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 |
| 4 | depression | Very minor | F | 49 | 2 years | 2/18/2005 | 1 | Major Depression, Social Anxiety | Extremely vivid nightmares, chronic fatigue, nausea, dehydrating night sweats (every night), headaches, because of side effects: inability to function | I've been taking this medication for about nine months. It has been wonderful in controlling my depression and anxiety, but the side effects are so strong that I can no longer function because of always feeling ill and exhausted from never getting a good night's rest. | F | 18 | 9 months | 2/17/2005 | 4 | Anxiety - switched from Paxil | The only thing that has changed since I started Effexor 5 months ago is that I now get migraine headaches. They come once a month and last for 48 hours and are REALLY bad. It may be related to hormones, but I never had anything like this until now. My urine is also very stinky (and I don't have an infection)!! I'm wondering if anyone ever had that??? | I'm kind of tired looking on some of those pages about all of the bad stuff about anti-depressants. If it weren't for Paxil and then Effexor, I would not be enjoying my life the way I am. Many side effects I read on those crazy pages are depression symptoms, which means their medication or dosage isn't working! I had plenty of those symptoms PRIOR to going on the drugs. I now have a wonderful outlook on my life and do not wake up in the middle of the night anymore thinking of some terminal disease I'm convinced I have. I don't sleep all of the time and I am very happy most of the time. It changed me for the best. | F | 45 | 5 months | 2/15/2005 | 3 | Chronic Stress | Vivid nightmares until dosage upped to 150 mg per day, Now I'm uncaring, unemotional, can still think but usual thinking process is inhibited. Missing a day was not bad but the second day! Awful, felt like a poisoned booze hound off a 3 day bender. I will discontinue that stuff ASAP | Don't go on this stuff, unless you have to, it has mean side effects. | M | 50 | 3 months | 2/14/2005 | 5 | Mild depression, irritability, anxi | During the first week I had nausea, head ache, loss of appetite, yawning, fatigue. With each day the side effects lessened. After taking it for one month now, I feel great. I am still a little tired but blame it on winter and I have vivid dreams. When I miss a dose I have extremely vivid dreams. It has NOT affected my sex drive at all!! I havent noticed any weight gain but it is a big concern. | After reading some of these comments and how some people recommended that no one ever take this drug I was a little frightened about continuing with it. Then I realized that I am not experiencing bad side effects like these people are and have not experienced the withdrawal symptoms. Effexor is not right for everyone and finding the right medicine for you is sometimes a trial and error run. I feel great now that I have started taking Effexor. I cant say I would recommend it because everyone works differently. As for the horrors of withdrawal, I will take that road when I come to it. As for now, I am in the best mood I have been in in a long time! | F | 24 | 1 months | 2/9/2005 | 3 | severe depression | main concern was my hair loss and being on edge | I wished that this drug could be used without such an extreme side effect...it made me feel wonderful. Is that how people really | F | 31 | 3 months | 2/8/2005 | 4 | anxiety-depression-compulsion | sadly weight gain. Dizziness and night terrors when missed dose. Some sexual side effects but minimal. | This drug could have saved my life. Obsessive thoughts and worries were alleviated. Anxiety minimized greatly. Though there is a trade off I'm a much better husband and father though my weight gain bothers me at times over 30 pounds. | M | 39 | 18 months | 2/4/2005 | 3 | Major Depression | Headaches,joint pain, nausea, withrdrawl symptoms within hours of miss a dose. | I have been on almost every anti-depressant there. Effexor has worked the best, however I am concerned about the saftey of this drug. If I miss a dose, I know within hours because I get these waves of dizzyness and a numbness (pins and needles feeling) that shoots through my body about every 30 seconds. I experianced this for a month and a half when I slowly weened myself off it one time before. | F | 27 | 4 years | 2/4/2005 | 2 | Depression | Very extreme lethergy and tiredness. Yawning. nasuea, upset stomach, dizziness, increased appetite. | I hope the lethargy goes away, I thought I was tired and worn out before I started taking this stuff. This is why I've always tried to stay away from from drugs, sometimes the cure is worse than the original problem. I'm ready to stop taking it now. | F | 54 | 2 days | 2/4/2005 | 3 | depression/anxiety | constipation, dry skin, acne, bit thinner hair, trouble remembering names, lots of sleeping and trouble waking, dry mouth, not feeling so great (but also not terrible) if i missed a day, increased my need for calories | jury's still out on this. is has helped me feel more balanced internally and connected with other human beings, but i do feel | F | 26 | 1 years | 2/2/2005 | 4 | depression, anxiety | trouble sleeping, mild nausea, recently (after almost a year) lost sex drive... | It's been the best one for me so far... It's discouraging how unique people's reactions to drugs seem to be. For me, Wellbutrin made me borderline psychotic. Others did nothing. Anyway, about Effexor: It's made me very mellow - had the greatest impact on anxiety - but I still seem low energy. Not really sad but detatched. Side effects have been mild, except that I have almost no sex drive (plus some sleepiness and slight vision blur). Other drugs impacted sexual functioning but Effexor has more to do with my actual interest. It actually doesn't distress me directly but indirectly through my wife. I'm going to look into a lower dose. | M | 35 | 1 years | 1/31/2005 | 1 | Depression | I gave up on Effexor recently only after 11 days. I did not have any problems nor notice any effect whatsoever in my first 7 days at 37.5 mg. Only one weird incident, on night 5, I woke up with my right arm pointed toward the ceiling for some weird reason. I was most worried about what any kind of drug would do to my sex life and sure enough, on day 11, as it was strange--though I had no problem being aroused, I lost libido or the want of having sex--and that ain't gonna happen to me. I'd rather live with my so-called depressed stae condition than be even more depressed. Because of this side effect alone - I quit effexor xr. I told the Doctor, if this effects me in any way, shape, or form regarding sex..I quit. Nothing more depressing than not wanting nooky. End of story. Ought to rename it | Not good for virile guys with hungry libido's. | M | 46 | 10 days | 1/31/2005 | 2 | Depression | Extreme withdrawl symptoms included nausea, dizziness, disorientation, mood swings, and feelings of suicide. | I felt great, as long as I stayed on the drug, But gave it a 2 because the withdrawl symptoms are unbearable!!! I only had mild depression when I started on effexor. I have only been off the drug for 4 days ( I think I'm pregnant) and now I feel much worse than I did before the Dr. put me on this pill. I hope to God these symptoms wear off soon!! I'm in misery!!!!!!!!!! | F | 25 | 6 months | 1/30/2005 | 4 | RAPID CYCLING BIPOLAR, DEPRESSION | TEETH GRINDING, DIFFICULTY WITH ERECTIONS AND ORGASM SOMETIMES, SWEATING SOMETIMES, SOME UPSET STOMACH | I HAVE TAKEN EVERYTHING, THIS MEDICATION SEEMS TO BE WORKING VERY WELL. I AM TAKING 225 MGS PER DAY, MAY INCREASE TO 300 IF I NEED TO. TYPICALLY MEDICINES LOSE THEIR EFFECTIVENESS WITH ME RAPIDLY AND I HAVE TO INCREASE THE DOSE | M | 41 | 45 days | 1/28/2005 | 1 | anxiety and depression | After I taking my first dose of Effexor xr; the very nest day I started getting dizzy when I stood up or even moved my head and I had trouble breathing; it was like my diaphram no longer worked. After a while I noticed that I was getting more and more out of breath, I couldn't walk from one end of my apartment to the other without being completely out of breath, I also noticed that my heart didn't speed up when I was exerting myself. I eventually began passing out and having what my parents thought were seizures. I finally saw the doctor and he had me wear a Holter monitor for 24 hours, he told me after the 24 hours, that I would get the results in about a week. However, my doctor called me the next day and said I needed to have a pacemaker implanted RIGHT NOW or I could die. My heart was beating only 35 times a minute and the top of the heart was not giving the bottom part of my heart the signal to beat. I now have the pacemaker and I am completely dependent on the pakemaker to make the bottom of my heart beat. I never had problems with my heart before taking Effexor XR. | F | 56 | 21 days | 1/28/2005 | 1 | Depression | Extreme fatigue, constant sleepiness, no mood improvement | One of worst I ever tried. I nicknamed it | M | 41 | 6 weeks | 1/28/2005 | 4 | depression/anxiety disorder | Dizziness, tiredness, slight nausea | Only been taking 4 days and am hoping negative side effects will disappear. On the positive side almost immediate relief from the anger and agitation I have been experiencing for months. | F | 56 | 4 days | 1/27/2005 | 4 | depression | I am currently off Effexor..have been tapering for a few weeks. Was on 150mgs. for 4 years. Gained 50lbs. due to increased appetite. That was what made me decide to quit. I actually felt | F | 58 | 4 years | 1/25/2005 | 5 | Major Depression | Weight gain (added 30 lb). Lessened sex drive (now need viagra) Sleepy (must drink coffee and avoid naps). | After a 7 year brutal battle with depression (1990-1997), I've been mostly free of depression since November 1997. -- 150 mg per day Effexor -- 1000 mg per day Depakote (to stop biploar swings) Nothing else worked for me. It takes time. Give it a chance. | M | 49 | 7.5 years | 1/24/2005 | 2 | Major Depression | Mild anxiety, similar to a too much coffee high first few days of starting dosage 187.5. Mild numbness in hands and toes. All side effects subsided after a few days. | Felt increased mental clarity, less depressed about specific issues. At first, felt some improvement from initial boost of stimulation. Overall, felt it improved my focus and made me less zombie-like feeling, but that seemed to backfire. The effexor made me more alert and more mentally stimulated, but didn't improve my mood at all. Which left me feeling not tired, wide awake with no spirit and no ability to actually carry any tasks out... And that made extremely irritable and frustrated, and made me very distraught. But from what I understand, effexor can be quite helpful to people who also suffer from anxiety and don't like the more stimulating, possibly anxiety-producing anti-depressants. | F | 26 | 3 months | 1/24/2005 |