EFFEXOR XR Reviews (VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 3.0 (2225 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare EFFEXOR XR with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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More on EFFEXOR XR: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR EFFEXOR XR | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 4 | Depression and anxiety | Libido reduction, delayed orgasm, increased sweating, dry mouth,some sleep disturbance. | Effexor has helped lift the depressive illness that was getting worse. I am no longer anxious, and the pain in my head from feeling down has gone too. My appetite has returned (and that is because I am feeling happier) and so far no weight gain. That surprised me considering I am eating ALOT more. I am sleeping somewhat better, but not as good as I expected to be. The only thing I really dislike about the drug is the increased sweating which occurs at various intervals during the day. I can live with the sexual side effects because when I Was depressed I didnt feel like sex anyway. Overall, Effexor is effective for lifting depression and is one of the best I have tried. | M | 40 | 6 weeks | 8/24/2007 | 1 | General Anxiety Disorder | Cold/hot flashes, very foggy, extreme dizziness, fatigue, anxiety, confusion, memory loss, very strange dreams that seemed real. Felt out of my own body. I was even taking it with .25 mg Xanax to help ease the symptoms!! The 4th day was the worst when I cut the Xanax is half because both were making me so sleepy at work. | This may work for some, but I'm scared to take it anymore. | F | 50 | 4 days | 8/22/2007 | 1 | Depression, panic, anxiety | Vivid dreams, grinding teeth, change in vision, very jumpy (not good when driving),not caring about anything, feel like I can't hold my head up, lower back muscles twitch, terrible insomnia....and about 15 more. | Thank God for this site!I have a Dr. Apt. tomorrow and I want off of this med. (I must admit the withdraw terrifies me)I have so many of the symptoms listed I can't believe it. I'd told my Dr. about many of them. He just writes and smirks. He thinks I read too much. Well I told him these things before I read this. I just spent a week in a Psych. ward. The Dr. there upped my dose of effexor xr. In the week and a half that I've been home I've thought about dying more than ever. I just thought all of the symptoms were "in my head" or I had MS or something. Now I can relax a little. It's the med. that's supposed to be making me feel better that's making me feel worse! | F | 44 | 6 months | 8/21/2007 | 1 | Major Depression | Increased suicidality and suicidal ideation. Increased memory of dreams (waking during REM cycle) and thus constant tiredness. Change in personality - increased irritability, increased agressiveness. | Withdrawing from this drug has been a nightmare. Forgetting one dose, and I was nautious and disoriented, with numb and tingly skin, brain shivers, crazed appetite (minimal to excessive). When it was decided that the side effects were minimal compared to meclobemide (Arima) and sertraline (Zoloft) my dose was upped to 300mg at the highest. At no point did it do anything to stableise or elevate my mood. At no point was I warned that my personality would change and I would loose my social network. At no point was I informed that it *was* addictive in humans, despite non-human testing showing otherwise. At no point would I have taken this drug if I had known that I would miss vital days of my final year at school, lose the respect of my employer, and loose my friends as a result of withdrawing from it after a very short period. I had never had difficulty withdrawing from other medications previously, and had never found myself addicted to anything, and was suprised to find such a chan | F | 17 | 3 months | 8/18/2007 | 5 | Depression | In the first six months of beginning Effexor XR i put on close to 30 lbs. Withdrawal symptoms are a nightmare. I take 225mg everyday and if I miss two days I feel like I am about to die (EXTREME nausea, headaches, confusion) | Even though there have been some umwanted side effects (like gaining 30 lbs) this drug has done wonders for my depression. Even though I have gained weight I feel a 1000 times better about myself than I did before and have not had hardly any depressive episodes for almost 2 years now. | M | 24 | 2.5 years | 8/16/2007 | 4 | depression after heart surgery | Virtually no sex drive whatsoever. I do believe that I am addicted. | I have been taking effexor & now xr for 15 years. Although it has stabilized my mental outlook for quite some time, I have developed several types of unnecessary frustrations that are very difficult to live with. | M | 67 | 15 years | 8/14/2007 | 1 | Anxiety | I start getting the worse migraine headaches of my life. | F | 47 | 6 days | 8/14/2007 | 4 | anxiety / OCD | I have been off and on this medication a few times over the past 6 years. I definitely gain about 10-15 pounds on it (but not as much as I did on the SSRIs). The weight comes off rather quickly when I go off it. It also dulls my sex drive, making it much harder to orgasm. Other side effects include dry / less vibrant skin, some fatigue (although managable), and dry mouth. (My dose has been anywhere from 37.5 mg for several months to 225 mg for several months -- even the lowest dose is somewhat effective but the higher dose is even more effective - but the side effects are more pronounced at higher doses). | I've tried almost all of the antidepressants for anxiety and some minor OCD tendencies and in my opinion, effexor is the best of its kind. It really changed my life for the better in many ways. I am extremely upbeat and positive when I'm on it and also a lot more productive and focused. It does not affect my ability to think straight at work. In fact, it increases my ability to focus. On the flip side, I hate the weight gain and the other side effects. They are definitely from the medication as I've been off it and on it enough times to be sure of this. I do think the side effects are less at lower doses so I recommend staying on the lowest dose you can. Withdrawal is not as bad as people make it out to be if you taper the medication. Yes, there are a few days at the end where you feel a bit flu-like but it's not that big of a deal. | F | 33 | 6 years | 8/13/2007 | 4 | Anxiety and depression | Loss of libido was the biggest side effect. | This did help with my anxiety since I took a low dose, but I felt like I couldn't think clearly. I also noticed that when it would rain I felt like a zombie, but I didn't have that when I was off the medicine. I was on for 4 years total, 2 years each time with 2 years in between. When I did stop taking it I felt dizzy on and off for about 2 weeks. I feel better off of it. I just have to learn to deal with my anxiety which is ok. | F | 27 | 4 years | 8/13/2007 | 4 | mild depression | None while I was on but unbelievable bad side effects when I tapered off. | This medication is very dangerous, I tapered off for over two months and then stopped because I was still feeling side effects as I was tappering off and here it is more then 4 months later and I am still feeling the effects, every part of my body aches, I am very tired all the time, hard to sleep because I ach so bad. If I go to my Dr. he will put me on another medication for the aches and I am trying alternitives at this time. I have always walked and I cannot any more because I hurt so bad, after. So now I am putting on weight. At this point I am at a loss I have been to the chroprator and he did not help. I do not know who can help me at this point. I am affaid I am doing some damage to my body because I ach so bad all the time. Please can anyone help me. | F | 66 | 3 days | 8/13/2007 | 5 | situational depression, anxiety | No side effects switching to this drug. Accidentally skipped 2 doses, experienced what felt like blood pressure spikes or shocks to my head/ears. Imperative that this drug be slowly decreased to get off it. | This is my first time on antidepressants. Started on Welbutrin for 2 months - worked but took away the pleasure I get from smoking and I wasn't ready to quit. Switched to Lexipro - worked for a couple months then the anxiety/anger problems started again. Switched to Effexor XR 75 mg 6 months ago. No side effects and the depression and anxiety are gone. I have felt normal on this drug. Accidentally skipped 2 doses and the feeling of shocks in my head/ears scared me big time. I checked on the CDER web site, realized the symptoms were temporary and should subside now that I've remembered to take it again. Once my husband is home from Iraq, I will get off this drug...but SLOWLY. | F | 51 | 6 months | 8/12/2007 | 5 | Depression | Can't think of any | I have been on antidepressants for over 10 years. Have taken just about all of them to this point. I have been on Effexor for 3 years. Have increased the dose form 75 mg. to 113 mgs.and can't say that I have had any major side affects. Everything that has been listed here I had on other anti-depressants. I have more sex drive now than ever and feel great about life in general most of the time, despite having had some very serious life changing things happen; ie- death of daughter,divorce,death of grandchild, serious relationship break up, etc. I cope with these things better than I ever could before. | F | 50 | 3 years | 8/12/2007 | 4 | SAD/GAD | headaches, neck aches, tiredness and night sweats | I'm taking 75 mg once daily. It has helped with my GAD and SAD but find the side effects to be too much some days when I need to get going. I can be sluggish one day and on the go the next. sometimes I feel I can't rest my legs at night and have night sweats. | F | 49 | 5 weeks | 8/12/2007 | 3 | Menopausal Madness | Bright Flashes in my eyes, a strange fullness in my ears | If I missed a dose it would make me miserable. When I finally decided to stop taking it I went through a 3 week withdrawal with visual hallucinations and horrible bouts of mood swings | F | 56 | 2 years | 8/12/2007 | 1 | Depression & Emoyional problems | AWFUL!!!! Shaky, tired & suicidal! Terrible withdrawl for 3 wks when going off this medication. Scariest time of my life with medication. | F | 45 | 8 months | 8/12/2007 | 4 | major depression | No libido, delayed orgasm, loss of inhibition, sleepiness, flatulence, | I started looking at porn once in awhile to help libido which worked but made my wife mad as hell. Since taking I found markedly less inhibitions toward other women. I never used to be this way. Just got fired for kissing a woman's hand. No problems missing a dose. At 375 mg per day and will have to cut back. Effexor worked dramatically for me relieving severe depression, and restoring some semblance of "normality." I think I may be taking too much. Tried Wellbutrin, Paxil, Zoloft with no success. | M | 60 | 4 years | 8/11/2007 | 1 | depression/anxiety disorder | sleeplessness, 'fuzzy thinking', lack of concentration, lack of memory, unrational behvaviour, extreme anger/agitation, oh ya, sweats too ... | where do i start? this has been a nightmare ... i wish i had been smart enough to do research on effexor BEFORE i went on it ... my mood swings were extreme ... yelling, cursing, swearing ... calling the people i love the most, the worst names i could ... throwing things across the room in anger ... not good at all ... the med made me more anxious than before ... agitation, sleeplessness ... led to prescriptions for other meds ... before i knew it, i was dependent on sleep meds, and was being prescribed tranquilizer type meds too ... i suppose if i had not been on the effexor, i would have been clear-headed enough to know not to take anything else, but i couldn't form a coherent thought for the life of me ... i was off work for the longest time, finally got back to work and tried to wean off the med ... that's when it really hit the fan ... in my 43 years previous, i had never had any trouble with violence or extreme anger ... but i made up for it in the last year and half on this med | M | 43 | 1.5 years | 8/11/2007 | 1 | depression | suicidal thoughts, mood swings, anger, violent outbursts, crying | titrating off of it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I was so ill I ended up in the hospital. | F | 26 | 6 months | 8/11/2007 | 1 | Sleep disorder | While the Effexor XR did help me regain a normal sleep pattern, the cost of gaining 50+ pounds was not worth it. | I would not recommend taking this medicine unless you need it for a severe or life-threatening condition. | F | 41 | 4 years | 8/11/2007 | 1 | Bipolar/Anxiety/Depression | Lack of sex drive, decreased appetite, manic episodes, brain shivers. | I'm not sure why I was given Effexor XR since I'm bipolar and it's been shown to increase manic episodes... but at the time I had not known that and was taking 75mg daily. I had been on Lexapro, which was all right, but my psychiatrist suggested trying Effexor since I was still having some problems with anxiety and sleeping. I took it for about 2 months when I started to notice I was irritable more often. Eventually irritable turned into manic episodes and I decided I wanted off, especially since I hadn't noticed any positive effects. The withdrawl was awful. At first I thought I just had a weird headache, but the "brain shivers" started occuring every few minutes... or seconds. I endured it for about 3 weeks, and I was given a generic to take whenever I felt as though I needed it. Now I'm completely off SSRI's and SNRI's (Effexor) and I will never go back on one... the Effexor totally killed antidepressants for me. The only thing I take now is Lamictal and Klonopin (as neede | M | 19 | 2 months | 8/11/2007 |