EFFEXOR XR Reviews (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE)

Average Rating: 3.0 (2225 Ratings)

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 ANTIDEPRESSANTS

 Type: Rx Drug

  

EFFEXOR XR  (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: 1997-10-20 (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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More on EFFEXOR XR: Reviews Summary  |  Drug Safety Information

RATING  REASONSIDE EFFECTS FOR EFFEXOR XRCOMMENTSSEXAGEDURATION/
DOSAGE
DATE ADDED
 
 3  Depresion & GAD more hyper /anxious -yet more energetic though..just tried cymbalta had alot of anxiety on that-now trying Effexor. Acne , hyper, insomnia, diarrhea , fogginess Anyone had any rash or increase acne? ???got this horrible ??acne rash behind my ear..looks like pimples but not? weird , got it after starting meds F 38 2 weeks
at 75 now 1X day
6/14/2010
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 4  depression and anxiety weight gain, some jitters, loss of libido If you are taking this drug and it works for you, stay on it. I weaned off of it and plunged into a horrible state the likes of which I had never experienced. The strange thing was, when I went back on it it did not work as well. I felt flat and couldn't laugh. Now I am trying Cymbalta, which I pray will work since this has been six months of Hell. F 44 2.5 years
150mg 1X day
6/11/2010
 5  Anxiety Weight gain; especially belly fat. About 10 lbs over 1 year without changing my diet or exercise habits. I have been thin all my life - size 6. After reading other users internet blogs I realized that Effexor XR does cause weight gain in some persons. For anxiety it worked really well with no other side effects other than than the weight gain. F 40 1 years
37.5 1X day
6/7/2010
 3  depression loss of appetite, occasional sleeplessness and nausea. I went through the worst HELL ever when I went 4 days w/o taking the medication because i was having a problem getting Rx refilled. The side effects were HORRIBLE: dizziness, extreme & endless nausea, headaches, major anxiety, uncontrollable crying episode...it was bad. When I finally got the Rx refilled, I felt like a druggie desperate for a quick fix--i NEEDED it just to take away the horrible side effects. I want to get off the medication because I don't feel like it's working anymore but my doctor says I'm at the highest dose possible for this drug so I should just stick with it. F 31 8 months
300 mg 1X day
5/21/2010
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 4  Depression/Mild Anxiety {35mg for the first 2 days} sleeplessness, jaw clenching, hyper activeness, restlessness and finally 3 days later a collapse! (faint). ------------------------------------------------- {10mg self-reduced dose for 2 months} often became easily muddled (dopey), an inability to keep to my diet hence slight weight gain, decreased apathy and reduced hesitation to act on my thoughts. Took half a 75mg pill for the first 2 days. It felt like i was on speed and then i suffered a collapse on the 3rd day. So Doc switched me to Celexa which i hated! Celexa felt like i was imploding and more depressed the longer i took it (for 2 and a half weeks). So i got an idea; to take Effexor again just in smaller doses, since it made me so energetic. Long story short, I've been reasonably happy with Effexor, my apathy reduced noticeably. The only down side is that i often would get muddled (like ask stupid questions and forget things easily). Doctor found out i was taking the Effexor outside of its capsule so told me to switch to a new brand, Pristiq, which he says is similar just in tablet form. F 29 2 months
about 10mg 1X day
5/19/2010
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 2  Depression Agitated depression, hypomanic-like symptoms, mood instability. Of course, these could have been unrelated to effexor. I also gained about 10 kilos (22 pounds), but it could have been due to other things such as implanon. When I started taking it the first time I experienced some insomnia and headaches. The worst thing about effexor is the withdrawal, which the doctors don't seem to know much about but it seems to happen to everyone who tries to stop taking it, and not just the people who post about it on the internet. It just didn't do anything for me, but no antidepressant has. I was on varing doses on and off for about 2 years and I was almost continuously depressed. Apparently it works great for some people, and it doesn't have many side effects while taking it, but it is VERY hard to stop taking it. I had to wean myself down to 5 granules once every few days before I could stop, and even then I had brain zaps for a few weeks. F 24 6 months
150mg 1X day
5/9/2010
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 3  Depression Major sweating, constipation F 62 5 years
90 1X day
5/4/2010
 5  Depression and Anxiety nice i like it F 45 1 years
75mg 1X day
5/1/2010
 4  Depression Insomnia, loss of libido, memory loss, loss of consentration This pill has helped me a lot. That is when I am taking it when I am supposed to. However, the side effects are awful. I can't sleep at night and during the day I am extremely exhuasted. My memory is crap and I can't seem to consentrate very well. According the research I have done myself it has also caused both my babies to be born early due to toxemia. I wasn't taking it like I was supposed to with my second pregnancy and my child was not born as early as my first one. F 22 5 years
150 1X day
5/1/2010
 5  anxiety, mild depression it took about 4 weeks to really start working. in that time i had strange feelings almost like i was on a high at times. pupils were hugely enlarged, clenching my jaw alot, suffering alot of dreaming i never use to. sleeping alot about 12hours a day, coffee doesnt keep me awake anymore.have experinced headaches alot when i wake up mainly. increased appiette, weight gain of course. no lose of sex drive. effexor works very well. has aken away all my anxiety and depression. makes everyday life much more mangable. im happy with the result, is certainly worth the side affects. the side effects are less common and some totally gone already. Very grateful for this drug! F 20 3 months
75mg 1X day
4/25/2010
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 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
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 5  Anxiety/panic attacks Lots of energy (caffeine-like jitters) and always hungry. This was an amazing drug. It made me feel much less anxious and I only had 1 panic attack the entire time I was on it - and it was at the beginning when it probably hadn't kicked in yet. The jitters were easily bearable (it just feels like you don't want to sit still, but it's not unpleasant), though the hunger was no joke - it got expensive ;) I gained no weight though, probably a combination of the constant movement and my already fast metabolism. The only problem I had was when I was being weaned off of it: that blood-rushing feeling in your head when you stretch or yawn... well... I got that all the time. It lasted about a week or 2, and then it was fine. All antidepressants have withdrawals, just make sure you wean off of it slowly. All in all, a fantastic cure for anxiety and probably depression too. Just make sure you're being monitored, because I've heard of other people not being able to take the side effects. I HIGHLY recommend it! (Oh, I took it when I was 17 - I don't know if they've changed the formula by now or if my age made a difference. I know they don't prescribe it to minors anymore because of a risk of suicidal thoughts/actions.) F 26 1 years
75 mg 1X day
4/19/2010
 4  Severe Depression weight loss; dialated pupils; racing heart; loss of appetite; increased energy; changes in taste; restless; Overall, I feel better even after just 8 days taking it. I have not had any "depressed" lows yet. Dialated pupils and racing heart lasted 2 days. I've lost 5 pounds already. And about 6 days into treatment...everything sweet, is now too sweet. I discovered this eating yoplait Cherry yogurt. It tasted like an entire box of artifical sweetner was poured into it. Same for tea, soda, and candies :( I havent tried chocolate yet. I drank alcohol while on this med, and did not experience any side effects. Moderate drinking too: 2 margaritas and 2 full glasses of wine. Still feels like the meds are working F 26 8 days
75mg 1X day
4/19/2010
 3  home hands feet,legs swelling & red blotches F 40 2 times
75 1X day
4/18/2010
 1  depression, bipolar my husband has many negative side effects,memory loss,night sweats,inability to sleep. He wanders around the house all night. He has psychotic episodes,anger issues,delusions. He no longer resembles the man he was 5 years ago,its like he doesnt even see me as human anymore.He is very abusive.He also takes adderral,which is yet another nightmare story I cannot get medical professionals to take him off the garbage. He did wonderful on prozac F 51 5 years
150 1X day
4/17/2010
 5  panic disorder none I love it and have not had one panic attack since being on this drug F 60 10 years
225 mg 1X day
4/7/2010
 5  depression Slight loss of appetite, slight loss of sex drive but not as bad as other antidepressants, very vivid and interesting dreams (I liked the crazy dreams). Effexor XR is the only antidepressant that has helped me, and I think I've tried them all. I have been on it twice for about a year each time...I felt wonderful while on it but it gradually stops working after about a year. Felt so much better while on this drug...I was friendly, outgoing, could laugh about things, felt normal. My emotions were great...felt fairly happy most of the time but not zombie-like. There were still times when I felt down but they didn't develop into depression like they would have had I not been on the drug. I actually lost about 5-10 lbs while on this drug. It helped my anxiety so I stopped munching out of boredom/stress. Really changed my life for the time I was on it. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work for long periods of time. It is hard to wean off of, but I think the benefits far outweighed the inconvenience of withdrawal. Wean yourself off slowly. I only took 75 mg so I switched to 37.5 for a month or so, then started taking the 37.5 every other day, then every third day. You will have headaches and flu-like symptoms and weird electrical jolts in your brain for a few days during the process. It's not such a huge deal. F 32 2 years
75 mg 1X day
4/5/2010
 1  Anxiety/ Depression Decreased sex drive, weight gain, withdrawals less than an hour after missing a dose, stopped working. I was on Effexor for 3 years. The first 2 years it worked wonders, I felt great. Then it started to wear off and stopped giving me any benefit whatsoever. I spent a YEAR getting off that medication. I had severe withdrawals for 6 months (some of the side effects of withdrawal like motion sickness still have not gone away more than two years later), and the stress of the withdrawals triggered severe GERD which I was hospitalized for. I would never recommend this medication to anyone unless they plan on never getting off it ever. F 21 3 years
300 MG 1X day
4/3/2010
 3  Postpartum Depression/ Anxiety Weight gain-90 lbs! Decreased sex drive, difficult to reach orgasm. Night sweats. This drug helped me so much. However, now I am trying to get off. Before this I took Paxil, again with the weght gain. Celexa made me vomit immediately. SSRS effect people in different ways. I was hospitalized under suicide watch when my baby was 2 months old. Effexor did help me through it. I did feel good, after the dry mouth, nausea etc. stopped, it worked great. But now the excessive weight gain has me depressed! I have no interest in sex. It has been 14 days since I took a pill, and sometimes it is literally minute by minute to get through. My mood swings are terrible! I feel overwhelmed, like before. The headaches are horrible! It is so tempting to go back on, but I want to be slim again. I used to be so small. My pharmacist addmitted that weight gain is a side effect, while my Dr denied it. My dietition told me my diet is fine, it's probably the effexor. 7 years is a long time to be dependent on a drug. I hope I can do this. From what I have been reading here, I am not alone. F 36 7 years
75 1X day
3/30/2010
 1  depressions\ I you miss even just one dose of this medication.....I experienced terrible nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, fatigue, horrific headaches and 'brain zaps'. DO NOT EVER start on this drug. If you are already on it, talk to your doctor about weaning the dose. Wean very slowly as these side effecs can, at times, be crippling. F 34 2 years
150mg 1X day
3/30/2010

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