It hasn't been fun for me getting off effexor but it's been worth it. Try to taper off slowly. I hope this helps you with the weight and wish you all the best.
I hope you don't crash coming off to so fast. I gained so much weight too and in the same places as you. I haven't lost weight but I am feeling better in my head and emotions. I can finally cry. Haven't done that in so long and it feels so good. I was emotionally dead. Keep me posted as your progress. Good luck.
Calgary 67
I have been on Effexor XR for over a year at 187 mg but gotten no help from it. It made me lose weight because I started feeling nauseous around food. I said I wanted off, so they weaned me off - took a month to do it the right way. I started feeling better, but once I took the final dose of 37.5 mg, in a couple days I felt like I was freaking out, couldn't control my anger, anxiety, depression. I am angry all the time now and my doctor is on vacation. She had also said I would have to wait 2 weeks before starting a new medication, so I still have a week to wait. But the Effexor gave me so many side effects, headaches, bloating, gas, itching, diarrhea, ringing in the ears, mood and mental changes, tired. I had been making various visits to the doctor for all of these symptoms, not realizing it was coming from the Effexor. How I figured it out was when I started tapering off, these other side effects started tapering off, also. That's when I went to the internet to look it up and there are pages of side effects, which I will show my doctor when I see her again. I never want to be on that type of medication again.
Good luck to you on your withdrawal, I was warned not to stop at once, so hoping you are ok. Could have saved myself a lot of doctor visits if I had looked up the side effects first!