Tapering off venlafaxine

Good job, Michael.  Now I am going to warn you to take it very slowly from here. There is a research paper that shows graphs for serotonin receptor occupancy for several ADs, ven being one of them.  No matter how high a dose you go, your receptors are only every blocked by about 92%.  At the minimum of 37.5mg your receptors are still blocked by nearly 80%!  So, as you drop below that dose, you are freeing up huge numbers of receptors which means this is where the real risk of WD lies; lots of instability!  Doctors won't tell you, but all the while that you were on the drug, your nervous system pushed back against the artificial elevation of serotonin by down-regulating it's own serotonin production in an effort to bring about homeostasis. This means your neurons physically remodeled to achieve this, taking the drug's action into account.  Therefore, as you drop lower, your nervous system is left with those changes unopposed by the drug, and it must be given TIME to gradually adapt back!  Go too fast and you are left with bigger deficits of neurotransmitters which means withdrawal big time!

Please read the topic in the following thread, about reducing by 10%:  https://patient.info/forums/discuss/depression-resources-298570

How long were you on Ven?  I was on it for 12 years before coming off too fast and suffering horrific protracted WD.  I ended up back on 37.5 mg, which reversed my symptoms within an HOUR, and that was when I began to realize that I was in WD and was getting a "fix."  I don't want to be on a medication that can do this to me!  This is not about some original condition coming back, since I had never ever had depression and anxiety so severely in my life!  But that's the tricky thing about these drugs; the symptoms of their WD are the same as pychiatric "disorders," so doctors and patients alike think relapse.  Usually in WD, the degree of those symptoms far exceeds the level the patient originally experienced before meds.  And, many who were put on these meds for other reasons, such as PMS, experience anxiety and depression in WD, not the original condition!

Ok, 'nuff said.  Please proceed cautiously here on out.  I am down to 12.4 mg, and many would say that is so low as to not be useful so might as well jump off - NOT!  From what I told you about occupancy, I am still around 65%!  The estimated dose for 50% occupancy is 2.8 mg!  My neurons were saturated in this stuff for 12 years - the longer you have been on it the slower you should go!

Good luck!