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 |
| 3 | Anxiety | While on Effexor XR I felt happy all the time and was generally in a good mood. Realizing that humans should have feelings of sadness, anger, depression...sometimes, I asked my doctor to take me off of the Effexor. I now have found better ways to deal with my anxiety in the forms of yoga, meditation, tai chi and relaxation methods. However, since being "weened" off by my doctor I have been extremely dizzy, tired, easily aggitated, and vertigo. I have tried drinking detox teas in order to speed up the recovery time. Does anyone have suggestions for the dizziness?! HELP! | F | 40 | 1 years | 4/7/2007 | 1 | Post term-2 miscarriage Depression | Horrible insomnia, shakes, the "brain shivers" many talk about, and I couldn't sit still. I lost over 50 lbs in the last 6 months just from lack of eating or throwing up what I did eat. The doctor knew I was on Steroid inhalers and a smoker when not pregnant, but did nothing when my blood pressure skyrocketed but double my dose. I had to stop working because I work in Tech/IT and I couldn't stare at a computer screen or focus my eyes without becoming violently nauseous. Horrible vertigo -- I felt like I was always in a bad hash high and scarily disconnected from my body. I started S/I again for the first time in years while on Effexor. It all finally came to a hilt after not taking 2 doses under doctors orders New Years Eve because I knew I would be drinking. Full blown hallucinations - slipped into a dissociative episode and called the cops on my husband thinking he was a boyfriend who died almost 10 years ago and trying to kill me. When I told the doctor about the episode, | The doctor put me on Effexor after miscarrying in my 5th month of pregnancy, but did not prescribe any kind of Grief Therapy. | F | 27 | 8 months | 4/7/2007 | 4 | Panic and Anxiety | Sweating during sleep - if missed dose - sweating increased dramatically. Confusion during early days of taking effexor, subsides after a few weeks. Increase in dreaming. Flat affect (not necessarily a bad thing!) | Worth the side effects! | F | 25 | 5 months | 4/6/2007 | 4 | Depression/Anxiety | Constipation, nausea | I have been taking Effexor for 6 weeks now and love it. I have lost 20lbs (partially due to nausea but worth it) | F | 32 | 6 days | 4/5/2007 | 4 | Depression and anxiety | Sedation (had to start taking it at night); decreased libido | Effexor alone was only somewhat helpful for me for anxiety and depression. I had to stop taking it in the morning and start taking it at night because it makes me sleeply. Now, I take 300 mg. daily in combo with 30 mg. of Remeron. The combination is a godsend. It ended an adult lifetime of torturous anxiety and periodic bouts of morbid depression. I sleep like a baby, wake up feeling fine, experience a normal range of emotion during the day, have good concentration and mental clarity, and am loving life clean, sober, and awake. Effexor and remeron together are powerful medecine, if you can make peace with them. The only drawback to remeron is a battle against weight gain (see remeron ratings for more info.) And, the decreased libido with effexor is a hassel. But, living virtually free of fear and depression is worth the effort to compensate for the side effects, in my experience. | M | 41 | 14 months | 4/4/2007 | 1 | i am so afraid to start after readin the comments | F | 62 | | 4/4/2007 | 3 | depression and anxiety | very tired at first,feeling totally "out of it", extremely dry mouth, vivid dreams, sweat a bit more and difficulty urinating. | was originally taking 75mg once a day which took effect after a week. my mood lifted (had been on lexapro for 2months and it didnt help at all). was great..but after 3 months my mood and concentration dropped so doctor put me up to 150mg once a day. have been on 150mg for 5 days now and i feel so "out of it" still. walking around in a bit of a daze. all i want to do is sit and do nothing..as i feel i cant do anything. also..extreme difficulty urinating..takes me ages to "go" anybody else have this problem? really not looking forward to tapering of this med..sounds awful. | F | 21 | 3 months | 4/1/2007 | 1 | depression | No side effects felt at first. Now dealing with HP and liver problems, night sweats, headaches, strange dreams, lack of appitite, fatigue, lack of sex drive. | THIS DRUG IS DANGEROUS. DO NOT TAKE. At first this drug seemed great. Now, this drug scares me. It is messing up my body..ie HP, liver problems...being check for any other problems. Now, reading about getting off Effexor is even more sacry. But it must be done. I don't want to die from the side effects that Effexor causes. | F | 48 | 2 years | 4/1/2007 | 5 | depression and addiction | stopped the craving for the drug | F | 43 | | 3/31/2007 | 5 | Major Depression, PTSD, Anxiety, PD | When I first started taking it I was on 75 mg. and felt very tired and did not feel any difference. My Dr. bumped me up to 150 mg. and I still felt tired and agitated. I was then bumped up to 225mg and I started feeling a bit better but was still experiencing depression, agitation, irritability, and being tired. My Doctor bumped me up to 300 mg of Effexor and 150 mg of Wellbutrin and this was the solution for me. It took 6 months on this dosage for me to feel completely like myself again but every day was a better one. I have had a very good experience with effexor and with it and my Doctor my life was truly saved. | Effexor XR did not cause me to gain weight in fact, I actually was able to lose weight. However, I think that is due to the fact that when I am depressed I tend to overeat and when I'm not depressed I can manage my diet in a healthy manner. I highly suggest that you find a Psychiatrist that you feel comfortable with and who understands how the medications work. For the first 6 months, I worked with my Doctor once a week to insure my dosage was proper as we were both committed to making me healthy again. I can now check in with him every few months but no matter what I know that he is just a phone call away if I have any questions or concerns. I would also suggest that you include your loved ones in your treatment as they will notice things that you may not. It's important for your Doctor to have complete information to be able to help you. I know that this may not work for everyone but it has been a godsend to me and I am very thankful! | F | 40 | 4 years | 3/31/2007 | 1 | depression | I ingested one low-dose Effexor pill. After a few minutes my body violently threw it up. | I guess my body thought it was poison. | F | 38 | 1 times | 3/31/2007 | 5 | IBS | I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome. My GI Doctor put me on 75mg once a day to help increase my pain threshold. After about 4 years, he increased it to 75mg twice a day. Now it not only helps me deal with my IBS pain, but it provides me with a sense of clalm. It really makes life and all the curve balls it can throw at you, a little bit easier to deal with. | I don't like to be without it. When I miss a dose, I feel like things are overwhelming. Once, the doctor mistakenly gave me regular Effexor (not XR) and its calming effects did not last as long. I could tell the difference. I lost my temper. I felt shakey. Then I figured out, it was the medication. I would urge everyone to check their prescriptions to make sure they are correct before taking them. | F | 35 | 5 years | 3/30/2007 | 4 | migraine control (prevention) | IF EFFEXOR CAUSED YOU EXTREME FATIGUE, PLEASE EMAIL ME! HOW LONG DID IT TAKE AFTER STOPPING for this side effect to abate? In combination with Inderal, Effexor (up to 112mg daily, but usually 75mg daily) reduced my headaches from 16 to 8 a month. But I was so sleepy I could barely function. Since I can usually get rid of a migraine in an hour with Zomig, I decided headaches were preferable 24/7 fatigue. I weaned slowly off the Effexor & Inderal. I’ve been completely off Effexor for about 2 wks (Inderal for over 3), yet I’m still plagued with awful sleepiness by midmorning. I fight the urge to nap, & I take Provigil, prescribed to counteract the tiredness. My blood work is normal, so causes like iron, thyroid, or infection were ruled. I’m not depressed & am otherwise healthy. I called both Wyeth Pharmaceuticals & a psychiatrist friend of mine--neither had ever heard of it taking this long to get back to normal after stopping Effexor. As the Wyeth l | Incredibly effective for me as an appetite suppressant(I lost 15 lbs!), although my sister, who takes a much higher dose for depression, did not have that experience. | M | 47 | 3 months | 3/30/2007 | 1 | Depression | Exhaustion and lethargy, nasuea, dizzines, vomiting, after missing ONE dose I would have terrible withdrawl symptoms-asthenia,being lightheaded and dizzy, cannot tolerate alcohol. This has been awful. I cannot wait to be weaned off of this drug completely. Effexor has been way more harmful than helpful. | F | 24 | 3 months | 3/30/2007 | 5 | Migrane | Tiredness and lack of sex drive. | Effexor XR/150mg per day has made a great difference in my confidence and career. I am not scared to tackle new items and an very outgoing now. I recently worked for a major corporation (been outsourced for about a year now), and achieved a top rating amoung my peers (Top 20% performance for the corporation, Approx 125,000 employees). This med has given me the edge that I needed to tackle the required tasks that I was assigned without being filled with fear or lack of confidence. Even though I started the meds to prevent Migranes, I have found that it fixed many other issues, that I did not relize were getting in the way of my sucess. I was rasied with the concept of only consume natural items to feel good but found that some of the natural foods were causing a lot of my problems as well (ie Dairy, vitamins, were causing increase in migranes). After 12 years of use I still have benefits of the 150mg dose per day. I have come to the conclusion after several attempts to discontinue that | M | 50 | 12 years | 3/28/2007 | 5 | Depression | On 300mg: crazy dreams, periods of night sweats, constipation, decreased short term memory, decreased attentiveness. Withdrawl over 12 weeks: diarrehea (slowly settling down), headaches immediately after dose decrease, for a few days (gone now). Nails have gone hard. Minor emotional periods (sad, angry) for only a few days each. Been 3 weeks off and have had pretty bad joint pain for last week. | Yes I had some minor side effects but my quality of life was vastly improved while I was on this medication. I was very happy in how it dealt with my depression. Without taking it I would have not been able to achieve the things I have personally or professionally. | F | 29 | 7 years | 3/28/2007 | 5 | Depression and Anxiety | Dry mouth, weight loss!! grinding teeth, Headache for the first two days, no appetite, calmness | 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 | 3 weeks | 3/28/2007 | 5 | Migrane | Tiredness and lack of sex drive. | Cont from previous comments... Maybe think of it like this. Years ago we did not have cell phones now we use them everyday to make our life better. Do you feel your cell phone should be given up because of your fear of being dependant on your cell phone vendor ??? I know this is not exactly the same thing but my point here is that if your life is much better with new technology (or meds) why not take advantage of that ??? I am currently 50 years old and been married once, for 30 years and held the same job for 29 years. I have no doubt that the meds has helped to make this possible (took Elevil for 15 years previously) and my wife has made statements to the fact that before med's she was not sure if she could hang in there, but now I am more like the person she though she married... If I found that the long term effect was that this drug will shorten your life by 10 years (for example), I would still take it due to the fact that I believe that quality of life is far more importan | M | 50 | 12 years | 3/28/2007 | 5 | depression, panic attacks, social a | I started 2 years ago for depression, panic attacks and social anxiety. The first week was hell. I felt like I was on speed, but after my body adjusted it gave me my life back. I stopped over analyzing everything, I was able to go out without thinking everyone was looking at me, and I was able to get out of bed willingly every day. I truly felt "normal". After 2 years, I decided that I would like to give life without meds a try, BIG MISTAKE!!! I weaned slowly from 150mg to 75 to 37.5 and off. I feel nauseous alot and my depression and social anxiety has returned almost 100%. I'm thinking seriously about going back on, but after reading some of your comments, I'm a bit scared. I'll talk to my Dr. and try to do some research. | Has anyone gone off Effexor and then gone back on? | F | 36 | 2 years | 3/28/2007 | 3 | anxiety mood swings | none really so far, i had some lightheadedness the first night i took it, but nothing more since, improved mood already and seem to be calmer and its only been 5 days | i had read all the negative comments on this page abou this drug and thought surely my doctor would nto put me ont his knowing it can do this much damage......so i started taking it and its been 5 days.... the first day i took it in the evning and got a little light headed but it went away fast.... i already feel somewhat better... i am in a better mood and when something has happened in the negataive i havent freaked out with panic like i would have before...i know it hasnt been that long so we'll see but also i was an hour late taking the med last night and i had no side effects at all.... no night mares no sickness nothing, so we'll see... the only thing i am worried about is i am a gastric bypass patient 4 years out and i am concerned about weight gain.... so far i haven't experienced a difference in my appetite so thats a good thing.........good luck to everyone on this ans hopefully someone else will have the same luck i have. | F | 35 | 5 days | 3/28/2007 |