I've been on Effexor for about ten years, give or take a year or so. About a year ago I started to notice that either it wasn't as effective as it once was or my depression/anxiety was changing and it just wasn't enough anymore. Fast forward to September and there was a huge change in my home life (had to evacuate Florida due to Irma, wound up just packing all of our stuff in less than 24 hours and moving back to Michigan). We get settled and I go see a doc about my meds as I'm needing a refill soon.

She suggests I increase my dose and start talk therapy. Also determined that I had PTSD after witnessing an awful car wreck that ejected a passenger and then the driver taking off on foot. So, she referred me to someone that could help with talk therapy and PTSD treatment.

Increased dose was effective for about two weeks. After that I kind of hit a wall and just became overall numb. My husband kept telling me that I was changing in front of his eyes. I couldn't accept that, so, back to the doctor.

She switched me from the Effexor to Wellbutrin. She said I shouldn't have any issues with withdrawals in the transition. Oh good lord was she wrong. So, she prescribed me a month of a lower dose Effexor to wean me off of it.

Those pills ended last week Wednesday. A couple of days later the brain zaps started. I kept a positive attitude about it thinking that it wouldn't be anything significant and would be over in a day or two. It's now Monday and I'm dealing with brain zaps that make me dizzy, nausea, and I'm ridiculously emotional.

I want to wait a solid week before I talk to the doc again because I don't want to go back on the Effexor just to go through this again.

I'm curious to see if anyone has gone through this process and how long it lasted for them. Thanks in advance.