I was prescribed effexor in the year 2000 & took it for 6 yrs at a dose of 75mg rising to 150mg per day. The withdrawl was a nightmare but even more scary is the fact that having finally come off the drug it is though a great mist has been lifted and the emotions and my ability to react to real live events have returned. I feelas if I was trapped in abubble, the drug was so controlling & surpressed all emotion making me desincitised. I was suffering in my marriage and firmly believe that this drug changed my charachter & mind so much that I could not recat to what was happenning in front of my eyes, I am sadly now divorced and feel terrible as I feel it changed my thought and mind processes, I was very moody & irritable which just got worse. since coming off the drug I am now experiencing emotions/sensitivities that were locked away whilst on Effexor.  Please has anyone else experienced these feelings? - feeling totally detatched from reality, whilst on the medication,  an inability to react to events, unable to show emotion or cry, feeling in a protective bubble in the knowl;edge that thuings around you were bad (in my case a marriage going thru a difficult period) yet I was oblivious to the gravity of the situation and felt in a different world.

All sounds odd I know but I fear I might not be alone as to how this drug managed to control/alter my mind and thoughts so much I was utterly desensiticed.