EFFEXOR Reviews (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 3.0 (925 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare EFFEXOR with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 |
More on EFFEXOR: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR EFFEXOR | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 4 | Depression and anxiety | Sweating | F | 51 | 5 years 75 mg 2X day | 1/8/2011 | 4 | Depression | Sweating, weight gain | This drug is a miracle drug. Although it gives me sweats at night and my sleeping is already not the greatest, I have come out of my depression | F | 33 | 4 days 225 1X day | 1/7/2011 | 5 | CFS | relatively mild | was on it for 12 years It helped so much....i stopped taking it 6 months ago but have realized I need it so I am on it again working up correct dose of 150. People need to realize thses drugs need time to ween off. I did it very slowly and it went ok | M | 50 | 13 years 150 1X day | 1/6/2011 | 1 | anxiety and depresssion | The fourth day I started to feel a little dizzy and out of sorts, difficulty concentrating and a headache in the front of my head that felt like my brain was on fire. Later that evening the headache increased and I started feeling extremely anxious and confused. I decided to go to bed and sleep it off, within minutes of laying down I got an extreme hotflash, nausea, extreme diziness, my chest felt tight and I started having trouble breathing. I told my husband to call 911, when the paramedics arrived about 5-10 minutes later I felt very nauseous, dizzy, and I suddenly had trouble speaking clearly. By the time I got in the ambulance I sounded like I had, had a stroke. I was in the emergency room until the next morning.I was told to immediately stop all the medication. My speech was severly delayed for a week, in addition to anxiety and headaches. I was off work for a week.All this after just 4 DAYS on the medication. | This medication is SCARY! My doctor has now refused to prescribe me any other antidepressants. I would rather be depressed and anxious than use this medication again. It's been 4 weeks and I still get headaches everyday, which I never had before, and oddily I now have an overwhelming urge to drink alchohol, which is VERY unlike me. This medicine is poison. | F | 39 | 4 days 37.5 mg 1X day | 12/27/2010 | 3 | Depression | quick withrawal symptoms that made me feel spaced out... | F | 47 | 4 years 75 1X day | 12/7/2010 | 1 | Depression and anxiety | Coldness, insomnia, hallucinations, dizziness, nausea, non-stop yawning, diarrhea | One dose was enough. I have never felt so awful in my life. I have had a thyroid problem since early this year and my doctor prescribed me Effexor yesterday to deal with the related depression. I took it around noon and had an upset stomach all day and chills, but it wasn't until bed when the worst symptoms started. Every time I would close my eyes, I would start seeing patterns like I was looking into a kaleidoscope, and upon opening them, would see the room swirling in front of me. It was like an awful acid trip. I managed to fall asleep, but then woke up in the middle of the night wanting to end my life! Seriously.. be careful before you take this. I don't think I need this drug on any level, I think doctors have prescribed it too readily in the past. Please be careful. | F | 25 | 1 days 37.5mg 1X day | 12/2/2010 | 1 | Depression | Headaches, "brain zaps", constant fatigue, no sex drive, memory problems, irritibility, poor concentration, night sweats, bizarre dreams, gastrointestinal problems, weight gain, increased appetite, heart palpitations and heat intolerance. | Effexor...so glad I FINALLY quit taking it. This was possibly the worst medication I have ever been on. It worked well in the beginning but within the first few months I began suffering some terrible side effects. Because of this drug my GI system is extremely screwed up and still a year later after discontinuing the drug, my memory is awful and I still suffer constant fatigue. I would NEVER take this again nor would I suggest anyone ever take it. It made me gain weight and with my eating disorder that caused a lot of dress for me. The "brain zaps" were the worst of all the symptoms though...I don't know if I could even describe how miserable those would make me. I felt stupid, slow and irritable frequently when on this medication. I would have fits of rage and got into many verbal fights with my family and ex-boyfriend because I would become very moody and manic. Let's not forget to mention that I have no sex drive what-so-ever with this drug and to this very day I still struggle with it because the effects of this medication have seemed to have screwed me over forever. Even though it has left me with some damage (to my brain, sex drive and GI system), I am happy to say getting off this medication made me a much happier person than I was when I was on it! | F | 19 | 2.5 years Unknown 1X day | 11/28/2010 Patient History | 4 | depression/anxiety | I took effexor XR once before for almost a year and had no side effects, I had to stop cold turkey due to lose of insurance and could not afford it. However I guess I was lucky because i didn't really have any withdrawl. I have recently started taking Effexor again the org.(not XR) and I am having all kinds of side effects this time. I have tightness in my muscles, clinched jaw, nausea, loss of appitite, headache, feeling very fidgety, dry mouth, sleepiness, constipation. I don't want to quit taken it, since it worked so good before. I figure if the side effects do not improve after a month I will talk with my doctor. | I loved it in the past, it did wonders for me. I don't know if I am gonna be able to stay on it this time, due to the side effects, I'm really hoping they will go away. But even if I can't take it this time and I need something different I still would recommend it. At least to try it...you never know if it's for you til you try. Trial and error. | F | 35 | 5 days 75MG 1X day | 10/27/2010 | 1 | Anxiety | When I took this medicine so long ago it was terrible from the get-go! Right away I became aware of a squeezing pressure in both lobes of my brain. If that was not bad enough, nausea, bad dreams, hallucinations, feeling non-human, feeling like I was in a video game, severe fatigue, depression and living from pill to pill. God forbid if I went somewhere and forgot to take my dose. It would completely disable me into a crying heap.It felt that I was addicted to it just to avoid the withdrawals that happened pill to pill. Well 10 years later, I don't take any medicine and am a happy normal functioning person. Just remember, this drug may help some people; but if you become one of the ones not doing well on it...Get off it as soon as you see these problems. EVERY ONE NEEDS TO REMEMBER THAT ANXIETY & DEPRESSION ARE NORMAL AT TIMES AND IT POINTS OUT SOMETHING IN YOUR LIFE THAT YOU NEED TO RESOLVE. DO NOT LOOK FOR A MIRACLE PILL FOR EVERYTHING. JUST IMPROVE YOUR DIET, EXERCISE, RELATIONSH | F | 26 | 2 years 2X day | 10/22/2010 | 1 | Depression | I could not get past the severe dizziness and hallucinations. I felt very sick to my stomach for two days straight and vomited through out most of the day. I would not recommend this drug, however this is only my experience. | F | 25 | 2 days 1X day | 10/15/2010 | 3 | Depression/anxiety | none | Worked better than regular ssri's, but only really kicked in to make me feel free of depression when augmented by an anti=psychotic | F | 34 | 3 years 375 1X day | 10/1/2010 | 4 | Depression, Panic, PTSD | INSANE sweating/hot flashes, euphoria, brain zaps, yawning, completely killed libido. | The yawning went away after a couple of months, and it didn't bother me. The sweating started about six months ago and it is TERRIBLE. I can just be sitting on the couch and I start pouring sweat from my back/legs/armpits/face. | F | 25 | 1.5 years 225 MG 1X day | 9/28/2010 | 1 | Bipolar II/ Anxiety | At first the medication worked wonderfully. It made me a fully functional human being and the only real side effect that bothered me was the ruin of my libido. However after being on it for about a year I started to gain a massive amount of weight (50 lbs) and then the medication just pooped out on me. I weaned off of it for SIX MONTHS and the withdrawals took a year from my life that I will never get back. I have had permanent changes in my body since that time, including the development of motion sickness. This is truly an evil drug that nobody should ever take. Even if it works well for you, it's likely that it will stop working eventually and the withdrawal symptoms are horrific. If a doctor prescribes you this drug, fire them and find someone new ASAP. | F | 22 | 3 years 300 1X day | 9/23/2010 | 1 | Vertigo | This drug is very effective however if you ever need to get off of it then be prepared. The withdraws are TERRIBLE | Avoid this drug.....there are many better options | M | 34 | 2 years 25mg 1X day | 9/20/2010 | 5 | Depression/Anxieties | I had no side affects; however, I do wish that I had one and that would have been loss of appetite. lol | People need to realize that what may or may not work for you doesn't mean that it's a bad drug. Sometimes it takes the good old trial and error to find the right fit. It took a few other drugs to find the one that worked well for me but there were a few adjustments that had to be made in the amount I needed to get the right affect. | F | 63 | 9 years 150 mg 1X day | 9/9/2010 | 4 | depression | sexual side-effects | I was on Effexor XR for years and it is a wonder drug to get you out of depression as well as stopping anxiety, and after 2 years of trying other meds I have come back to Effexor XR. I've read a lot of comments about the withdrawal side effects of missing your medication or from stopping the medication. This is in part a major reason why I decided to try other drugs because I was frightened by the long term effects of such a powerful drug. I have experienced the "brain zaps/surges" as well and have learned how to avoid them when stopping the medication. First and foremost, do not stop this medication without speaking with your doctor. If you and your doctor decide to take you off the medication you MUST have your doctor prescribe for you a very low dose of an SSRI such as Zoloft to take for a few weeks after in order to allow your body to eliminate the Effexor out of your system without sending it into shock. You will still experience the head zaps, but on a very mild scale that are much less intense and a lot less in frequency. I promise if you follow my advice you will have far less risk of falling back into depression when you are coming off this medication. | M | 32 | 7 years 150 MG 1X day | 9/5/2010 | 1 | none | I was prescribed this medication for my hot flashes, I haven't had the flashes for 3 days now, But, I am dizzy, have headaches, extreme dry mouth and the ringing in my ears is annoying. I am going to stop taking this now before I get too dependent on it, I'd rather have the flashes. | F | 50 | 3 days 37.5 1X day | 9/1/2010 | 3 | Depression | Constipation, loss of appetite and sex drive, insomnia, extreme sweating, high blood pressure, severe "withdrawal", agitation... | Worked great for me when in high school, but the second time around it isn't doing the trick now that I am an old lady of 28. The "Discontinuation syndrome" will incapacitate you for at least two weeks. If you plan to quit this bitch, make sure you have some vacation time saved up. You'll basically feel like you have the worst flu of your life for weeks and will not be able to get out of bed even though you aren't really getting any rest. You will spend a fortnight having the most intense nightmares of your life. You will cry and moan and want your mommy. You may have intense food cravings if you can pull yourself out of bed during your "discontinuation" and you may get very horny. You also may get the idea that you can truly *feel* the action potential of your neurons. You may also feel like you are on a roller coaster every time you move your eyes to either side. That said, I tried it again, knowing the risks, because the first time around it put me in remission for a couple good years and I even lost weight. | F | 28 | 8 months 150 2X day | 8/28/2010 | 3 | depression | Possibly metallic taste in mouth, balance problems, altered consciousness, slurred speech | The side effects listed were experienced while on Effexor and as far as I can see, are not common. I am trying to find any medical reference to these side effects in relation to this drug. Were these side effects a result of the drug? Did you experience these side effects? Have you seen them referenced in any medical works or journals? Thanks for your help. | F | 32 | 1X day | 8/27/2010 | 2 | GAD | memory loss that worsened over time, weight gain, apathy, night sweats, lack of focus. SEVERE WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS. | This medication seemed like a miracle drug. I have gotten on and off of it 3 times (counting its predecessor Pristiq). After about 2 years the efficacy of the drug seemed to decrease and the side effects became more prominent. Memory loss became worse the longer I took it. It is eventually why I quit. There is always a trade-off with these medications but in my opinion this trade off is not worth it. It is simply not sustainable over a long time, as your memory degrades it becomes more and more difficult to function normally. I came off the meds VERY slowly but the withdrawals were still a nightmare. Physically and psychologically. Like I said: worked like a dream at first but it was too good to be true. | F | 23 | 7 years 150 MG 1X day | 8/24/2010 |