EFFEXOR Reviews (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 3.0 (925 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare EFFEXOR with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. 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 |
More on EFFEXOR: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR EFFEXOR | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 1 | Major Depressive Dis./Panic Dis. | Food aversion, weight loss, nausea, exhaustion, insomnia, brain zaps, cognitive dysfunction, increased depression, paranoia, panic attacks so severe I could not leave my house, memory loss, SEVERE mood swings (crying uncontrollably for no apparent reason to uncontrollable rage that made me want to physically hurt myself & others) | Over a period of several years my dose kept going up from 75mg to the max of 300mg and it was effective without too many side effects. When I moved to Florida the Drs here put me on between 75-150mg & my life has been a living hell for the past 10 years!! My recent suicide attempt put me in the care of a Psychiatrist who really researched this & found that some people just cannot be treated at a lower dose once they have taken a higher dose as the Effexor is not only NOT treating the depression but is triggering the brain in severely adverse ways like causing all that uncontrollable rage I mentioned. Like flipping a switch & I’d become this absolutely despicable person. Seriously felt like I was possessed by something so truly evil that death was preferable. | F | 43 | 6 years 300mg | 1/2/2019 | 1 | Depression | Severe nausea, diarrhea. Lost almost 20 lbs. over 2 weeks. | F | 64 | 70 days Don't remember | 12/29/2018 | 3 | depression | Totally speed, I had to take benzodiazepine to balance the effect. I stopped it once, it tooks me around a year to get off it, due to strong side effects. Last year I fall into the worst bout of depression I ever had and I was on Effexor when that happended. 2 days after going on 150 mg, I had dissociation and akathisia. Dissociation didn't disapear when going down to 75 mg. It took months. Very hard to stop. | F | 44 | 15 years 75 mg 1X day | 12/28/2018 | 5 | Panic Disorder/Depression/OCD | Sleepiness, Memory problems, word finding problems, and waking up the next day is very hard, grogginess for at least first 2-3 hours...Does a number to slow your mind up... | Side Effects aside this is my go to drug. Has been for 15 years from 50 mg to 100 mg. The drug always helps anxiety/depression for me. | M | 36 | 15 years 50-100 Mg 1X day | 11/9/2018 Patient History | 1 | Depression along with Remeron | High blood pressure, dry mouth, high blood sugar, weak dizzy and sometimes passed out and didn’t remember it except when I was pulling myself up off the floor | I am looking desperately for something that will knock out all the symptoms. They tried giving me insulin. It did not remove one bit not one number. What did work was an IV. I have requested my doctor leave in one of those IV things so I can continue to give myself Saline solution. That does work wonders I don’t want my pancreas destroyed over this. Blood-pressure still in issue anybody have any ideas. I hope everybody knows these are black box prescriptions, in another words that what you use if nothing else works stay away from them | F | 49 | 4 months 150 | 6/27/2018 | 5 | Depression/anxiety | Slight weight gain but no where near as much as other meds. No other side effects at 75 mg or less. At higher doses it makes me tired. At really high doses I sweat and feel exhausted. | I have been on this medication at various doses for 15 years. It’s the best medication I have found by far for depression and anxiety. The side effects are very manageable at 75 mg or less and the benefit is great. Before I found this medication all I did was worry and cry and I was miserable most of the time. Since beginning it 15 years ago, my life has changed for the better in a thousand ways. For those just starting this medication, the initial side effects do go away after a week. In the first few days you might feel sleepy but it goes away. Also people complain that it’s a hard medication to get off from but I have been off it several times for pregnancy. If you take Benadryl when getting off it it’s really not that bad. | F | 43 | 15 years Varies | 2/25/2018 | 2 | anxiety, depression | increased anxiety, heavy side effects | M | 36 | 3 months 75mg 1X day | 11/26/2017 | 1 | Depression, Panic & Anxiety Disorder | Weaning off this horror of a drug, is worse than having the disorders it is supposed to treat! Vertigo, continuous brain zaps, severe fatigue which, worsens when you already have Hashimoto's (thyroid disease). I started out at 75 mg. The very next day after taking my first and only pill, I lowered my dosage to 37.5. After feeling worse physically, I decided to split my pill with a splitter, and take 1/2 @ 12.5 mg. It has been a four day hell tour, since I stopped taking this "poison," altogether. I'm so dizzy, I am afraid to drive, let alone leave my home. | DON'T TAKE THIS MED UNLESS YOU RESEARCH IT PERSONALLY, AND THOROUGHLY!!! It's a scary one! | F | 58 | 4 months 37.5 mg | 5/30/2017 | 1 | For depression | Brain zaps, severe depression, moody, dizzy, nausea, extreme tiredness, weight gain, confusion unable to concentrate. | I would NOT recommend this to anyone this has been the WORST drug ever. I wish I never started it. It was prescribed for mild depression & I experienced worse depression on it. I am currently working on getting off it which I guess is an experience all in its own | F | 39 | 1 years 200 | 3/24/2017 | 5 | Major depression | Drowsiness Excessive yawning | Some of these reviews would have frightened me out of taking Effexor, but I have truly done very well on it. The only problem is if I take it on an empty stomach, I can feel somewhat sedated and drowsy. I began taking this medication at night after dinner, but I found this routine to keep me wide awake at night and knocked out cold during the daytime, so I reversed to taking it in the morning after breakfast and it totally fixed that problem. Effexor has honestly given me my life back and brought me up from the depths of dark, chronic depression. I am much more productive in my daily life and feel like myself again. | F | 19 | 1 years 150 MG | 3/15/2017 | 2 | Anxiety | This is only my second day taking Effexor XR, but I am already having some really awful side effects. Nausea. Food aversions. Literally having to FORCE myself to eat something. Dilated pupils. Strange feeling in back of throat. Excessive yawning all day long. Reoccuring fainting feeling. Sweaty palms, and feet. Jaw clenching. Strange electrical sensation in skull.. Not comfortable at all. Insomnia. All this from just TWO doses. I intend to continue the pill for a bit to see if symptoms possibly subside if I can hold out long enough. | F | 23 | 2 days 37.5mg | 2/5/2017 | 2 | Depression and Anxiety | Loss of Appetite, Crying easily, increased Anxiety, Paranoia, Briusing on arms, legs and torso, insomnia | I found myself to be incredibly sensitive to this medication and had very poor results. On the lowest dosage of the Effexor I was Noticing worsening symptoms, I wasn't eating, bruising very easily (even with multi-Vitamin supliment, arnica, iron, b-complex, and C), and insomnia. I was previously on Cymbalta which worked well for the Depression and Anxiety but was causing frequent UTI's and eventually a Kidney Infection which prompted my Dr. to change the medication. I've been switched to Wellbutrin XL and have experienced fewer side effects thus far. | F | 33 | 1 months 37.5 mg | 1/22/2017 | 1 | Depression | DO NOT TAKE THIS MEDICATION. DO NOT LET A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER TAKE THIS MEDICATION. ONCE YOU ARE ON IT YOU CAN NOT GET OFF IT. I have been on this medication for one reason...I CAN NOT GET OFF THIS!!!! In 1996 after only two weeks of use, my friend's cat lost my pill bottle. Within 24 hours I was in hardcore WITHDRAWAL. SEVERE (off the charts) anxiety, insomnia, crying spells, dizziness, nausea, brain zaps. Went to ER literally begging for this medication. The doctor said "its impossible for you to have had any therapeutic effect from this dose let alone experiencing 'withdrawal' symptoms.' After two hours the ER doctor finally gave me an RX for this medication to be refilled and within 30 minutes of taking the medication the withdrawal symptoms disappeared. Decades later now PHARMA USA and doctors are now referring to this as "discontinuance syndrome." Nice name for HELL ON EARTH WITHDRAWAL. Over the last twenty years I have tried at least 15 times to get off this m | DO NOT TAKE THIS MEDICATION. IT IS A ONE WAY TICKET TO ADDICTION AND A WITHDRAWAL THAT IS INCAPACITATING. | F | 51 | 20 years 25mg 1X day | 8/14/2016 | 5 | Depression | Nausea for 2 weeks only couple of hours though | After trying 6 different antidepressants over the course of one year. And living the worst year of my life, I was very reluctant to try it due to the withdrawal symptoms. I was ready to get treatment with ECT. I even had spoken to the doctors and was almost all set to start ECT. I could not handle the depression anymore. However,I started taking effexor and after two weeks I felt like myself again. I never had depression before in my life. I was very scared to try. I had a very bad experiences with the other anti depressants and after reading so many horror stories about antidepressants I was scared. But like I said, I am happy to be myself again and my family is glad to have me back. I hope that everyone who gets treatment will have the same experience that I did with Effexor | F | 50 | 3 months 37.5 | 4/28/2016 | 3 | Depression | I don't recall any bothersome side effects but the drug worked good for about 6 months, I was happier but tired all the time, and then it stopped making me happier. I was as if it just kept me from getting angry and aggravated all the time. Nothing was better or good after 6 months but my family doctor thought I should give it more time because I had already tried about a dozen different anti depressants and the same thing kept happening. They stopped working, some I had to quit within days because of reactions and side effects, all the others just stopped working after two to six months. The other big reason I rated Effexor at 3 is because I finally went to a psychiatrist for first time in my life and he said I am bipolar and also suffer from PTSD, so he changed meds and I had to wean off Effexor which took 6 weeks and I had to slowly bump up new meds while tapering off Effexor. This has all been going on now and past 7 weeks. I've been completely off Effexor now for a week but I have | It's horrible if you have to switch off of it. It may be I just had this experience at this level but I'm sure a lot of people have and will suffer to varying degrees if they have to quit Effexor. Ask your doctor lots of questions if they want to put you on Effexor. | M | 56 | 2 years 225 MG 1X day | 4/4/2016 | 1 | Depression | Not any help lifting the depression. Getting off the med. caused MORE depression and added anxiety. | Not only did it not help with the depression but--as others have stated--the withdrawal was HORRIBLE, worsening the depression. Psychiatrist who pushed the drug never recommended slowly tapering off as an option. Went to this web site and others on the internet to seek how to cope with the withdrawals and slowly tapered off. Will NEVER take this drug again. | F | 42 | 3 weeks 1X day | 3/23/2016 | 4 | Anxiety/Depression | Extreme lack of appetite, constant yawning because I feel out of breath, nausea | Effexor definitely has helped with my anxiety and brought up my mood. The side effects have been generally manageable just find myself having to force food down and definitely don't have enough calories every day. I was slim to begin with but have already lost about 7 pounds due to lack of eating. Just the last few days I've been experiencing extreme nausea and if it persists I will have to get off the drug. I was also constipated for the first few days of taking this but that went away. My eyes still are very dialated though but for me if the nausea goes away the benefits outweigh the side effects. | F | 18 | 7 weeks | 3/13/2016 | 1 | Anxiety related to health problem | Nausea, constipation, jerking, horrible dreams, memory loss and brain zaps | I believe my anxiety could have been solved with talking therapy. I have been trying intermittently to get off this drug for some years, but the withdrawal is too severe. Have cut down to 18 mg a day, but too scared to cut that the lower the dose, the worse the side effects. I am just about to ask my doctor to put me on a 10mg Prozac Bridge, as I have read that this can help with the final stage of getting of it. I think it is a horrendous drug and would dissuade anyone from taking it. | F | 47 | 6 years 34 mg | 3/2/2016 | 1 | Anxiety related to health problem | Nausea, constipation, jerking, horrible dreams, memory loss and brain zaps | I believe my anxiety could have been solved with talking therapy. I have been trying intermittently to get off this drug for some years, but the withdrawal is too severe. Have cut down to 18 mg a day, but too scared to cut that the lower the dose, the worse the side effects. I am just about to ask my doctor to put me on a 10mg Prozac Bridge, as I have read that this can help with the final stage of getting of it. I think it is a horrendous drug and would dissuade anyone from taking it. | F | 47 | 6 years 34 mg | 3/2/2016 | 1 | Stress | I took this drug for only 5 days and had a neurotoxic reaction that threw me in a hell impossible to describe. I have been disabled ever since, had to give up my career, my sports, my social life. Beware of this drug!!! | Horror drug from hell | F | 34 | 5 days 37.5mg 1X day | 11/21/2015 |