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 Gender with females listed first (reviews with no gender reported listed before females). 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 |
| 2 | atypical depression, panic disorder | First week, some headache, tired and a faint nausea; "stoned" feeling. Not too bad. Increased sex drive and ability to orgasm (!). After 2 weeks: feeling zoned out, Orgasm gone but still lots of sex drive. Short term memory loss, tired but awake 10 times a night. After 3 weeks: starting to act crazy; crying spells, agression, feelings of loosing myself, no sex life whatsoever. | I quit cold turkey after a little over 3 weeks at the expense of headaches, nervous breakdowns and brain zaps which lasted more than a week. Nothing compared though to the scary effects that Effexor had on my mind and body. This -and all other modern ad's are not my kind of medication. I prefer to stick with my Xanax which I at least can take if necessary; works within an hour and has no side effects. I have been on and off Xanax during the last 5 years and believe me, the Xanax withdrawl is nothing compared to Effexor! Unless you have a very serious clinical depression I would not recomment Effexor. If panic and/or phobias are your problem, benzo's are -imho- a much better choice. But as always: YMMV. | M | 54 | 4 weeks | 9/22/2008 | 2 | depression anxiety | high heart rate/blood pressure, anxiety, extreme weight gain, irritability | helped with depression, but was way too much side effects!! | M | 17 | 2 months | 7/31/2008 | 2 | Depression/Anxiety | High blood pressure, anxiety | Effexor did not alleviate my depression or anxiety to any meaningful level. Unfortunately the higher doses (225mg - 262.5mg) increased my high blood pressure. Also, my anxiety and agitation level increased. So, I stopped taking it. | M | 31 | 4 months | 5/21/2008 | 2 | temperment | Sleeping 12-15 hours per night--no energy or drive, however tenperment was fine-almost unable to carry on a conversation | M | 67 | 90 days | 3/28/2008 | 2 | depression | no side effects | no noticed effect whatsoever, no side effects upon abruptly discontinuing | M | 20 | 2 months | 10/10/2004 | 2 | Depression | Extreme difficulty achieving ejaculation. | I was taking Wellbutrin SR previously, but decided to try Effexor XR. I feel good overall. Actually, I have never been more content in my life. I find myself watching TV and playing video games way more than I ever used to. I don't feel the need to go out to socialize, staying home seems perfectly OK. So overall I can't recommend it. | M | 27 | 5 days | 10/25/2004 | 2 | Depression | SSRI-style sexual issues, tremor. Anhedonia (means not happy, though not depressed either) The big deal was the withdrawl side effects when I went off this. | I suppose this worked for me. I did eventually get off it. But getting off is hard. You have to taper it very slowly. Here's how slowly: once you are down to one capsule a day, then you start opening up the capsules and counting out 3/4 of the tiny little pills in there. then a week later go down to 1/2 the little pills, etc. At one point I was taking just one of those tiny little things INSIDE the capsule every day for a couple weeks before cutting it out entirely. If I missed a day it was awful. I felt like I had the flu. | M | 42 | 3 years | 3/2/2006 | 2 | Severe Chronic Depression | tightness in throat/chest, jaw clenching, decreased sexual response (arousal and orgasm), difficulty climaxing while taking and also for almost a year after stopping it. one day it upset my stomach so badly that i vomited- so took myself off of it for good. (u should talk to your doctor first!) | this med made me feel emotionally flat and zombie-like, i had difficulty crying at all (even if i wanted to), effected my sexual relationships- causing frustration for myself and partners; positive effects: the day i started the med i immediately stopped craving cigarettes and quit. i've heard this med is great for some people, everyone reacts differently - it may be worth a try for some. | M | 26 | 1 years | 5/28/2006 | 2 | Depression | First 2 weeks were tough but most side effects went away after that. Only major problem: I always needed to sleep... | M | 25 | 90 days | 11/25/2006 | 2 | anxiety | dialated pupils, high blood pressure, teribble nightmares etc.. | I started taking this with lamictal to help with axiety but could not continue after three days due to the horrible side effects. After extensive research, I found a naural pill called moderex gaba. This is not the same as gabba calm that you find at health stores, much more potent. I reccomend trying it fore anyone trying to get off effexor. There are no side effects. I feel more relaxed and can get a peaceful sleep. | M | 31 | 5 days | 6/12/2006 | 2 | Depression | loss of apetite, vivid, strange dreams, increased sex drive (opposed to paxil) slightly more energy | Apart from causing me to eat merely 500 calories a day, the only thing I like about this drug is my incredible dreams. It does not help with the feelings of the futility of life, nor does coming to find out that (by deductive reasoning from the 187 other cases above) these issues of mine will never be solved - except by of course a length of good rope or a hollow pointed piece of lead. I truely hope anyone who reads this can or rather, is leading a happy and fulfilling life, it is an uncommon blessing. cheers | M | 20 | 30 days | 5/21/2004 | 2 | depression/anxiety | inability to get erection | took 75 mg daily. it did help reduce anxiety/depression, but not being able to perform sexually caused me to withdraw from romantic relationships so it was like 2 steps forward and 2 steps backward. not everyone has this side affect, so you just have to experiment with the drug. i'm going to try remeron because i heard it doesn't have sexual side effects.. | M | 30 | 6 months | 9/11/2004 | 2 | stress | hip pain, weight gain, zombie feeling | M | 41 | 21 days | 8/28/2004 | 2 | anxiety, loss of sleep | First I didn't eat and lost about 20 lbs (yay!) but then started to notice numbness in scalp, heart racing, and not sleeping again (which is why I went on effexor). I felt like I was on speed all the time. Didn't seem to care about anything either way. Total loss of emotions, good and bad. Major withdrawal symptoms when trying to get off of it. | I slowly weaned myself off Effexor over 4 months. If I forgot to take it, I became shaky and felt like I was going to vomit. I had asked my HMO Md about getting off of it and he said, | M | 33 | 1.5 years | 8/31/2004 | 2 | anxiety, loss of sleep | First I didn't eat and lost about 20 lbs (yay!) but then started to notice numbness in scalp, heart racing, and not sleeping again (which is why I went on effexor). Clenching jaw, TERRIBLE ACNE (which I constantly picked at) and loss of ability to reach orgasm (VERY BAD!) Felt like the top of my head wasn't attached to the rest of my body. Weird dreams. I felt like I was on speed all the time. Didn't seem to care about anything either way. Total loss of emotions, good and bad. Major withdrawal symptoms when trying to get off of it. | I slowly weaned myself off Effexor over 4 months. If I forgot to take it, I became shaky and felt like I was going to vomit. I had asked my HMO Md about getting off of it and he said, | M | 33 | 1.5 years | 8/31/2004 | 2 | Depression and agitation | gas nausea jittery feelings sleep loss 1% sex drive vivid dreams shadows begin to move loss of sleep and apetite | would not recommend it as the withdrawl makes it seem that you wont want to live much longer if you stop taking it seems like a narcotic very unreliable and ive not noticed many changes | M | 18 | 8 months | 3/23/2004 | 2 | Depression and Anxiety | Very tired and nervous. And Diarrhea | M | 71 | 2 months | 9/21/2003 | 2 | Depression and Anxiety | Stomach pains, anorexia, Insomnia, Agitation, Fatigue, Aggravation of depression, Suicidal thoughts | M | 40 | 30 days | 1/19/2003 | 2 | depression | sexual, no effect on anxiety, still moods swing, still irritable. | M | 47 | 60 days | 6/8/2003 | 2 | situational depression | On starting I experienced about every possible negative side-effect. Nausua, dizzyness, mood swings, both extremes of sexual disfunction (depending upon the dose I was at). Though the med kept me from spiralling down in my depression, it also flattened my mood to the point of total apathy. I didn't care about anything. My job went down hill, I had an affair, I ignored my kids. Things I never did before I was on Effexor, no matter how down I got. I eventually got off of Effexor because of severe leg cramping that made it impossible for me to sleep. The tapering was hell, but I used Wellbutrin and a low dose of prozac. Have been off effexor for a month, but am still suffering from irregular bowel movements and headaches. Now I am just looking back at what a mess I made of my life while on the med. | Do not take this drug unless you are being constently monitored by family, friends, and a therapist. When some one says that you are not the same person, believe them, you probably aren't. Be careful that you don't ruin your life. | M | 44 | 18 months | 6/19/2006 |