I had read that the withdrawal effects were difficult, so I tapered off gradually over 3 months.I took one pill less a week the first 2 weeks and slowly decreased it from there.I was doing ok until I stopped altogether. It was then I started to notice the awful side effects. I had crying bouts, terrible feelings of aggression,felt extremely irritable,night sweats and of course the pain at the back of my head(lower left quadrant of my temporal lobe)which can last up to several hours and then subside. I can handle most of these symptoms but the worst part is I no longer feel as\"sharp\"as I used to. I am having problems remembering the smallest things and difficulty trying to express myself and find the right words. I noticed this actually occurring when I was taking effexor regularily and not just during the withdrawal process. I find it interesting that the part of my brain where I am getting what is referred to as the \"brain zaps\" is also the area of our brains that process immediate events into recent and long term memory(at least this is my understanding). Is there a connection here? It could be coincidence or maybe there is a direct corelation, I suppose time will tell. In the meantime, when I have particularly bad days, I will take one 37.5 mg of effexor and interestingly enough, the brain zaps go away.I plan on getting some empty capsules so I can make 18.75 mg of effexor to take when things are bad. I hope within the next month to be completely effexor free.

In order to cope, I have been keeping myself busy with physical exercise. I also have been reading a lot to keep my brain stimulated. I only hope that the memory I seemed to have lost will be regained one day.

Thank you all for sharing your withdrawal experiences and good luck to you all.