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 |
| 4 | Depression | I experienced memory loss in terms of little things e.g. going upstairs to get 3 things and only remembering 2 etc. This also made me a bit 'ditzier' than I thought I was. I experience cold sweats most nights while I'm sleeping. I also am experiencing withdrawal after an accidental period of double dosage followed by halving the dose again to the prescribed amount. | I was previously crying everyday often multiple times for no reason, after 2 days of the 37.5mg dosage this stopped and even when I tried I could not cry, it was like the water turned off even if I was genuinely sad. As I was still sad but not crying I moved up to 75mg as I had still only left the house for work and university I eventually moved to 150mg which has dramatically improved my life which I am actually living again like a normal person. The last time I went to the chemist with a new prescription they told me to take 2 capsules a day of the 150mg which I did. I did not notice any changes but since returning to the chemist they informed me that was wrong and I am only supposed to be taking 1per day. It has been 2 days since halving my dosage and I am currently nauseous, incredibly shaky and dizzy and had to call in sick to work. After reading these comments and experiencing this 'withdrawal' I am scared about the day when I will have to stop taking this medication. Also there was a period of 3 days where I missed my pills and by the end of the 3 days I was crying over nothing again. | F | 19 | 1.5 years 150mg 1X day | 8/17/2010 | 1 | ptsd | pancreatitis ovarian cysts horrid periods increased sex drive in the beginning which changed to numb sex organs for years now high libido went to no libido too gerd severe body pain infections of sinus kidney became very ill after a few years on it my mind started to go nuts paranoid memory was shot could not focus brain fog was severe ability think was gone. This drug has a honeymoon period where you feel great almost high or stoned then it turns on you after awhile making you sick and crazy. | extreme personality change ruined my life and lost everything I own I blame this drug withdrawal can last for years still suffering it is a drug from hell whoever made it needs to pay | F | 55 | 7 years 150 1X day | 8/22/2010 | 5 | F | 58 | 1 years 150mg 1X day | 8/24/2010 | 5 | Chronic Pain | Decreased libido | I have a chronic pain problem, the cause couldn't be found, and nothing helped. My dr. thinks I might have low levels of seratonin, so he prescribed Effexor XR. It took awhile for the Effexor to take effect, but the pain is 100% gone. I have tried going off of the Effexor XR, but after about 4 months, the pain comes back. This is a lifesaver for me. | F | 51 | 10 years 75mg 1X day | 8/30/2010 | 3 | Gen Diagnoses: Anxiety & Depression | Lost 20lbs. in 2 months. Tingling in hands like being shocked by those trick pens. Vivid dreams that were always violent. Kicked, punched, screamed and cursed. Needed to take stool softener daily. Around my cycle I would get very weak and become out of breath just walking. All body fluids pretty much died up. Sweat heavily for no reason. | Even with all the side effects that I mentioned, I thought the benefit outweighed the issues. Before taking this medication I would have at least one week during the month where I wouldn't want to go to work or couldn't do my job b/c I couldn't concentrate. I'm a web developer and it would feel like I'm looking at code for the very first time. Not a good thing when you have a schedule and you lose a week b/c you can't get your brain to work. Not only that, but my emotions were hard to control. When I started the effexor I didn't experience the issue with concentration anymore and my moods were more level. With all this being said, my husband and others that I trust were seeing behaviors that I couldn't see. I'm the type of person who wants to correct any annoying behaviors and it wasn't that I didn't want to see what they were seeing, I couldn't. Well, it got to the point where I am today. I saw a Psychiatrist b/c I felt that I needed to adjust my medicine levels to fix what was happening. She conducted her assessment and determined that I should come off of all medicines and fix a sleep disorder issue that I have and then I would be able to determine if medication was necessary. I mentioned all this in case someone may have a similar situation and not think of it until they read this. I know these ratings and comments are very helpful and so I wanted to do my part. | F | 43 | 2 years 275mg 1X day | 9/1/2010 | 3 | MDD. | Dilated pupils, loss of appetite, weight loss, foggy memory, confusion, fast heart rate, night sweats, jitters. | Sure Effexor xr did help with my depression, within a few months or so I wasn't depressed at all, but I stayed on it for so long because I was scared of the withdrawls and was trying to finish school before I had to go through all of that. Now I'm tapering off 37.5 every 2-4 weeks. So far I've had side effects like fever, nausea, dizzy, fatigue, feeling cold and stomach aches. There is also some good side effects too though, I'm more hungry and I can concentrate a bit better. It definitely cured what I was going through at the time, but getting off it is worse then I was in the first place...and is for most people too. | F | 18 | 2 years 225mg 1X day | 9/4/2010 | 4 | depression | Irritability | This is a great drug with minimal side effects. I am able to socialize with people without any anxiety. I am less self-conscious to the point where I could care less and am comfortable in any social environment. As for the depression, it is gone and i'm able to function as a happy human being. Only problem is this med makes me slightly irritable to sounds, sudden talking or disturbances ever so slight as they may be while I'm trying to work. There's a little bit more lack of concentration on my part which can be mistaken for short attention span because this drug puts me in a state of La La land and it's hard to snap out of it bc it's such a nice place. | M | 26 | 3 years 75 and 32 1X day | 9/6/2010 | 2 | depression, anxiety | headaches, profuse sweating, dehydration, exhaustion, irritability, apathy, inability to concentrate, memory problems, stiffness, apathy. | When I first started taking this drug, I felt relief after having been on Pristiq for several months, which was causing hair loss-balding, nausea, insonmia, balance problems, and blurred vision. Two weeks later, I began experiencing extreme headaches like never before. I knew that sweating was a side effect of Effexor, so I attributed the headaches to dehydration, caused by the sweating; drinking more and more water helped only minimally. Next came the extreme fatigue. Though I have experienced problems with energy that came with the depression, this is something else. I find it difficult to get out of bed and necessary to nap for two or more hours during the day and all day on the weekends. I can still sleep through the night; in fact I think I could sleep all day and all night if I were allowed to. I am struggling to make it through an 8 hour work day because of this fatigue. I feel foggy in my mind, apathetic, am experiencing stiffness in my muscles and joints and recently have become very irritable. All in all, I would say these things are worse than the depression I was experiencing before I ever went on medications two years ago. Between Lexapro (didn't help), Pristiq (miserable side effects, depression returned) and Effexor - I can't seem to get it right. I am not looking forward to the horrible withdrawl symptoms I have seen described. :( | F | 29 | 3 months 150mg 1X day | 9/8/2010 | 4 | anxiety disorder | Dry mouth, extreme thirst, and increased sex drive. If you miss a dose: migraine-like symptoms, nausea | I've been taking different amounts of effexor for about 3yrs. It has really helped my anxiety. Before I took it I couldn't even leave the house! Now, I can function quite normally. | F | 20 | 3 years 225mg 1X day | 9/12/2010 | 2 | Awful Drug! Helped for a while however only caused more problems I cant control_ Weight Gain, Brain Shivers, Anxitey, Extreme Fatigue | F | 21 | 1 years 150 1X day | 9/12/2010 | 2 | PTSD/Depression | Felt less in despair, but felt disconnected. Had trouble sleeping on med and had to take a sleeping aid. | F | 30 | 9 months ? 1X day | 9/13/2010 | 4 | Depression | Decreased libido/hard to orgasm. If I forgot to take it, I would get sluggish, foggy-minded, strange 'brain zap' sensations, happiness felt 'fake'. | Coming off if it was extremely difficult, but it did get me back to normal and able to get in charge of life again. | F | 24 | 3 years 1X day | 9/15/2010 | 1 | WEIGHT GAIN. I am 30 and have been the same size since I was 18, I gained 20 pounds when I started Effexor. SEVERE WITHDRAWAL- I tapered down from 275 mg but when I go below 75 I get extremely disoriented. | Please use this as a last resort. The withdrawal is not worth it. | F | 30 | 6 months 275 1X day | 9/21/2010 | 1 | Hot Flashes | heart attack,Random high BP spikes, brain zaps as they are called when I was due for a dose, loss of orgasm, feeling of addiction when due for a dose | I believe this med gave me a heart attack at 50. Starting taking this as off-label treatment for hot flashes during menopause. Thought it was a God send- it worked so well. But then started needing more & more to keep the hot flashes at bay. Started feeling addicted & needing it when it was time for a dose. Lost ability to orgasm & started feeling just weird. Randomly took my BP several times at drugstores & it was sky high (my BP had alwyas been low), but couldn't get the same results at my doc's office- thought the BP machines were broken. Mainly due to the orgasm problem decided to withdraw slowly- had read the w/draw horror stories online. Felt w/draw symptoms but figured I'd hang in there & deal with it. That's when I had the heart attack. No fam history of heart disease,don't have high chol/lipids, not overweight, casual smoker. Had a thrombus, no hardening of the arteries, etc. i believe the Effexor caused some kind of BP spike which created a spasm or vascular constriction or something resulting in a thrombus. The docs say it was because I smoked. Supposedly smoking 1 cigarette can give you a heart attack. I don't buy it. The effexor did it. | F | 51 | 1 years 75- 150mg 2X day | 10/12/2010 | 4 | depression | extreme constipation, dry mouth | Effexor XR has been extremely good at treating my depression, and I will be eternally grateful for that. I would not be alive without it. | F | 54 | 5 years 150 mg 1X day | 10/13/2010 | 5 | depression | Reduced sex drive, insomnia, | Saved my life after 20 years on Prozac; went to generic Prosac didn't work, tried lexapro, very depressed. Tried Effexor XR and depression gone (only normal ups and downs). Needed some more help Doctor added Wellbutrin last year. Now very normal. | F | 66 | 10 years 300 1X day | 10/14/2010 | 3 | depression, bullimia | crazy dreams, sweating, weight loss | I can trully say it worked when I was on it. Actually went out and had fun, looked good and felt ok. It was the getting off that is scary. Tried once and was hospitalized for dehydration. Second day with no pills vomiting, diareah, had dreams of dying, sweating buckets, dizzy as hell. Second time around I was prepaired, loaths of white bread and gatorade withsome ignatia for 4 days. Stayed in bed for 3 days sweating and dizzy...But got off it! | F | 27 | 2 years 150 1X day | 10/20/2010 | 3 | Anxiety, Depression | Weight gain (12kgs), Constipation, Fatigue, Hair Loss (permanent), Bleeding (nose). Side effects became noticeable after 2 years and worsened after 4 years. | Worked perfect on anxiety. Also noticed personality "change" (more outgoing, calm etc.). I quit after 4 years due to the side effects. After 10 months without any medication, anxiety and mild depression is back. | M | 37 | 4 years 150mg 1X day | 10/20/2010 | 5 | Psychosis | No side effects at all. | Lifesaver drug. | M | 23 | 2 weeks 150mg 1X day | 10/24/2010 | 2 | anxiety panic attacks agoraphobia | irritability, severe weight gain, insomnia, really bad withdrawal symptoms from missed doses | I wanted to tell other people that I think there is a way to get off this drug. I'll tell you what I am doing that seems to lessen the withdrawal effect. First get a notepad because you are going to want to write everything down because you will be decreasing your dosages. Your effexor XR capsule will have little white beads inside of it. Depending on your dosage, that is how many beads are in it. My dose is 75 mg, so I have 75 little white beads in it. Step 2 is to get a small dark colored bowl and a pencil. Next wiggle "cap" off the capsule. This is the shorter end of the capsule. Once you have it off then set it to the side. Now you will see that there are the tiny little white beads inside. Do not dump the entire content of beads into the dark colored bowl! (I use the dark colored bowl since it's easier to spot and count the beads). Now while holding the capsule, tip it slightly to loosen the beads up and grab your pencil. With the pencil tip, easily scrape the beads out one at a time if you can. Always check your bowl and COUNT the white beads because you need to be exact. EVERY DAY YOU WILL REDUCE YOUR DOSAGE BY 5 WHITE BEADS! DON'T REDUCE BY ANYMORE THAN THAT OR YOU WILL DEFINITELY EXPERIENCE WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS! Once you remove 5 beads from the capsule, screw the top "cap" on snug. You will have to wiggle it back on. Discard the beads preferably in an old medicine bottle with a child-proof cap. Take the capsule with at least a bottle of water to wa | F | 31 | 10 years 75 mg 1X day | 10/26/2010 |