EFFEXOR XR Reviews (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 3.0 (2225 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare EFFEXOR XR with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
|
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 |
| 5 | depression/anxiety | none while taking it, though i was warned about the possibility of it affecting the anger portion of your brain and i have become quite a bit more easily agitated. when i have skipped doses for a couple days at a time, i start to feel a little crazy, often like i'm walking around in a dream, probably a bit manic. | i've tried paxil, zoloft, celexa, and lexapro. i've been on effexor the longest and it's the one that has made me feel most like myself. i have had to raise my dosage over the time i've been on it, often feeling like i've "plateauted." i capped out at 300mg, but i'm back down to 150mg. i would eventually like to go off of it, but i am terrified of what the withdrawal will be like. | F | 24 | 2 years | 8/31/2006 | 3 | depression | Initially, I loved it. It boosted my energy. However, eventually I felt normal. Then, I realized I had become forgetful and had difficulty concentrating or reading dense text. | M | 54 | 20 days | 8/31/2006 | 3 | depression | I started on the starter kit. Initially, I loved it at the 75 mg doze but with a few grains less than the way it comes. I would open it and pour out some of the grains so as to not have too strong of a dosage or to not develop tolerance quickly. It boosted my energy and I felt I didn't need to drink coffee or eat much. However, eventually I felt normal. Then, I realized I had become forgetful and had difficulty concentrating or reading dense text. | M | 54 | 20 days | 8/31/2006 | 4 | Depression | Headaches, fitful sleeping and takes a while to get going in the morning. Other than that it has helped enormounsly with my depression | My periods have become irregular and at first were light now quite heavy and lasting a full week. DId not gain weight or lose interest in sex. | F | 41 | 6 months | 9/1/2006 | 1 | Depession | Horrific side effects when taken even one hour late. Impossible to come off drug. I took the pills apart and reduce the tidy bobbles one by one for 3 months and still had migraines and dizziness. No help from Doctors. On internet discovered the half life is the problem and that taking an anidepressant with a long half life ie prozac, I lost all withdrawal symptoms immediately. | Don't take it unless you can guarantee to take it on time every day for life! | F | 28 | 9 months | 9/1/2006 | 1 | Depression / Anxiety | Sweating, headache, sexual disfunction, mania combined with poor judgement (bad combination), weight gain, memory loss... | Discontinuation syndrome is vicious - no words in the English language can adequately describe the physical and emotional pain. It's been two years since I finally stopped taking it, and I still get the "shocks" early in the morning. DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG. | M | 43 | 9 months | 9/1/2006 | 5 | Generalized Anxiety & Social Phobia | Nausea,Insomnia, Dizziness, and Low Sex Drive for two weeks. Then those side effects passed; and I feel great. | Tried Lexapro and anxiety increased through the roof. Effexor XR is awesome! It completely eliminates my anxiety and I've only been on it for three weeks. It takes six to eight weeks to get the maximum benefit. I asked my doctor about side effects when coming off this medication. He said they are minimal if medication is discontinued slow enough. My advice, don't worry about withdrawal; the benefits of the medication are exceptional. It gave me my life back! | M | 41 | 3 weeks | 9/4/2006 | 3 | anxiety and depression | In the beginning of taking effexor xr, I had horriffic headaches(and I am not prone to headaches). My blood pressure went up, my appetite went up (so did my weight, in which I struggle with anyway), my libido went way down, I had night sweats, very vivid dreams, and the most recent thing I noticed was the clinching of my jaws while I was waking up. I hardly ever cried while on the drug as opposed to crying all the time (I am very sensitive and tender-hearted). | I really enjoyed the calmness that I experience while on effexor. I was able to think more rationally and calmly with out worring so much about everything. The feelings that everything was going to "blow up" even though life was going well seemed to vanish. I was more equipped to handle life's curve balls that was hurled at me more efficiently. My husband's insurance was cancelled and weening myself off the med. seemed the obvious answer. I felt as if I traded some things to get emotional relief. I traded my sex drive, assumed higher B.P. and weight gain, just to get a calm state of mind. Coming off of effexor has been a trip in itself. The feeling of "brain shock" is really a strange sensation. I feel dizzy and sometimes out of control. Like a movie that has been put in fast forward for a few seconds. Then I am ok. I don't regret taking this particular med. but wish that this med. could have been the end all to all my problems. | F | 45 | 1 years | 9/4/2006 | 2 | depression | felt like i was inside screaming and nobody could hear me, teeth grinding, sweating like mad, hot hot hot, weight gain, headaches and general feeling of tiredness | At first it was ok, and then once i got on the 75 mg a day, it really changed, nausea feeling, hadache, no sex drive, i felt as if i needed to be doing something all of the time, i lowered my own dose to everyother day and on those days i take it i can physically see the difference, my husband says i look worried, great!!! i am type A personality and am in the public eye alot, but since on this i do not want to go out anywhere and i surely don't want to do my job, so i must get off of this and try something else. | F | 38 | 2 months | 9/5/2006 | 2 | depression | felt like i was inside screaming and nobody could hear me, teeth grinding, sweating like mad, hot hot hot, weight gain, headaches and general feeling of tiredness | At first it was ok, and then once i got on the 75 mg a day, it really changed, nausea feeling, hadache, no sex drive, i felt as if i needed to be doing something all of the time, i lowered my own dose to everyother day and on those days i take it i can physically see the difference, my husband says i look worried, great!!! i am type A personality and am in the public eye alot, but since on this i do not want to go out anywhere and i surely don't want to do my job, so i must get off of this and try something else. | F | 38 | 2 months | 9/5/2006 | 5 | Panic attacks and anxiety | At first I had bad night sweats and bruising. The night sweats have no gone away. I do get very sharp pains in the back of my head sometimes though. | I love this drug! i've been on it for 3 months and haven't had a panic attack yet. I came close on day on a long trip, i just pulled over and deep breathed for a few minutes and was okay. Before, if that happened, I'd feel bad the whole rest of the day. | F | 25 | 3 days | 9/7/2006 | 3 | GAD | Dizziness came for awhile after a month and last 2 days but has left. Other than that nothing. | Really it doesn't seem to be helping me. I'll start to get off it but like a placebo I think I needed it to feel like I had something that was going to help me after losing a job and ending a relationship. No weight gain but I run marathons (50 miles a week) and can't gain weight even if I tried. Dreams have been wierd now that I read some others comments. Not looking forward to quitting but realize that like someone else said coffee is hard to get off of too. I take the 75 XR dose and don't want to increase it to sse if it'll help. Sex drive has probably increased b/c I'm not working and bored right now. No probs with anything. Like I said I don't feel a thing. I too felt like my Dr. was just reciting what the drug rep told him about it. He's never called to check on me but I never saw a therapist like he suggested either... | M | 37 | 2.5 months | 9/7/2006 | 4 | Depression | When I first took the recommended dose of 75mg, within 25 minutes I had rapid heartbeat, sweats, panic attack (took with a cup of coffee, which I figured out later was a huge mistake). Luckily someone was in the house to call an ambulance. 4 hours later I was home. Now this is where it got interesting for me... the next two days I felt GREAT, and an amazing ability to focus. Dreams were a bit off. | Given that the high dose seemed to mess me up at the beginning, but did have a positive effect in the next two days, I spoke to my doctor and we moved me over to Wellbutrin and about 5mg of Effexor per day. The effexor itself has been enough nowto 'jumpstart' the day. There is occassionally a bit of a 'buzz', but I learned that happens when I have coffee within an hour of taking the Effexor. Now I am thrilled. I went through 5 years of lowered productivity until I realized it was depression. Between the Wellbutrin (150 mg per day) and the 5mg of Effexor (I break the 75 mg up into approximate 5 mg pieces-- yes I know this is not accurate), I have back my focus, sleep, no issues with sex drive, far less social anxiety in crowds, like to go out more again. Lesson from reading all these posts is that brain chemistry and genetics probably drives a lot of the reactions. Amazing the diversity of responses people have. For me, I now have a happy combination that has me back to bei | M | 45 | 2 months | 9/10/2006 | 5 | Depression | Shakey jaw, twitches, nausea, sleeplessness | It's the bomb. No other anti-depressant has ever worked for me. Now I feel happy, I get out of bed, go to uni, I have friends and I go out...YAY!! | F | 25 | 4 years | 9/13/2006 | 5 | social anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD | tight jaw, loss of appetite, nausea, little headaches, trouble sleeping, all side effects went away after 2 weeks | this drug has stopped all panic attacks and i am talking more in social situations. i don't worry as much. i don't get irritated anymore. i have lost 6 pounds, i don't crave junk food anymore, probably b/c i'm not stressed out anymore. i'm on 75 mg. | F | 26 | 3 weeks | 9/17/2006 | 4 | psycotic suicde attempt- major depr | I sleep 2 hours a night, my senses increased:hearing-smells, taste & touch. extreme weight loss do to sweating when ever I eat, drink. I trembel and experience anxiety attacks. light head aches throughout the day. Light discomfort and hard to relax. Body is tense all the time. Also throughout the day, I feel my heart rate increases dramaticly-I feel my blood pumping through my veins. At times I experience voices and other visions | Since I don't sleep at night, because I'm on 150mg EffexorXR,I read about this drug. I have pretty much experienced most of side effects. I would not reccommend EffexorXR to anyone with high blood pressure or children. EffexorXR has help me. I'm a work aholic by nature. Even though I have lost 25lbs in 15 days. I do not know what it is like to feel tiredness anymore. This sense I've lost and with the extreme weight loss I can manage my diet. | M | 40 | 3 weeks | 9/17/2006 | 4 | Depression/Bi-Polar Disorder | Excessive sweating, paresthesia, low libido, night terrors, vivid dreaming, insomnia, somnolence, severe headaches. | Although the medication did what it was designed to do, the side effects of the drug (for me) eventually became more difficult to "deal with" than the depression. For me missing one dosage by even an hour caused paresthesia symptoms. I have been taking dosages as high as 375mg. The side effects increased anytime a dosage change was made (increase or decrease in dosages intensified the side effects with some homostasis but all side effects were always present). For me I felt I was put into this viscous cycle of treating medication side effects with additional medication. That history was provigil for somnolence/narcoleptic side effects. Ambien for insomnia, then eventually switching Seroquel (in low dosages) to increase the amount "sleep" time. I have since discontinued taking the medication and after one week of not taking the medication my sleeping has finally started to normalize (no sleeping aids), somnolence has gone away, paresthesia is still prevelant b | M | 36 | 4.5 years | 9/17/2006 | 4 | Depression | Horrible withdrawl effect when I miss only one dose! | My depression is gone and I feel much better and stable. The only problem is I have to be very careful not to forget my dose or I'll go through hell. I wish I had known before about the withdrawl effects. I don't think I would have taken Effexor if I had known. | F | 29 | 1 years | 9/17/2006 | 1 | anxiety | OK at first I really only wanted something for stress related personal stuff going on. Now I am taking Xanax with it | Cannot think about missing it or not refilling script if only a couple left. Electric shiock feelings, severe fatigue then insomnia. Suicidal thoughts and crying, Can not imagine trying to quit fear of worsening syptoms | F | 37 | 8 months | 9/17/2006 | 4 | acute anxiety depression | trouble relatiing to certain words,names & places.Sleeplessness.Memory Loss.Weight problem | I am taking 225mg daily. If I miss one day I feel lightheaded, a sense of electric zaps in the head & a buzzing in the ears. I missed one day,remembered next day & missed the next. After what I encountered it would be my worst nightmare if I had to give up altogether. | M | 61 | 5 years | 9/18/2006 |