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 | Depression | For the first few days, a feeling like my body was shaking. Complete loss of libido. Ongoing minor digestive issues, headaches, nausea, yawning. | As much as I hated taking this drug, I have to admit, it cured my depression. But it has left me with no sex drive (2 years post medication), and weight gain. I had a brutal time withdrawing from this drug - it took 6 months of gradual tapering. Withdrawal symptoms ranged from nausea, vomiting, diarrheoa, general sickness, headaches...you name it. The withdrawal symptoms were genuine, and the only way to control them was to carefully taper the dose. | F | 30 | 2 years | 11/4/2007 | 4 | Depression | Fatigue, Irritability, Severe Withdrawal, Stomach Upset, Memory Loss | I started taking Effexor XR for depression. It worked, but I have suffered from overwhelming fatigue since. I tried to go off it several times, and the withdrawal was very severe. I always went back to it. (I wanted to stop while I was pregnant.) I was dizzy, felt like fainting, sweating, horrible headache. | F | 31 | 4 years | 11/13/2007 | 4 | depression | bruise easily, severe joint pain, some brain zaps, loss of words. | I have been on EXR for 5 years. Overall, the drug has helped me greatly. Recently I have been experiencing bruising and severe joint pain. I had blood work done and everything was normal. I think it might be from the EXR because I don't take any other medication. Is anyone else experiencing these problems. If so, what did you do to relieve this terrible joint pain. Some days I can hardly walk. | F | 44 | 5 years | 11/19/2007 | 4 | Generalized Anxiety Disorder | Extreme sleepiness if I sat for any more than 10 minutes. Began taking Adderall in the am. No problem with the sleepiness. At first, I jerked while asleep/had vivid dreams. Now, I sleep so soundly that I'm lucky to remember dreams. Some dry mouth, but that went away.Sex drive has been lowered, but it's still there...so my sex life is still good. | I take 225 mg of effexor at night. It's approved by the FDA for Generalized Anxiety Disorder. It has worked wonders on my anxiety/ocd symptoms. I forgot to take it one night. By the next evening I felt so sick. Sicker than I have felt in my life. I realized I had missed a dose...took it/30 minutes later I was back to feeling good. | F | 42 | 8 years | 11/26/2007 | 4 | depression | bruise easily, terrible joint pain, still have days that I have no desire to get out of bed. | I have been on Effexor XR 150 for 5 years. During the holidays I increase to 225. I don't get the withdrawal symptoms with this doseage change. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced the bruising and terrible joint pain. I have had all kinds of blood work done, and my tests are all normal, so I think it has to be the Effexor. That is the only medication I take. It makes you look like a crazy person when your labs are normal and you still complain of pain. The doctor must think I am crazy or making it up. I know the pain is real. | F | 44 | 5 years | 11/17/2007 | 4 | depression | sleepiness, really weird dreams, bad nausea | I have only been taking this for about 2 weeks and haven't really had the side effects like with Zoloft or Lexapro. Just nausea and really vivid dreams but nothing major. I hope it stays that way, from some of the posts it sound like it could get worse | F | 22 | 2 weeks | 11/28/2007 | 3 | depression | lack of motivation, feel very out of it, increased sex drive, but had difficulty reaching or feeling orgasm, constantly want to eat (I feel like I'm always craving carbohydrates), constipation, horrible to come off of, vivid dreams, begin to feel withdrawl symptoms within 24 hour period as it gets close to the time that I should take it. | I first started taking it a few years ago, after the birth of my 1st son.It worked very well at 300mg.I continued taking it until the birth of my 2nd son a few years later.I became pregnant while on it & wanted to come off of it because I was afraid it would harm the baby.Even though I was tapered off of it very slowly (not by choice, the side effects were so bad it was the only way that I could do it),it was a nightmare. The only thing that I can compare it to is scenes from movies like Trainspotting where people are coming off of drugs like Heroin. It took 3 months to come off of it. At that time I swore I would never take it again.After the birth of my 2nd son, I tried other anti. & nothing worked.I was convinced by a new doctor to begin taking Effexor again & was told that if I ever wanted to come off of it again it could be tapered off with Prozac to alleviate the withdrawl symptoms.The strange thing is that while it worked a few years ago, it is affecting me different | F | 28 | 3 years | 11/18/2007 | 3 | Feeling Sad & Down | Seizure attack, palpitation, shakiness, while starting and when got off the medication. Started with 37.5 and double after 2nd week. I was 113 lbs, gain 20lbs and still struggling to loose the weight (after 14 months of getting off it). Loosing weight was never a problem in the past. My beautiful clothes don't fit. Difficult to reach orgasms. Help feeling good while on it in the beginning but upset feeling still arise after awhile. | The medication does help and there are Pros and Cons in everything we do. Family support and positive attitude will help people with depression and anxieties. Unfortunately I am married to someone who criticize me for feeling low. I am not allowed to be sad for any reason and even when I lost my brother I was not allowed to cry and moving across the world and being very far from my family didn't help with feeling sad. Effexor was there for comfort but I had to put up with it side effects. In my case every criticism I received just made me stronger and not to make others put me down. | F | 38 | 1.5 years | 11/17/2007 | 3 | Anxiety | Insomnia and brain shivers. I wake up at 3am every single night and remain awake until about 530, it is exhausting. When I don't take my medicine for just 1 day, I have horrible brain shivers and even worse anxiety than I ever had before the medicine. | I've tried Lexapro, resulting in weight gain. Tried Zoloft and it made me me sick to my stomach all afternoon, I guess I have to stick with this. | F | 27 | 1.5 years | 11/14/2007 | 3 | BI-Polar II | Weight loss, hysteria,drowsiness,paranoia,depression,suicidal thoughts,self-harm,dizziness,halucinations,confusion,stomach pain,vomiting,violent migraiine,loss of appetite. | Much better than Effexor. Works eventually,bad symptoms wear off after a few months. | F | 44 | 18 months | 12/6/2007 | 3 | profound depression | yawning, spaciness, dizziness, insomnia, affected my impulse control, increased appetite, headache | I was torn about this drug. It definitely alleviated my suicidal thoughts and after 2 months, I felt I was in a grey area rather than deep black. BUT, hated the physical side effects, I took valerian (okayed by doctor) to offset the insomina - but weirdest was I realized only after I went off it how it affected my eating habits - I put on weight - around 10 lbs - in the 2.5 months on it - no impulse control and "munchy" syndrome - this was counterproductive as I had lost a lot and putting it on made me depressed! Withdrawal was odd - first 2 days nothing, then the third day, waves of nausea, headache, dizziness... Day 4 and 5 and now (Day 6) DEFINITE brain zaps - didn't know what people were talking about until they started - NOT nice ... and I was only on 2.5 months - overall - DOES do what it is supposed to do - you need to weight whether it is worth the side effects | F | 51 | 75 days | 12/12/2007 | 3 | depression and GAD | palpitations, dizziness | My doctor has just moved me from 225mg per day immediate dosage to 225mg per day slow release (XR) and I'm suffering awful palpitations; I can hardly move. Is this normal?! Otherwise my experience of the drug has been pretty much to be expected: better mood and motivation, definite improvement to my depression but certain side effects which range from unpleasant to distressing: night sweats, night terrors & nightmares, "electric shock" sensations in my head, nausea. I find that the more dehydrated I am, the quicker my withdrawal comes on each day. | F | 31 | 5 years | 12/15/2007 | 3 | depression/ocd/anxiety | weight gain | I have been on this for only a few months. while it worked great initially it quit now. (not uncommon with me) but I really did like it when it worked for me. | F | 29 | 3 months | 12/26/2007 | 3 | Fibromyalgia | Constant state of hypomania, insomnia until XR dose started, missed doses result in horrible neurological effects (sensation like bugs crawling in my head, dizziness, headache, somnolence). | I just finished a four week wean from my prescribed dose of 150 mg/day. With each lowered dose, I experienced three days of hell with the neurological effects of lower doses. Took my last dose on xmas day, and this is the absolute worst feeling EVER. As far as Effexor's ability to keep fibromyalgia exacerbations at bay, I was somewhat satisfied, but still had pain regularly but far fewer debilitating bouts where mobility was severely impaired. I've been on this medication for 12 years, and getting off of it has scared me on many levels. A diastolic blood pressure that was regularly >100 mm/hg was in part motivational. My doctor was also concerned about weight gain (particularly in the liver, which now I read happens to some folks who have been on this drug for a number of years) and subsequent elevations in blood glucose levels. It would not have been my choice to go off this medication if the problems it was causing weren't outweighing any potential benefit. Frankly, I miss | F | 40 | 12 years | 12/27/2007 | 3 | conversion disorder | excessive sweating, lack of sexual desire,weight gain | F | 51 | 6 months | 12/5/2007 | 3 | Bi-Polar, Anxiety, OCD thinking | chronic constipation, dry mouth, severe weight gain, pituitary tumor, low sex drive | Effexor changed my life for the better and I would recommend it for someone for short term as long as they understand about withdrawals and to taper off of it ever so slowly. I just would not have taken it for 11 years if I had known it causes pituitary tumors. This has not been "officially" determined yet... but I have absolutely no doubt about it. I believe that Effexor unbalanced my endocrine system and that soon we will start hearing about how Effexor causes pituitary tumors. | F | 41 | 11 years | 1/2/2008 | 3 | anxiety | nausea,don't sleep | well i was on 75mg and they just upped my dosage to 150..but now for two weeks 75 plus 37.5..feeling less anxious but very dizzy and just not myself in the morning...i can't eat but today i did and ate 3 meals which I never did before. | F | 36 | 8 months | 1/26/2008 | 3 | depression | addicting,when i forget a dose it's not long before i'm reminded i get the jitters and feel rushes over my body. | F | 30 | 8 years | 2/3/2008 | 3 | depression | Space cadet! | I just took my first dose this morning. I've been having problems with moderate depression for a bit and it took two visits to the doc before he talked me into it. I'm SO hopeful it will help. But right now, I feel like I'm riding a magic carpet smoking a hooka in an exotic land, when I actually just need to get on to my laundy. Hope it settles out and helps me feel better. | F | 32 | 1 days | 2/11/2008 | 3 | Depression | Dizziness, Nasuea, Fatigue | I tried to kill myself so The doctor prescribed this med in late january. I have been taking it every since and am still depressed so my dr. assumes I have bipolar, wtf. So anyways I was taking a 75 mg pill and a 37.5, because when he raised it to 150 I got really really depressed, so then he just randomly decides to take me off of it, and he didn't even wheen me off. He just said take the rest of the pills you have then stop. So I took 75 mg for like 3 days then I stopped. I got so sick, every time I ate I got all shakey and sweaty and thought I was gonna puke, so I'd lay down and fall asleep. I was so tired and nauseuos, then I got super dizzy, like I was dizzy then a huge surge of dizziness rushed over me, if I moved my eyes weird even. God it was awful, so I called and they said I was having withdrawl, and I'm on 37.5 for a week then 37.5 every other day for a week. God it sucks. | F | 17 | 4 months | 5/16/2007 |