I have been off venlafaxine for 2 days. I was on varying dosages of Effexor XR and venlafaxine XR over the last 7 years (from 225 mg to most recently 37.5 mg). While I will say that this drug helped me out early on, I have felt it hasn't worked for me for YEARS. Which is why I wanted to come off. I have been asking my psych nurse practitioner of 8 years to take me off this stuff for over a year, but she would not agree. I have suffered from major depression and anger for the majority of my life, and while I understand her concerns, I have always felt it is MY decision to stop taking this drug. I recently changed my job, insurance company, and thus providers and my new Psychiatrist agreed to help me come off the venlafaxine. I weaned from 75 mg to 37.5 mg, spent a month on the 37.5 mg, and came off completely 2 days ago. I knew there were going to be withdrawal symptoms. Today I am dizzy and have diarrhea, but that's about it so far. It is amazing to me that there is so little information available from healthcare professionals or the drug company on the withdrawal symptoms of this drug. With the exception of one small blurb on the drug company's web site, all other information I have found has been on forums where actual people using this stuff have shared their withdrawal journey. I am hoping to find myself again without this drug masking who I really am. I have been through a tremendous amount of change in the last 6 years and I want to be myself again and see who that turns out to be, without the meds. My main goal today was to find out if there is any data about the timeline of the withdrawal symptoms or coping suggestions or supplements from any healthcare professional source. I haven't found any yet and I'm about an hour in to my online search. If anyone out here knows of any forum or website specifically by the medical community on how to manage the withdrawals from venlafaxine, I would greatly appreciate hearing about it.