Say a person has been taking effexor 150 mg for 3 years, and right before zoloft for 7 years - no break between them. How long do you think it would take before the drugs are completely out of one's system?

Hi Mayana,

It would vary by individual, many members have described no need to taper off any particular meds while others have an exceedingly hard time tapering off completely, many times taking months. Some have even suggested that certain SEs have been know to be permanent. Bottom line, any response noted here is individual and may not match what ever results you experience.

In my experience, I have always been able to stop meds fairly quickly, I also usually respond well inside the accepted 6-8 weeks for them to take effect. There may be a correlation to this phenomena.

Peace and Love....wayne

I am definitely no expert on this, but it's my understanding that ADs only stay in your "system" for a few weeks, even if you have been taking them for years... although I'm happy for someone to correct me if I'm wrong!

I thought that since the half life of Efexor is very short (hence the side effects for some if you miss a dose) then the time for them to come out of your system would be very short. But I'm probably wrong.

There will be a period of time for your brain to get used to the lower levels of chemicals in the brain, but thats not Efexor.