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 | Mild dizzyness at first. I get the 'brain zaps' pretty bad when I miss a dose, so I try not to. | Where Lexapro and Lithium failed Effexor XR has helped. I was in a constant down mood forever, but now that I am on this I am only in a slight down mood.. Much more normalized. I know if I raise the dose over the 300mg I am at now I can be unaturally happy, but when I mess with the dosage too much I tend to build a tolerance. Previously when my Tolerance was peaked, 900mg would do nothing, took me 3 weeks cold turkey to beat withdrawl, then waited another 8 weeks before starting again. | M | 25 | 31 months | 4/9/2007 | 4 | Depression | Decreased libido, dry mouth, sleepiness | I had been taking Paxil & Welbutrin with moderately good effects, switched to this & Welbutrin with much better effect. Current dosage is 225 mg. I feel much more in control of my emotions, impulsive behavior is essentially gone. My family and I are much happier. At the same time as the drug switch I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome; the diagnosis itself has helped me understand myself and accept myself a lot. | M | 57 | 9 months | 11/16/2006 | 4 | Anxiety, Aggression | Slight feeling that I might vomit during the first several days starting at 37.5 Mg (feels like a lump or fullness in the throat), but it never progresses to significant nausea. Undeniable improvement in mood and ability to concentrate, but reaction times seemed to have slowed a bit(such as when driving). Spouse reports intense dreams but I don't experience or remember them. Slight increase in time it takes to ejaculate, but this is actually a side effect I was hoping for. | I was not depressed yet, but very high stress with my job was causing my thoughts to race and temper to flare noticeably more often than normal. I was drinking more than is healthy and starting to lose interest in some aspects of life. Almost immediately, I am much more patient with my kids and wife which, along with the need to focus better on my job, are the main reasons I'm taking this. I am hoping not to need this long term, so some of the posts about withdrawal are a little scary. | M | 32 | 3 days | 11/18/2006 | 4 | Almost had a nervous breakdown | When starting on effexor I experienced dizziness and feelings of nausea (but not actual vomiting), and was extremely tired for the first week. After 2 weeks, all side effects were gone. | I've been on a 150mg dosage for a year now. I can honestly say this drug saved my life and made me normal again. I knew I was reaching the end of my rope and even though I knew my nervousness and anxiety was 'all in my head' I couldn't get my brain to shut it off. Effexor has successfully done this for me! The only downside was after several months I seemed to be suffering from ED. I still had the desire but could not make love to my wife no matter how much I wanted to. My doctor gave me Cialis and that has worked like a charm. | M | 38 | 1 years | 12/3/2006 | 4 | depression | The electrical sensation that someone mentioned is generally from "withdrawal"; Effexor (even the XR) has a very short half-life, and as the concentration decreases during the day, the "electric shocks" increase; for me, it's particularly noticeable when I turn my head (e.g., backing up a car), and when I'm tired. I take the Effexor XR in the morning and at lunchtime, and my doctor and I recently added 10 mg of Prozac in the morning. Because Prozac has a long half-life and similar metabolites, it can decrease the withdrawal phenomena. | M | 41 | 4 years | 1/19/2007 | 4 | Depression and Aniety | Jittery, mild nausea, mild headaches | I was given a 2 week sample pack to start with and took the 37.5 dose for the first week. i just took my first dose at 75. I originally started taking it at night and found myself actually more tired during the day and when i would get home I was extremely tired and irritable. I decided to not take my dose at night and held off for about 8 hrs until the next morning and see how it was taking it during the day. I noticed a remarkable difference. First this overwhelming feeling of doom and worthlessness has lifted from me. Am I cured? No I don't think so but I am feeling signs of the old me after just a week. Am I still depressed and have anxiety? Yes but it's only been a week. I don't think medicine is the end all be all to my problems but Effexor XR (which is the first drug I have taken for this)has gotten me on the road to recovery. After reading some of the side effects on here after I took my first dose I about S**t my pants and thought I had made a mistake. As several others on her | M | 36 | 8 days | 10/24/2007 | 4 | mild depression | night sweats, dreams, possibly increased appetite | I seem to be quite fortunate. I started out taking 300 mg of Effexor and am now down to 150 mg. At 300, I had very bothersome night sweats. This was greatly improved by dropping the dose to 225. With my doctor's permission, I've recently dropped the dose to 150 mg. I was wondering if the drug was increasing my appetite and if a lower dose might make a difference. But, I'm still about 10 pounds heavier than I'd like and at this point, I don't think I can blame it on Effexor. I suffered no major side effects when lowering the drug - just some light headedness that lasted a couple of days. | M | 38 | 7 years | 3/22/2007 | 4 | Anxiety (job related) | Night sweats. Sleep 3 hours at a time. very drowsy. very hungry. trouble staying focused on work. Feel somewhat depressed, but very arroused. Slow to reach orgasim, but | Before, I was very energetic, high paced and productive and always afraid that I was not doing enough. Now, I am relaxed, self assured and confident and at the same time opposite from one month ago. Now I am slow paced, not productive having difficulty staying focused. I am not able to produce my work efficiently, and now I don't even care. Help! I do want to keep my job. I feel somewhat depressed, all I what to do is sleep, wake and drink cofee (read, which I never did before) eat and satisfy a | M | 40 | 45 days | 8/20/2004 | 4 | depression | Loss of Libido, Sustainable Erection, Difficult Ejaculation. After 4 years I have suspicions that it may have contributed to Inflammatory Bowel Disease, too. Also after approx. 3 years, Fuzzy Thinking, Slower Mental Processes, Dead Zone Emotions. | Was effective for depression and very helpful for post surgery severe depression after Bypass Surgery. However, did have some later more severe depressions and upped dosage and combined with Remeron for a brief period...then to XR @ 225. I had very severe Inflammatory Bowel Disease that I know, connect with when I started on XR?? Now, I am tapering off XR and immediately the IBD has gone into remission!!!!!!! Could I have been through 4 years of Hell with IBD unnecessarily???? Anyone else out there had anything like this. My tapering off is going well. I started taper off 3 weeks ago and will be off in one more week. Not too much trouble except for some anxiety and only a couple of night sweats incidents at front end. I do try to stay calm, get plenty of rest (getting very tired around 3PM-but taking a nap) and eat moderately. As it leaves system, I am having a lot of hunger pangs, too. | M | 67 | 4.25 years | 6/26/2004 | 4 | long term pain | dizzy | M | 51 | | 7/7/2004 | 4 | Social Anxiety | none that i know of | M | 23 | 1 years | 7/5/2004 | 4 | anxiety/worry | I found my palms got sweaty in stressful situations and almost felt more panic. Definitely has messed up my sex drive and I don't like that AT ALL. | I like that Effexor makes me feel normal and takes the worry away. The second day on it, I was really buzzed, but that subsided. The sweaty palms comment was due to having to speak in front of an AA group (I'm recovering) and my mind toys with me that I should be totally clean. I have only been on it for a week and will probably stop taking it (will talk to doctor today) because my sex drive went down the tubes and during sex, an orgasm was nowhere in sight. As an alcoholic, I am also very afraid of the dependency and withdrawal comments on this board. I think I am going to ask to try Buspar again (Didn't do much last time) along with Clonopin for real stressful times. | M | 50 | 1 weeks | 5/12/2004 | 4 | PTSD/Anxiety | Effexor worked really well for me. I started with 3.7 mg for one week then went to 75 mg for a total of one month before my blood pressure went from 120/77 to 159/99. (before being on effexor I was on and off Prozac for approx 10 years) So my Dr.took me off of the stuff. Too bad. It was doing its job well. | M | 50 | 30 days | 8/16/2004 | 4 | axiety, panic disorder | The first time in 6/02, I had tightness in my chest and felt sick, and nervousness, once the meds kicked in nothing really. I was on it for 6 mo then off a year, went back on 3 months ago and now am getting off, hate the withdrawels but I have High Blood pressure, my doc cut my dose, I decieded on my own to try and get off cause I know that will come next anyhow, now I am having dizzyness, heart palpatations, and really tired. | For the most part it works, at least for me, the withdrawels suck, but that is a given with many drugs, I wish I could stay on it but my blood pressure is to high. Oh well........... | M | 28 | 3 days | 7/26/2004 | 4 | depression | When first starting Effexor XR (37.5mg, then 75mg and finally up to 150mg) I felt like a total zombie for about 3 days. I didn't care if the house was on fire or anything, I was just in a zone. Eventually after a couple months my depression became more and more controlled, and my mood and drive returned to a tolerable level. I experienced a lot of the classic side effects, nothing abnormal. | After being on Effexor XR 150mg for almost a year now, and various other antidepressants for nearly 10 years, I believe the med is becoming ineffective. I have returned to a depressed state, sleeping way too much, feeling just terrible again. No drive in life left. What's going on??? | M | 29 | 1 years | 4/10/2004 | 4 | Depression/Anxiety | I was on Paxil for 3.5 weeks and didn't like the strange feeling I felt and it didn't seem to do anything at all. They switched me to Effexor and it started working 2 days after I started taking a full 75mg dose (day 7). Hopefully it will continue. | Sex drive is actually way up. Slight problem getting as erect as before but not dramatically. | M | 34 | 15 days | 4/18/2004 | 4 | Anxiety/depresson | None yet | Within 2-3 days, started to have more energy and feeling uplifted. has made a big difference and its still early days. | M | 2 weeks | 2/25/2004 | 4 | depression/anxiety | side effects not too bad. | i've noticed some improvement in just 12 days. | M | 34 | 12 days | 3/23/2004 | 4 | depression | nauseous for a day or so. Insomnia for a couple of days. | M | 30 days | 5/28/2002 | 4 | DEPRESSION | No emotion at all. Not happy or sad. | M | 48 | 16 months | 7/11/2002 |