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 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 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 | Depressive/Anxious | Insomnia,impared memory,diminished appetite,blurry vision. | After 2 years of hell, this medication has given me some peace of mind, and cut out the lethargy that stopped me from my daily activitys.I have my energy back again,Insomnia is the downside for me.I wonder what the long term ramifications of its use will bring Given we need an average of 7-8 hour sleep within 24 hours. | M | 29 | 3 weeks | 10/20/2009 | 3 | Migraine prevention | Decreased libido. Not sad, not happy, just there. I went through some tragic times in the last 2 years, and I know I coped better because of being on it. But now I am coming off of it and I HAVE FOUND THE WAY TO DO IT! | After realizing that Effexor was not controlling my migraines any better than without it, I found a way to come off it without any side effects. Very simply there are approx. 180 little beads in each capsule (I'm on 75 mg). Starting by taking out 3 beads and each day after taking out another 3, it has only taken me about 8 weeks to effectivly "kick my Effexor" habit. There have been a few days of blurry vision and I know I'm more on edge but it is worth it. Just make sure you write down each day how many you are removing, easy to forget! | F | 42 | 2 years | 10/19/2009 | 1 | Bipolar 1 | weight gain, decreased libido, partial ED,delayed or failure to orgasam | Terrible withdrawl This drug should be removed from the market. | M | 52 | 2.5 years | 10/14/2009 | 5 | Sad, depressed, cry, out of sorts. | I do not believe I have any side effects. I still do occasionally cry but I am much better. This drug makes me a better me. I should have been taking meds when I was younger too but back then we did not know all that we know today. I had taken Zoloft before and tried to switch from it to Wellbrutin XL with no luck. Zoloft side effects for me were tiredness, less energy and low sex drive. I had to slowly get off Zoloft by doing without it every other day and then completely got off, then started taking Wellbrutin. It was awful. I cried alot, was panicking and was miserable. I had to start my Zoloft again. My husband saw me crying while sitting at my makeup mirror one Sunday morning and said "Get back on your Zoloft, doing without the few side effects are not worth it!" The doctor said it was because they are different types of drugs. So...I stayed on Zoloft for a few more years but was always tired. Finally my new doctor told me I could switch to Effexor XR without these | The only thing I hate is when you miss your dose. I buzz/zap after one missed dose like right now. I forgot I was almost out and then ran out and now I am buzzing. I have called it in and will pick it up on my lunch hour. I guess I will be taking this drug forever because I do not see ever getting off of it. The withdrawal is too hard. | F | 2 years | 10/5/2009 | 1 | Major Dep. & Borderline Personality | Emotional Numbness towards other peoples feelings, Obsessively stuck when feeling bad (depressive, but not as severe as off meds), Light Sensitivity (severe causing migranes), I could sleep all day, no motivation, Blurred vision, Memory issues, concentration issues, increased anxiety, vivid and bad dreams (wake up confused and unsure where I am), irritability - and all of this is amplified 10X when dose is missed PLUS mania, impulsive thoughts, high suicidal thoughts, self harm increase, nauseau, extreme dizziness, brain/body zaps (and that is an understatement), tremors | My dose is rather high, 375 mg daily. I am terrified of withdrawal, which is what keeps me taking them every day, but my depression causes me to want to "give up" and I will sabotage myself, missing my dose, making me sick. My self harm issue has been kept under control when I am taking the medication daily and my emotional down times are decreased quite a bit, but all of the bad things that come along with these meds almost aren't worth it. I wouldn't recommend this medication solely for the withdrawal symptoms. I am afraid that I will be on EFFEXOR XR permanently because I don't think I would survive withdrawal from stopping. Either that, or I will be hospitalized. These are scarey, scarey pills! | F | 38 | 3 years | 9/30/2009 | 4 | SAD, GAD, Panic attacks, ADD, | Sweating a lot, weight gain, sleaping a lot, chest pains. Brain zaps when missing a dose. Vivid dreams when going up or down in dose. Withdrawal was Hell. A lot of nausea and returning anxiety. | I have used other ADs before, but EFX was the best one so far. I got it when i had severe panic attacks and anxiety. It also worked for my ADD. For the first time in my life i didnt worry a lot about the little things. I could be myself around other people. I felt confident. I went to the gym almost every day and i started to cook everyday. I started with 75mg and after that switched to 150mg and then 225mg. The 150mg made me feel the best but also made me tired and less motivated. After 2 years i decided to quit because of worsening of the tiredness, which was so bad at times i could hardly function. It took me 1,5 years to go from 150mg to 0mg. The first 2 drops from 150mg to 112mg and 112mg to 75mg where ok. But below 75 it was utter hell. I didnt make it to 37,5mg so when i went back to 75mg i was ok again, but i noticed the efx didnt work the same anymore. After 6 months i was so tired i couldnt get out of bed so i decided to quit the EFX in hospital. This time it went remarkably well and within 2 weeks i went from 75mg to 0mg. After that i had for about 3 weeks little bit of brain zaps and a little bit of nauseau and i was also a zombie at times. Now 9 weeks later i still have a lot of mood swings which for part is of quitting the EFX but probably also my ADD. Also getting my feelings back which i lost for the most part. I still feel my brain is adjusting to be EFX free. The tiredness is still there so i am already looking for other causses. | M | 32 | 3.5 years | 9/20/2009 | 1 | Depression | Withdrawal - Brain zaps, incredibly vivid and scary dreams, mania, confusion. On the drug - weight gain, lack of motivation, fatigue. | I've been taking Effexor XR for a little over a year now and after another very unpleasant dream (I've had them before on withdrawal, but not this intense) I've realized that this drug is dangerous. When I first started taking it, I thought I was seeing some improvement, but I feel more unmotivated and depressed than I ever have today. After missing a dose (haven't missed a dose in awhile) I had the most vivid and unintelligible dream tonight that caused disorientation and confusion (I did not know where I was for a few min.) upon waking. Withdrawal symptoms will alter thinking and change behavior, and I've never gone more than 24-hours without a dose. I'm going to be tapering this drug off. Symptoms while taking the drug include weight gain and fatigue, and has done very little for my depression. I do not recommend this drug and using Effexor XR only as a last resort if you've taken everything else first. | M | 26 | 1.3 years | 9/8/2009 | 4 | Anxiety, Depression, Panic Disorder | Mild nausea, drowsiness during the day, but can't sleep at night, constipation, blurry vision, decreased appetite, difficulty urinating. | Overall the side effects haven't been too bad. I have recently tried several SSRIs with horrible side effects which is weird because those are supposedly the best tolerated. My depression has lifted tremendously since starting this drug (only on 37.5 mg), the anxiety and panic is still lingering but it seems to be improving. I am still taking Xanax once a day. The nausea is a little bothersome, hopefully it will subside soon. This is probably one of the better antidepressants out there. | F | 20 | 5 days | 9/6/2009 | 4 | Depression/Anxiety/no motivation! | I was on 150mg. for several years after starting with the 37.5mg. It was not until I weaned from 150 to 37.5 that I started having trouble. I didn't realize just how much it did help! For several months after weaning I started having horrible sweating spells. My mind wasn't sharp and things didn't look as clear as they once did. I could be standing somewhere and I'd start sweating with beads of sweat pouring off my temples, forehead, and down my back. I felt anxious and had no desire to go out and about. I began thinkng there must be something horribly wrong with me or I had thyroid issues going on because no one around me was sweating. After my blood work came back normal, I sat down with my doctor and talked more about the sweating. He seems to think it's because I'm on a very low dose of Effexor (after being on 150mg and going down to 37.5. He suggested I go back up to 75mg because when I was on a higher dose, I never had this profuse sweating thing going on, and I didn't feel as an | I'd like to hear more positive comments on Effexor! I tried Cymbalta and became suicidal! Cymbalta is definately not the right medication for me, even though it helps a lot of other people. It's trial and error, what works for some, may not work with others! | F | 58 | 4 years | 9/3/2009 | 5 | depression | weight gain, severe withdrawal symptoms upon missing a dose, no sex drive, | Prozac, Celexa, Wellbutrin, & Lexapro did not work for me. Even though the side effects aren't great, this drug has saved my life! I would suggest only using Effexor as a last resort due to the withdrawal issues. | F | 30 | 5 years | 9/1/2009 | 3 | this drug causes dependency. the withdrawal side effects include hallucinations. it is an effective antidepressant though. | M | 35 | 5 years | 8/31/2009 | 3 | Anxiety | Delayed ejaculation, increased anxiety whilst starting the meds. | Effexor(150mg)did help me with a bout of anxiety/panic which was causing me to be depressed. I noticed(after coming off it) that my emotions were blunted. Nothing really mattered. I was scared to try and ween off it but I pushed myself to do it. It took me about one month to totally ween off Effexor. Withdrawals were pretty bad at first but it eventually got better. I remember one Sunday when I felt like complete shit; flu like symptoms and terrible head spinning. Oh, and a few pretty freaky dreams. BUT IT GOT BETTER is my point.I feel great now that I've been off it a month. I hope to encourage anyone who is trying to get off Effexor to STICK IT OUT! | M | 34 | 1 years | 8/27/2009 | 4 | Depression, Panic Attacks , Aniexty | Loss sex drive; weight gain; night sweats; nightmares; muscle twitches and jerky when sleeping; ( miss a dose i get depression or panic attack- sometimes withdraw symptoms) | I take Effexor with the combination of YAZ for PMDD and it has worked for the best. I don't want to switch medicines again since I have been on quite a few- Prozac, Zoloft and Lexapro and also I am afraid of what the withdraw symptoms would be like. | F | 33 | 4 years | 8/25/2009 | 3 | mood disorder | extreme fatigue, weight gain, lethargy and general disconnect for most anything, "numb" emotions. Mean headaches and crazy dreams. | I feel its efficient at atabilizing my moods, but I am always sooooo tired and have lost motivation for most things that used to come naturally! I went to the Dr. to ask about the side effects like my brain pulsating, and the fact that I am so tired, and she wanted to double my dose to 300mg a day!! Seems crazy! I need to get off this stuff and find some kind of stabilizer that is as effective ut withiut these massive side effects :( | F | 29 | 3 years | 8/21/2009 | 1 | Depression | Severe head zaps, nightmares, suicidal thoughts and dizzy spells. | Thankfully I wasn't working during the almost year long process it took to get this drug out of my system. I originally took 3 months of slowly lowering the dose to try and avoid the known side effects in addition to another antidepressant recommended by my doctor. It took about another 6-9 months of horrible anxiety attacks, severe head zaps (couldn't drive for months) and on a few occasions I actually thought I was going to commit suicide. How I survived is nothing short of a miracle. The nightmares were so bad I couldn't/wouldn't sleep for days on end. I would NOT recommend taking this prescription. I still suffer from anxiety attacks and dizzy spells that I never even had prior to taking this medication. This drug is scary. I only recently have been able to work a part time job again. | F | 34 | 6 months | 8/19/2009 | 4 | Depression | Gained 60 pounds in 1.5 years. | First antidepressant that ever worked for me. It helped me get through business failure, divorce,& bankruptcy with a smile on my face. | F | 59 | 10 years | 8/13/2009 | 1 | Depression | Mania, weight loss..Bad side effects when taken off of Effexor. | I thought Effexor was working for me. I felt great when I was on it. However, I didn't notice at the time how manic I had become. I was doing stuff I wouldn't normally have done. I had to stop taking it because of finances. What a horrible mistake. That was the worst couple of weeks ever. I had brain zaps, insomnia, very upset all of the time, just couldn't focus. Horrible to come off of. | F | 28 | 6 months | 8/8/2009 | 5 | Low BP/OA/panic/anxiety/depression | NEG: 7 -10 days-profuse sweating; periodic brain zaps POS: Stabilized BP, increased energy, better sleep, helped depression, panic attacks and anxiety | This has been my wonder drug for everything except pain! BP was running 80s/40s, cardio tried EVERYTHING, to no avail. Internist precr this for other symptoms and had great side effect...BP 107/60s! Had tried numerous SSRIs, which I couldn't tolerate...rage, tremors, flushing, irreg heartbeat, etc. Tolerated this SNRI VERY WELL. Had taken 150mg x 2yrs, became preg, quit cold turkey w/NO side effects other than mildly incr depression. 2yrs later, on it again, STILL love it! | F | 42 | 3.5 years | 8/7/2009 | 3 | Depression | Horrible sexual side affects. Had the jitters, although I kinda liked the energy. Had episodes of rage once in a while. I knew withdrawls were expected which include dizziness and "brain flashes". | You really have to try this like others to see if it is right for you. | M | 35 | 2 years | 8/4/2009 | 3 | Depression/GAD | I've gone up to 225 and am having difficulty sleeping through the night. Sexual side effects - disinterest. Funny spacey-dizzy feeling if miss a dose or taper down faster than 35 mg decrements. | When I went down to 75mg I had a major depressive episode. | F | 43 | 5 years | 7/29/2009 |