User Reviews for Effexor XR oral

I started on 75mg for two months then moved up to 150mg. After Christmas I moved up to 225mg. I am 3 months sober from alcohol and feeling exhausted every day. Venlafaxine doesn't make me feel good just extremely tired all day long. I cannot function at all like this.

I have taken antidepressants since 2000, 2 years ago I began experiencing severe perimenopause anxiety. Effexor has worked great to take my anxiety and depression away. No antidepressant works in a few days, give it a couple weeks to kick in and get used to it.

I started taking zoloft for anxiety and depression at age 40 and had good results for more than 10 years. In my early 50s it stopped working even at the maximum dose of 200mg. I switched to effexor with no problems from the transition. Over the last two years on the effexor I have had some good periods of time but also some bad periods that have lasted for months. I decided to try something else. I am currently taking Lexapro while tapering down on the effexor. After one month, both my depression and anxiety are bad. I don't know if its the reduction in effexor, ineffectiveness of the Lexapro, or just the illness itself. Read More Read Less

It really helps with my depression, but not so much my anxiety. For the first few weeks of treatment, I felt very strange. But it goes away after 4-5 weeks. It took a while to kick in, but it’s really nice to have relief from depression. It also helps me focus which is nice. I’m on 150mg.

I was prescribed 37.5mg for severe anxiety and ptsd. WORST DECISION of my life ever. I only took it for three days and within those three days I had the most HORRIFIC panic attacks ever. I was extremely paranoid, anxious, and could not concentrate or think straight. I had insomnia, nausea, and loss of appetite. The side effects were horrible! It's been about a month since I stopped taking it and I still have side effects. It really affected my vagus nerve as well and now I'm more anxious than before and feel more sickly than before. It did not work for me sadly. Read More Read Less

Saved my life! Probably wouldn't be here today if it weren't for effexor. Side effects were mainly nausea, and nightmares, which lasted for the first couple of weeks, and that's it. Worked alot better for me than prozac. A life-saver.

I have had many bad side effects from other depression medications (celexa, gabapentin, lexapro, etc). So I have gone unmedicated for many years. I hit a suicidal breaking point this year with my depression and anxiety, and was prescribed Effexor. At first I was extremely tired, and extremely nauseous. Now 3 weeks in I mostly just have some issues with dry mouth and a little fatigue, but every day seems better. My depression doesn’t seem as heavy and my emotions feel more level and I do feel like I’m able to laugh more and feel calmer now. My anxiety is still not well managed- when something sets it off i don’t feel like the Effexor is doing much for it and I’ll feel anxious the rest of the day (I’ll be talking to my psychiatrist about it next week). But I am so far happy with how Effexor has made me feel and I’m glad I tried it. Also if you’ve had issues with bad side effects with your depression medications, I highly recommend asking about Genesight testing- this test helps show your doctor what medications work best with your metabolism.Read More Read Less

Venlafaxine made me seriously ill. For the 12 days I took it I was bedridden. I shook continuously, couldnt eat, rest or sleep. I've never sweat so much in my life. Horrible drug.

This is the worst medicine I have ever taken. Its side effects say rage. I took it for I don’t know how many months. I started having incredible rage episodes where I wanted to fight people. I got really out of control. My doctor said I wasn’t afraid to die or anything. My doctor took me off of it quickly and it took five weeks of withdrawals. I would not recommend this medicine to anybody.

I love Effexor. I’m 27 and used Wellbutrin before and honestly loved what it did for my depression but it made me very aggressive and irritable. My doctor switched me to Effexor and initially I had some bad emotional blunting, but once I adjusted it felt like the sun was shining on me for the first time. I still have some intrusive thoughts (like everyone), but it is so much easier to dismiss them as irrational. My social life has bloomed, I am a better mother, and I’m not bothered by much at all. I’ve never felt so mentally stable or capable. I finally am feeling like a “normal” person for the first time ever. Read More Read Less

I have taken Effexor for over 20 years. I stopped taking it periodically because I thought i didn't need it anymore. I have taken others like Pristiq that did not work as well. Effexor works well for me. I have an illness called MDD. I was born with it and I will die with it. I have to take medicine so that I may live my best life. If you are on a high dose of Effexor, you do want to taper off. Lower the dose and then take every other day until it's all out of your system.(That is what I have done and I had no withdrawals). Discuss with your Doctor of course. I'm sure it doesn't work well for everyone. If you have MDD, keep trying until you find the med that is right for you. This has been life changing for me.Read More Read Less

I have anxiety/panic//depression taken this medication has helped I was haven symptoms of feeling like I’m not here it would come and go and fear of dying but this medication made me feel back to normal like I never had anything wrong with me I take the 37.5 mg it makes me feel calm but also like I’m n a deep thought with very lite side effects you really can’t tell sleepy sometimes loss of appetite big time and constipation and the sex drive but they are slowly passing away as I’m still taken the medication. 3-3-2023 it’s been almost a month. Read More Read Less

This was prescribed as a first line attempt to prevent my chronic migraines that were only occasionally responsive to triptans. It did NOTHING for the migraines. I took it for 4 years increasing over time from 37.5mg to 225mg. Worst mistake of my life. It turned me into a shell of my former self. Just a numb zombie. Chronic fatigue like nothing I have ever experienced led to weight gain of 35 pounds in shy of two years. Yes if you miss a dose, it will let you know… but what’s worse is, someday you will need to come off of this. (It causes liver issues over the long term also.) Then you will find out what living hell is. Weaning off was taken in baby steps over a year. I’m talking about taking just a couple beads out of the capsule every few days… and yet I had brain zaps, visual disturbances, brain fog, trouble articulating thoughts, unceasing exhaustion and felt like I had been transplanted into the body of an 80 year old woman with arthritis. The withdrawal effects were so bad I often found myself sitting at the dosage I had gotten to for weeks at a time out of fear of the impending worsening doom. I’m not exaggerating when I say the suffering was relentless for a year. It gave me an interesting perspective what it must be like in terms of difficulty for heroin addicts to get off and stay off when they know that hit will make the pain go away. It’s now been a year and a half since I’ve been on it, and I am only just now truly starting to get back to myself. Once I had finally weaned off completely, I still found myself dealing with the ungodly amount of weight I had gained, joint pain, general stiffness, all over pain… my mind was dull and I wasn’t nearly as sharp as I had once been. I had no desire to do day to day things and was still exhausted in spite of a healthy whole food based diet, regular exercise, 6+ hours outside in the sunshine. THATS *IF* I could get myself out of bed and stay out of bed. I feel like this drug robbed me of some cognitive abilities that I think I will never regain. Not only that but it robbed me of 5 years of my life and was torture for myself and my loved ones to get off. NO ONE… NOT MY DOCTOR, NOT MY PHARMACIST WARNED ME ABOUT THE HELL THAT WOULD AWAIT ME WHEN IT WAS TIME TO COME OFF THIS POISON. Exhaust all other options before you go down this path. Please.Read More Read Less

This is a highly addictive drug. Only use it if the tradeoff is worth it. It is extremely difficult to stop without severe side effects. I have been on this for over 15 years. I am going to go off of it but will need to wean off extremely slowly. It can cause long term issues and should not be taken by someone who will forget to take it. Just an hour or two late and it causes extreme headaches. A missed dose would be terrible. Do not start this drug. If you go cold turkey the withdrawal symptoms can be dangerous.Read More Read Less

It was a nightmare, I felt the side effects immediately, started writing about what I was suffering through, and immediately went to my doctor, unfortunately, the doctor who prescribed this medication, kept telling me to stay on the medication and would increase my doseage. He ignored the information I was providing him, - it was causing me more delusions and I became very timid (so much so that any sound would startle and immediately caused panic attacks) I went to a walk in clinic to ask how to help me, because I believe my Family doctor, took advantage of my treaty status rights, and continued to prescribe me terrible medication Triazadon was another medication prescribed wrongfully. The Walkin clinic doctor helped me understand the effects, and explaimed how to tapper down from The maximum doseage (300 MG a day) It took me over a year to feel "normal" less anxious and frightened, I believe it gave me ptsd. I am grateful for my current doctor, she has bettered my life from day one. Read More Read Less

I was on this medication for less than two weeks, on 37.5 and never went beyond that. I can't say I had withdrawal symptoms, though the very short amount of time taking it could explain that. I didn't notice an improvement in my depression, but to be honest I couldn't really tell because it made me feel just weird. It gave me a bit of a high, but like I was in a trance, like everything was happening to someone outside me. I would look in the mirror or just look at my hand, and I would think is that really me? This hand is part of my body? It felt like it was someone else's or something, it's difficult to describe. I think it is what is called "depersonalization". It also made me almost unable to achieve orgasm. Other than that, I didn't have any horrific side effects, but the way it made me feel wasn't right, so I went off it. Read More Read Less

It helps with my vestibular migraines and makes me more even keel on a daily basis. I've used for 2 months and I love it! first 2 weeks nausea and if you miss a dose its like going to hell and back.

I think this medication has worked very well for with the least side effects. My body is VERY SENSITIVE to medication! I felt like it helped well overall with managing my severe anxiety and mild depression I experience. HOWEVER, this medication made me GAIN SO MUCH WEIGHT. I”m the heaviest I’ve ever been! Even with good diet and exercise, it’s hard for me to loose the weight I’ve gained! I know most psych meds will cause gain unfortunately, but having all this weight just brings more anxiety.

I have been on Effexor XR at the same dose for 15 plus years, I take 300mg in the morning. My medical diagnosis is bipolar depression with Borderline personality disorder with schizophrenic tendencies. I also have anxiety and panic disorder, c-ptsd, and ADD. I’m also in recovery for alcohol and drug addiction. so needless to say this isn’t the only medication I take. I also take ativan, seroqel, ritalin, wellbutrin, clonidine, and other medications for different health issues i’m dealing with. At first this medication was a game changer. Mind you, that was a long time ago. i’ve been on it so long now i don’t know if it still has the same effect because of everything else i’m on and the abuse I did to myself with my alcohol and drug addiction. Even through my addiction I made sure to still take my medication, if I don’t take it within an hour of my scheduled time I would start to get a headache and have major side effects within hours of missing a dose. If i don’t take it at all in a day, the next morning my body is completely seized. I would literally have to get help to get up. I don’t even know if this medication is even working anymore but I definitely don’t miss a dose. I’m scared to decrease my dose in order to come off it because the side effects are so severe. I wish there was something I could take to ease the side effects while coming off this medication. Read More Read Less

I was recently diagnosed in May 2022 with bipolar 1. It seems that I have been prescribed anything and everything. Nothing has worked very good. Doctor prescribed Effexor 150mg to be taken 3x day in September. After a few weeks, I was going absolutely crazy and thought I was crawling out of my skin. We made a few adjustments but not much. In late October, I blacked out and crashed my Honda Accord into a box truck. I came to when the accident happened. In November, I thought people were coming after me. I saw people and spent two full days chasing cars and trying to get away from them. Thankfully my ex-wife was called to get me and take me to the hospital. I tested positive for PCP at the hospital to which law enforcement were notified. The test later confirmed it was the Effexor. The two days in the ER - I didn't sleep any because I thought the nurses were going to gag and bag me. Regardless of the sleep meds they gave me, I fought like hell to not go to sleep. At some point, I fell asleep and woke up in the back of a constable's vehicle. My hands and legs were tied up. I freaked out. Quickly, the constable told me he was taken me downtown to a hospital. That eased my mind. As soon as I was in the psych ward, they took away the Effexor. I will never take this medicine again. I'm sure it works for many but the psychotic behavior I experienced has not escaped my mind because it was so scary. The meds they have me on now seem to be working along with a lot of prayer. Read More Read Less