Cold turkey Even not being able to get the script for a week will kick you to the curb and run you over with a leaky garbage truck.

NEVER-EVER stop SSRI or SSNI cold turkey.

If you have any questions about discontinuing a drug, ALWAYS-ALWAYS talk to both your doctor AND your pharmacist. AND, read here: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/ They explain in very great detail how to SLOWLY titrate down off of this class of drugs.

I developed severe skin-picking as a result of being cold-turkied from Prozac 5 years ago -- STILL paying for that.

These drugs actually change the way the chemicals in your brain work. You have to be VERY SMART about knowing what you're putting in your body. After my little Prozac fiasco, I would never start taking a drug without knowing the side effects and implications BEFORE I start taking it. I always ask for the clinical notes from the pharmacist when I get a new prescription and I read that over before I start taking the drug. If there's a possibility of a bad side-effect, I always tell someone that I've just started a new drug.

To be perfectly honest, a lot of the doctors that prescribe medications do not know the long-term side effects of what they prescribe. This is why I'm scared of this rush to embrace Gardasil. No one knows anything long-term about this drug.

I probably would not be alive today if it weren't for this class of drugs -- SSRI/SSNI. I thank G-d every day for them. But, you have to BE SMART about what you're doing to your body.

In my two withdrawal experiences off of Effexor XR (couldn't get to the pharmacy in the winter due to snow and transportation problems), it takes a week to go into major withdrawals and about 6 weeks to get body leveled back up to total functioning.

Good luck.

Barb