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 and fibromyalgia | Suicidal thoughts and attempts. | Dreadful withdrawal-nearly ruined my life and continues to be a huge problem. I cannot get off this drug but i cannot stay on it either. Pure poison! | F | 31 | 4 years | 2/10/2007 | 1 | Anxiety/Mood imbalance | Dizziness/heart palpitation, nausea if dose missed or late weight gain sweating anger/edginess loss of motivation | i would strongly suggest not taking effexor. I was put on it for anxiety. mood and while it seemed to help at first it eventually made me more irritable. the worst thing for me was the weight gain. the doctor said it was weight neutral...yet on my first followup visit her first question was whether i had gained weight..obviously she knew this was a possibility...i had gained like 10-15 lbs without changing anything in regards to my diet. i had always been slender and with a little diet and exercise could maintain a good figure...the weight slowly crept up to the point where i blew up out of nowhere...went from a size 4 dress to like an 8 or a 10 VERY fast! i got a trainer, joined weight watchers, cut calories and the weight would not come off...it was so embarrassing to have this unexplained weight gain to my family and finance -they saw how dedicated i was to exercise and diet yet i looked so fat and gross in my clothes...talk about depressed...this made me DEPRESSED...my doctor told me to "stay active" and "eat lean protein" really? duh? finally i quit effexor almost cold turkey...i am getting married and cannot afford to be on this drug and have this disgusting weight gain...3 weeks off and already my body is showing signs of getting back to its old self..if body image is important to you-STAY AWAY! i wish someone had told me or i knew this or i never would have started this terrible god awful drug. fight through the withdrawals and take vitamins and y | F | 32 | 7 months 75 1X day | 3/5/2012 | 1 | Fibromyalgia | weight gain, hair loss, tingling in extremities, upset stomach, vision problems, brain zaps | decided to stop it about 2 years after starting as I did not feel the benefits (helped me sleep) were worth the side effects. I was unable to wean off it as I would get too sick to work, so would go back on it. I tried repeatedly, slower each time. Finally was unable to work for another reason, but that gave me the opportunity to get off this stuff. Withdrawal is horrific, but I am glad to be rid of it! | F | 57 | 10 years 75 mg 1X day | 1/5/2012 | 1 | depression, pmdd | anger, loss of interest in anything, concentration issues, increased desire for alcohol | This drug is poison - I didnt realize how badly it affected me until I went off it and coming off it was the most horrible experience ever. Stay away | F | 43 | 1.5 years 75 1X day | 11/4/2011 | 1 | MDD | Anger, severe depression, crying spells, paranoia spells, hiding spells. | Horrible experience with this med. But everyone is different and reacts differently to meds. With that being said: I had intense anger, depression, anxiety, paranoia, suicidal thoughts, crying spells, and even spells of wanting to hide from the world (most likely because of the sever depression this med gave me). I slept pretty much 20 hours a day. No exaggeration. 20 hours a day. I was in my second year of college. I would go to class, come back and sleep, and sleep, and sleep.....All I did for six months was cry, sleep, get angry, want to die, want to hide. Horrible experience. I am now on cymbalta and absolutely love it. I have been taking this for 3 years now. No horrible side effects, great happiness and fulfillment in my life. Only problem I have with cymbalta, lowers your sex drive (like every single freaking anti-depressant). But it's worth it, to be happy again :) Thanks Cymbalta, DIE EFFEXOR! LOL~ | F | 26 | 6 months 60 MG 1X day | 10/18/2011 | 1 | PMS,PTSD,Mood Disorder,Depression | worse anxiety, loss of compassion, loss of memory permanently,inability to tell right from wrong, mania, insomnia, restless legs, OCD, could not sit still. | Lost ability to know how to cook or clean or organise and still can not 8 yrs later. Had horrible reaction to going off. Electric shocks in head and body with every step I took and every movement. Painful shocks! Lost who I was and put myself in bad situations with people letting them abuse me. Horrible drug for me. I am not the same person and never will be. Severe memory loss.I started doing bad things that were not me before and a few months after taking this med. | F | 38 | 6 months 150 mg 2X day | 10/28/2011 | 1 | migraine, severe anxiety | severe upset stomach, dilated pupils, jaw & hand tremors, INCREDIBLY severe migraine (which spiraled for 5+ days), drowsiness, which might have been migraine related | Horrible medication, in my brief experience! I have been on a litany of meds (trying to get migraine relief) & I would never take this one again. Hated the side effects-wouldn't wish them on anyone. The migraine this medication caused, which Dr prescribed this med hoping to help, was unreal. I was bedridden for 4 days. I will never take this again. At least it was 'cheap.' {{Dr thought this rx would raise serotonin levels & in effect help with migraine treatment}} | F | 38 | 1 days 75mg 1X day | 12/4/2011 | 1 | GAD, major depressive disorder | Dilated pupils, excessive yawning, clenched jaw, nausea | Worst drug on the planet. After years of taking this, I felt like a shell of my previous self, doing things I would never do in my right mind. That and it was way too expensive after losing my job and not having a drug plan. So, I tapered down the doses very gradually to minimize withdrawl effects... Wow. Worst part was the nausea and vomiting, out of nowhere most times. Understand that this was what would happen when I would have a panic attack. I couldn't socialize during that time, and I haven't even started with the brainzaps. They are hard to describe, but its almost like a electric shock in your brain. Sometimes one, sometimes 10 in a row. It was a horrible experience, and I never recommend even starting this drug, I would recommend Pristiq if anything. Having a relapse after being off Effexor, and realizing the error of my young and foolish ways, almost dying from an overdose of bad Ecstasy, I am like this for life. I will always have seretonin problems, and Pristiq helps control that, with a mere fraction of the side effects. No nausea if you miss a dose, you just feel like you need to stay in bed. I hope this was helpful. | F | 27 | 4 years 100 mg 1X day | 11/18/2011 | 1 | Depression | Excessive weight gain (30lbs), horrible night sweats, agitation, dizziness, crying all the time, lack of interest in things I used to love to do, decreased sex drive | F | 33 | 3 months 75 MG 1X day | 7/7/2011 | 1 | Bipolar 1 | rapid-cycling, mania | I was prescribed Effexor XR on two separate occasions. Both times I almost immediately switched from depression into rapid-cycling and the second time this developed into a full-blown manic episode that resulted in hospitalisation. Because of this my psychiatrist now says he cannot prescribe antidepressants for me as any antidepressant is likely to cause me to flip into mania. I never had any problems with anti ds (except for them not working!) before taking Effexor. | F | 55 | 6 weeks 300mg 1X day | 9/15/2011 | 1 | Depression | Weight gain/Tremors/Restless leg | Am now down to 37.5mg and it's terrible awful to get off of. Would not recommend to anyone. | F | 67 | 15 years 225mg 1X day | 9/24/2011 | 1 | Short temper - anxious | F | 57 | 150 1X day | 6/3/2011 Patient History | 1 | Anxiety and OCD | Increased irritability, overreacting to everything (couldn't control it), insomnia, excessive crying, headache. | My doctor took me off after only two days because it was so bad for me. I would not suggest it, but remember that everyone has different reactions to drugs. I was also just diagnosed as bipolar which could explain my extremely bad reaction. | F | 20 | 2 days 37.5mg 1X day | 4/25/2011 | 1 | Depression, Anxiety | Total nightmare. This was arguably the worst period of time in my life. It made me so mentally ill I almost ended up in a psych ward. Stay away from this if you can!! I lost weight considerably and shook all the time. I had terrible anxiety the whole time, the worst kind of anxiety I've ever experienced. Also tardive diskenesia was becoming very prevalent. Tobacco cravings were rampant. I never felt at ease or comfortable, I was constantly on edge and wanted to cry. Please be careful if you are taking this. | F | 30 | 6 months 30 mg 2X day | 4/28/2011 | 1 | Anxiety disorder | I was given this drug only once and it sent me into seizures which lasted all day. I had to be rushed to the hospital and it was serious. For a week I couldn't walk and could barely talk or lift my hands to take care of my kids. I threw my guts up and sweated profusely. It was a horrific experience and has scared me away from ever taking ANY anti-depressant again. I feel as though it left permanent damage to my memory and brain function. | This drug was given to me right after taking Paxil. Don't know if that had something to do with the seizures. | F | 41 | 1X day | 5/28/2011 | 1 | depression | This was the most horrendous experience. If I had not had experience handling anxiety I would have definitely killed myself. I woke up shaking and I looked in the mirror and my eyes were terrifying like filled with terror and I couldn't change it. It was utterly utterly horrible. | Never take this horrific drug. | F | 34 | 1 days 30 mg 1X day | 3/22/2012 | 1 | Depression | Crazy nightmares, night sweets, irritable and emotional. I cannot get off this drug - I've tried everything - weaning off, stopping cold (don't ever do this...It's HELL...dizziness, nausea, anger, cold/hot sweats, vomitting) and adding other anti-depressants. I want to get off Effexor XR and I can't - I'll be on it forever. It also does not help me. | Please talk to your doctor about the withdrawl side effects before you start. | F | 26 | 6 years 150MG 1X day | 2/13/2012 | 1 | Neuropathy | Major diareha for 15 days non-stop. So bad I had to go to hospital and get fluids through an IV. Irregular hearbeat, shortness of breath and I lost 31pds in 2 weeks. | This has not helped my pain in any way. Only added to many more doctor bills I already have :( | F | 33 | 21 days 37.5 1X day | 3/5/2012 | 1 | Perimenopause | I had a very severe and sudden reaction within 20 minutes of swallowing the pill. Vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, shaking, passing out, writhing on the bathroom floor for an hour. This was followed by a severe headache that lasted several days. Stay away from this pill!! | My dr. told me that this was a mild drug with little side effects and put me on a low dosage. Nope - this drug was like a poison to my body. I would never recommend that anyone take it for any reason. I can't ever recall being that intensely sick - I lost 4.5 pounds in 1 day, and I'm already a skinny gal. Avoid this drug. | F | 39 | 1 days 37.5mg 1X day | 7/29/2012 | 1 | agoraphobia, panic, and depression | Severe diarrhea, dizziness, nausea, dehydration, unconsciousness. | I only took one dose of Effexor. It made me sick within 6 hours of taking the pill. I spent the entire night in the bathroom, and my sister found me on the floor the next morning. I remember thinking I should call 911 at one point, but I didn't have the strength to get to the phone. And then I decided I didn't want to go to the hospital anyway; I was fine with dying on the floor (it definitely altered my mood in a bad way). I was in bed for a week afterwards. It was the first antidepressant I had ever taken, and the experience was so horrible and frightening it took over a year for my doctor to convince me to try something else. | F | 34 | 1 days 75 mg 1X day | 7/3/2013 |