5th Effexor Update - Feeling Very bad

Hey Jeremy! Nice to hear from you, although I'm sorry to hear you've been struggling. Sometimes it can take a few weeks to feel the effects of a reduction. Glad to hear you'll be giving yourself a nice long hold. Perhaps you won't even have to add back in some beads if you can stabilize where you're at. The Symptoms and Self-Care section of the forum has information about each symptom you're dealing with. Feel free to check it out for some tips on how to cope. You can always reduce by a lesser amount when you make your next reduction. I'm only reducing one bead at a time with my own taper. Hang in there and keep us posted on how you're doing.

Hey Jeremy! Thanks for sharing your story. Many people read these and pull inspiration of knowledge from others journey so we really appreciate it. I hope your symptoms subside soon. Onward and upward in your path to 0!

I can handle the dizziness, I can handle the fatigue and malaise. I can’t handle the extreme Anxiety, CNS responses through my spine and the extreme volatility of intrusive thoughts. I’m not sure it’s Akathisia but some components of it. I feel frozen.

"I can’t handle the extreme Anxiety, CNS responses through my spine and the extreme volatility of intrusive thoughts."

That sounds so hard Jeremy, I'm sorry. We have a lot of great tips here about how to handle anxiety in the Symptoms & Self-Care section. Anxiety has been one of my own major symptoms, and I know how much of a struggle it can be. Some things that have helped me are exercise, breathing exercises, EFT Tapping, warm baths, listening to Binaural Beats music, and guided meditation. And just radically accepting it, realizing it's just excess adrenaline and can't harm you. Here is some information about intrusive thoughts and how to handle it: https://taper.community/thread/ffc48870-b1df-444f-a6a6-0e84d06d86a8 Show yourself some gentleness, kindness, and compassion right now. Things will get better when you stabilize a bit more. Reach out anytime!