EFFEXOR XR Reviews (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE)

Average Rating: 3.0 (2225 Ratings)

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 ANTIDEPRESSANTS

 Type: Rx Drug

  

EFFEXOR XR  (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE):  Venlafaxine is used to treat depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and social anxiety disorder (social phobia). It may improve your mood and energy level and may help restore your interest in daily living. It may also decrease fear, anxiety, unwanted thoughts, and the number of panic attacks. Venlafaxine is known as a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI). It works by helping to restore the balance of certain natural substances (serotonin and norepinephrine) in the brain.   FDA Approval Date: 1997-10-20 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)

  

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Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.)
5=HIGH (this medicine cured me or helped me a great deal.)

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More on EFFEXOR XR: Reviews Summary  |  Drug Safety Information

RATING  REASONSIDE EFFECTS FOR EFFEXOR XRCOMMENTSSEXAGEDURATION/
DOSAGE
DATE ADDED
 
 4  Depresssion/Anxiety Low sex drive The good FAR outweigh the bad for me with this drug. I have tried over a dozen anti-depressants in my life, and I can say without a doubt that Effexor XR saved my life. I am able to feel all of my emotions and it is amazing. I did feel good enough at one point and stopped taking them, withdrawal was terrifying and awful. After I wasn't have withdrawal symptoms, I was back to my miserably depressed self. I have accepted that anti-depressants are just a part of my life and am incredibly happy to have this particular drug. F 25 4 years
37.5 MG 1X day
7/4/2011
 3  Anxiety, migraines Very sleepy - could easily sleep 12 hours a day ; weight loss at first This definitely helped with my anxiety - it felt like the voices of constant worry about all the different things I had to worry about were gone. I was able to focus on one thing at a time, deal with it, and move on. However, I was still having physical manifestations of anxiety (racing heart, etc.) and migraines so my docs kept increasing the dose. At higher doses, I was exhausted all the time with no change in therapeutic effects. Finally gave up on it, coming down off of it was very very unpleasant. Lots of anxiety and anger. Wish I could have stayed at the low dose and added something else. F 37 8 months
150 mg 1X day
7/4/2011
 4  Anxiety weight gain, sweating, some tiredness This drug has made a huge difference in my life. Because of the side effects, however, I am considering taking a different anti-depressant that works for anxiety. F 45
37.5 1X day
7/1/2011
Email
 4  depression and bipolar low sex drive high seritonion i am having test done to see if it is just the effexor and one of my other meds that has my seritionlevel very high normal level is .15 to 18 and mine is a 28 not good M 50 5 years
150 1X day
6/27/2011
Email
 4   lack of sex drive blurriness sleeping all the time no energy confusion at times I am going to have my doctor step me down if possible, they upped it 2 months ago from 75mg to 150mg when another medicine affected me terribly. I got depressed, cried all day and couldn't maintain without suppervision. F 49 7 days
150mg 1X day
6/21/2011
Email
 5  as an anti-depressant I have never experienced any side effects with this medication. I was taking 150 mg per day for approximately 8 years and asked my doctor to cut the dosage in half and it is still serving its purpose for me. F 69 9 years
75 1X day
6/15/2011
 5  Anxiety It's the only anti-anxiety medication that left me with little to no side effects while effectively helping my condition. F 26 7 years
150 1X day
6/14/2011
Email
 3  Depression Decreased libido/ worse orgasms, felt like my memory was somewhat worse. Withdrawal felt like crap and had really vivid dreams. Did help my depression somewhat, didn't have any side effects aside from the sexual ones since I took it every morning as soon as I got up, did cold turkey withdrawal and it was bad but manageable. M 19 6 months
150 mg 1X day
6/6/2011
 1  Short temper - anxious F 57
150 1X day
6/3/2011
Email

Patient History
 1  Anxiety disorder I was given this drug only once and it sent me into seizures which lasted all day. I had to be rushed to the hospital and it was serious. For a week I couldn't walk and could barely talk or lift my hands to take care of my kids. I threw my guts up and sweated profusely. It was a horrific experience and has scared me away from ever taking ANY anti-depressant again. I feel as though it left permanent damage to my memory and brain function. This drug was given to me right after taking Paxil. Don't know if that had something to do with the seizures. F 41
1X day
5/28/2011
Email
 4  Anxiety GAD Insomnia, delayed ejaculation but not completely gone, jaw tightness / ache, amphetemine like effects, loads of energy, crying, euphoria when combined with the gym, weight loss. So far I've found it to be generally good. Got some immediate relief and felt safe and secure with it. Full effects took 2 months though. The insomnia was a pain for the first 3 weeks but it wasn't until 2months that things began to settle down. Sex problems? Well for a guy it's not too bad. You get there in the end. Possibly the biggest problem was feeling up all the time. After about 30mins I was chatting rapidly like I used to do on speed or ecstasy. This was ok but at night I found it hard to sleep at least for the first month. Today I found myself very tearful over something trivial and feel quite down and depressed which I assume shouldn't happen on an AD. DO NOT TAKE WITH cold remedies / decongestion / cough medicines saying non-drowsy / caffeine / M 41 2 months
75 1X day
5/27/2011
Email
 3  hot flashes The sexual side effect of no orgasm was the worst and is why I stopped taking it. I had thought if this drug stopped my hot flashes and helped me sleep better, that my libido would improve. It didn’t work out that way for me. The first three days on it I had killer headaches but continued to take it and they never re-occurred. I had to change to taking it in the morning instead of the evening or it would keep me awake all night. It gave me several tremors (more like full on limb jerking) everyday. Both the sexual side effects and the tremors occurred less often after a month of being off Effexor and they stopped being a side effect over the next few weeks . I didn’t originally take this for depression but did get the benefit of it working for me in that respect. I was calmer, less easily agitated over the small things and just overall in a better frame of mind by the third week of taking it. I was surprised at just how good I felt! When I went off of Effexor F 56 90 days
75 1X day
5/17/2011
Email
 3  short temper, feeling overwhelmed I have experienced the "brain zaps" that some others have described. I usually take in the a.m. but just realized that drowsiness is a side effect! If I miss my morning dose, by lunch or so I am hearing (and feeling) these almost electrical type pulses in my head that get louder (I also have tinnitus) so it sounds like it's echoing off of my brain. If I don't have one with me that I can take I will go in to a full blown meltdown. Crying over nothing, feeling worthless (almost suicidal) headache, nausea, the whole nine yards. I have only been that way ONCE and I really felt like I wanted someone to shoot like like a hurt animal and put me out of my misery! I am NOT MAKING THIS UP! It works when taken properly, however, my goal is to get off of this med. I will be seeing my Dr for annual exam so I will hopefully be able to wean off and get on something a little less mind-altering! F 42 3 years
150 MG 1X day
5/10/2011
Email
 5  depression and anxiety inability to reach orgasm, but only for a short time when first startted and when upped dosage, weird "brain zaps" others mention and vivid dreams when miss a dose, inability to get off it due to withdrawl symptoms -- physical and emotional, but I was only trying to get off to start another antidepressant, so didn't really have to get off it I have been on an antidepressant for 18 years, most have worked (except for welbutrin) and I switched around to avoid side effects from some and to try to get better relief of anxiety. None have helped my anxiety. Effexor has worked for my depression very well, would not be alive without it. F 47 6 years
225 mg 1X day
5/3/2011
Email
 1  Depression, Anxiety Total nightmare. This was arguably the worst period of time in my life. It made me so mentally ill I almost ended up in a psych ward. Stay away from this if you can!! I lost weight considerably and shook all the time. I had terrible anxiety the whole time, the worst kind of anxiety I've ever experienced. Also tardive diskenesia was becoming very prevalent. Tobacco cravings were rampant. I never felt at ease or comfortable, I was constantly on edge and wanted to cry. Please be careful if you are taking this. F 30 6 months
30 mg 2X day
4/28/2011
Email
 1  Anxiety and OCD Increased irritability, overreacting to everything (couldn't control it), insomnia, excessive crying, headache. My doctor took me off after only two days because it was so bad for me. I would not suggest it, but remember that everyone has different reactions to drugs. I was also just diagnosed as bipolar which could explain my extremely bad reaction. F 20 2 days
37.5mg 1X day
4/25/2011
 5  Anxiety, PTSD, Depression None whatsoever! F 23 1 years
300mg 1X day
4/21/2011
Email
 5  Depression "Brain zaps" if dose was missed or late Taken for severe depression for 5 years and it helped me immensely. The only downside to it was if I missed a dose, I would feel "zaps" in my head which would make me feel very faint and a bit nauseous.These will go away if you TAPER OFF the medicine when you decide to come off it. I have been Effexor-free for a year now and do not have zaps any more. I am glad that it helped me. Like all antidepressants, it has side effects, but in the instance of severe depression this is one of the better drugs to take. F 31 5 years
15 1X day
4/16/2011
 5  Major Depression Side effects only when I miss a dose-dizziness, brain zaps I was on 225 mg for 11 years, then 150 for 1 year and now back to 225, due to Post Partum. Effexor saved me. I would have killed myself long ago without finding this drug. F 34 12 years
150-225 mg 1X day
4/11/2011
Email
 4  Axiety/Panic attacks Low sew drive. Very difficult to reach orgasm. Aside from sexual side effects, I only have problems if I happen to forget to take a dose. Effexor has done wonders for helping my anxiety issues. I used to panic about every little thing, now I no longer feel miserable with nervousness and fear that something is always going to go wrong. I do wish I tried some other meds first though. Last week I missed a dose by accident and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. At first I thought It was the stomach flu, but then came the famous "Brain Shivers". It felt like someone was shaking my brain around with my skull remaining still; then it would be followed by a brief moment of vertigo. I also had horrible nightmares, chills, and sweats. The brain shivers became more frequent until I took my next dose. After that, they became more intermittent until they finally stopped. It is horrible just how physically addictive this drug is. When my husband and I have conceive, The first thing I am going to do is try to get off of it so that my newborn will not have to go through Effexor withdrawal. It is SO AWFUL! I advise taking this drug as a last resort. F 29 2.5 years
75mg 1X day
4/5/2011

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