I'm trying to get OFF Effexor and finding hundreds of websites full of people suffering terrible side effects like mine. The drug information sheet doesn't tell you anything about it, and doctors don't seem to be much help. I've titrated downward to the lowest dose, then did that every other day for a month, and two weeks ago went off it and I'm a zombie. It's all physical symptoms--acute sleepiness, dizziness, weird sensations in my brain they call brain zaps or brain shivers, which are like mild seizures that last a split second, diarrhea, flu symptoms, nausea, blurred vision. It's worse than I felt when I was depressed, and it's enough to make you feel depressed. So, do not let any doctor prescribe Effexor or Effexor XR to you for any reason in any dose. If I'd known what I know now two years ago, I would have walked out of my psychiatrist's office when she prescribed it. Do not take it. It should be banned. Just Google "Effexor Withdrawal" and you'll see what I mean.