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 |
| 5 | Hot flashes | First week, slight appetite problems so far hot flashes are to a minimum | F | 44 | 4 months | 11/29/2004 | 4 | Severe depression, mild anxiety | Insomnia, jitters, decreased appetite (including 15 lb weight loss) and mild muscle spasms at outset. Long term effects include increased sex drive, increased sweating, occasional dry mouth, mild constipation and flatulence (farts are funny, I don't mind this particular side effect :) | Effexor XR has been the best antidepressant I have ever been on. I have tried Paxil, Prozac, Celexa, Epival and St. John's wort with only limited success. Effexor has given me back my ability to function normally, has increased my energy level and has boosted my libido. This drug is well worth the side effects, which have been quite mild in my case. I am currently taking 450 mg/day. I would recommend that this drug be taken in the morning rather than the evening as it can cause insomnia. | F | 24 | 9 months | 11/29/2004 | 2 | Fibromyalgia | Substantial weight gain. | Cleared up depression that can accompany severe physical pain. Withdrawl Hell - I ended up here looking for information on withdrawl problems. Within 1-2 two days, hotflashes and sweats sometimes every 5-10 minutes during the day and nightsweats. Severe vertigo turning my head when waking up in the morning and lying down at night. Insomnia within 3 days. I have resumed taking this drug at least 4 times to stop the side effects. Going off again but tapering from 37.5 very slowly. | F | 4 years | 11/29/2004 | 5 | | 11/28/2004 | 4 | depression | Not much that I know of. Maybe slightly less sexual desire but don't know if that is hormonal. | Has worked the longest of anyone I have taken. I feel a little depressed lately but not sure if I want to change the dose. | F | 45 | 3 years | 11/27/2004 | 4 | depression | Not much that I know of. Maybe slightly less sexual desire but don't know if that is hormonal. | Has worked the longest of anyone I have taken. I feel a little depressed lately but not sure if I want to change the dose. | F | 45 | 3 years | 11/27/2004 | 4 | Anxiety attacks | While using effexor, it helped tremendously on my anxiety. I used it for 4 years and felt that I would be able to function fine without any further treatment. With the help of my doctor I slowly winged myself off...the withdrawls are HORRIBLE! constant jolting, electric shock feeling, dizzyness, confusion, ringing in the ears, emotions run on high! I am now 3 weeks into withdrawls and it feels as if it is still day one. I have been looking for material on how long symptoms are expected to last. | If I could do it all over again, and if I would have been informed of the severity of the withdrawls, I never would have agreed to take effexor! | F | 36 | 4 years | 11/27/2004 | 1 | Depression / Anxiety / Chronic Pain | Weight gain, insomnia. While weaning off: insomnia, violent mood swings, body shocks, tremmors, nausea, vomiting, vertigo, felt like a junkie, headaches, auditory and visual problems, depression, crying spells, just felt physically | DO NOT START TAKING THIS MEDICATION UNLESS YOU PLAN ON STAYING ON IT THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. I have no doubt that this medication is helpful for some people... I think the vast majority however should stay off this drug. Please do research on it before you start taking it. If you've started and want to get off of it, wean off very very slowly. Join chat groups etc online for support, because you'll need it. If your Dr tries to make you go off this cold turkey, and doesn't understand your needs, find another Dr. Some people have no problems, but most do. I started taking Effexor in March of 2004-October 2004 for depression caused by chronic pain from a car accident. I've had no prior problems with depression, and currently am taking no other medication after what I'm STILL going through with Effexor. I started out at 37.5mg, and moved up to 150mg per day. I attempted to wean myself off in June, and after a couple of days without Effexor, I began having a very strange feeling in my head, and couldn't move my eyes to the left or the right without feeling that blood was rushing past my ears in a sort of | F | 34 | 8 months | 11/27/2004 | 1 | depression | [email protected] continued | Apparently there is a limit! Guess I went on to long... I eventually weaned off by opening capsules and pouring about half out.. and reassembling the capsule. It took me about two months to get to the point where I was taking about 10 granuals every three days... then I quit altogether. People are still having problems with this medication even after being off of it for 8 months or more. Please don't take this medication. Getting off this DRUG is a living hell. | F | 34 | 8 months | 11/27/2004 | 4 | Anxiety - not sleeping | For the first 2 weeks I had dry mouth and that was explained before I started taking the drug. | Have been off the drug for 2 weeks. I slowly tapered as directed. Now off I do have a slight feeling of imbalance in my head, but no body side effects. The imbalance is less and less pronounced as each day goes by. My new physician said I probably should have only taken the drug up to one year. My old physician thought if it was helping me sleep at night and keeping me calm (and being I had no major side effects) I might want to stay on it for as long as I wanted or forever. I knew at 1-1/2 years I needed to stop. The slight imbalance I feel now is annoying at times, but my pharmacist said it will go away in time. He said anywhere from a few weeks to maybe 6 months. I'm hoping for a few weeks. | F | 50 | 2 years | 11/26/2004 | 5 | Panic attacks, general anxiety | Besides a couple of days in the begining where my sleep was disturbed, and sometimes at work I could not write down what I was thinking, nothing else. | This medication has helped me a great deal, I am now more confident in myself, I started to go back to the gym, I can drive my car where I want without fear of loosing it... and even if I do think about it for a minute I can bring my self to a normal level of stress. I am patient with my kids, I have more energy, I started cooking in the last month like I use to like it a long time a go. I hope to be able to decrease the medication sometime next year. | F | 33 | 10 months | 11/24/2004 | 5 | using for bipolar disorder | using in conjunction with rivitrol, mild side effects, but have noticed some lactation! and hot flushes | feel great, do not think would have survived without it, had tried numerous other antidepressants, none as successful | F | 41 | 2 years | 11/24/2004 | 1 | Depression | Complete inability to orgasm. Feeling of | AFTER going off Effexor--slowly, as recommended by my doctor--I had brain zaps and I was unable to function for two days. I would sit and stare at one spot in space and realize, an hour later, that I had been sitting and staring. I would resolve to do something, and the same thing would occur. As that got lesser, I was unable to concentrate. I had just graduated with a BS in Physics and I was unable to do the simplest addition, and therefore, unable to do my job. This lasted for three weeks. It was slowly better, but my concentration didn't get better until three weeks after that when I realized, | F | 23 | 6 months | 11/23/2004 | 3 | bulimia, social anxiety, depression | when i missed a dose: severe nausea, headaches, bizzare vivid violent bloody nightmares where i'd wake up drenched in sweat, excessive easy sweating for even the mildest excercise, increased hunger and i gained 15 pds in 8 months. | prozac and paxil didn't help. so my doc put me on effexor. i was on 150mg for 3 months for my bulimia/depression/anxiety. It didn't help and my doctor increased my dosage to 225. i've been on it for 8 months now. it's helped with the urge to binge purge and my anxiety/depression but i've gained 15 lbs!!i hate it! i'm terrifed of weight gain and though effexor has curbed my urges it's made me fat!!i can't take it anymore. i don't care that my doc says it can't be effexor cause in studies it's shown to actually have anorexic effects!i wish! | F | 25 | 8 months | 11/22/2004 | 5 | chronic depression | difficult in reaching orgasm | Neither Paxil nor Wellbutrin had any significant effect on my depression. Effexor XR works very well to date at 225mg/day but I an concerned that over the long term the drug may not continue to be effective. I have started CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) to supplement the medication. (The Feeling Good Handbook by David D. Burns, M.D.) | M | 57 | 2 years | 11/21/2004 | 4 | major depression anxiety and ocd | none | As soon as I went up to 75mg I noticed a difference immediatly, I felt better and had more energy but it takes a few hours to really kick in so I take it early in the morning.Some days it doesnt work quite as well as other days and some days it doesnt work at all but some days I feel really good and thats a big difference for me.Im not sure if its helping with the anxiety or the ocd but Im happy just to be able to feel better. | F | 34 | 5 weeks | 11/21/2004 | 4 | depression | M | 23 | 16 weeks | 11/21/2004 | 4 | depression--situational/biochemical | Night sweats, interrupted sleep most nights, seriously dry mouth when I wake up. These I can tolerate. But the wooziness! It's somewhere between dizzy and light headed. It's not particularly painful, but it is frequent and uncomfortable. On the other hand, I am functioning again. | 8 years on SSRIs. Was taking Lexapro which was much like taking nothing. Could barely function and was in danger of losing my job. Switched to EffexorXR for the addition of norepinephrine. Definitely have more energy, but still not enough. May increase dosage again, but I'm concerned about the wooziness. | F | 44 | 3 months | 11/17/2004 | 1 | ADHD | HELL ON EARTH. Suicidal ideation, extreme hostility, tremors, sleep disorders, panic attacks, complete lack of focus. | AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Just a shakedown by shrinks. The standard line when things got worse was | F | 40 | 4 years | 11/17/2004 | 3 | F | 21 | 5 days | 11/15/2004 |