I can't call myself a success story yet but I am slowly tapering off Effexor by counting beads. I tried to get off it once several years ago and I know from that experience that I, personally, couldn't handle going from 37.5 mg to zero. I'm currently taking about 100mg/day and am planning a relatively moderate paced taper until I reach 37.5 mg. After that I'm going to slow way down. Before I think I tried jumping off completely from maybe 10mg and I was overwhelmed with anxiety. In my case, I've been taking this drug for 25 years and that can make a difference.