I took efexor xr for 1 year, it is a SNRI, which is more potent than and SSRI. It's great for anxiety and panic but one thing most people don't tell you about is the withdrawal, or as the medical community call it, discontinuation syndrome. Now don't stress, not everybody suffers from this, but I did and it makes coming off benzos feel like a walk in the park. After coming off efexor I swore black and blue that I'd never take anti-depressants again, but since I quit drinking I'm now back on Zoloft and it's working very well. Sometimes we need medication but what I'm trying to tell you is, that if you or your doctor decide to take you off efexor do a very, very slow taper. If it get to be too much towards the end you can cross taper to prozac which helps lessen the blow of the withdrawal. Good luck, I really hope it works for you, it helped me climb out of a very dark place but I would touch it with a barge pole ever again. efexor xr and aropax are known to be the 2 worst anti-depressants to stop taking. I heard someone mention crazy meds which is good for info and so is psycho babble. Give them a google for more info and support. Psycho babble is a great forum for psych meds and people are very supportive there for mental health issues, like they are here for drug and alcohol dependence. This is the best drug and alcohol site I have ever come across. I'd stick to this forum for support with dependence and the others for info on medication, and don't forget a lot of medication in the US has different names, so you might have to google the medication's chemical name. We spell efexor with one f they spell it effexor. Epilim is called Depacon etc....you'll get it. Good luck, I wish you all the best!!!!!!!!!
Last edited by weatherfreak; 07-30-2007 at 08:34 PM.