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 |
| 3 | Depression | Major sweating, constipation | F | 62 | 5 years 90 1X day | 5/4/2010 | 3 | Depresion & GAD | more hyper /anxious -yet more energetic though..just tried cymbalta had alot of anxiety on that-now trying Effexor. Acne , hyper, insomnia, diarrhea , fogginess | Anyone had any rash or increase acne? ???got this horrible ??acne rash behind my ear..looks like pimples but not? weird , got it after starting meds | F | 38 | 2 weeks at 75 now 1X day | 6/14/2010 | 3 | depression | loss of appetite, occasional sleeplessness and nausea. I went through the worst HELL ever when I went 4 days w/o taking the medication because i was having a problem getting Rx refilled. The side effects were HORRIBLE: dizziness, extreme & endless nausea, headaches, major anxiety, uncontrollable crying episode...it was bad. When I finally got the Rx refilled, I felt like a druggie desperate for a quick fix--i NEEDED it just to take away the horrible side effects. | I want to get off the medication because I don't feel like it's working anymore but my doctor says I'm at the highest dose possible for this drug so I should just stick with it. | F | 31 | 8 months 300 mg 1X day | 5/21/2010 | 3 | depression/fibromyalgia | Really helps with social anxiety and depression. Side effects are weight gain and horrible sweating. I really would not recommend starting though because when and if you want to go off of it, it is so awful to try...I felt suicidal, not typical at all for me...decided to stay on it to avoid withdrawal so PLEASE don't start. | F | 63 | 7 years 75 1X day | 6/29/2010 | 3 | Gen Diagnoses: Anxiety & Depression | Lost 20lbs. in 2 months. Tingling in hands like being shocked by those trick pens. Vivid dreams that were always violent. Kicked, punched, screamed and cursed. Needed to take stool softener daily. Around my cycle I would get very weak and become out of breath just walking. All body fluids pretty much died up. Sweat heavily for no reason. | Even with all the side effects that I mentioned, I thought the benefit outweighed the issues. Before taking this medication I would have at least one week during the month where I wouldn't want to go to work or couldn't do my job b/c I couldn't concentrate. I'm a web developer and it would feel like I'm looking at code for the very first time. Not a good thing when you have a schedule and you lose a week b/c you can't get your brain to work. Not only that, but my emotions were hard to control. When I started the effexor I didn't experience the issue with concentration anymore and my moods were more level. With all this being said, my husband and others that I trust were seeing behaviors that I couldn't see. I'm the type of person who wants to correct any annoying behaviors and it wasn't that I didn't want to see what they were seeing, I couldn't. Well, it got to the point where I am today. I saw a Psychiatrist b/c I felt that I needed to adjust my medicine levels to fix what was happening. She conducted her assessment and determined that I should come off of all medicines and fix a sleep disorder issue that I have and then I would be able to determine if medication was necessary. I mentioned all this in case someone may have a similar situation and not think of it until they read this. I know these ratings and comments are very helpful and so I wanted to do my part. | F | 43 | 2 years 275mg 1X day | 9/1/2010 | 3 | MDD. | Dilated pupils, loss of appetite, weight loss, foggy memory, confusion, fast heart rate, night sweats, jitters. | Sure Effexor xr did help with my depression, within a few months or so I wasn't depressed at all, but I stayed on it for so long because I was scared of the withdrawls and was trying to finish school before I had to go through all of that. Now I'm tapering off 37.5 every 2-4 weeks. So far I've had side effects like fever, nausea, dizzy, fatigue, feeling cold and stomach aches. There is also some good side effects too though, I'm more hungry and I can concentrate a bit better. It definitely cured what I was going through at the time, but getting off it is worse then I was in the first place...and is for most people too. | F | 18 | 2 years 225mg 1X day | 9/4/2010 | 3 | depression, bullimia | crazy dreams, sweating, weight loss | I can trully say it worked when I was on it. Actually went out and had fun, looked good and felt ok. It was the getting off that is scary. Tried once and was hospitalized for dehydration. Second day with no pills vomiting, diareah, had dreams of dying, sweating buckets, dizzy as hell. Second time around I was prepaired, loaths of white bread and gatorade withsome ignatia for 4 days. Stayed in bed for 3 days sweating and dizzy...But got off it! | F | 27 | 2 years 150 1X day | 10/20/2010 | 3 | anxiety disorder | Tiredness al the time, just quit working | Terrible withdrawal symptoms | F | 53 | 5 years 150 mg 1X day | 3/26/2011 | 2 | anxiety panic attacks agoraphobia | irritability, severe weight gain, insomnia, really bad withdrawal symptoms from missed doses | I wanted to tell other people that I think there is a way to get off this drug. I'll tell you what I am doing that seems to lessen the withdrawal effect. First get a notepad because you are going to want to write everything down because you will be decreasing your dosages. Your effexor XR capsule will have little white beads inside of it. Depending on your dosage, that is how many beads are in it. My dose is 75 mg, so I have 75 little white beads in it. Step 2 is to get a small dark colored bowl and a pencil. Next wiggle "cap" off the capsule. This is the shorter end of the capsule. Once you have it off then set it to the side. Now you will see that there are the tiny little white beads inside. Do not dump the entire content of beads into the dark colored bowl! (I use the dark colored bowl since it's easier to spot and count the beads). Now while holding the capsule, tip it slightly to loosen the beads up and grab your pencil. With the pencil tip, easily scrape the beads out one at a time if you can. Always check your bowl and COUNT the white beads because you need to be exact. EVERY DAY YOU WILL REDUCE YOUR DOSAGE BY 5 WHITE BEADS! DON'T REDUCE BY ANYMORE THAN THAT OR YOU WILL DEFINITELY EXPERIENCE WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS! Once you remove 5 beads from the capsule, screw the top "cap" on snug. You will have to wiggle it back on. Discard the beads preferably in an old medicine bottle with a child-proof cap. Take the capsule with at least a bottle of water to wa | F | 31 | 10 years 75 mg 1X day | 10/26/2010 | 2 | Mild Anxiety | Profuse sweating, which was unbearable at times. It is very hard to discontinue this drug, even if weaning slowly off. Nausea, head feels funny, bad overall feeling. I will not go on antidepressants again. | F | 50 | 3 months 37.5 - 75 1X day | 10/28/2010 | 2 | Major Depressive Disorder | I have MDD and have had depression for over 20 years. I have also had severe anxiety and agoraphobia in the past. I have had Effexor a few years ago and remembered that I had a terrible time coming off it. But this time around because I've had one of my worst meltdowns ever my doctor has prescribed it again even though I expressed concerns about the effects of the eventual withdrawal. I have beern on it for four days so far this time around and I feel very strange, like the world around me is unfamiliar and strange and frightening. I got in the car to go to work this morning and ended up having a panick attack. I drive around the block a few times and in the end came back home and called in sick. I work in a high pressure where I need to constantly think outside the box and I'm worried that I'll start freaking out and failing. I also cannot reach orgasm on this med. | I really hope I can overcome these feelings of strangeness and unfamiliarity of my suroundings and my fear of going back to work. This is my fifth day off sick and this drug is giving me a haunting fear of going back. | F | 36 | 75 1X day | 11/7/2010 | 2 | migraines, anxiety and depression | Mainly, insomnia, and migraine headaches got worse! | Initially, it really helped with my depression but as time went on, had trouble staying asleep--averaged 5-6 hrs./night and I need at least 8-9 hours of sleep! Also, as time went on, I would wake up in the morning (after 5-6 hrs. of sleep) with a migraine coming on and pain in the back of my head/neck like someone had hit me with a frying pan! I even tried cutting back (1/2 of 37.5 mg) but that did not work either. It took about 10-12 days after I quit taking it before I started feeling better with my head and sleeping 8-9 hours. | F | 60 | 6 weeks 37.5 mg 1X day | 12/6/2010 | 2 | PTSD/Depression | Felt less in despair, but felt disconnected. Had trouble sleeping on med and had to take a sleeping aid. | F | 30 | 9 months ? 1X day | 9/13/2010 | 2 | depression, anxiety | headaches, profuse sweating, dehydration, exhaustion, irritability, apathy, inability to concentrate, memory problems, stiffness, apathy. | When I first started taking this drug, I felt relief after having been on Pristiq for several months, which was causing hair loss-balding, nausea, insonmia, balance problems, and blurred vision. Two weeks later, I began experiencing extreme headaches like never before. I knew that sweating was a side effect of Effexor, so I attributed the headaches to dehydration, caused by the sweating; drinking more and more water helped only minimally. Next came the extreme fatigue. Though I have experienced problems with energy that came with the depression, this is something else. I find it difficult to get out of bed and necessary to nap for two or more hours during the day and all day on the weekends. I can still sleep through the night; in fact I think I could sleep all day and all night if I were allowed to. I am struggling to make it through an 8 hour work day because of this fatigue. I feel foggy in my mind, apathetic, am experiencing stiffness in my muscles and joints and recently have become very irritable. All in all, I would say these things are worse than the depression I was experiencing before I ever went on medications two years ago. Between Lexapro (didn't help), Pristiq (miserable side effects, depression returned) and Effexor - I can't seem to get it right. I am not looking forward to the horrible withdrawl symptoms I have seen described. :( | F | 29 | 3 months 150mg 1X day | 9/8/2010 | 2 | Awful Drug! Helped for a while however only caused more problems I cant control_ Weight Gain, Brain Shivers, Anxitey, Extreme Fatigue | F | 21 | 1 years 150 1X day | 9/12/2010 | 2 | Depression | Have just been switched to generic after taking brand name for 5 years, and have been very ill - feels like withdrawal, which is nightmarish. | Generic has a problem - don't know if it doesn't release right, or what (since Effexor XR is extended release) - it has made me very ill - anyone else with this problem, please let your doctor and pharamacist know - please get the word out that there is a problem with this generic! | F | 40 | 5 years 75mg 1X day | 7/30/2010 | 2 | Depression | Agitated depression, hypomanic-like symptoms, mood instability. Of course, these could have been unrelated to effexor. I also gained about 10 kilos (22 pounds), but it could have been due to other things such as implanon. When I started taking it the first time I experienced some insomnia and headaches. The worst thing about effexor is the withdrawal, which the doctors don't seem to know much about but it seems to happen to everyone who tries to stop taking it, and not just the people who post about it on the internet. | It just didn't do anything for me, but no antidepressant has. I was on varing doses on and off for about 2 years and I was almost continuously depressed. Apparently it works great for some people, and it doesn't have many side effects while taking it, but it is VERY hard to stop taking it. I had to wean myself down to 5 granules once every few days before I could stop, and even then I had brain zaps for a few weeks. | F | 24 | 6 months 150mg 1X day | 5/9/2010 | 2 | depression | Strange side effects trying to get off Effexor: heart pounding, dizzyness, sleep disturbance | Has anyone had a similar experience, My doc doesn't seem to know what is going on. | F | 27 | 4 months | 3/19/2001 | 2 | depression and GAD | dry mouth, itching | I was increased slowly to 300mg and never felt relief. At 300 the itching was so bad I scratched till I bled. I have tried 6 anti-depressants and have not found one yet that has helped | F | 44 | 10 weeks | 5/4/2001 | 2 | anti-anxiety with bouts of depressi | dry mouth, constipation, head wooziness especially when moving quickly. Terrible nightmares every 10 minutes when missing or postponed dose, insomnia, irritable | don't miss a dose, it will give you bad dizziness or what I would call head wooziness and trails from any movement and nightmares. | F | 42 | 60 days | 5/27/2001 |