I've been on effexor for about 7 years, due to my husbands lung cancer and eventual death 6 years ago. Today my life seems fine, I;m not unhappy, I do have a gluten allergy and severe osteoarthritis and chronic anemia. I have recently decided to go off the Effexor, unfortunately, I didn't think it was going to be that big a deal, but have learned that I should have consulted my doctor before doing so. However, I took my dose of 37.