krka 75mg. And subliment it with remeron if you are very depressed. Worked for me, and the detox isnt to bad. But still in the early stages, and ill update you in the coming week.

Good luck!

It whent well took about a week for the "brain shocks" to give in. But the biggest issue i had was sleep. Could not sleep the first days, but now, slowly im getting better and better nights of sleep. My mind is "clear" for the first time in 7 years, and my depression/anxiety luckely isnt to bad.

All in all i wrote this experience, so you could see the detox side of effexor, wich in medication point of view, wasent too bad. And on basis of that i would recomend effexor w/remeron as an antidepression medication, with a very mild effect towards anxiety. But ofc if your sensitive to detox, i would look for alternatives.