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 | anxiety/minor depression | increased appetite, weight gain, jitteriness, night sweats (would wake up literally soaked if I missed a dose), intense headache behind eye, horrible flu-like withdrawal effects. | Effexor worked fairly well for a while - basically it seemed to slightly take the edge off; I lashed out less when angry - but after a year or so I started getting a terrible pain behind one of my eyes. It was so severe that a catscan was ordered. Well, around this time I also became more and more jittery and my appetite was enormous, and this eventually made me want to cut back on the effexor, thinking maybe it wasn't working anymore. Once I was able to cut down (it literally took 3 months to wean off of, the withdrawal effects are horrible) the pain behind my eye and jitteriness and uncontrolled appetite went away. None of my doctors realized that effexor could be responsible for the pain I'd been experiencing, but it was clearly the case (as the eye pain and pressure incrementally lifted as I tapered off the medication). Trying to taper off effexor I felt like what I imagine a heroin addict must feel like - it was terrible. At peak, I was taking 112 mg a day. | F | 38 | 1.5 years | 7/29/2006 | 2 | depression | weird dreams, anger, "brain shivers", carb cravings, salt cravings, exhaustion, teeth grinding, jaw clenching, headaches, physical expressions of outrage | At first, the Effexor XR really seemed to help. I got through my grandmother's week long coma and eventual death pretty well. But, it's been 7 months since she died and now I find myself crying over it like it just happened. I have dreams about having sex with people besides my husband, being back in high school, getting fired, living on the moon, my daughter getting kidnapped....And uncontrollable anger!!! If I don't do something physically to express it, I feel like it will eat me up. Sometimes, even my 5 yr. old's laughter is enough to send me over the edge. I scream at her. I go outside and throw things. It's all I can do to keep myself from breaking things. Grind my teeth 24/7. Migraines about once a week. Exhaustion to the point that I can barely move. Trying to lose weight, but it's so hard when all I want to eat are carbs and salt. I'm a legal assistant--hard to work when my brain tries shutting down. Thinking about going back to DR. to have it changed. Also takin | F | 26 | 9 months | 3/21/2007 | 2 | anxiety depression | exsessive sleeping, extreme appetite shifts, extreme sexual supressant, anxiety happens less often, but when it does happen it's worse and sometimes has physical symptoms (headaches, stomach aches, ect), liver damage, mood is more neutral, depression is less of a problem. Drug worked the best when I was first on it. | I first started taking Effexor at 75mg a day, when I was 12. It has gone up to a high of 225mg a day, and I am currently trying to get off the drug and I am at 175mg a day. | F | 17 | 5 years | 11/1/2004 | 2 | Fibromyalgia | Substantial weight gain. | Cleared up depression that can accompany severe physical pain. Withdrawl Hell - I ended up here looking for information on withdrawl problems. Within 1-2 two days, hotflashes and sweats sometimes every 5-10 minutes during the day and nightsweats. Severe vertigo turning my head when waking up in the morning and lying down at night. Insomnia within 3 days. I have resumed taking this drug at least 4 times to stop the side effects. Going off again but tapering from 37.5 very slowly. | F | 4 years | 11/29/2004 | 2 | anxiety/depression | heart palpatations; extreme anxiety; sweating; disjointed thinking; irrational thinking | F | 34 | 2 days | 9/21/2004 | 2 | depression | made insomnia worse was unable to get off of it yet | do not ever start this drug. you will be sorry | F | 51 | 14 months | 10/26/2004 | 2 | lifelong depression | apathy, mild mood swings, DRY MOUTH TO THE POINT OF SORENESS IN GUMS, unstable appetite, CONSTIPATION!!, insomnia. Dreams about suicide but not deeply suicidal. My mood was better but I lost alot of motivation. | My doctor says it is the best AD out there. Not for everyone. I would try others first. Wellbutrin was great for 2 years until it stopped working. | F | 25 | 6 months | 10/25/2004 | 2 | Fix sexual side effects of Zoloft | Leg tremors in the night, does not help with the anxiety at all, totally fixed the lack of orgasm that the Zoloft caused. Awesome orgasms that last forever! Nausea when not taken on time. General hyperness, could not sleep for the life of me! | I'm not so sure I like this drug. It fixed the lack of orgasm from the Zoloft, however, did nothing for my anxiety. I eat chocolate like crazy, which chocolate usually is not what I want to eat ever. Never hungry, but I eat constantly. Generally hyper. Unable to sleep. Very vivid dreams beyond my usual dream vividness. | F | 27 | 2 weeks | 4/1/2008 | 2 | depression | trouble sleeping-still depressed | This drug didn't help at all. I kept telling my doc that I wasn't feeling a difference but she just kept prescibing it. She always had plenty of samples to give out. I felt like she was "bought" by the drug reps that kept giving her the samples and she was prescibing it for her benefit not mine. The withdrawals were not pretty. Would never ever ever take this again and I found a new doc. Don't be afraid to test the system and tell your doc no, that things aren't working and they aren't listening. | F | 44 | 8 months | 12/7/2008 | 2 | Yes | Constipation, drowsy, a lot of weight gain,unbearable Heart Palpatations. | This drug is that a DRUG WHICH CAUSED SERIOUS ADDICTION. I was told it was not addictive, yet it was. I took Effexor XR at half 35.7mg. per day sprinkled capsuls in applesauce daily. Was on it for 2 years, when I wanted to get off, the Doctor told me it used to be called "side-effexor" for short among the medical teams. I hated they ever started me on it for panic attacks. It helped stop the attacks when nothing else worked, but I wanted to get off of it. made my brain feel like jello, and now i've suffered with extreme depression - which i never had before. once u stop effexor, if you try to get back on it, it won't be as effective. bad medicine i say unless u stay on it for life! once u use it, never try to get off it-to damaging. sorry but true. | F | 38 | 2 years | 3/5/2008 | 2 | depression | Out of it, slept for a day, hand shakes, dry mouth, dumb! | only took Effexor for 3 days, wasnt sure if it was coinsidence that i was getting sick or a side effect. Did not take any today and still feel like I have the flu, soooo tired.do your research first. | F | 31 | 3 days | 3/15/2008 | 2 | Anxiety,stress | After four wks. of 37.5, was raised to 75 and all hell broke loose. Had a really bad reaction - anxiety attacks, terrible insomnia, etc. Went off "cold turkey" | After being off Effexor seven weeks, experiencing severe joint/muscle pain, weeping, anxiety, depression | F | 77 | 7 days | 3/15/2008 | 2 | Depression | BAD: SERIOUS CONSTIPATION. My intestines seemed like they completely shut down. Even high doses of laxatives barely helped. SERIOUS INSOMNIA. I could never sleep because my doctor wouldn't give me more than 10 mg of Ambien. The Seroquel worked, but then it made me too fatigued and other weird, bad symptoms. SERIOUS LACK OF APPETITE. Food just didn't interest me (i.e., it made me anorexic). ONLY GOOD THING WAS IT RELIEVED MY ANXIETY (must be the Norepinephrine) and thus, OCD a bit. | As they say, the WITHDRAWLS ARE BAD. Plan on taking a vacation to get off this stuff. The fatigue was so bad coming off, I'd sleep the entire day. I felt so "drugged" that I couldn't get up. That last two weeks! I also had bad arthritic-like pain (toxins from being constipated?), serious cravings for carbs and chocolate. Then, came the "zaps". My eyes keep twitching and I feel odd. But at least, I can have a BM, thank god. | F | 41 | 2 months | 1/23/2009 | 2 | depression | racing heartbeat, irregular heartbeat, nausea and ligt sensitivity, fainting | Horrible medicine. It gave me a racing and sometimes irregular heartbeat that would wake me up in the middle of the night. It literally felt like my heart was coming out of my chest. After i ended up in the emergency room, my quack doctor lowered my dose and told me that rapid heartbeat was common but temporary side effect and my body would get used to it - NOT! In the end i switched to another drug which has it's own set of negative side effects. Effexor also caused extreme light sensitivity and fainting spells. Overall, it helped with the depression but the side effects made the drug unbearable. | F | 30 | 23 days | 12/31/2008 | 2 | Depression/Anxiety | Memory loss, always feel tired, nausea, waking up several times in the middle of the night, horrible withdrawal, no sex drive, blurred vision, headaches, feeling like everything is a dream state | I don't want to be on antidepressants anymore, but have tried three times to wean off it, and have the worst withdrawal. I get paranoid to where i cant leave the house. When I go back on it, I have about a week of insomnia. | F | 22 | 4 years | 2/27/2009 | 2 | Anxiety, depression | Throat ulcers, ear ache, jittery, nervous, migrane when I missed a dose, dangerous interaction with Incocid suppository (for pain from tear in disc) blood in stool, vaginal bleeding. | Felt flat and no interest in life. Didn't make me any happier or less anxious. Side effects were awful - antibiotics for ulcers and ear ache, stomach cramps, period screwed up. Am weaning off, and is going well. Took a 37.5 pill apart, removed 1/4 beads. Bad head ache next day, but after that OK. After 4 more days on 3/4 dose, took 1/2 beads out and had no side effects. Will drop to 3/4 beads out in another 4 days, then stop. | F | 48 | 25 days | 3/17/2009 | 2 | depression and anxiety | extreme fatigue wanted to sleep all the time. Did not care about the consequences to things surrounding me. Very numbing feeling. | Horrific withdrawls coming off. Was taking 75 mg and it took me over 3 months to come off of it successfully with help from a psychiatrist. After being on it for about 6 mnths it made me more depressed because I had no more "ups" to get out of my "downs". Also my blood pressure sky rocketed to a dangerous level for me. | F | 35 | 6 days | 6/24/2008 | 2 | Depression | I have no LIFE. No sex drive, no desire to do anything since drug increase to 300mg. | When I first started Effexor XR, I felt great. I thought I had finally found an antidepressant that worked for me. I started out slow like most people do, 37.5 mg to 75 mg to 150mg to 225 mg and finally to 300 mg. Big mistake. It has taken away my quality of life to the point I have no sex drive, I don't want to do anything, go any where, see anyone, this is worse than depression. I want off of it. What I have read about getting off is very scary. But, I want my life back. I don't care what I have to do to get off of this drug. I am very unhappy with it. It has caused problems in my marriage and I have a very loving, understanding husband. But, nobody should have to go through this hell... | F | 57 | 2 years | 7/7/2008 | 2 | Anxiety | Bad headaches on the low "starting" dose of 35mg, and still on the 70mg. When gradually going off the medicine I had zapping in my lips!! Very weird. | Wouldn't take it again. | F | 26 | 1 months | 7/8/2009 | 2 | Depression/Anxiety | Loss of sex drive. 20 lb weight gain in 1 year, which added to the depression. Change in sleeping habits. When I decided to get off it- withdrawals were hellish. I had a fever and flu like symptoms for 3 days...I was a b*tch to my family...really bad mood swings...nausea...brain zaps, but not as bad as some have described on here. It was terrible getting off the drug. | Don't do it. There are other antidepressants out there that are easier to come off of when the time is right. This one is just ridiculous. I take xanax now on a daily basis for anxiety and have been off all anti-depressants for 2 months now. I feel better, but am working on that 20lb weight gain. It's not budging. | F | 31 | 1 years | 6/30/2009 |