EFFEXOR Reviews (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE)

Average Rating: 3.0 (925 Ratings)

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 ANTIDEPRESSANTS

 Type: Rx Drug

  

EFFEXOR  (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE):  Venlafaxine is used to treat depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and social anxiety disorder (social phobia). It may improve your mood and energy level and may help restore your interest in daily living. It may also decrease fear, anxiety, unwanted thoughts, and the number of panic attacks. Venlafaxine is known as a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI). It works by helping to restore the balance of certain natural substances (serotonin and norepinephrine) in the brain.   FDA Approval Date: 1993-12-28 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)

  

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Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.)
5=HIGH (this medicine cured me or helped me a great deal.)

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RATING  REASONSIDE EFFECTS FOR EFFEXORCOMMENTSSEXAGEDURATION/
DOSAGE
DATE ADDED
 
 5  depression and anxiety I had in the begining insomnia, but that passed in four days. I have had involuntary eye movement for three days, but not bad. All in All Effexor has made an incredible difference in my life and my families. It feels great to be happy and know what happiness feels like. My whole family is happy I am awake and active to play with my children and my husband doesn't have to carry the wait of my emotions and stuff his own. My husband and I are happy and in turn makes our children happy to see us laugh together. Effexor is incredible! The side effects pass quickly and are worth the out come. :) F 26 5 weeks
4/30/2007
 2  depression Unable to ejaculate After having sex three times without ejaculating, my wife suggested that I look for a post like this. I have only taken the 37.5 mg capsule for five days, but my own experience along with the experiences of so many of you has convinced me. I will not take effexor any longer. I thank all of you. M 60 5 days
4/28/2007
 1  Antipression Did well (i thought) until I had several strokes from this medication. Yes! Really. I stopped this recently and am having horrible side effects from coming OFF. I've had the first anxiety attacks i've EVER had. They are awful. If you have problems with your vision AT ALL, when you first start this medication, IMMEDIATELY stop and don't let the doctor prescribe it. I had vision problems twice over a yr period. They only lasted about a half hour each. Then a yr 1/2 later had these strokes. It was vaso-constriction. This also caused me about 2 yrs of my life wanting to hide in my house. Without the meds, I feel like i'm free. I still take Zoloft, when I stopped all meds I found out I needed them. This drug has bad side effects while you're on it and when you're withdrawing from it. This drug should be taken off the market. I've heard of other people my age, gender having strokes. Luckily, they're only temperary (hopefully) F 32 42 months
4/20/2007
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 2  depression 1st week: jaw clenching, jittery, fitfull sleep, dry mouth. in time, started to feel a little better depression-wise. I do take Wellbutrin, too. Now i've been on the Effexor for 8+ months. Jaw clenching is intense, bad TMJ problems as a result; night sweats; dry mouth. questionable about sexual side effects: I don't feel my desire is where i expect it to be. no problem with orgasm, though. At this point i regularly feel insecure, anti-social, and irritable -- three things that are not normal for me. I have never been a particularly insecure person; I have always been social except when especially depressed; I have had intense irritability as a side effect from a too-high dose of wellbutrin before. These symptoms have only increased in the last 6 months. I felt it was working at first. Now I do not feel it is working for me. I am switching to another second drug (staying on Wellbutrin) and am interested to see if I will have any side effects. F 34 8 months
4/9/2007
 2  Depression I have gained 10 pounds. In the evening I begin to feel depressed again and feel like crying, or lashing out at someone.I get episodes of itchy skin. I feel sleepy a lot, and tired. I want sweets and chocolate a lot. I feel groggy a lot, and have to have something to sleep. I don't see how it helps that way. I don't want to get hooked on it either. F 67 3 months
4/2/2007
 1  Depression & Anxiety Nausea, muscular pain, tension Very hard to come off F 46 9 months
4/2/2007
 5  hot flashes The first few months I was tired and lost weight (great since my son was getting married). I was sleeping and became very happy all the time within one week. My libido was low and I was a little constipated but after about 3 months all became normal again with an additional relaxed happy feeling almost all of the times. Sex is terrific! Together, with my doctor, I tried to get off Effexor and found the "sussing" noise in my head uncomfortable. I was also going on vacation within four days and concerned I would have an unhappy experience so I'm back on effexor again... Most people will gain weight unless they take 150 mg.daily, My doctor said. 150 mg regulates weight. I found this true. F 56 3.5 years
3/31/2007
 3  Severe Depression No sexual appetite/not able to orgasm, vivid dreams with details that I remember for days, severe dry throat. Effexor worked extremely well for me in the past, and my attitude has changed since being put back on it. Since this psychotic episode is so bad, it's not working well at all, but I'm was delighted that my emotions started to come back at least. F 23 3 years
3/30/2007
 4  depression / anxiety hard time falling asleep - bizzare dreams - teeth grinding (I did this before, but effexor seemed to worsen it). I switched from Prozac because I lost ALL sex drive and Effexor seems to help in that area. I do like it -- but am a tad annoyed at the lack of ability to just fall asleep. F 33 30 days
3/29/2007
 5  depression week 1: nausea, light headed, sleepy, dry mouth, taste in mouth, constipated week 2: none - able to cope, smiling, back to normal F 39 8 days
3/27/2007
 5  Depression and Anxiety Dry Mouth, teeth grinding, weight loss!, Headache for the first two days, constipation I have had a great experience on Effexor XR so far! I am taking 75mg and I feel so awake and have more energy! It feels like someone turned the light on. I can easily cope with my stressful life more effectively and have no more anxiety at night. I am scared about coming off this med but for now I am going to enjoy my new life! F 33 2 weeks
3/22/2007
 4  depression & anxiety Developed (very) high blood pressure which I'd never had before as well as high cholesterol. Low libido as others have reported, as well as the bizarre feeling of having a fizzy feeling throughout my body, especially if I am slow to take a dose. I am calm now. Not sad and not anxious. But I feel alternately super sharp, and then dull and fizzy, light-headed. Odd. F 47 2 years
3/21/2007
 2  Severe PMS/PMDD and depression Hot flashes, anxiety, irritability, fatigue, trouble sleeping,nausea,headache, vertigo,eye problems. I had a very hard time with this drug. As I had a lot of symptoms from my PMS/PMDD so at first it was hard to distinguish what was caused by what. After a month my symptoms seemed to get better for a couple months then about 6 weks ago they got drastically worse. I am now getting off Effexor and going back on Prozac which helped in the past. Very scared of the withdrawal symptoms, wish I'd been better informed when prescribed this drug. Don't know why the Dr. didn't just try Prozac again, maybe the drug rep said push the Effexor. F 42 4 months
3/21/2007
 2  Depression None whatsoever. Drugs don't tend to affect me at all. But effexor had no effect at all. I know ppl that have had effects from it. For example I just stopped taking it and had no withdrawals, but have heard that's very dangerous. M 30 9 months
3/19/2007
 3  Anxiety Fatigue and Depression Definitely I've lost my sex drive but that was going downhill with my depression before I started taking Effexor. I have a comfortable content feeling where ever I go. No matter what I'm doing i find no reason to socialize or do anything drastic because I am too relaxed to care. Most times it's nice, but sometimes it's very annoying especially when no one around you knows your taking the drug so they don't understand that it's not that I dont care. Rather it's that the drug is makes me zone out. I have mixed feelings about Effexor because it helped me feel less depressed but at the same time I know I'm missing out on a lot of the world that others are experiencing. It's like I'm in a complete daze 24 7 and in order to break that daze I have to do some drastic things like smoke pot or try to relax to the max by listening to enya in bed trying to stir up any emotions I can get. But in the end it did it's duty and I'm thankful for that. M 4 months
3/7/2007
 4  Severe long-standing depression MENSTRUATION already had heavy bleeding, but see that it was made worse by this medication DRY MOUTH - permanent, I also take lithium though URINARY DIFFICULTIES - constant feeling of urgency. HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE - suitably medicated INTENSE DREAMS - depending on mood they can be nightmares ANXIETY - not sure how much of this can be attributed to the medication DEPRESSION - it seemed to work at first but I now feel that it's stopped having much effect SUICIDAL IDEATION - this is almost incessant LIBIDO - I have no sex drive at the moment but while taking the drug have had a full range of sexual behaviour! EMOTIONS - I experience myself as being quite cold and detached from others. WITHDRAWAL - on the occasions when I've missed a dose I have noticed feeling dizzy, sweaty - sort of like when blood sugar is low - but it passes after the next dose. I've been on this medication I think about 8 years, following 10 years of Prozac and many years of tricylcics and alcohol before that. I began with (I think) 300 mg, increased to 375 about 3 years ago. I have taken such a lot of anti-depressants and they all have some kind of side-effect. I tend to think that almost anything is better than the depression but I guess there are limits. Reading these posts has made me question my acceptance of it. Maybe I should be brave and try to come off ... F 45 8 years
3/5/2007
 1  chronic depression The effectiveness of this drug drops off precipitously. Then when you try to go off it, you discover it is highly ADDICTIVE, with withdrawal effects that rival those of some street drugs. Already a person who tends to be underweight, it caused me to lose nearly 18 pounds, and devastated my immune system. Wyeth-Ayerst, the maker of Effexor, has suppressed or deliberately misinterpreted the test data for this drug. Already 5 years ago British medical journals warned about the danger of DEATH from overdose. Now for that reason a public warning has been issued in British Columbia, Canada. It is UNSAFE at any dose! M 18 months
2/28/2007
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 4  Anxiety Get extremely sleepy when driving or sitting still. Impressed with how the drug has calmed my nerves. Used to feel like a tuning fork at the end of the day, now I'm fine. M 44 4 months
2/27/2007
 4  severe depression Fogginess/day dreaming(someone described in this forum as a feeling between hallucinating, deja vu, and dreaming-perfect description-KUDOS to you), terrible jaw clenching-thank God I have a mouth piece to use or I think all my teeth would crack off, loss of appetite, 3 nights of interrupted sleep, tiredness, shakey, palpitations, vivid dreams at night. I am only on the meds for 6 days now and today I feel slightly better. Was in the "I have no desire or ability to talk to anyone, do anything, couldn't cook, clean, didn't want to leave the house type of depression". Was on Wellbutrin and Zoloft years ago and it made me want to do even less. I am not up to the point where I really have the desire or energy to start to clean up my life or house yet. If anyone has any input please let me know what to expect and if I should be expecting to feel my old self again soon. I was a very let's go , party, hang with friends, social butterfly...anal about cleaning and messes and since this has happened I have not wanted to do anything, nothing makes me happy...almost a fear of being happy and not being able to cope with anything. I hope that I will get well soon as I have so much to do and just can't find the energy! Any advice or help would be great. F 34 6 days
2/26/2007
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 2  depression speediness, manic thoughts, giddiness, delusions of gradeur i tried this medicine in the prescribed dose (10 mg) per day. i would never suggest it to those who have any kind of mania or schizophrenia issues. it freaked me out! F 28 3 days
2/20/2007

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