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 |
| 1 | depression | Impotence, anxiety memory loss | No good for dick. Won't get stiff. Make nervous. Can't remember anything. | M | 58 | 2 weeks | 1/12/2010 | 1 | Depression | Effexor was awesome for relieving my depression!! But then came the "Weaning Off" period!!! OMG. Cold sweats, vomiting, dizziness, brain zaps (with noise). Thank God I was pregnant or I may NEVER have forced myself through to the other side!!! | If a person knew how awful the withdrawal was, they would keep searching for other answers to their depression. I love the suggestion where a person opened their capsuals & removed a certain number of "beads" every day. I basically did the same thing on a day where I had a big commitment to my kids and knew I couldn't miss it. I opened the capsual and removed most of the medication. Put it back together & had relief from my symptoms in a few hours!!! If this drug is still going to be prescribed, a more appropriate taper method needs to be developed! Shame on the medical community for putting people through this type of misery!!!! | M | 44 | 4 years | 10/27/2009 | 1 | Bipolar 1 | weight gain, decreased libido, partial ED,delayed or failure to orgasam | Terrible withdrawl This drug should be removed from the market. | M | 52 | 2.5 years | 10/14/2009 | 1 | Depression | Withdrawal - Brain zaps, incredibly vivid and scary dreams, mania, confusion. On the drug - weight gain, lack of motivation, fatigue. | I've been taking Effexor XR for a little over a year now and after another very unpleasant dream (I've had them before on withdrawal, but not this intense) I've realized that this drug is dangerous. When I first started taking it, I thought I was seeing some improvement, but I feel more unmotivated and depressed than I ever have today. After missing a dose (haven't missed a dose in awhile) I had the most vivid and unintelligible dream tonight that caused disorientation and confusion (I did not know where I was for a few min.) upon waking. Withdrawal symptoms will alter thinking and change behavior, and I've never gone more than 24-hours without a dose. I'm going to be tapering this drug off. Symptoms while taking the drug include weight gain and fatigue, and has done very little for my depression. I do not recommend this drug and using Effexor XR only as a last resort if you've taken everything else first. | M | 26 | 1.3 years | 9/8/2009 | 1 | anxiety | i am going through living hell with the brain shocks, | someone should file a lawsuit i am in!!!!!! | M | 39 | 36 months | 6/25/2009 | 1 | Depression | Sore Muscles, head aces, sleeping problems, wieght gain | I do NOt like this drug at all, What ever you do DO NOT MISS DOSE, or try to come off the medication yourself, I have Bad muscle cramps, dizzenss Very short and Violent mood swings. What ever you do talk your way out of taking the medicine, I have missed dose with bad side effects been in the ER for muscle cramps with no reason, This Drug will bbring evil and violent side out of of you What ever you Do DO NOT MISS A DOSE,, The drug manufactor gets your body addictive to the point you are not able to get off,, In my mind is a way for the Drug company to keep you coming back for more,, I trully believe it is addictive, IF it was being sold on the streets It would be a crime, So why is Wyeth getting away with it | M | 39 | 5 years | 7/5/2009 | 1 | depression | Only on 3wks - heart decompensation, triggered arythmia & defibrulated 2x by time withdrawals were over, alergy like head symptoms first leading to severe bronchitis cough, profuse sweating at room temp, dizzyness tieing shoes, wound up, worsening sleeplessness, wake too early on 2-3hrs sleep, loss of inhibition, Viagra didnt even work - at times would have done all sorts of crazy things if they had been handy; summarized as hookers, heroin and hand grenades | 36hrs after dropping to 50% dose withdrawals apeared and trapped me at work unable to function or drive, 5 more days hidious withdrawals and less serious effects for 3 more weeks This drug knocked my very damaged heart so far out of whack they zapped me twice - week before stopping and 10 days after late in withdrawals. I believe there are lasting memory and thinking problems - also running low temp of 97deg regularly and don't feel 80deg heat right, ut do 90+ and get chills some times at 75 - weird and nobody believes | M | 44 | 20 days | 7/6/2009 | 1 | DEPRESSION/ANXIETY | From the time I went on it I was experiencing very weird/vivid dreams and a "mild electrical" type dizziness/brain pulsation. I later came to find out that it led to gastro-intestinal problems. I took it for about 8 years at 37.5mg, I did not feel I needed it however the withdrawal symptoms were too much to bear. I recently went off of it under medical supervision. I WANT YOU TO KNOW, YOU CAN GET OFF OF IT!! But it is a long, unpleasant road. You have to wean off cutting the dosing no more than half, and then half to half to the point you are only at 5-7mg. The 5th day after stopping completely was straight out of hell. My doctor told me to tough it out, I spent the weekend on the couch, evertime I move my eyes left to right the dizziness was too much to bear. But day by day for the next week it was less and less and now a month later the dreams and dizziness side effects seem to be gone. GOODBYE TO EFFEXOR FOREVER!!! | Although it seemed to help with the root issue, the depression & anxiety, the side effects were not worth it. When I would report them to my physician, he and many others told me it was me and not the drug. I gained weight, had stomach problems, all from Effexor. I think and my opinion is backed by research from clinical psycologists, that therapy would have gotten me through, without medication. Anyone who wants to get off, you can, just stay strong. I am not going to lie, it is extremely, extremely unpleasant for about 1-2 weeks, but after that you will be liberated. | M | 32 | 8 years | 7/27/2009 | 1 | Anxiety | Lack of coordination probably because my eyes never seemed to focus, like I was looking at what I wanted but I couldn't see it, Muscle aches, joint pains, tiredness, just generally feeling crappy, headaches, eye aches | Posted a review on this drug back in May, 2018. Doctor changed me to 20 MG Prozac, that was worse than Effexor, so back onto 75 MG of Effexor I went, lasted about 7 weeks this time and then I had had enough. So what does he do? wean me off the stuff, no cold turkey no weaning but he prescribed me Valdoxan this time. Don't ever go cold turkey off Effexor it is absolutley horrible. I am now into week 3 of withdrawal from this drug and although at times you feel like you've reached the end it comes back time after time and smacks you in the mouth with dizziness and feelings of depair. The muscle and joint pains whilst on Effexor are nothing compared to the withdrawal pains you get in muscles and joints. Valdoxan as an alternative? don't know I stopped both of them because of how I felt and not knowing was the new interacting with the old. All antidepressants are devil's drugs, you have to come off them in the end, so you are no better off anyway. Just a waste of time and lots of hope for an end of anxiety for nothing. | M | 67 | 1.5 months 75 MG 1X day | 12/5/2018 | 1 | Depression anxiety | There are tons of doctors prescribing this without any warnings. If you take Effexor and it works for you be prepared to be in it for the rest of your life or to take six months to a year coming off if you have taken it for a long time . I tried to come off since I felt I’m not much better off with it. I went Down to 75 mg a day every other day for a while then I stopped. My symptoms were bad afterwards but the worse thing was I could not sleep !! Every twenty minutes or so I would wake and after a few hours I just would not be able to sleep it was so bad I went back on it. Now I’m trying 37.5 mg every other day (after gradually doing the same reducing every couple months or so the dosage ) and then try every other two days making sure I’m stable before making each reduction for a couple months or so )almost all antidepressants and benzodiazepines are like this so be very careful. Try to research getting on Lmethylfolate(it’s a form of VitaminB6) methylB12(check your vit b12 and D3 levels. ) maybe with St. John worth and 5htp and omega3 supplements And picamilon. These are all over the counters. Exhaust all possibilities before getting on anti depressants. And just use benzodiazepines to get by once in a while without taking continuously .. | M | 55 | 3 years 150mg a da | 10/17/2019 | 1 | Anxiety, depression | Horrible medicine for me. Switched from lexapro which crapped out after 8 years. Things started out okay on Effexor, felt a little less blunted and apathetic. But as the months have gone on I’ve been getting more and more agitated, restless, and just generally feel like crap all the time. I have suicidal thoughts daily, which I never had on lexapro. I feel tired but wired at the same time. It’s horrible, I can’t wait to get off. | M | 24 | 6 months 75mg | 2/4/2020 | 1 | Depression and anxiety | Severe withdrawal symptoms. Dizziness and "electric zaps" to the brain. | M | 39 | 1 years 75 MG | 1/20/2014 | 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 | 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 | 1 | Clinical Depression | Complete loss of sexual capability, headaches, anger, loss of reality, loss of productivity, loss of emotions and the need for 10-12 hours of sleep per day. | As far as I am concerned, it makes absolutely no sense to take an antidepressant that causes some very depressing side-effects. The Lord gave us only 2 free pleasures in life - sleep (with dreams) and sex. I finally weaned myself from this poison. It's been 6 months now and I am now as sexually active as I was some 30 years ago - and my dreams have finally returned! The only "antidepressant" I use now is 1-2 grams of medicinal marijuana each evening. Works great, is purely organic, and has no side effects! Get off of this crap, exercise a lot, and think of the better future you will have. | M | 54 | 5 years 175 MG 2X day | 1/5/2015 | 1 | Anxiety | I am literally coming off this crap as I am typing this and this feels like a living Hell. My doctor recommend to get off of Effexor and Remeron due to me gaining 26lbs in 6 months. I am trying to transition to Nortriptyline. The last few days have been horrible. My head has been spinning and I feel very nauseous. He said I might have "electric shock" type feelings and he couldn't have been more correct! I have been on and have tapered off of many drugs. Effexor XR takes the cake. It has by far been worse than Paxil. | M | 31 | 1 years 150 mg | 2/13/2015 | 1 | Chronic ptsd depression anxiety | It was working until i start having rash hair loss tooth 32 of them need to be extracted black heads blisters | I don't know for a fact that it's from meds they still try to figure it out, but I read the article. | M | 43 | 5 days 225 | 2/17/2016 | 1 | Anxiety | Sexual dysfunction After stopping, my entire nervous system collapsed and it still has not recovered after 2 years. Complete erectile dysfunction, genital and pelvic pain, shrunken penis, everything down there is different... Extreme bowel issues, close to zero gut motility, abdominal tightness, head stiffness. Please NEVER touch the poisons SSRIs! | M | 22 | 5 months 75 1X day | 1/26/2024 | 1 | Anxiety and depression | Paranoia, anxiety, depression,constipation, akathasia,shake, tremors, insomnia etc | Please avoid this...please if you a new in this drug speak with your dr for another option please | M | 37 | 112 mg 1X day | 8/12/2023 Patient History | 1 | Ptsd | Brain zaps. | Worst drug ever taken. Would not recommend this drug to anyone. If i gave it to someone i would expect that person to want to punch me in the face. Horrible drug. | M | 35 | 90 days 150mg/37.5 1X day | 9/11/2022 |