User Reviews for Effexor XR oral

Can't sleep this is a horrible side affect I find that I am worse with this treatment

BEWARE: I really wish I could give this drug -1000000000. At first, life was great, I didn’t know any better that I was in the works for a living nightmare that is, Effexor. If I missed my dose by even 10 minutes, I would get the WORST withdrawal symptoms. I went on a trip for a week, and forgot all my Effexor, easily the worst week of my entire life. Extremely bad brain zaps, bad diarrhea, vomiting, and over all flu feeling. Along with all that, it honestly felt like someone was tazing my legs…. So horrible brain and leg zaps. I was so beyond sick, I spent the majority of my vacation in the bathroom. As soon as I got home and took my missed dose, I started to feel completely normal within 2 years. I BEGGED my psychiatrist to take me off of this because the withdrawal was so severe for me. DO NOT TAKE EVER! RUN FROM THIS!Read More Read Less

I've been on several medications to help with my PTSD, depression and anxiety. (Celexa, Zoloft, Prozac, Minipress, Buspar, Khlonopin) None of them worked and I would have terrible side effects, especially on the Prozac & Celexa. Effexor is truly amazing! It started working so fast! a complete 180 from where I was. The only slight issues I've had is decreased sleep and appetite, but its slowly going back to normal. I've always had some sleep issues anyways. My appetite has gone nearly back to normal, if not better than before now that I've been on it for about a month. Nothing can completely take everything away and there is no fix all but man has this medication helped. I also take it with Vistaril sometimes and the two compliment each other with no side effects with my body chemistry. Everybody is different and some medications don't work for some people, while working tremendously for others. DONT GIVE UP!Read More Read Less

I was very nervous to start this medication due to reviews - I have tried so many medications for my anxiety, depression and PTSD and I cannot put into words how much this medication saved my life - I have no side effects and I finally have a noticeable difference - life feels like a breath of fresh air. Old medications I used to get suicidal thoughts way more, no sex drive, and it just in general didn't feel like it worked no matter the dosage or medication but this is the first medication I've used and I have pretty severe anxiety. I started at 75mg and after two months went up to 150mg. This is a medication I would be okay staying on forever if needed. Even if I go off and the withdrawals are as bad as the reviews, it will be worth it for the clarity it has given me. A lot of reviews say the withdrawals aren't bad as long as you go off slowly - which is common for any medication. My doctor recommended taking it before bed. Read More Read Less

Effexor did not do much for me which is not surprising since i’ve tried seven antidepressants from different categories and none have worked. I’m in the process of getting off the medication and it has been hell. The withdrawals have been unbearable and Ive been in pain 24/7. No matter how slowly I lower the dosage, I am met with terrible symptoms. Unless you are very sure Effexor will work for you, it is not worth the side effects.

This was the worst medication I've ever taken. I got crazy mood swings and the Doctor thought my dose needed to be increased. After the increase I became suicidal, aggressive and started blacking out. Coming off of this medication wasn't any easier either, it was a horrific experience with horrible withdrawals.

Update. I’m in my 5th week of 150mg’s Venlafaxine XR. I’m feeling more like myself. The severe anxiety/panic and depersonalization is almost non existent. The first 4 weeks were hell. Nausea, dry mouth, severe sweating, flushing neck/face, heightened anxiety and panic but now all of these are gone. I would highly recommend this med, it is giving me my life back. Praise God for giving me the strength to make it through the first 4 weeks.

I have taken Effexor for a number of years now and had an improvement in anxiety and depression. That being said, the drawback is, it also takes away most of your feelings. Not only am I less anxious but neither do I feel much of anything else. I haven’t cried for years or felt much joy. Even at very appropriate times, I have no ability to cry. It’s not that I don’t feel bad, I do, it’s just no real emotion comes with it. Sometimes I think people think I’m so cold. But, the biggest problem with it, is that it can cause SIGNIFICANT high blood pressure. When I first started to take it, the prescriber had me check my BP frequently. I had a small bump up but not enough to stop it. Felt it was d/t anxiety. To make a long story short, over the years my blood pressure kept climbing not thinking it was d/t Effexor. The PCP and cardiologist kept adding more combinations of meds to control BP up to 3 meds at a time still with poor control 150-200/90-100Then one day I started thinking maybe it was the Effexor and suggested I start to taper it. And guess what, BP now 110-120/60/70 completely off Effexor. It wasn’t easy stopping the Effexor even though I went very slowly and even now after 3 mos I still can wake up with night sweats (22 years post- menopausal)and itchiness but I deal with them. I-now feel my feelings and enjoy the normal ups and downs of everyday life. So if your planning on taking this med, know that it’s not benign. Yes it does help with the anxiety and depression but it does so by numbing you out. And it can have long term consequences and it’s very difficult to stop. Read More Read Less

Effexor is the only medication that helps my anxiety and I don’t have side effects.

PTSD anxiety and depression. This drug saved my life. Be careful about missing a day or two though. Side effects from missed doses are awful electrical twitches, hyperventilating and dry mouth

I started this medication 4 years ago for anxiety & depression; I was such a mess i went to my GP & 15 minutes later left with a script for 75g Effexor. I did find relief using this medication, the initial effects were that it made my pupils huge lol & I felt relief & happiness, & much less overwhelmed by anxiety & depression. It was easier to think rationally. Over the years though, the side effects have made me question this medication. I get horrible monthly aura migraines, & brain zaps are common especially if you forget to take your meds on time & they really are unbearable; you can't do anything for the entire day but lay in bed with your eyes shut. When I bring it up to my doctors they don't recommend I try & come off this medication, they suggest I try & manage the symptoms with other meds, which I'm really not happy with. I'm not happy that I'm now on this medication that has such debilitating side effects & is SO hard to come off of. Although it has offered me some emotional relief, it's also given me physical stress. I'd just suggest looking at all your options before beginning this medication if you can, but of course everybody is different & reacts to meds differently! Read More Read Less

I have severe anxiety and panic disorder, diagnosed with it at 14. Im one of those people that have to be on antidepressants for the rest of my life. Ive been on ALOT and effexor has helped me the most because of the norepinephrine uptake. If you have GAD then try an ssri first. If you have gad and or/panic disorder then I recommend effexor. I had zero bad side effects and it made me be able to focus and not be so tired all the time (panic disorder uses up all your adrenaline so effexor can perk you up, may cause insomnia in people with just gad). Sadly after 14 years its not working as well (this is common with antidepressants as your body eventually gets used to them) and the doctors want to switch me to cymbalta which im very hesitant about. The withdrawals do suck, but they aren’t impossible to get through using a bridge or taper method. Read More Read Less

Effexor is hard to get on and even harder to get off of. The first time I didn’t feel this med was working so I got off of it after like one month. The side effects were awful. Then I got back on it about 6 months later. Every day I had a different side effect. I take 75 mg of it now and feel much happier then I have a for a very long time! I’ll probably have my dr uo the dose again but it’s amazing meds. My anxiety is pretty much gone as well!!!!

I couldn't sleep on this stuff! I usually wake up in the middle of the night and can fall back asleep just like that, but effexor kept me up. I'm glad it did because that led me to look into this drug sooner than later. I take 300 mg of Wellbutrin daily (the beeeest), but it's more helpful when I take something for anxiety, too. I took 37.5 effexor doses for two days before emailing my psychiatrist to ask if I could stop it cold turkey. I could because it was barely in my system, and reading all of these posts about the horrendous withdrawal, I feel lucky. Even if I'd taken the stuff long enough to help with anxiety, not being able to sleep makes me feel insane. I'll take the craziness I was born with lol. Read More Read Less

Saved me from my social anxiety, and it seemed to have retrained my brain to become more calm over the course of a year. However, I noticed after a while that it numbed all of my emotions, and I couldn't even cry (even during mental distress). Because crying is important to balance your brain chemistry and hormones (and to release stress), I didn't continue to use this medication, since I wasn't able to experience any kind of emotion, including happiness.

I have never written one of these types of reviews but found myself looking for personal experiences of this drug when I was prescribed it and found that super helpful. I'm a 40-year-old mother of two who has suffered from an anxiety disorder for as long as I can remember. My life was drama and chaos - always thought people were upset with me, didn't like me, were talking about me, etc. I couldn't drive without thinking about getting in a horrible accident or panic every time my kids wanted to play outside with their friends. I went on Cipralex a few years back and it helped a bit, but I also gained about 10 lbs and still had some anxiety. About a month and a half ago I was prescribed Effexor and I was nervous about taking it as I had read so many scary reviews. Still, I also read a lot of positive ones so thought I'd give it a whirl. I started off at the the lowest dose and gradually increased each week until I got to 150mg. I felt super tired, dizzy and nauseous the first few weeks, which led me to easily losing 5lbs. At around the 1 month mark I started feeling AMAZING. I feel so calm, centred and content, which is something I have never felt before in my life. I'm about to spend Christmas with people who normally cause me so much anxiety and stress, but I am not anxious about it one bit. I have heard it is tough to come off of this pill, but I honestly don't think I'll ever want to go off of it. I keep eating chips, junk food and haven't really been working out lately but have now lost 8 lbs without trying at all. My biggest tip would be to take the pill in the morning as when I took it at night I couldn't sleep. Only side effect I'm experiencing is constipation.Read More Read Less

It has reduced my appetite and migraines. It’s made me drowsy though.

I honestly have not had the worst experience on this drug. I can't say exactly the effect only because I was on 37.5mg for literally like 5 weeks and I barely upped my dosage to 75 as of three days ago. What I've noticed mostly is a decreased appetite (not totally) but I do eat significantly lower amounts resulting in a 5 pound weight loss since starting. I also CANNOT miss a dose or I will literally pass out. I get super dizzy and lightheaded until I take my dose. My sleep got a bit better as well. My anxiety and depression are manageable but I am also in trauma therapy; overall TRY IT. Do NOT let these bad reviews refrain you from doing whatever you can to feel better.Read More Read Less

This medication worked for about 6 months. Then around month 7 or 8 I started having severe memory loss, to the point I couldn't even remember how to do my job which I've done for many years. It also killed my sex drive, and that didn't come back until I started taking Wellbutrin. And caused 40lbs of weight gain in that short time. The withdrawal off this medication was so horrible. The day I started to taper I felt like I was going crazy. I got 3 days into the taper and just had to quit cold turkey because I felt like I was crawling out of my skin and mind. After about 3-7 days of being 100% off the med, I felt better. My memory did come back (thank God). But like I said, my sex drive was horrible until I got on Wellbutrin. It took me over a year and a half to lose all the weight. I would NEVER recommend this to anyone... especially if you want to get off antidepressants one day. Read More Read Less

Possibly the most awful medication I have taken, it has made my time on it a living hell. I was prescribed this medication to help with my combined anxiety/depression, but guess what? Didn’t work. That wouldn’t be a problem if Effexor wasn’t a long term medication. It only has a half-life of five hours, which means it can cause some of the worst withdrawal side effects of any serotonin medication. While I was on it, I immediately had to lower my dosage because I couldn’t sleep for five days. Afterwards, my psychiatrist suggests switching it to the morning, which worked fine for a day, but then cost me two more days of sleep, setting me behind a full week in high school; a blow from which I am still recovering. Besides the further anxiety attacks and depressive outbreaks that was caused by the fallout of this medication, my father told me to stop taking the medication because he hated seeing me like this. Now, thing to note here. Every prior medication I took came in tablets, meaning I could just cut one in half and lower myself down over a week or two. Effexor came in capsules, so my dad, at the time, had no idea what to do other than to have me stop taking it. Then some of the harshest withdrawal symptoms I had ever had kicked in just two days later. I had all kinds of stomach and digestive issues, as well as a rapid heartrate to the point where I was almost considering calling the hospital one day while walking to school. After the psychiatrist finally got back to us through her obscenely busy schedule, she let us know that the capsules that the Effexor came in could be separated, and that we could pour half of the medication out. Once I did that, the side effects were lessened significantly, but I still had occasional moments of rapid heartbeat, and hunger problems to the extent where I would need to eat to prevent myself from getting nauseous. All in all, this medication would get zero stars from me, but since there’s no choice for that, here’s a rant instead.Read More Read Less