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 from oldest to newest. 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 |
| 1 | Anxiety | NEVER TAKE THIS DRUG ! I took Effexor initially for anxiety problems. After 1 year of treatment, my anxiety was gone. I tried to stop, but I had panic attacks much stronger than I had before Effexor. So I restarted to take it, tried to stop it , failed to stop it, restarted, tried to stop it, failed, restarted, etc, etc for 7 years… I succeeded in passing 37.5 mg for 1 year, then reducing to 3 months. I lived a hell : insomnia, anxiety attack, headache, extreme sadness, depersonalization, nausea, diarrhea, chest pain, vomiting, sweating, blurred vision and tinnitus. Thanks to my psychiatrist I managed to stop. Since then, I always have a permanent tinnitus in both ears , large vision problems (hyper sensitivity to light , ophthalmic migraine ) and no more memory ... If I could go back , I will never take Effexor . It totally upsets my life, and I keep sequels I would have all my life ... | M | 32 | 8 years 75mg 1X day | 5/13/2014 Patient History | 4 | Depressed State | Have been on this medication MORE than 10 yrs. No option given to reply as such! Initially I had a little nauseau as I was adjusted up to 300 mg of the XR. Wasn't bad and my psychiatrist did part of 'ramp up' in hospital to get me leveled out at 300 ASAP within medical protocal. In 15 years, have been cross-treated with other meds. but always took at least 150 Effexor. I remain on 300. Kicker is running out if out of town OR not getting your RX picked up. Went 5 days without! Withdrawal is horrid! | F | 55 | 10 years 300mg XR | 5/30/2014 | 4 | depression, anxiety attacks | Tiredness, not movitaved, extreme headaches,vertigo, body shocks, brain zaps, weight gain, constipation. If I miss a dose the next day is hell, headaches I've never experienced ever, vertigo/dizziness. The drug works for my anxiety but sometimes have to take a xanax (mostly in the winter) I have been on effexor before and it took a long time to wean off. But once I sucked up the withdrawal symptoms it did eventually go away. About six months later I had another severe panic attack so went back on it. I'm fine as long as I don't miss a dose.. I don't have a lot of energy and when I get home from work all I want to do is lay around. I would like to try another anti depressant just because I've heard a few don't have as extreme withdrawal symptoms but until then I'll just keep taking it Caz its better then panic attacks | F | 28 | 2 years 75 | 5/30/2014 | 4 | Increased depression | Complete loss of libido, tingling (feels like fingers are asleep) in fingers | I am still currently taking this medication. I Had increased depression and was placed on this medication as an second antidepressant. I had maxed out Celexa and still had depression. I am still taking Wellbutrin XL which I was placed on for severe depression 12 years ago. As soon as I started taking the Effexor I noticed a complete loss of interest in sex. The combination of medication initially was working and I will take that any day over wanting sex. In the last week I have noticed my fingers on left hand feeling like they are asleep. The sensation will increase if I am using my hand. In the last month I have noticed my bipolar signs and symptoms have increased and have become rapid cycling. I am completely miserable in my current living and work environment, so I thought this factor was the reason for my nasty mood swings. But now I'm not to sure the Effexor is working. As any one else experienced tingling in their fingers? | F | 31 | 4 months 150 mg 1X day | 6/8/2014 | 1 | Depression | made me 100x worse and is addictive in that it is hard to stop without withdrawal It made me so confused it took me 2 ys to realize it was the drug making me depressed | ( I will never take any SSRI drug again or allow a loved one to take it) | F | 50 | 2 years 300mg 1X day | 6/14/2014 | 5 | Anxiety/Depression | nausea, slight brain fog | Will be increasing dose next week. Felt better right off the bat. Nausea has been the biggest issue. Taken at night. I was initially scared to take it due to the reviews I've read but I'm glad I started and feel better already. | F | 41 | 7 days 37.5 1X day | 7/9/2014 | 3 | depression | initial lightheaded-ness that went away after a few weeks, excessive sweating, sedation at higher doses. IMPORTANT: severe alcohol cravings | i have to be fair and give this medicine a 3, because it has been an effective (lol) antidepressant with relatively few side effects, though one side effect was particularly damaging: increasingly dangerous alcoholism. i have intoxicated with many different recreational drugs since i was 16, but excessive drinking was never my thing. until effexor. over time, my alcoholism became rampant, i would binge absurd amounts of alcohol every few days and go into a manic frenzy, hardly feeling drunk more like superhuman. my therapist and psychiatrist know i have a drinking problem, yet effexor was never identified as being a contributing factor. i had to find that out on my own, browsing online message boards and coming across a myriad of people with the EXACT SAME PROBLEM. search "effexor and alcoholism". i lost a job, a great relationship, and a few close friendships over my inability to control my drinking. i'm not totally without personal blame, but i urge anyone who suspects they are experiencing something similar to not let it get out of hand. bring it up with your doctor and try a different medicine- it's not worth it. i've been decreasing my dose over the past weeks and already i've had a few nights where before i would've stocked up on beer, and i passed it up. i'm furious that no health care professional was able to see the connection. i really hope someone sees this review who might need to know this information. | M | 23 | 1.5 years 150mg 1X day | 7/21/2014 | 3 | Depression | Weight gain, no libido, apathy, numb I have taken Effexor off and on for about 18 yrs. I gained about 70 lbs. on my small frame and didn't care at the time (for 15 yrs. !!) watched my 18 yr old son take Effexor and gain 60 lbs on his 5 7" frame in about 9 months and not care. Had an aha moment and watched him wean himself off the drug and lose all the weight and so I weaned myself down to 37.5mg every 3 days and have lost 50 lbs and I'm not as depressed and don't feel numb anymore I have an amazing sex drive for the first time since I was a teenager. :). I know this wouldn't work for a lot of people and that's why every story is different. Find a drug AND a dose u can live with and not b numb is the key. Being just numb isn't really living. I have so much more energy now. A healthy diet and exercise are a must! Drugs can't do ALL the work. Don't give up. | F | 50 | 10 years 37.5 | 8/6/2014 | 4 | Anxiety, depression, ADHD | Little to no side effects for a year then severe Insomnia, body jerks, rambling voices in my head before sleep, severe depression, paranoia, and social anxiety the last 12 months. | F | 21 | 2 years 150 MG | 8/24/2014 | 4 | anxiety/agoraphobia | Premature ejaculation for the first time in my life. Extreme dry mouth, brain zaps, electric feeling when it's around time to take my dose. | M | 35 | 1 months 37.5 | 9/1/2014 | 1 | Severe depression | Extreme weight gain-60 pounds in the 12 weeks I was on this and loose of real emotion, complete lack of caring for anything or anyone. My sex drive was kicked into overdrive as well as my need to eat. | I have fought with depression since my preteens. It runs in my family and I have always struggled with the thought of having to take medication to feel 'normal'. I was doing all the right things, eating well, running 6-12 miles per day-training for my first marathon. I thought that was the answer. I could beat this thing without medication. That's what everyone says right? Diet and exercise! Maybe that's why this bout of depression completely blindsided me. and knocked me flat on my ass. I could hardly get out of bed, the thought of brushing my teeth was exhausting. After months of feeling like I was swimming against a current to just LIVE my life I made the first step in what I have known to be an uphill battle. I sought out a depression and anxiety specialist. Sitting in that exam room that first day I remember just being a puddle of sad all over his floor. I thought he had extensive knowledge, probably because he was one of the few Dr.'s in my life that haven't basically just told me to 'try harder' I thought he understood. Let me state that when I get depressed to the point that I cannot just 'handle' it anymore I know my own personal symptoms. It's a struggle to get out of bed, I do mean a fucking battle, its exhausting to have to do basic things like brush my teeth, take a shower, put on clothes. Now the physical symptoms for me are excessive weight gain, muscle aches, tired to my bones-20-cups-of-espresso-isn't-fixing-this-tired. For me, this medication was terrible, I | F | 29 | 3 months 75mg 1X day | 9/6/2014 | 2 | Major depression | More depression but after several weeks I had a 2 week period of time where I felt normal again! I was so excited! It went away! I am trying to wean off by using celexa I am telling you that depression like this that suffocates u where u can hardly do anything is worst then anything I have gone thru! | F | 58 | 6 months 225 mg | 9/9/2014 | 3 | Depression-Anxiety | severe sleep disturbances, abnormal ejaculation, anorexia | This drug helped me for a while, it is powerful and addictive, and its half life is short, thus weaning yourself from it is an agony. withdrawal symptoms are so bad and unbearable. when deciding to cut off, Taper as far as you can. | M | 30 | 6 years 225 1X day | 9/10/2014 | 4 | Depression | Effexor helped me but had to add Abilify for depression. Decided to go off of antidepressants. Was able to wean off of Abilify but Effexor is a whole other monster. I've been tapering off of Effexor for three months now left my job because of side effects are terrible starting into fourth month doing every other day now. It's awful!! Going to dr this week to see if they can give me something to offset the withdrawal symtems. I'm not going to let this drug beat me. | F | 55 | 6 years 150 mg | 9/15/2014 | 1 | anxiety | Do not take effexor dangerous drug.Coming off detoxing is true hell dont take ever | F | 59 | 1 days | 10/7/2014 | 1 | depression anxiety | My wife Never had high blood pressure til 1st Prescription increase dosage had stroke | F | 60 | 1 days | 10/7/2014 | 5 | Depression, mood swings, fear | Only when missing dose my head started spinning but when i decided to get off of it after reading all scary reviews how tough it is i decided to try dosing it down fastest possible. I done my research and im lucky my fiance is a doctor and he has a lot of nutrition advisors so i didnt experiment nothing at all taking it from 150 to 75. The trick is to not imagine all this bad effects that happened to other people. Do some detox of your body start juicing all green veggies take vitamin B, D and cod liver oil i think this are most important, plus if you want your depression and anxiety to go away, fix your spine ! | F | 29 | 2 years 150 MG | 10/8/2014 | 1 | Anxiety/Depression | My teenage son was on this medication for 6 weeks and experienced a bipolar response. He felt everything was a dream and that I wasn't really his mom. He had racing thoughts. Doctor said to stop taking immediately. He experienced brain zaps, vomiting, crying, distorted vision, paranoia. His vision remains pixelated and he sees flashing lights in his field of view. He has memory problems that have also remained 2 years later. He has suffered permanent damage from this drug. | M | 15 | 6 weeks 75 mg 1X day | 10/8/2014 | 3 | Major Depression/Anxiety | I have been off and on the generic, which works initially then stops working, increase the dose and works again....then stops. No appetite on generic but normal appetite on brand. Have lost 15 pounds. Stomach issues at about 6 mos. always, like ulcers, tics. Then, finally recently tried brand, even though insurance didn't cover and had no side effects, such as brain zaps, etc. and it worked without noticing I was taking it. (I have already tried all other SSRI's.) Then, determined I am possibly bipolar because no meds worked over time. I really was doing more, almost hypomania; biking 2 1/2 hours each ride after no exercise for years. Was put on other Med called Geodon and bad side effects and then had severe paranoia, with panic attack, because I was on the generic venlafaxine which is very different than brand. They kept me on the Effexor XR 150 mg brand I noticed in the hospital, but put me on Risperidone causing breathing issue the first night and they increased the dose the 2nd night and by 5th night I went off per heart palpatations at night. I am on generic Effexor XR, but hope to get back on brand with pre-auth through Medicaid. I can't function on the generic version. I have no energy or motivation. My place of work is not very favorable working conditions, due to my FMLA, while trying to get well. Team doesn't like that I miss work and people still have little to no understanding of how dibilitating it can be, and then if your support structure isn't there, it adds | F | 52 | 3 years 150 mg | 10/21/2014 | 4 | anxiety | Stimulant effect, decreased appetite, insomnia | F | 43 | 10 days | 10/23/2014 |