User Reviews for Effexor oral

It's horrible. I don't think I've felt worse in my life. I feel nauseous all the time and my depression got worse.

Overall I’ve been thrilled with this medication thus far. My only side effect was some initial stomach upsets which has since subsided. I’ve been fighting this particular depressive episode for a little over a year and nothing I tried was working all that well for me. Now I’m starting to feel like me again.

Don’t EVER take this medication. I took it for ten years. It stopped working for me and I wanted to get off of it because I didn’t want to keep adding pills. I followed all of my doctors recommendations for tapering. I went slowly taking SIX MONTHS to get off of it. When I finally took the very last small dose, about 10 hours later I was the sickest I have ever been. I threw up for 3 straight days. I couldn’t even drink water and therefore ended up in the ER. The ER doctor told me “most people never get off of this drug”. I either had to ride it out or start taking it again. I chose to suffer. After, I could eat and drink again, I had brain zaps, mood swings, irritability and uncontrollable crying. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. The brain zaps lasted for a year and the other symptoms subsided in about 6 months. It’s been about 8 years since I have stopped taking it and every so many often I check the current information regarding this medicine. About 5 years ago there was very damaging information concerning this medication, but now it’s all buried and there is barely any negative information about it anymore. I’m sure the maker has done some manipulating regarding current information. Some countries have even banned prescribing it, but the good old USA only cares about the wealthy making as much money as possible. DO NOT TAKE THIS MEDICATION!!Read More Read Less

I started Perimenopause 1 year ago and my complaint to my OBGYN is mood swings, fatigue and hot flashes. She prescribed me this medication. It's a game changer for me. I have better moods, no fatigue and minimal hot flashes. It has worked well for me.

I took this medication for over 10 years. It did help with tears. It did not help and made hot flashes worse. I was advised to stop taking this and it was terrible. This is a very hard drug to stop taking even if you do it slowly. It makes you feel more upset and depressed than you were when you started taking it. I do not recommend this drug. It affects the hypothalamus and can do many negative things.

I first started Effexor at 75mg while spending 9 days in a behavioral health treatment program institution I was admitted into for suicidal ideation. The first couple days I had no appetite and to my surprise it started working wonders! After a year my provider had to up my dose to 150mg during the winter months for my seasonal depression. I was on Effexor from 2022- 2/2024 when my medical doctor noticed a big change in my White Blood Count that had been declining the whole time. Once I was took off I had the worse symptoms of body ticks, emotional, angry, quit the highest paying job that I loved and worked so hard to get my degree in, wanting to commit suicide once again, and isolating myself eating laying in bed not wanting to be bothered. I also experienced the numb mental state of not having any feelings of emotions, anger, sadness, or happiness while taking this medication.Read More Read Less

I love my effexor! For a while, I was only taking 37.5 and, while I knew it was helpful when I took it, I was noncompliant, drinking a lot, and overall not getting the full benefits. My doctor increased me to 75 about a month ago and I feel great! Although I feel like my anxiety is a baseline personality trait of mine, I feel as though Effexor calms my nerves - my body isn’t as tense and I feel physically more relaxed. I still think a lot, but I no longer worry. The only side effect I truly have is that it really killed my sex drive. I also have to be careful how much I drink alcohol because it definitely makes me drunk fast. However, the benefit of being happy is totally worth it, I truly enjoy my life on this medication.Read More Read Less

My new doctor wanted to take me off Lexapro to see if Effexor would more effectively treat my anxiety and depression. I have not had a good experience. The first week I had two panic attacks , body tremors, and extreme headaches. I also started to get really irritable at work which is never a good thing. Now I am on my third week and the headaches are continuing and I noticed that I feel hot all the time. But the most disturbing thing is the extreme rage I have been feeling. This is not acceptable at work or in any situation where I interact with people. Everyone has different experiences but this medication is not working for me. Best wishes to all.Read More Read Less

I've been on this med for years. Seems to help my depression and anxiety well enough that I can function every day for work. But, does make me drowsy and is difficult to stop taking.

I have been on Effexor twice. Mostly due to issues around a high stress work environment and a change in jobs and location after 20 years. I have had mild anxiety for most of my life but was able to deal with it for the most part. Eventually I broke down and the anxiety just got to the point it had a severe impact on my ability to work, sleep, eat, exercise and enjoy life. My doctor tried several different meds, and finally landed on Effexor. It took about a month before it started to work. The only real side effects were loss of libido, and more frequent bowel movements. I was on 75mg XR dose. I did notice after about 4 months, that I was going mentally numb. I didn't have a lot of motivation, and felt that I was getting to a point of being totally devoid of feeling any type of emotion. No sadness, no anger, no happiness. Just there. When COIVID hit and I started working from home, I decided to slowly ween myself off. It was over a 6 week time frame. I had been on the Effexor for about 9 months. I basically just cut the dose by about 20% each week. I did have periods of confusion, headaches, brain fog and dizziness. Then when I was off it, it took about 3 months for me to fill normal again. I have since gone back on it after having been off of it for about 15 months as the anxiety attacks came back. The 2nd time around it's not working as well. I found myself disoriented and lost on several walks with my dog and trails I have been on many times. Have had my wife ask me where I was going when we were driving somewhere, and then realizing I had no idea where I was going. It doesn't have the same effect of numbing, and my anxieties are still there but maybe not quite as strong. I have since the past few weeks started feeling a bit nervous for no reason, and have had some mild chest/heart pains. I have started to slowly reduce the amount in hopes of eventually weening off it again. But this time going much slower with 10% reduction in dosage. I have just started the process, so we will see if taking the next 10 weeks to will reduce symptoms. I have a visit with my doctor in a few weeks and will talk to him about my symptoms and tapering off or at least reducing to 37.5 mg dose and see how things go. Read More Read Less

This medication was promised to have no side effects like an SSRI that gave me rectal bleeding which was listed as a side effect. I was recovering from an acute diverticulitis event. Then with this medication it gave me major constipation which I was battling to prevent a colon perferation or worse. I found constipation in the long list of side effects. After 2 days only I was a wreck. Crying and feeling like I was going crazy. No BM for 5 days or more. I had to quit per my doctor. I even had withdrawal symptoms after just 2 days.Read More Read Less

I feel that this medication helped me overall to avoid spirals of depression, as well as limiting the effects of menopause. If you miss or are late with your pills you will feel it the next day, I sometimes had angry and depressed mood. Also, do not take alcohol or canabis whilst on this, as your depression will return promptly. I have come off it 3 times, once was easy peasy, once was horrific, and right now, hopefully for the last time, I have flu-like symptoms which have kept me from going to work. If you have depression, first try B complex and other vitamins, diet, exercise and meditation. They may work better. Read More Read Less

After years of fluoxetine not really working for me or doing much at all (dysthymia, anxiety), I finally decided to make he effort to find something better. While venlafaxine didn’t worsen my depression, it began to make me extremely irritable (150mg/day dose) to the point where I almost snapped at people, something I would never do. The dry mouth symptom wasn’t too bad and I did feel a warm / numb sensation in my man part which was odd! Hopefully this will work better for others.

This medicine has given me my life back. I was severely depressed after Prozac stopped working. I was on high doses of all my depression medications. Now I’m on 150mg Effexor and I don’t need such high doses of everything else. It also gives me energy which is nice. It’s not as good for my anxiety, but it helps me a lot with my depression.

I can say with confidence that this medication truly saved my life. Depression runs in both sides of my family and it made life nearly impossible for me when I reached 19. There was nothing happening in my external life that made me sad, my brain chemistry was simply off. I started taking Effexor and within 4 days I felt NORMAL again, I am so grateful for everything Effexor has allowed me to accomplish and enjoy. I was able to travel again, work and feel like myself. I know everyone’s physiology and brain chemistry is unique and unfortunately it might not work for everyone but don’t give up hope!! If you are reading this it’s not your fault, depression is a real disease and it’s OK to take medication. work with your doctor to find the right one and When you do, the light will shine again! Read More Read Less

My doctor prescribed the medication @37.5 mg to treat severe hot flashes. After about 2 weeks of use I felt 99% better. The only problems I have with medication is it makes me sick to my stomach and dizzy so I take medication at night. It also causes me to dream lot. And it also seems to have increased my appetite. As well as my breast are very tender.

Brian fog and increased anger and depressive episodes. Couldn't function. Was isolating myself. Within 2 days of not taking it we started to see drastic improvement. Dr advised to discontinue immediately. The sense of relief of how I feel off of it is amazing. 10/10 Do NOT recommend.

My husband has been on these pills for more than a year. He's had bad symptoms all along, like dry mouth, inability to do anything, sleep problems, cognitive decline. Sometimes he forgot to take his pill which increased withdrawal symptoms and sudden irrational explotions of anger. We have had more problems than we ever did before since he started on the pills, we don't have sex. Vicious quarrels. He's been reducing the dosages himself and the last five days he didn't take any if it at all. We are going through hell right now. He's crying, then exploding in anger. This drug should be illegal.Read More Read Less

I got angry, violent, and tried to kill myself on effexor. It made me have dry mouth, anxiety, tremors, and I was tired all the time. I've taken at least 70 medicines throughout my life with nothing working. No benefits but I'm medicine resistant so nothing else has worked either

I started taking this medication after a relapse of depression. The first few days I had horrible sleep and a dry mouth. Week 2 I noticed I was having less anxious/compulsive thoughts. After a month I was no longer having fits of panic due to anxiety. I felt in control of my thoughts and feelings. I became much happier and cried significantly less. No longer having any side effects. I have my life and personality back.