EFFEXOR XR Reviews (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 3.0 (2225 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare EFFEXOR XR with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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More on EFFEXOR XR: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR EFFEXOR XR | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 1 | Depression/anxiety | Hair loss, headaches, nausea, weight gain , no sex drive, | Please to anyone considering this drug, don't do it! The withdrawal symptoms have simply ruined my life. Nausea,headaches,brain zaps, stomach cramps,fatigue, irritability, crying for no reason, increased depression and anxiety. I'm praying for an end to this nightmare. | F | 24 | 7 months 75 mg | 10/1/2015 | 1 | Misdiagnosed as major Depression | DO NOT under ANY circumstances takes this medication! The symptoms you have BEFORE taking this medication are WAY BETTER than the side effects of this poison. I will focus more on discontinuance in additional comments. | Please read the information of many other patients who are desperately trying to get off this med, myself included, and imagine yourself trying to get off heroin, crack, meth amphetimines.... This is every bit as bad and then some! http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/opinions/20689/1 | F | 13 years 1X day | 9/23/2015 | 3 | Anxiety/ depression | Have only been taking it for three days now but the side effects have been pretty crazy. Not necessarily bad but feeling really stange. nausea, complete loss of appetite, loss of weight, feeling depressed to feeling super energetic and sort of manic, social anxiety, trembling. | I'm on a fairly small dose and would like to keep it that way, I think I will keep going for a few more weeks and hopefully it will help out with my other issues, also I think it's better not to get too caught up in others reviews because they can mess with your ideas of the drug and cause some confusing placebo effects. | F | 17 | 3 days 37.5 | 9/20/2015 | 3 | Depressive episode | Initially helped me to be able to deal with day-to-day tasks. Have been trying to get off for over a year now, but to due to withdrawal side effects (feverish, shaking, nausea & feeling disoriented) I always revert back to taking it. Basically for the last year I've been on this medication purely because of the side effects of withdrawal & just couldn't afford time off to be sick. I wish i had been more informed about this medication before taking it. | Would like information and advice from patients who have successfully come off efexor xr and would like to know how long it took before withdrawal symptoms finally subsided? | F | 26 | 3 years 75mg | 8/29/2015 | 3 | Depressive Episode | hypomania, agitation | This worked really well to get me out of a severe depressive episode quickly but overtime I started to feel a little bit manic, agitated. I was making impulsive decisions and felt out of sorts so I decided to stop taking it (under medical supervision). The withdrawal for this was absolutely terrible and I needed several sedatives to get me through it, shaking, panic attacks, brain zaps, awful. Overall I have mixed feelings about this because after being off it for a few months my depression has come back. | F | 26 | 4 months 37.5 mg 1X day | 8/15/2015 | 3 | Major depression | Usual side effects of snri's + excessive sweating; hellish nightmares continously. | There should be some way to eliminate these side effects. This drug should have been tested and for these side effects eliminated before being given to patients. I would definitely not recommend anyone taking it without being fully informed of ALL side effects. | F | 72 | 4 years 75mg 1X day | 7/27/2015 | 3 | anxiety/depression | If I do not take this drug, I become severely, despondent. Cry, irritable, then I start to have untimely jerkiness. Promotes seizures. I some times forget, whether I have taken dose. Have trouble with memory. | F | 56 | 15 years 150 2X day | 6/1/2015 | 3 | major depression disorder | I had difficulty sleeping at first, but no other side effects. Medicine was the first ever to help me, but trying to stop taking it is a whole other story. | Okay if I am even a few hours off from my normal dose I start having the strange electrical shock feelings in my brain. This past weekend had a horrendous toothache and went to a dentist on Saturday, with my mouth hurting I forgot to take my medication driving home I could feel the zaps and stsrted to feel very strange. I was sweating but freezing, I came home and laid down (let me mention I had no dental work done, the dentist left early so my appt was cancelled) now I am a single mum of 4 children, I was completely incapacitated. I would fall asleep and have the most vivid amazing dreams, my daughter came in at one point, which I do not recall, and said I was screaming and flenching about. The next 24 hours were a pure nightmare, tremors, bouths of sweating that I saturated my clothes and freezing all at the same time, like my hypothalamus was damaged. I have done my research boys and girls and this sounds completely harmful. They do not know if it withdrawal or serotonin syndrome which is deadly. This has happened to me before while on vacation I ran out of meds and I felt like I was a heroin addict withdrawing from heroin, the difference was this did not stop it was relentless and the buzzing just gets louder and louder, and the uncontrolled jerking of my hands and legs...it was bad.it wasnt until at some point on Sunday I realized oh my God I know what is wrong and I reached into my bedside table for the medicine, within hours the bussing stopped, by the next daybon my s | F | 38 | 10 years 150mg | 5/19/2015 | 5 | Depression/Anxiety | Brain zaps within a few hours if not taken on time. (short half-life) Occasional loss of sexual function. | By far the best antidepressant I have taken in after 15 years of being on different meds. Previously tried Prozac, Zoloft, Cymbalta and Lexapro. The best thing about Venlafaxine/Effexor XR is that it is a SNRI, meaning that it works differently to most other antidepressants, and helps with compulsions or obsessive thinking, in addition to depression and anxiety. Small frustrations are now a breeze, and major challenges are now more manageable, whereas before I would find it difficult to complete even the smallest task without obsessing and fixating. Helps you look at the big picture of life and not just the small bothersome details. Downside of this is that occasionally it can lead to a loss of motivation because it removes the anxiety that often gets us started on something important. You have to take this med at the same time everyday, or within a few hours you will feel withdrawal. This is due to its very short half-life, meaning that it doesn't stay in your system very long. Other side effect I have noticed is reduced sexual function occasionally. Overall, this med has totally changed my life. Sounds like a cliché, but for me it's really true. | M | 37 | 1 years 150 1X day | 5/6/2015 | 5 | depression, mood swings, anxiety | At first I had a few side effects which have gone away completely. I remember I would have night sweats and trouble falling asleep. That didn't last too long and went away after about 2 months. | Effexor XR turned me from a total recluse scared of even being around people to a social butterfly. I had bad social anxiety and that pretty much all went away after starting Effexor. It help my severe mood swings and I was no longer crying randomly or going from happy to suicidal in ten minutes. I still had mild depression and motivation issues though and increasing the dose to the highest did nothing. I have to say Effexor XR has helped me out tremendously. | F | 23 | 1.5 years 150mg 1X day | 4/24/2015 | 1 | severe anxiety and depression, PTSD | Helped my racing thoughts and fears. I still felt extremely depressed. Honestly I felt emotionally numb, dissociated with my own body. Started feeling wreckless... | I started to develop hives, a red itchy rash and swelling in my hands. My dr took me off immediately. | F | 31 | 4 days 150MG | 4/23/2015 | 5 | Depression, Anxiety | None. | I'm still on it and feel a lot less depressed. I find waking up easier and I'm back to doing things I enjoy. | F | 24 | 2 weeks 75mg | 4/21/2015 | 2 | depression | Mania, terrible withdrawal | Worked great at first, then started feeling manic/anxious/irritable. Was talking really fast and interrupting people and not getting much sleep. Decided to get off of it and am still slowly withdrawing. It is hell, brain zaps, shaking, extreme restlessness, physical pain in hands and feet, heart palpitations. I have been on many different antidepressants and never experienced such miserable withdrawal symptoms. Wish I had been warned. | F | 25 | 3 months 75 1X day | 4/12/2015 | 4 | depression/anxiety | Brain buzzing within 12 hours of missed dose. Less and less libido and sexual function over the years. Made my drinking into raging alcoholism. | Detoxed and AA'd up and stopped smoking. Too bad about sex, alcohol and tobacco, I enjoyed them all ,but Effexor has really helped me. Now questioning if I should start tapering off and slowly transition to edible medical cannabis. Sounds like horrible withdrawal, as head buzzing suggests immediate pain and mental torture. | M | 59 | 14 years 150 1X day | 3/16/2015 | 5 | OCD, Social Anxiety, Asperger's | Startup side effects (experienced during the first week and when escalating dose) : Nausea, loss of appetite, yawning (but not tired), getting songs stuck in your head, feeling odd, insomnia (it's a bit stimulating at first), night sweats, vivid dreams, dilated pupils, ejaculation delay. Continued side effects: ejaculation delay, slight daytime lethargy, and emotional "hardening". Other than that, you don't feel like you are on anything. | Effexor XR has been generally great. It's a medication I can't do without. I've gotten off it successfully twice (slow downward dose titration over a month or two) but my symptoms return. The only thing I don't really care for is the ejaculation delay. This is has been one of the primary reasons for me trying to get off of it. It's not all terrible however. When I reach orgasm it is very intense and it's VERY productive....The sexual dysfunction is dose-dependant and I'd be unwilling to go on a higher dose even though my partner is understanding. It has no effect on libido or erections for me, it just takes longer to finish. It has been great otherwise. It's way better than the Lexapro/Cipralex I was on. I'm happy and can deal with stressors. My obsessive thoughts stop and are replaced with logical deductions. It has made me into the optimistic realist I knew myself to be. I have improved so much on this medication. I've gone back to school to study my passion and finally got the balls to come out as gay to my family and friends. The only issue is that I've started defining who I am while on the medication. It has therefore been hard to come off it for long periods of time because I start loosing my built-up ideal self. I hate being dependant on a substance but I may have to make an exception for Effexor. My anxiety and OCD rear their ugly heads when I'm off it. I need to make peace with my situation. | M | 25 | 2 years 150 mg 1X day | 2/17/2015 Patient History | 1 | Anxiety | I am literally coming off this crap as I am typing this and this feels like a living Hell. My doctor recommend to get off of Effexor and Remeron due to me gaining 26lbs in 6 months. I am trying to transition to Nortriptyline. The last few days have been horrible. My head has been spinning and I feel very nauseous. He said I might have "electric shock" type feelings and he couldn't have been more correct! I have been on and have tapered off of many drugs. Effexor XR takes the cake. It has by far been worse than Paxil. | M | 31 | 1 years 150 mg | 2/13/2015 | 5 | Anxiety | Yawning, vivid dreams | Worked great, low side effects | M | 35 | 10 years 75 | 2/12/2015 | 1 | Depression | Scary RAGE after a couple of drinks. High anxiety- panicky. Suicidal thoughts. Thoughts of harming myself and others. Without going into detail, It Wasn't pretty. It made me feel evil and more depressed than ever. I had to ask for intervention and I immediately stopped taking it and switched back to lexapro- which I love. Within 2 hours I felt "normal" again. This is a dangerous drug. | AVOID | F | 29 | 10 days 175 | 2/12/2015 | 1 | psychiatry's routine prescribing | BRAIN ZAPS MEMORY LOSS BRAIN ZAPS SEIZURE BRAIN ZAPS BRAIN DEATH | I was severely injured and damaged by this revolting neurotoxin. I now have severe and extreme hatred, disgust and loathing against psychiatry, the system, the state, the government and humanity on the whole. effexor xr is supreme evidence of just exactly how deadly and dangerous the entire system is, all the way from the labs of madmen where this garbage is cooked up, to the companies who sell the crap, to the incompetent college graduates who call themselves "doctors" that prescribe the deadly poison. I WISH I COULD SUE. | F | 39 | 1 years unk 1X day | 2/6/2015 | 1 | anxiety | HORRIBLENESS!!!!! | So about 10 yrs ago was put on effexor and it worked great! Then had to up dose a couple times and eventually my dr added mirtazapine with it and i felt on top of the world! 2 yrs later got off all of it, didnt feel need for it anymore. Have been off of it for 10 yrs. Have had bad anxiety for some time now tho so went back to dr and got put back on effexor and asked for mirtazapine(remeron) again but he said its actually an add on so instead prescribed me trazodone for sleep cuz ive always struggled with my sleep anyway, Mirtazapine works very well for sleep also btw. Anyway took trazodone first nite and slept great but woke up really groggy! Took effexor that morning and symptoms became worse and got a headache. That night took trazodone again and didnt sleep as well but woke up feeling great! Then took effexor and started feeling horrible! Cloudy, confused, headache, dilated pupils, dizziness, almost like a feeling of lost touch of reality, just plain horrible. So looked up side effects and everything ive read is horrible about this drug, made me remember when i missed dose yrs ago and i wanted to die but i never experienced what i experienced yesterday while TAKING the drug! Threw away my bottle a few minutes ago, the side effects and withdrawal effects are enough for me to never touch this drug again! Im keeping trazodone and will continue to take it as it is also an antidepressant and for anxiety amongst a whole slew of other things. I have read tons of reviews on it | F | 30 | 2 days 37.5 | 1/23/2015 |