Tapering off Effexor

I've started on 37.5mg Effexor on March 25, a week later I went to 75mg and it worked like magic from day 1. Even now 4 months later I love how well it works, BUT. I've been having excessive sweating. I could deal with it at first but around the end of April I believe, my doctor put me up to 150mg, to help some of my anxiety. I didn't notice any difference going from 75mg to 150mg except the sweating got worse. Yesterday I decided I had enough when I was sweating so much at work that my whole back was sweaty and gross. I wear a pale blue uniform shirt at work and when I sweat, it's very obvious. I was soaked. And it's a common thing, I take a shower in the morning and put on clean clothes, deodorant and body spray and by the time I get to work I feel disgusting and smell like body odour.
So anyway. I called my doctor and he said I can go back to 75mg but I JUST refilled my 150mg bottle so can I just take 150mg every other day? And does anyone have any experience tapering Effexor? I have heard so many horror stories I don't know if I'll stay at 75mg or go to 37.5 or maybe even look for a diff med because this excessive sweating really is horrible.

I know of people who have gone off of Effexor, and it is a a challenge, but it can and is done frequently. Maybe you can post in the Psychiatric Meds forum and get more responses. Best wishes, Melmo!

I tapered completely off from 150mg in 3 weeks. That was too fast.

If you are looking to taper to 75mg you could spend a week or so taking 112.5mg before dropping down to 75.

If you are going completely off, I would recommend that you stay on 37.5 for a while. Do a week of that taking it every day, then a week taking the same dosage every other day, etc. I just stopped after a week of 37.5 every day and suffered for 2 weeks.

Pill cutter/splitter shouldn't be difficult to find in your country. It might also help to look up half life of Effexor and consult your doc for the time you take that medicine. Take care.

Must taper! I agree with the others, it can be challenging, suddenly stopping brings on a whole realm of other issues.

My meds are capsules so I would have to count out tiny granules.
I know it's probably not a good idea, but I decided to go cold turkey. I believe Friday was the last time I took it and yesterday I started to feel the withdrawls. I was more overwhelmed and felt like I was gonna cry. I also started to feel kind of lightheaded, I guess a bit disoriented and today I feel almost like I have been drinking and I'm buzzed.
I guess we will see what happens. I just don't want to be on these meds anymore, as much as they were awesome and worked right from day 1, I couldn't deal with the excessive sweating anymore.

Couldn't do it. I was so irritable with my kids, I don't want to be that mean mom again. I took 150mg and I feel better already. I don't know what to do. Am I gonna be dependent on meds for the rest of my life? I don't want that.

I'm surprised your psychiatrist hasn't replaced it with another med. I had excessive sweating with Cymbalta and my doc took me off of it.

Effexor has a short half-life and needs to be tapered off gradually. I was on it and my old psychiatrist weaned me off of it too quickly, and I was sick for about a month.

What does half life mean? I've been seeing it mentioned a lot and I have no idea what it means.
I'm upset that doctors don't seem to warn you about how hard it is to get off this med when they put you on it. All I have heard is horror stories about it and everyone says their doctors never warned them.

Half-life is how long the medication stays in your system. Some meds have long half-lives, meaning they stay in your body longer regardless of whether they're being effective or not. With Effexor, it goes out of your body rather quickly so you have to stay on it to avoid withdrawal symptoms. That's why you need to taper off it gradually. Your psychiatrist can tell you more.