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 |
| 4 | CFS reactive depression, anxiety | nausea, constipation, poor sex drive and ability to orgasm | Helpful all round but had to take antihistamines to help with sleep. improved energy somewhat. Bad for sex. | F | 31 | 5 years | 7/19/2008 | 4 | Depression/Anxiety | Initially I had some nausea but that wore off. Food tasted different (not appetizing), ankle edema, mild tinnitus. All manageable side effects | So far so good! It seems to be working really well. | F | 37 | 1.5 months | 5/27/2008 | 4 | anxiety | Weight Gain | It definitely helped, I used 37.5 mg for a year, then due to the extra 15lbs, I took myself off and I have been able to control my reaction to my issues much better after realizing how much the medication helped and how I acted and reacted while on it. | F | 40 | 1.3 years | 5/29/2008 | 4 | depression | difficult withdrawal as well as "shocks" if I miss a dose. | Did not notice any weight gain, fatigue, lower sex drive. Better than prozac, paxil, wellbutrin and serzone for me. | F | 37 | 6 years | 5/10/2009 | 4 | depression/anxiety | sweating, vivid dreams, dizzy, sleepy | F | 26 | 120 days | 5/15/2009 | 4 | Mild Depression/Lack of Motivation | I don't have any side effects unless I miss a dose. If I miss a dose; I get electrical (zap) feelings in my head. My head feels crazy. I have vivid dreams and just general feelings of being unwell. | The very first time I took them, I felt amazingly clear headed. Everything was sharp and crisp. I felt hopeful, things didn't appear to be hopeless any longer. I was calm and logical! Effexor XR is the only SNRI I can take. It helps with my type of depression. It's also amazing how it takes care of the swelling on the bottom of my feet from Periphial Neuropathy. I started on 37.5mg. Then I increased to 75mg and stayed there for awhile. Then I went up to 150mg. and stayed there for quite sometime. I started to feel overwhelmingly tired and more depressed, so I weaned myself off 150mg back down to 37.5mg because I just didn't feel well on the higher dose. I think the 37.5 works best for me. When I weaned down, I didn't have the horrible withdraw symptoms I thought I would. The only time I had the electric like (zaps) and crazy head feelings was when I totally missed a dose. You have to wean down on these slowly. I also changed the time of my dose too. Instead of taking it in the mornings, I take them at bedtime to prevent restless legs. When I was taking them in the mornings, by night time, my legs would be so restless, I couldn't sleep! All in all though, I would recommend them. | F | 58 | 4 years | 4/16/2009 | 4 | Major Recurring Depression | If not taken early in the morning, I can have sleep problems. When I first began taking Effexor, I had a racing heart but after a few months that subsided.I had been on several other anti-depressants before Effexor and they never helped at all. I really like this medication because it had minor side-effects and it actually worked, for me. | F | 60 | 10 years 150 1X day | 1/19/2016 | 4 | anxiety | Stimulant effect, decreased appetite, insomnia | F | 43 | 10 days | 10/23/2014 | 4 | Anxiety, depression, ADHD | Little to no side effects for a year then severe Insomnia, body jerks, rambling voices in my head before sleep, severe depression, paranoia, and social anxiety the last 12 months. | F | 21 | 2 years 150 MG | 8/24/2014 | 4 | anxiety attacks | lack of sexual arousal, low libido | I have been taking Effexor XR for about 15 years. I love it. My dosage seems low compared to all the comments here. My doctor started me on 37.5mg and then upped it (he said to tell him when I felt like it was working). At 75mg I felt NORMAL for the first time in my life. Now after taking it for almost 15 years I have recently had 2 anxiety attacks and loss of mental concentration. I am going to ask my doctor up my dose to 150mg. The side effects are well worth the normalcy I feel. It has allowed me to function better in my career and in my family. I have no doubt that without it I would not have been able to work in my current job or have the healthy relationship I have with my children. | F | 56 | 15 years 75mg 1X day | 2/1/2014 | 4 | Depression | Effexor helped me but had to add Abilify for depression. Decided to go off of antidepressants. Was able to wean off of Abilify but Effexor is a whole other monster. I've been tapering off of Effexor for three months now left my job because of side effects are terrible starting into fourth month doing every other day now. It's awful!! Going to dr this week to see if they can give me something to offset the withdrawal symtems. I'm not going to let this drug beat me. | F | 55 | 6 years 150 mg | 9/15/2014 | 4 | Depressed State | Have been on this medication MORE than 10 yrs. No option given to reply as such! Initially I had a little nauseau as I was adjusted up to 300 mg of the XR. Wasn't bad and my psychiatrist did part of 'ramp up' in hospital to get me leveled out at 300 ASAP within medical protocal. In 15 years, have been cross-treated with other meds. but always took at least 150 Effexor. I remain on 300. Kicker is running out if out of town OR not getting your RX picked up. Went 5 days without! Withdrawal is horrid! | F | 55 | 10 years 300mg XR | 5/30/2014 | 4 | depression, anxiety attacks | Tiredness, not movitaved, extreme headaches,vertigo, body shocks, brain zaps, weight gain, constipation. If I miss a dose the next day is hell, headaches I've never experienced ever, vertigo/dizziness. The drug works for my anxiety but sometimes have to take a xanax (mostly in the winter) I have been on effexor before and it took a long time to wean off. But once I sucked up the withdrawal symptoms it did eventually go away. About six months later I had another severe panic attack so went back on it. I'm fine as long as I don't miss a dose.. I don't have a lot of energy and when I get home from work all I want to do is lay around. I would like to try another anti depressant just because I've heard a few don't have as extreme withdrawal symptoms but until then I'll just keep taking it Caz its better then panic attacks | F | 28 | 2 years 75 | 5/30/2014 | 4 | Increased depression | Complete loss of libido, tingling (feels like fingers are asleep) in fingers | I am still currently taking this medication. I Had increased depression and was placed on this medication as an second antidepressant. I had maxed out Celexa and still had depression. I am still taking Wellbutrin XL which I was placed on for severe depression 12 years ago. As soon as I started taking the Effexor I noticed a complete loss of interest in sex. The combination of medication initially was working and I will take that any day over wanting sex. In the last week I have noticed my fingers on left hand feeling like they are asleep. The sensation will increase if I am using my hand. In the last month I have noticed my bipolar signs and symptoms have increased and have become rapid cycling. I am completely miserable in my current living and work environment, so I thought this factor was the reason for my nasty mood swings. But now I'm not to sure the Effexor is working. As any one else experienced tingling in their fingers? | F | 31 | 4 months 150 mg 1X day | 6/8/2014 | 4 | Depression | Zoloft made me nauseous so I begn Effexor XR. I had no problems wit the drug all these years. In March, my doctor elevated the dosage to 225mg. and in April 300 mg. By the beginning of June I became depressed and had a horrible panic attack. I called the doc and made an appointment. In the mean time, I took my dose down to 225 mg and 150 mg. | F | 65 | 11 years 150 mg 1X day | 5/9/2014 | 4 | menopausal symptoms | reduction in number of hot flashes. | I was begging for return of my hormone therapy and doc suggested this. It works. My problem is that after a hospitalization I had "depression" listed on my problem list because why else would someone take an anti-depressant? Oh well, it works. | F | 62 | 9 months 75 1X day | 9/5/2013 | 4 | Clinical Depression | Loss of motivation. | F | 62 | 7 years 150mg | 9/14/2013 | 4 | anxiety and hot flashes | A little tired | The first antidepressant that has helped with my chronic anxiety | F | 60 | 30 days 37.5 1X day | 5/20/2017 | 4 | Dysthymia | NO libido, cold sweats at night, RLS/joint pain. The side effects from missing even one dose are absolute hell (headache, anxiety, severe nausea. Imagine you are dying from the flu) | In terms of treating my dysthymic depression, it worked beautifully for approx. 4-5 years. I could deal with the side effects if it meant I could be a functional human being. However, over time, it just stopped having the same positive impact. The benefits did not outweigh the cold sweats, or nighttime pains. I think my body had just had enough, which makes sense at about the five year mark. In order to come off the drug and try something new, I admitted myself - and was in the hospital for about two weeks, because I KNEW it would be awful. And it absolutely was. I am taking EMSAM now, in patch form, combined with ECT, and am starting maybe to see some results (about a month in). Cold sweats are GONE, and I didn't realize how badly they were impacting me until I no longer had to deal with them. It's magical. Overall, Effexor XR is great if you can tolerate the potentially nasty side effects (and if your SO is sympathetic to you completely non existent sex drive) | F | 25 | 5 years 150mg | 12/22/2016 | 4 | Body Dysmorphic Disorder | Fatigue, AWFUL withdrawal not even 36 hours after missed dose (severe headache, severe nausea, severe fatigue, brain zaps, vertigo, confusion, dizziness... honestly feels like I'm dying of a horrible flu) | This was the first antidepressant that ever worked on me. I spent a good year of my life happier than I have ever been. Antidepressants I tried before this included Zoloft (which gave me heart palpitations... terrifying), Prozac, and Wellbutrin. My main reason for starting meds was BDD, but I also had been diagnosed with chronic depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and ADHD. It ended up helping a lot with the depression aspect rather than BDD, but it did get rid of the obsessive thoughts and actions that came with BDD. Still have a distorted body image, though, but I was a lot less depressed about thinking I am deformed if that makes any sense. It's been a year, though. I believe that I may be going through a relapse. My dosage will be raised as soon as I next visit my psychiatrist, but I will update this as soon as I notice anything. | F | 18 | 1 years 75 1X day | 11/4/2016 |