EFFEXOR Reviews (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE)

Average Rating: 3.0 (925 Ratings)

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 ANTIDEPRESSANTS

 Type: Rx Drug

  

EFFEXOR  (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE):  Venlafaxine is used to treat depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and social anxiety disorder (social phobia). It may improve your mood and energy level and may help restore your interest in daily living. It may also decrease fear, anxiety, unwanted thoughts, and the number of panic attacks. Venlafaxine is known as a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI). It works by helping to restore the balance of certain natural substances (serotonin and norepinephrine) in the brain.   FDA Approval Date: 1993-12-28 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)

  

Results are sorted by Date added.

Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.)
5=HIGH (this medicine cured me or helped me a great deal.)

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RATING  REASONSIDE EFFECTS FOR EFFEXORCOMMENTSSEXAGEDURATION/
DOSAGE
DATE ADDED
 
 3  Deppression Errectile Dysfunctions, Supperficial, Highly extroverted. Restless Leg Syndrom (took me 3-4 hours to sleep in bed)Hyperactive Took trevirlo for 3 years. It helped very good agains my depressions, i was focused, ready to take decisions fastly, to valuate things, very productive in work, very socialising. but problems to get errections and superficiality in relationships, not really involving with the feelings. dangerous in combination with alcohol: gave amnesias for more than 7 hours sometimes, not knowing what happened the last day/evening M 31 3 years
11/22/2008
 4  Depression Light headed, rolling queasy moments (like I will vomit), taste of foods have changed, clench teeth, head is super tight, heart races every now and then. It makes me not care about anything, which is kind of nice, but I am not sure it's great to completely escape my feelings. Loss of anxiety and I am fine with the loss of appetite. Weight loss is a good thing. F 39 3 weeks
11/10/2008
 2  Depression, anxiety Profuse sweating, teeth grinding, jaw clenching, yawning, sleepiness, delayed orgasm. SEVERE WITHDRAWAL, even from a VERY low dose (25 mg). I relapsed into depression after taking Accutane. My doctor proscribed this with the hope that it wouldn't be sedating like all the other SSRIs I had taken before in High School. (It's an S*N*RI! Whee!) Wrong. Same uncontrollable yawning (really fun in a business meeting). Same jaw clenching. Same sleepiness. Profuse sweating, everywhere. I got as high as 75 mg but was literally sweating through my shoes (I mean sopping wet.) My mood was actually fairly good, but the side effects were killing me. I tapered off from -->25 mg<--, a really low dose of the drug, and thought I was going to die. Severely dizzy, angry for no reason, stomach cramps, diarrhea, wired, foggy brain. Horrendous and never experienced this coming off of either Prozac or Lexapro. Really, just, awful. AWFUL. I will never touch an SSRI or their slightly more demonic cousin, SNRI, ever again. If you didn't have any luck on any other SSRI, just get off the merry-go-round now and try something else. I don't know why M 24 3 months
11/10/2008
 1  depression/anxiety I felt like I was on LSD and speed. Very, very uncomfortable. I took 1 starter dose the night before, at bed time. I woke through the night every hour. In the morning I dreaded taking the kids to school and going to work. I was so tripped out driving. I gagged all day, had diarrhea, couldn't eat. If I continued feeling that way I would have killed my self. I just kept thinking I felt odd as a cod, odd as a cod, odd as a cod...bloody not good. I tried zoloft 2 years ago and had a similar problem. When I told my doc about that, that ssri's make me feel bad, he said this RX was different and I should be ok. Bull. Plus, I have read a whole lot about the addictive properties of this drug. I will stick to my ativan. That too can be addicting, but at least it really helps and doesn't make me want to die. F 33 1 days
11/8/2008
 5  Depression, Aspergers Nothing noticeable. My son, almost 21, switched from Paxil to Effexor. The Paxil basically stopped working; he was talking about hurting himself. I was nervous because of negatives I read here. That's why I'm adding my comments. I've asked my son WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY SON?!!! IT'S AS IF THE ASPERGERS IS GONE! THE DEPRESSION IS ABSOLUTELY GONE. HE'S A NEW PERSON--WHISTLES IN THE SHOWER, MORE OUTGOING, COMMUNICATIVE, MORE INVOLVED IN CLUBS AT COLLEGE, WASHED HIS CAR FOR THE FIRST TIME ETC, ETC, ETC. HE'S NOT "OUT OF IT" IN ANY RESPECT. STILL FEELS EMOTIONS. CAN'T SAY ENOUGH WONDERFUL THINGS ABOUT THIS ANTIDEPRESSANT! M 20 3 months
11/4/2008
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 1  Depression Nausea, dizziness, headache, fever/extreme increase in core body temperature, sweating, shivering, hallucinations, agitation, muscle spasms/twitches, diarrhoea, out of control feeling, dilated pupils, mental confusion, memory loss. In other words it sent me into Serotonin Syndrome - which can be fatal. One of the scariest experiences of my life. I only took it for 2 days on the lowest dose, and went into serotonin syndrome requiring medical treatment & obviously immediate withdrawal of this drug. Extremely dangerous drug in my opinion. Can't believe it passed trials to market. Now that I've met other people who've been taking it & cannot get off it (brainzaps & horrific rebound suicidal depression), I'm actually kinda glad I got the serotonin syndrome to warn me off it. F 37 2 days
10/30/2008
 1  Deppression Severe memory loss, trembling, forgetting words, weight gain, increased anxiety I lost my job due to the memory loss F 40 2 years
10/27/2008
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 1  Depression & Anxiety Pretty much every one they warn you about in the book with the exception of the one that affects men. Lucky I still know my name & havent been committed. This is the WORST drug ever! It should be labled "legalized crack" I realize it isnt really the same but it opens your eyes to people that have an additction to illegals. PLEASE DO not get on this if you even think for a minute you may recieve any of the symptoms. Getting off it is darn near impossible and Dr.'s dont want you off it wonder why? I have been begging mine to wean me off for over a year he uped my does to 450mg a day! I weaned myself back to 150 mg & am going to another Dr. to get off this horrible body & soul controlling med. You can't go one day without before withdrawl hits & hits hard. I ran out a week ago (stupid & stubborn my part) Dr. wouldn't give a refill till I see him again (won't he's an idiot) & now find myself scouring the floor hoping to find a lost pill to get my Effexor XR "fix" until I see the new Dr. Research side affects/withdrawel/what others say. Majority can't be wrong. Don't get addicted to this drug! Most F 35 8 years
10/26/2008
 1  fibromyalgia/cfs, react. depression all the usual ones ... and hypersensitivity to light and sound; alterations to visual field, especially while moving; anxiety and agitation; consecutive episodic dreams (one day per night) encoded to long term memory with little or no encoding of daytime reality. no surprises why psych. nurses call this one 'disastor' M 35 21 weeks
10/24/2008
 3  Depression & anxiety Drowsiness (worse on higher doses), abnormal restessness (mostly relieved only after HEAVY excercise) (worse on higher doses), loss of libido, brain zaps (when altering a dose), headaches and pressure on forehead, eczema, yawning, jaw locking, feeling 'out of it'. Great for depression, but I reckon it makes anxiety worse, with its own 'restlessness' type effects and the anxiety you get from all the worrying side effects, F 21 2.5 years
10/19/2008
 1  Depression Weight Gain, Increased Sweating, Hot Flashes, Headaches, Bad Head Zaps! Moody, Dizzy I has Gastric Bypass 2 years ago. I started taking this damn medicane about 8 months ago. It made me gain 20+ pounds! How depressing it made me even more! And I was not even eating no different. I had the worst head-zaps, and dizzyness I ever had from a depression type drugs. Trying to come off of it was hell! I had bad nightmares, and panic attatcks that had me in a emotional wreck! The thought of anything would throw me into a panic attack. Was scarey. F 28 8 months
10/19/2008
 1  Depression Black Outs, Hot flashes,Nausia, feeling zoned out! This did help me feel better i was more social but i couldnt handel the hot flashes and nasuia especially at work, im in the process of getting of this drug!!! Its a bitch! Feels like ive been sick for weeks! F 17 2 weeks
10/19/2008
 1  anxiety Horrible stomach cramps This drug worked for me, but it gave me such bad stomach cramps I couldn't stand it. Like a gopher was gnawing my stomach from the inside out. It was terrible. After a week or so I stopped cold turkey and got better. F 30 2 weeks
10/18/2008
 1  depression/anger you miss one dose and you're violently ill, its been compared to a heroin with drawl. its AWFUL. if a drug is this painful to come off of it shouldn't be allowed on the market, PERIOD! I was taking effexor since i was 16. I decided at 21 i wanted to go off of it. It took THREE years to ween off of this horrible, horrible drug. It wasn't working, and even weening down from 150mg to 2mg (i cut them up into tiny pieces or separated the granules) it was still painful, finally i just called out of work and slept it off for 3 days, its awful. F 24 8 years
10/15/2008
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 5  depression, anxiety/ panic disorder occasional headaches at the beginning, no sex drive I'm thankful that I have found this drug, I was to the point where I felt crazy! I couldn't stop crying, i was gateful and snippy to my precious family, and i was not myself. Depression and anger, and panic attacks had taken over my life. I had tried many different drugs, and nothing worked long term. I have now been on effexor for a little while, and have noticed a difference. I am returning back to my old self. I can smile again! I can be happy again! I don't have impulse like i did before, and the uncontrolable crying has stopped! I am doing much better! I am thankful to have this to take. I haven't had any of the withdrawl symptoms that others have spoke of because I have not stopped taking it (I've only been on for a few months) so I haven't experienced any, and I'm not concerned at this point, because I do feel so good right now. I was desperate, and this helped! F 29 3 months
10/10/2008
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 3  anxiety/depression weight loss, loss of sexual desire does help reduce anxiety and depression F 32 1 years
10/9/2008
 1  depression/anxiety severe "brain zaps"; memory loss; weight gain; decreased effectiveness over time; hot flashes; inability to get off medication sans severe withdrawal symptoms I started taking this medication in late 2003. It decreased my GAD (and therefore my depression) which improved my quality of life for about a year. I had intolerable brain zaps with nausea and dizziness when I missed a dose which I found very troubling. I also noticed that my memory was seriously affected. About a year and a half after I started the med, I noticed by GAD symptoms returning, so the Dr increased my dose to 150mg which I continued for another couple of years, although it's effectiveness was still in doubt. After this time, out of fear of memory problems and increasing depression/anxiety, I attempted to get off the medication. This period is somewhat of a blur b/c the S/E's (severe brain zaps; hot flashes; confusion, irritability, light intolerance; nausea; depression) put me in a dark bedroom under the covers for more than 3 months. After that time I gave up and went back on Effexor XL. I am currently still on Effexor xl and have been trying to decrease my dose slowly fo F 44 5 years
10/9/2008
 5  Anxiety Depression Loss of libido Excellent drug. It eliminated my anxiety and my depression. F 43 3 years
10/2/2008
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 4  depression some shakiness when first prescribed. It lasted only a short while. I had been on other antidepressants which did not work as well.I have taken the drug for almost 4 years. It still seems to be effective. F 60
9/25/2008
 5  anxiety/depression At first, I had night sweats and found that I was gnashing my teeth while sleeping. Other than a bit of dizziness, I had few side effects while on the drug. Based on internet commentary, I knew of the possible side effects of withdrawal, and did so slowly and under the care of my doctor. On the first phase, going from 112.5 mg to 75 mg, I experienced some bizarre symptoms--an awful taste in my mouth, which felt dry at times alternating with periods of hypersalivation (drooling!). I was dizzy and experienced vivid (but not terrifying) dreams. For a day or so I was extremely fatigued (could barely lift a blowdryer to dry my hair) and sad. But it only lasted a day or two, and I could literally feel the veil being rent when it cleared up--my vision seemed sharper, like someone had focused my lenses. Going from 75mg to 35 mg. was fine. Stepping off totally was not without symptoms--bouts of dizziness (like my brain couldn't catch up with my movements), sadness alternating with laughter, vivid dreams, and, strangest of all, I could literally hear my eyeballs moving--sounded like a loud zipper or whooshing noise when I looked around. But ag F 45 4 years
9/10/2008

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