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, emotional emptiness | Sweating, shocks in my hands if I miss a daily dose | I have found this drug to be very helpful. I feel it has improved my relationship with life. I meet more girls, smile more and when the lows come around they are manageable. | M | 26 | 7 months | 7/5/2006 | 4 | severe depression & anxiety | when taking: occasional day dreams, zombie, elevated blood pressure, slightly decreased sex drive, weak morning erections and less blood flow? when missed: vertigo, dizziness when missed: vertigo | This product has seemingly traded my depression/anxiety for a dead feeling. No initiative, things I used to like to do aren't appealing or fun anymore. (I'm really not sure if its my life or the pill doing that, since the side effects have been most apparent the last year or so.) It works, thats for sure. I've been on 150 mg for the majority of the 2 years, just upped it 50% and seeing how thats doing. I would recommend it. It helped for a while, but it isn't a miracle. | M | 18 | 2 years | 6/27/2006 | 4 | depression, anxiety | nausea, decreased libido, bit trippy, everything improved a bit in time. this is my 3rd crack at getting this msg fitting properly (see the two above!) | i had absolutely crippling anxiety with anyone who wasnt in my close family. this made me depressed but it was mainly the anx causing it. i am worried about the long term side effects as this drug hasnt been long around, no 1 knows what decades of use has on ppl. & im sure itll effect all the long term users differently too so its a chunky gamble. all this said, this did save me at a most awful time so im thankful for it. the side effects on it were tolerable for the benefits reaped. after a year of using i felt ready to get off this drug. jesus h christ. horrendous just like many others have said. zaps, rage, depersonalisation & some return of prior symptoms. several months later i was ok & for a year or so i was ok agian with no drugs. in the last six months all of my awful problems have returned & i am very seriously considering getting back on this stuff. long term concerns and horrific withdrawal problems scare the hell out of me but anythings better than this... | M | 23 | 1 years | 2/13/2007 | 4 | psycotic suicde attempt- major depr | I sleep 2 hours a night, my senses increased:hearing-smells, taste & touch. extreme weight loss do to sweating when ever I eat, drink. I trembel and experience anxiety attacks. light head aches throughout the day. Light discomfort and hard to relax. Body is tense all the time. Also throughout the day, I feel my heart rate increases dramaticly-I feel my blood pumping through my veins. At times I experience voices and other visions | Since I don't sleep at night, because I'm on 150mg EffexorXR,I read about this drug. I have pretty much experienced most of side effects. I would not reccommend EffexorXR to anyone with high blood pressure or children. EffexorXR has help me. I'm a work aholic by nature. Even though I have lost 25lbs in 15 days. I do not know what it is like to feel tiredness anymore. This sense I've lost and with the extreme weight loss I can manage my diet. | M | 40 | 3 weeks | 9/17/2006 | 4 | anxiety/depression | These are the permanent side effects I experience: excessive sweating, bizarre dreams(fascinating)dry mouth,weird brain "shivers" if I skip a dose and premature ejauculation | This was a "last" chance anti-depressant for me as many other I have tried were'nt effective!-So only take it if you absolutly have to because even if you can eventually taper off of it someday you go through Hellish withdrawl symptoms! Looks like I'm on it for life cause I feel like shit whenever I've tried to taper off | M | 47 | 14 years | 10/24/2006 | 4 | At first, Effexor XR | I later switched to Venlafaxine, a generic form of Effexor. The side effects have remained consistant. They include, daily nausea, unless taken with food. Mild sexual side effects, and horrendous withdrawal symptoms, eek! Pretty much everything others have mentioned- vivid/disturbing dreams, brain zaps, mania, emotional instability when you miss a dose or attempt to quit. | The manufacturer understated the side effects and I curse the day they developed this particular SSRI but it works, what can I say. | M | 39 | 10 years 75-150 1X day | 7/20/2011 | 4 | depression and bipolar | low sex drive high seritonion | i am having test done to see if it is just the effexor and one of my other meds that has my seritionlevel very high normal level is .15 to 18 and mine is a 28 not good | M | 50 | 5 years 150 1X day | 6/27/2011 | 4 | Anxiety GAD | Insomnia, delayed ejaculation but not completely gone, jaw tightness / ache, amphetemine like effects, loads of energy, crying, euphoria when combined with the gym, weight loss. | So far I've found it to be generally good. Got some immediate relief and felt safe and secure with it. Full effects took 2 months though. The insomnia was a pain for the first 3 weeks but it wasn't until 2months that things began to settle down. Sex problems? Well for a guy it's not too bad. You get there in the end. Possibly the biggest problem was feeling up all the time. After about 30mins I was chatting rapidly like I used to do on speed or ecstasy. This was ok but at night I found it hard to sleep at least for the first month. Today I found myself very tearful over something trivial and feel quite down and depressed which I assume shouldn't happen on an AD. DO NOT TAKE WITH cold remedies / decongestion / cough medicines saying non-drowsy / caffeine / | M | 41 | 2 months 75 1X day | 5/27/2011 | 4 | Depression/Anxiety | Increased blood pressure, jittery, loss of libido, racing heart, irregular heart beat, consipation ... after about five months, horrible rash, hives and itching. | I have tried several different meds in the past for my anxiety/depression. I seem to be very sensative to side effects. Effexor really seemed to help level me out and make me feel happy again and not worry so much. But almost immediately, my blood pressure went up and I became very constipated. Then I started experiencing a racing heart and occasionally would feel 1-3 'hard' heart beats every 5-10 minutes. After about 5 months, I suddenly broke out in a rash and hives on my chest, shoulders and neck. My face would become red, flushed and itchy and I'd itch from head to toe. Guess I need to try and get off this stuff and try something else. | M | 45 | 5 months 150 mg 1X day | 4/8/2013 | 4 | Depression/anxiety | decreased appetite, sexual dysfunction, lightheadedness/dizziness (relatively mild). Most of these have improved but are still present. | I started out at 75, then bumped up to 150, 225, and now 300 mg. I feel like 300 mg is a lot but I have had treatment-resistant depression and have been on SSRI's for a couple years so it's not bad. With SSRI's, withdrawals are not bad as long as you taper down. If you are on a high dosage and you cease taking it immediately that's very dangerous. Effexor is not "addicting" in the sense that a narcotic medication like Xanax is, but it does cause chemical changes in the brain (that's how it works) and the readjustment period if you stop taking the medication is considered "withdrawal". As somebody with a substance abuse history, SSRI withdrawals are a joke compared to alcohol or any other narcotic. You can't die from Effexor withdrawal lol. So far the medication has worked fairly well for me. I am finally able to get back to work and I have motivation to do things again. I have no major complaints other than the short half-life of Effexor (make sure you take this med at the same time every day, because withdrawals can kick in just from missing or being late with a single dose).' I also take Trazodone 150 mg to help me sleep and Buspirone 15 mg to help with sexual side effects. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about your experience with the med. 99% of side effects (except sexual) get better within the first couple weeks. Hang in there! | M | 22 | 3 months 300 1X day | 2/13/2013 | 4 | Depression agitated | Sexual anorgasmia impotence brain zaps | M | 46 | 1 years 450 | 5/8/2012 | 4 | Anxiety/depression | Tiredness lethargy loss of libido but it did work wonders for my depression. | M | 67 | 1 years 150mg | 4/30/2013 | 4 | Anxiety | Let me start by saying that I have previously tried Zoloft, Lexapro and Paxil. The side effects experienced on these I found to be UNBAREABLE: Increased anxiety, restlessness, headaches, inability to ejaculate, suppressed emotions, etc. Since starting Effexor, the only side effects I've experienced is an initial increase in anxiety levels (which subsided in a week), vivid dreams (which I find to be pretty cool), and a slight delay in orgasm (which is NOTHING compared to SSRI's, which required a marathon effort). The difference I noticed here is, when I was on the SSRI's, the sensation of sex kind of felt like nothing. Like I was getting no where. Whereas on Effexor, it feels good like it should, but just takes longer to ejaculate. | To date I feel a lot better. Not a 100% better, but a lot better. I feel like I can get through the day with less worries which makes getting through the day easier (more happy and motivated). I feel less worried about social situations and I am not starting to look forward to meeting new people and socialising more. I really hope my comments will encourage people to try Effexor. I know drugs affect people differently, but if Effexor can help me as much as it has, then I recommend people to try it out :) good luck! | M | 24 | 4 weeks 75 MG 1X day | 4/21/2010 | 4 | Anxiety | Loss of Libido & contraindicates with Amphetamine | A typical "SNRI" taken to relieve overall anxiety i.e. reduces fear of future situations, panic, don't take things so serious & wit; you find your past failures & insults funny. Helps maintain normality & calm & helps relieve mania. It also gives you a greater sense of insight. This medicine took a year for me to fully work it's magic after being convinced time & time again that this is good medicine. *Variable dosages from 150 <> 375 mg | M | 25 | 4 years 225* 1X day | 3/10/2010 | 4 | depression | Irritability | This is a great drug with minimal side effects. I am able to socialize with people without any anxiety. I am less self-conscious to the point where I could care less and am comfortable in any social environment. As for the depression, it is gone and i'm able to function as a happy human being. Only problem is this med makes me slightly irritable to sounds, sudden talking or disturbances ever so slight as they may be while I'm trying to work. There's a little bit more lack of concentration on my part which can be mistaken for short attention span because this drug puts me in a state of La La land and it's hard to snap out of it bc it's such a nice place. | M | 26 | 3 years 75 and 32 1X day | 9/6/2010 | 4 | Suicidal Depression/Anxiety | At first I had some nausea, excellent wet dreams, insomnia, dilated pupils. | I guess I can't complain. The drug has indeed lifted my depression when Lexapro started failing. I don't really enjoy my life though. I feel like I could do anything and it wouldn't really matter. The drug has a pretty big zombie effect on me more so than others I've taken. Maybe I'm on too high a dosage. But I have to say I like it since it pretty much saved me from committing suicide. It's just gonna be hard to reclaim my life and emotions. | M | 28 | 5 weeks 300mg 1X day | 11/26/2010 | 3 | Anxiety, Depression | Weight gain (12kgs), Constipation, Fatigue, Hair Loss (permanent), Bleeding (nose). Side effects became noticeable after 2 years and worsened after 4 years. | Worked perfect on anxiety. Also noticed personality "change" (more outgoing, calm etc.). I quit after 4 years due to the side effects. After 10 months without any medication, anxiety and mild depression is back. | M | 37 | 4 years 150mg 1X day | 10/20/2010 | 3 | Depression, GAD, Panic attacks | Fuzzy head, dizzy, nausea, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, anhedonia, addiction, headaches | The drug seems to work somewhat for depression and anxiety but has left me feeling angry, anxious, lack of feeling, wired and fatigued while on the drug and depressed, anxious, nauseous, with trying to go off the drug. Was on Pristiq 50 mg for a while tried to get off and could not withdrawal without craving for the drug, so asked to go on low dose effexor xr to satisfy my craving. This drug is addictive and has bad withdrawal. It can work for some people, just don't believe that it is any safer than other addictive drugs, remember all newer drugs are not addictive like cigarettes weren't a long time ago. All psych drugs can form a dependence, best not to start on drugs if you can manage another way. | M | 43 | 2 weeks 37.5 1X day | 12/21/2010 | 3 | Depression/OCD | Nausea, staring into space, delayed orgasm, increased anxiety at times | Good for OCD and anxiety but really didn't help with depression so my pdoc switched me back to paxil with no taper. Even after taking for just 30 days the withdrawal was really significant. I felt like I was a having a really bad allergic reaction, but after resuming at 37.5 felt fine. | M | 38 | 30 days 75mg 1X day | 7/2/2010 | 3 | Depression | - Weight gain. (No matter how much I worked out, I was never able to get ripped. Like all SSRI's, Effexor causes water retention). - Chronic Fatigue (Tired all the time. Even after sleeping 10 hrs. As soon as I got off Effexor, the fatigue is gone). - Sweating (You will sweat and feel hot all the time. Again, as soon as I stopped taking the effexor the sweating disappears). | Effexor was a Godsend in my life when I needed it most. It lifted me from hell and brought me back my old happy self. A couple of things about this medicine: DO NOT DRINK when you use Effexor. It will lower the effectiveness of the medicine PERMANENTLY and you will be left wondering why the meds are no longer working as good as they used to. - Getting off Effexor is some of the worst hell imaginable. I wish no one to experience the mental and physical anguish that I went through getting off Effexor. | M | 27 | 7 years 150 1X day | 3/4/2010 |