Question:

I have been taking Venlafaxine HCL ER 150MG along with Mirtazapine 45MG for the last 64 days. ( ( form a psychiatrist that only prescribes medicine) because of some stress 1.5 moths prior to taking the medicine. Am also in my 5 session with therapist. Both say I am doing extremely well. This is because I read Edmond Boure¹s book The anxiety & Phobia Workbook twice and am now reading his Beyond Anxiety & phobia book. Which also helps is, I have been bodybuilding for the last 35 years and swimming every day for 35-40 minutes followed by a 1.5 hour walk. I take 32 different vitamins and mineral every day, do not eat red meat, no sugar or salt. Quit alcohol and cigarettes 35 years ago and before the stressful period my blood pressure was 128/76 with a pulse of 47. I am 77 years old.
I know my body, and as I explained to the psychiatrist, it is telling me it does not want the effexor though the side effects. It is natures of rejecting something the body does not want. I am loosing, my sense of taste, feel week ( but still swim and work ). I lost 40 pounds during that stressful time and I feel the Effexor is preventing me from gaining weight in spite of me eating 5 meals a day my weight remains at 155 pounds, down 40 pounds form the 185 I weighed before the stress.I want to get off this medicine. The psychiatrist has just cut the Mirtazapine to 30MG to a month and then we will do 15MG for a month and the 7,5. But he will no cut the Effexor say I will return to how I was before the Effexor. Therefore, I want to do this on my own so my question is: I would like to educe the the 150MG by 10 beads every month, ie., my intake would be 140MG for the first month, 130MG for the second month and so on down to zero in fifteen months. Do this sound reasonable to you ?

Thank you for you time,
XXXXXXX

XXXXXX,

Thank you for your advice. However, my primary doctor feels I have anxiety only, but I suspect I should stay with the 150 MG dose anyway. Correct?

After the 6 month period how would you suggest I tapper off ?
Is the 10% method using tablets the best approach or is the Prozac bridge better?
Or maybe there a method better than both of them?
And how about the fact that I cannot gain any weight--is the effexor responsible for that?
Please advise.
Take care, XXXXXXX

Thank you for spelling everything out for me. Unlike the psychiatrist I have that tells me " just take your medicine and I will see you at your next appointment " and given the fact he told me on my first visit I would probably be on it for a couple of months and that it was not addictive, one would think that the $40 I pay him for each visit plus what medicare pays him and the commission he gets for the drugs. plus he has the nerve to charge me $2 for a parking validation sticker, and when I a suggested about cutting back he said: i"ll stop it if you want, but you be like you were before you came to me IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?? I told him this was all new to me but he is unsympathic about my concerns, VERY unprofessional. If I treated my customers in my business like that I would have been out of business when I started up 22 years ago. I am stuck with him for the next 3 months as the mirtazapine will be down to zero and should his plan for eliminating the Effexor be not to my liking I will fire him an find another psychiatrist. Sorry but I had to get this off my chest.
Take care, XXXXXXX