SERZONE Reviews (NEFAZODONE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 3.5 (164 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare SERZONE with similar:
Type: Brand name discontinued; available as generic
|
Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) |
More on SERZONE: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR SERZONE | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | Depression | None noticeable. | I had gone through most of the tricyclics and SSRIs and while they improved my depression, the side effects (dry mouth, sexual dysfunction) were troublesome. I've been taking serzone for six years now and have had no problems. I get liver tests annually and they've been stable. Unfortunately, the only way to find the | M | 50 | 6 years | 11/29/2004 | 1 | Depression | Terrible nightmares and suicidal thoughts. | Second only to Prozac in its ineffectiveness. | M | 34 | 2 months | 11/23/2004 | 1 | insomnia | visual disturbances - rapid cycling - panic attacks - insomnia | serzone was supposed to help me sleep. not only did it not help me sleep - the more i took the less well i slept. after taking 600mg before bed i woke up with the world looking like i'd taken some monochromatic mushrooms: everything had trails and the room seemed to be lit with a strobe light. then i had panic attacks for the next day and a half. i haven't taken it since. | M | 21 | 7 days | 10/30/2004 | 1 | Bi-Polar Disorder | Anger, Paranoia, Confusion, Headaches, Body Aches, You name it, my mom had it | My mom commited suicide 3/7/04 because of taking this drug. Doctor just kept upping her dosage til it totally took over. | F | 59 | 3 years | 8/14/2004 | 1 | depression | light trails, nausea, little help with depression, made me very out of it, worst antidepressant I have ever taken | The only good thing was it made me lose the weight I put on from Celexa | F | 31 | 1 years | 7/29/2004 | 3 | depression | visual trails, memory loss, confusion, speech issues, minor motor skills issues. | I like it. Was on 300 mg per day, now up to 400, but all of a sudden the memory loss is very pronounced. It has evened out my moods, for better and for worse (not depressed but never really happy either). I feel the mental side effects (memory loss, confusion, lack of motivation are really affecting my life -- personally and professionally -- so I am thinking about quitting. On a positive side: no effect on sex drive (never had one, still don't), no effect on weight, and good at filling in the deepest pits of depression. | F | 35 | 1.5 years | 7/15/2004 | 4 | Depression | Early side effects -trippy vision trails. Fall asleep in five minutes. Weird dreams. Over time I noticed an extreme lack of motivation. Just sort of a mellow, good-feeling, go-with-the-flow feeling, which is a lot better than feeling suicidal, that's for sure. | If you're an artist, I wouldn't recommend. It saps your creative drive. | F | 31 | 2 years | 6/17/2004 | 5 | depression/anxiety/panic attacks | Weird visual effects (trails and a trippy feeling) at first when taken during the day. I switched to taking one dosage per day at bedtime (300 mg) and now have almost no side effects. Sex drive is fine, no weight gain or loss, sleep is good. Nausea for a few minutes if I'm still awake when it kicks in, a little dizzyness sometimes if I get up in the middle of the night. If I miss more than one dose, I'll sometimes have a night of broken sleep and alternate feeling hot and then cold all night (covers on, covers off, repeat). I'll be back to normal the next day, though. Alcohol (more than 3 drinks or so) seems to cancel the drug out for that day but doesn't cause any bad reactions for me. The only slightly bad thing I can say (now that I've tried Wellbutrin) is that Serzone might cause me to be a bit unmotivated and slightly lethargic. Then again, that might just be me, with or without Serzone. | Serzone's been a godsend to me for over 9 years in keeping my depression and anxiety in check. Not that I never get in a bad mood or feel down or irritable, but now it lasts for a day or two instead of a month or two. Overall, I feel normal and pretty balanced when I'm on it. I used to have a problem with panic attacks but haven't had a single one since I've been on this drug. Occasional situational anxiety or sleeplessness can be completely cured with one .25 mg Xanax. I recently switched to Wellbutrin XL (about 2 weeks ago) because of the discontinuation of Serzone and the liver disease problems, but I think I'm going to go back to the Serzone (generic is still available and hopefully will be for a long time to come). Wellbutrin made me feel energetic and unusually motivated for the first few days, which I loved (Serzone doesn't do this, unfortunately), but I'm bothered by other side effects like instant weight gain, restless sleep, an increasingly tense and slightly anxious feeling, and the fear of new panic attacks or even seizures (I was twitching the other day after having had a few drinks the night before and it really scared me because I've read that alcohol can lower the threshold for seizures and twitching can be a sign of an impending seizure.) I'm really not sure what to do at this point but I'll figure it out in the next few days. | F | 42 | 9 years | 6/9/2004 | 4 | depression, insomnia, and anxiety | I get irritable mood about every other day but this appears to be due to me have early morning awakening in which I wake up one hour before I want to and can't fall asleep. I feel worn out and fatigued on these days. Lots of my symptoms are from environmental factors, so that when there's stress factors (eg. moving, looking for work), I get depressed. I am dysthymic, having some chronic depression. My brochure from a few years ago says serzone should help with edgy, irritable mood. I actually like the medicine. I have been on 400 mg but was reduced to 350 mg. I take most of dose before bed with a benzodiazepam and get right to sleep. I like serzone because I am not getting up at 1 am like I used to with Buspar. | I am taking serzone about 5 years now. I saw brochures in the mental health clinic and asked if could try it out. I really liked the brochure information. When the drug label warning came out, my psychiatrist informed me and recommended another medicine but I didn't want to switch. About 1 year ago when I got another doctor, I was told again about the warnings. At first, my new doctor wanted me off it, but then agreed to do blood work to monitor my liver enzymes. I have normal blood work and feel O.K. with taking it. I heard about the FDA recall in June, 2004 but I want to stay with serzone. | F | 44 | 5 years | 5/25/2004 | 1 | | 5/20/2004 | 4 | Depression | F | 54 | 10 years | 5/19/2004 | 5 | depression | Loss of sexual drive/libido | Serzone has been a great help to me. Recently my doctor decreased my dosage of serzone and instituted a blended therapy including Wellbutrin. I'm feeling great, liver function is normal. I'm quite surprised to read the comments of the other folks but take solace in the very small and possibly biased sample. | M | 63 | 3 years | 4/22/2004 | 1 | Depression | Serzone worked fine in the beginning, but after a few month I started to feel very sick for several hours after taking it. We tried adjusting the dosage and time of day that I took it but nothing helped. This went on for over a year. After about another year the effectiveness started to decrease so I tried to switch to a different drug. Trying to get off of Serzone was a nightmare, literally. I had nightmares, night sweats and terrible anger for almost 2 months after tapering and stopping Serzone. | I would never tell anyone to take this drug. It's bee banned in almost every country except the US and I think it is dangerous! | M | 34 | 2 years | 4/16/2004 | 1 | depression | groggy, woozy - couldn't wake up, unsteady on my feet, dry mouth, nausea | My doctor wanted to supplement the Wellbutrin I was already taking, and gave me a sample packet of Serzone. So groggy I couldn't go to work the next day, nearly fell in the bathroom, didn't dare drive. Tried to give it a week to get used to it but gave up after 4 days. They listed 10 possible side effects and I had 9, on the way to all 10. Hate this stuff. | F | 56 | 4 days | 3/30/2004 | 3 | anxiety and PMS | This stuff helped mildly with anxiety but not a huge difference. It helped more w/my pms then anxiety but it still wasn't enough to totally get rid of my pms and sometimes I would get irate or irritable for no reason any time of the month but atleast I didnt' become physically violent. I didn't want to take it all month long at the dose I was taking it at due to the liver warnings and also I can take meds for pms half the month instead of all month if I take something besides serzone. | Wasn't quite worth taking it all month for my pms. But I had no side effects as far as weight gain, sexual, sleepiness. So that was good. | F | 28 | 9 months | 3/25/2004 | 1 | anxiety | none really | Did not do ANYTHING FOR ME | F | 25 | 6 months | 7/14/2003 | 4 | depression/anxiety | Initially I experienced dizziness, sleepiness, lack of concentration loss of appetite and loss of physical strength. But those things passed. Now after being on them for about 6 weeks my vision seems a bit blurry occasionally and my short term memory is bad in the mornings. | I have been on Zoloft for about 4 years and at first it seemed to work well, but then the effects became less until it seemed like it wasn't doing anything for me. My libido had completely gone and even though I didn't have a major depression while on it, I was still quite anxious and my feelings were generally very flat. Serzone has given me back my sex drive and my feelings in a way where I can enjoy them without being overwhelmed by them. I tried being on nothing a few times and couldn't handle the intensity of my emotions, both good and bad. | F | 41 | 6 weeks | 5/19/2003 | 2 | depression/anxiety | feelings of unsteadiness, feelings of fatigue, memory loss of slowed reaction. | F | 24 | 2 days | 3/18/2003 | 4 | depression | dry mouth, double vision-at first, but went away pretty quickly | everything was fine for 18 months. Then I started feeling depressed again. My doctor increased my dose. My double vision came back temporarily. 5 days later I could not figure out WHAT was wrong with me. I was dizzy, had severe headaches, and had a | F | 44 | 18 months | 2/26/2003 | 5 | depression | Vision blur when going from dark to light and in morning for about 5 minutes | Really did a good job for me overall. Doctor concerns about liver problems-took me off after 5 years. | M | 53 | 5 years | 2/11/2003 |