I tried it and it literally dulled the withdrawal by at least half. It made my days tolerable to the point that I could go to work and function like a human being.
Aside from the dizziness and head fog, the most unsettling side-effect of Effexor withdrawal was the ease with which I would become very angry... I'm NOT an angry person. At all. Also the... I hesitate to say "suicidal" thoughts because I don't think that's what it was. It was more of an indifference towards whether I lived or died.
After a few months it became clear to me that I still needed something, though nothing as strong as Effexor. Now I'm on a very low dose (10 mg) Lexapro. Combined with regular exercise I seem to have struck the right balance.
I am ever surprised that they continue prescribing that one. Of the 10 I've been on that one was the harshest by far (though many others also had severe, dangerous side effects).
Background: I've lived my entire adult life (and most of my teens) with severe chronic depression. In my early 20's I started taking pharmaceutical treatment, and once I found the right drug (after trying many over the course of years) my life became manageable. SSRIs helped but I experienced severe nausea on most of them, or worse. It was only when I tried SNRIs like Effexor that things started to get better. YMMV, IANAPsychiatrist, etc, etc.
A few years ago I switched from Effexor to Cymbalta. Same class of drug - The Effexor simply wasn't helping as much as it used to and the switchover was done with a long taper-down and replace period. I even bought a lab-grade scale to measure out the contents of the capsules so I could cross-over smoothly.
All that said, Cymbalta has the same withdrawal effects, on about the same time scale - a single missed dose. But I wouldn't give it up unless something better comes along. I still struggle with my depression and the SNRI is just one tool in my toolbox for managing it.
I used to err on the side of double-dosing rather than miss a dose if I wasn’t sure, it is an absolute hell of a dependency.
What exactly did the psych recommend it for? Depression?
It's kind of an issue these days because having something that's lower in THC and has CBD in it isn't as marketable as something with higher THC even though it would likely be a more enjoyable and relaxing high for most people. I believe CBD cannibalizes the THC to some degree so generally the higher the THC percentage in the plant the lower the CBD is, and even for someone with lots of experience it will give you more anxiety/paranoia.
Once I ran out and couldn't get a doctors appointment, so ended up going to the hospital and begging them for a packet because I know the withdrawal would just wreck me.