User Reviews for Venlafaxine (Effexor)

I have been taking this medication for about six months and it has helped my depression. I have tried tapering off but like someone else said it's like ping pong balls bouncing in your head when you don't take it! I was down to once a week, no ping pong balls bouncing, then had some bad family problmes arise, and all the sudden the ping pong balls came back! What can I do?? Any suggesstions?

I have been on effexor xr over 5 yrs. for fibromyalgia pain. I don't even know if it is helping anymore. My FM is so bad!! I am rec. my meds from the maker, free, in the mail and have run out and I think I'm going crazy!! I am nauseaus, my head is killing me, and I feel like like electricity is running through my whole body! I desperately want to stop taking this but I don't know if I am going to be able to stand the withdrawal symptoms.

I agree with Kate. The weight gain is crazy!! Also, I have been trying to get off of effexor for some time and it is almost impossible! I have tried tapering off. I am down to one 37.5 about once a week but on or close to that 5th day it is almost unbearable!!

I have been taking this for a couple of years which helped my depression. My weight gain has been beyond disheartening. My doctor said she purposefully put me on this because of the side-effects (nausea, headaches, diarrhea, etc.) so I would not try to quit or wean myself off due to this commonly happening when people start to feel better or think they no longer need it. She'll help wean me when WE feel the med is no longer needed. Counseling/therapy is also important since depression is due to life issues, both conscious and unconscious,that have gone unresolved. Thank God for meds and my psychiatrist! (Just wish the weight would come off with exercise.) Anyone else experience weight gain???Read More Read Less

I took this medicine for two days before stopping. It made me very sick. I have two kids and couldn't risk being down a third day.

Just started yesterday. Only downside so far is insomnia (which I had before) and I'm quite converned about the withdrawal effects and not happy my doctor presrcribed it to me without warning

i am now just starting at 7mmg per day ..my dr.wants me to go to 150mg per say after a week..i would like advice from anyone that has done this and there results..i fell i am gong to call my dr.and just askif i can stay on the 75mg for a month to see if it is at all the drug for me...even if i get a little releaf then i would feel better about going up to the 150mg.....any comments would be appreciated.....ciao

Like so many others, I wish I had never started taking this medication. I am diabetic and have hbp. If I miss my pills one day you are assured of feeling "ping pong balls" bouncing around in your head, dizzyness, nausea and all the rest as stated by others. But if I don't take the pills it's standing in the shower crying, tv all day, napping. I don't remember being this bad before I started Effexor. I am going to discuss changing meds again on my next drs. appt.

I have been on this for 2 months now, and doing very good, I am finally about to be happy to come home and enjoy the empty nest that I am in now, and I like my job again and dont want to kill everyone, not really but I was like a fuse waiting to go off but not now, I recently lost my beloved dog of 15 years and I think if I didnt have this I would of go crazy, I am very thankful for this and also I have notice I dont eat as much and that is a big plus for me

I have been using this medication for 5 1/2 years. It helps me have a desire to go forward each day. I am not troubled by any significant side effects.

I can't really tell very much difference in my mood. I stay about the same all of the time.

Effexor did not work for me. I felt exhausted, listless, sleepy. I also felt nauseated most of the time after taking it. These symptoms did not subside. It decreases your libido, who needs this with other emotional problems. But listen, the only anwser to my emptiness and constant fear was the Lord Jesus Christ. I still have to work at my own mind, but He gives you true peace deep down. He will give you a peace and hope like no other. Living Water!

I feel like me again

depression has gotton better. It's the side effects that concern me, especially when I miss taking it for a day or two. I get a little crazy. I also have been sweating alot.

bad side effects

Nausea if not taken with food, even after years of taking Effexor; dibilitating dizziness, and "bogging down" in my head, especially when I changed focus visually. At the beginning, it worked but has been ineffective for most of the time.

My recommendation is to not take this medication. It was effective, but no more so than Prozac. I get sick every time I take it. I haven't taken it in a few days because of that and wondered why I was feeling so awful. When I started reading other reviews I've realized I'm in withdrawal and it's AWFUL! I'm sweating, dizzy, feeling "drunk", having headaches, feeling sick, quickly beating heart, eyes feel almost swollen and I feel in a weird fog. There are so many medications for depression to choose from, for me this is the worst!Read More Read Less

Took for a month but had to stop because it made me so tired I was groggy and could not stop yawning. Helped with depression and anxiety some but I was only on a month. Trying Celexa now.

i have been on it a long time and recently it doesnt seem to be working