EFFEXOR XR Reviews (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 3.0 (2225 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare EFFEXOR XR 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 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 |
More on EFFEXOR XR: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR EFFEXOR XR | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 3 | anxiety | weight gain | I have had a lot of trouble getting off of Effexor | F | 29 | 1 years | 6/2/2008 | 1 | depression | Nausia, heartburn, constipation, excessive and insatiable hunger, weight gain (12 pounds in two months), increased bruising, apathy, excessive fatigue, difficulty recalling information, "ticks" (legs and arms involuntarily twitch) | I have taken several other medications for depression in the past, including Prozac, Paxil, and Wellbutrin. Overall, if you believe you need help for your depression I would recommend trying a different drug BEFORE resorting to Effexor. It has more side effects than most SSRI's and SNRI's. For me, any benefits were greatly outweighed by these side effects. | F | 28 | 3 months | 6/2/2008 | 4 | | 5/30/2008 | 4 | anxiety | Weight Gain | It definitely helped, I used 37.5 mg for a year, then due to the extra 15lbs, I took myself off and I have been able to control my reaction to my issues much better after realizing how much the medication helped and how I acted and reacted while on it. | F | 40 | 1.3 years | 5/29/2008 | 4 | Depression/Anxiety/ | I am on 150mg a day. I have experienced a few side effects. To start with, I have not been able to cry since I started taking this medication. However, at the same time, I often well up with tears but don't cry when watching sad movies, and sometimes for no apparent reason. Before taking this medication, I had never cried about a sad movie. I also have experienced some excessive sweating after being active. I do not sweat while active, only when I stop. Sometimes I have difficultly focusing, but not often. The withdrawal effects are quite substantial if I miss a dose. The effects are "brain zaps", dizziness, headaches, sensitivity to light, nausea, shakiness, mental confusion, and difficulty focusing. | I have been wanting to get off of the medication for the past couple of years, but am afraid of the withdrawal effects. I had been trying to wean off of it, but I experienced the withdrawal effects if I did not take my full 150mg dose. | M | 21 | 5 years | 5/29/2008 | 4 | Depression/Anxiety | Initially I had some nausea but that wore off. Food tasted different (not appetizing), ankle edema, mild tinnitus. All manageable side effects | So far so good! It seems to be working really well. | F | 37 | 1.5 months | 5/27/2008 | 1 | De pression | headaches, nausea, no feelings whatsoever. Worst drug EVER to come off of - took 4 weeks for the "discontinuation syndrome" to start to wear off and that was with weaning down to 37.5 first. | HORRIBLE DRUG. I don't think doctors should be allowed to prescribe this unless they take it for a couple months and then successfully get off of it. Brain zaps, watermelon head feeling, nausea, vertigo, brain fog...the inability to care about absolutely anything - horrible. I switched to Wellbutrin XL and it's been the best change ever....once the Effexor withdrawal finally ended that is. Good luck to anyone trying to get off of this drug - if you're about to start it - you have to decide that you'll take it for the rest of your life - really did nothing for my mood either except for the total mind dulling - I was still depressed. Good luck to all | F | 27 | 7 months | 5/26/2008 | 1 | Suicidal and Homicidal ideations | Dry mouth, cold sweats, clenching of the teeth, increased iron deficiency (already suffered from anemia) sleepyness, increased nightmares, hard time remembering things, weight gain. was raised from 75 mg to 225 mg and became apathetic and uninterested in participating in social events of any kind. | After getting off of it, i felt ill and drowsy, sometimes dizzy. | F | 16 | 5 months | 5/24/2008 | 4 | Depression/Anxiety | ZONKED OUT for the first 2 weeks while getting used to my 75mg dose. I've always had a very high sex drive but now climax is next to impossible (and COMPLETELY impossible once I was upped to 150mg). While on 75mg, I could miss a doce and be ok, but after 2 days (or just 1 day while on 150mg), severe dizziness/vertigo, fatigue and inability to focus. Weight gain of about 30 lbs., constant cravings and unable to control my cravings. | It really was a saving grace. I can funtion like a normal person, and am back to being ME (albeit a slightly larger me). Problems are still there but do not overwhelm me like they used to, and am able to control racing thoughts. As long as I don't miss a dose, I'm good! | F | 27 | 1 years | 5/22/2008 | 4 | Depression/Anxiety | ZONKED OUT for the first 2 weeks while getting used to my 75mg dose. I've always had a very high sex drive but now climax is next to impossible (and COMPLETELY impossible once I was upped to 150mg). While on 75mg, I could miss a doce and be ok, but after 2 days (or just 1 day while on 150mg), severe dizziness/vertigo, fatigue and inability to focus. Weight gain of about 30 lbs., constant cravings and unable to control my cravings. | It really was a saving grace. I can funtion like a normal person, and am back to being ME (albeit a slightly larger me). Problems are still there but do not overwhelm me like they used to, and am able to control racing thoughts. As long as I don't miss a dose, I'm good! | F | 27 | 1 years | 5/22/2008 | 4 | Bipolar disorder | profuse sweating, night sweats, nightmares, tics | When I was initially put on Effexor at the age of 14, I became manic, which I have since learned is a common reaction to antidepressants for bipolars. Unfortunately, my adoselcent psychiatrist didn't follow up with anything but Lithium at the time, which only made me ill, and, consequently, he misdiagnosed as clinically depressed. Since then I have tried dozens of psych meds and had many diagnoses. Effexor, with the addition of the correct mood stabilizer, has given me the most productive 18 months of my life. I'm able to miss a day or two with no ill effects, but any more than that and I get headaches, nausea, and my arthritis pain intensifies greatly. There is not one single drug that works for everyone, and this medication may not be the ideal; however, despite some really irritating and consistent side effects and the potentially difficult time I may experience coming off of Effexor, I would NEVER trade emerging from an almost lifelong depression, partly thanks to this drug. | F | 25 | 18 months | 5/21/2008 | 4 | depression | F | 47 | 6 months | 5/21/2008 | 4 | anxiety | wired feeling and nausea. No desire for food. | went off once and am back on it. Made me feel more like a 'normal' person and not so worried and stressed about people judging me and i smile more easily, laugh more easily and can get through the day without a meltdown. Take smallest dose possible 75 mg i think cuz then u wont have bad withdrawls. | F | 37 | 1.5 years | 5/21/2008 | 2 | Depression/Anxiety | High blood pressure, anxiety | Effexor did not alleviate my depression or anxiety to any meaningful level. Unfortunately the higher doses (225mg - 262.5mg) increased my high blood pressure. Also, my anxiety and agitation level increased. So, I stopped taking it. | M | 31 | 4 months | 5/21/2008 | 1 | Depression/Anxiety | inability to focus, loss of interest, fatigue, headaches, weight gain(15pounds), and extreme nausea, dizziness, migraine, and brain zaps when trying to come off drug. | In my opinion, it's the worst drug ever. I started off losing a bit of weight due to a loss of appetite but then after the first 2 weeks I could hardly stop myself from devouring everything in sight. I ended up gaining 15 lbs. Then came the blahness. I couldn't get motivated to do anything. I quit several clubs teams that I was apart of at school because I was just too tired and disinterested to participate. My grades have also suffered. I also get terrible migraines that last for weeks. And the withdrawal is the worst. Just after the first day of not taking the drug I began to experience extreme nausea and dizziness. Oh, and how can I forget those fun brain zaps! And after all of that it has only made my depression worse. My anxiety is under control but the side effects in this case outweigh the benefits. | F | 15 | 4 months | 5/3/2008 | 3 | Depression | At various times throughout the 18 months I was on it I had them all, I guess. I had weight gain (20lbs), night sweats, extreme drowsiness coming on suddenly without warning, flat emotions - didn't care about anything, not even when my Mom had to have major back surgery, tinitus, vivid dreams, gas, and nausea and dizziness if I missed a dose by even an hour or two. Didn't notice any sexual problems, though. Guess I was lucky there... | This drug worked pretty well to stop my depression. For me it just sorta numbed me out so I stopped caring about the stuff that bothered me. In the end I found the side effects were just too bothersome. After 18 months I weaned myself off of it very slowly. Well, believe me when I say that the withdrawal symptoms are no joke. I would NEVER have taken this drug if I'd known just how awful you feel after stopping. | M | 38 | 18 months | 5/2/2008 | 1 | Mild Depression | The withdrawls are devestating. I can't stop taking this drug! | I wish I would have never started taking this horrible, horrible drug. | F | 27 | 5 years | 5/1/2008 | 3 | anxiety, depression | I stayed on this antidepressant the longest I've stayed on Celexa, Paxil, Elavil, Prozac, Buspar, Tranxene, Zoloft. It was a subtle medicine, in that, I never knew if it was working or not! But, I kind of liked that, because it allowed me to conquer my anxiety and feel real, you know, be the real me, not some doped up version. I felt like me on this even though I still was a bit anxious, it allowed me to work through it. No side effects that were disabling. Even when the dose was given higher, I never noticed. My mom used it and said it did nothing for her. I kind of get that. It seemed a bit like that to me, as well, but then again, like I said, I liked that. I like to work out my problems and not rely on a pill to fix everything. And I was on this for years. It's a gentle medication. It was for me, anyway. | F | 34 | 6 years | 4/30/2008 | 3 | Depression | increased sweating, dry mouth, twitching, 'brain zaps', inability to orgasm, worsening of anxiety eventually, insomnia | I was on 225, I kinda crashed when I went to 150 (with psychiatrist approval); I went back to 225 but have, by counting granules, gotten to 187.5. Benefit: Lifted me out of most of the depression, numbness was nothing next to Zoloft (fluoxetine). Bad stuff: Dry mouth, sweats and twitching are all mild enough to put up with. Brain zaps are also okay because they're rare and mild unless I miss a dose. After a year, I noticed my anxious habits (nail biting etc) were getting out of control and I was more anxious than I had been before, and it took ages to get to sleep. Sex drive wasn't too dented; without getting too graphic, I would be aroused enough for sex, but orgasms are veeery difficult. Advice: Go on it for less than a year, and when you go off, go very slowly & monitor whether you're getting miserable again (diary is good). | F | 20 | 16 months | 4/28/2008 | 5 | depression & anxiety | Upon commencment, had a metalic taste in my mouth, loss of appetite, weight loss, and slight nausia. This lasted for 3 weeks, but then all side effects/symptoms dissapeared. | I feel this medication has been so benificial and assisted me in a huge way with deppression and anxiety, i am a different person since commencing treatment with Effexor xr, i was extremly deppresed and on the edge, with thoughts of suicide and death. Those feelings and thoughts have totally diminshed and i am a much happier person and have a positive outlook on life thanks to EFFEXOR XR, i would reccomend this medication to be at least trialled, as this medication has been a true life saver. | F | 38 | 3 years | 4/26/2008 |