Effexor (venlafaxine)

US Brand Name: Effexor

generic name: venlafaxine

Other Forms: The old immediate-release version is still available as a generic. Except for the approvals that Effexor XR has that the immediate-release form doesn’t have, everything for Effexor XR applies to generic immediate-release venlafaxine unless specifically stated otherwise.

Class: Antidepressant, specifically a Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor (SNRI)

§1.  Other Brand & Branded Generic Names¹:

• Altven: Australia
• Efexor: Australia, EU, Ireland, New Zealand, UK
• Elaxine: Australia
• Enlafax: Australia

§2.  FDA-Approved Uses of Effexor (venlafaxine)

• Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) - Effexor XR approved October 1997, immediate-release approved December 1993
• General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) - Effexor XR approved 11 March 1999
• Social Anxiety Disorder (SAnD) - Effexor XR approved 11 February 2003
• Panic Disorder - Effexor XR approved 18 November 2005

§3.  Off-Label Uses of Effexor (venlafaxine)

• Bipolar Depression (dodgy to decent for bipolar 2, generally not a good idea for bipolar 1)
• Fibromyalgia
• Arthritis
• Chronic Fatigue
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Lupus
• Headaches
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• ADD/ADHD
• Eating Disorders

§4.  Effexor (venlafaxine) Pros and Cons

§4.1  Pros

• For deep, despairing, clinical depression that will only respond to the standard tweaking of at least two out of the three most popular neurotransmitters², Effexor XR (venlafaxine) often pulls people out of the abyss when SSIs, other SNRIs, Wellbutrin, and TCAs have failed.
• Because it’s works on more than one neurotransmitter, Effexor is far less likely to poop-out than an SSRI.

§4.2  Cons

• For many people Effexor has the absolute worst discontinuation syndrome of any antidepressant.
• Effexor (venlafaxine) is a medication people utterly loathe to have taken.
• It is not uncommon for someone to fire their doctor during or immediately after they quit taking Effexor (venlafaxine) because the discontinuation syndrome is that bad.

§5.  Effexor (venlafaxine) Side Effects

§5.1  Typical Side Effects of Effexor

The usual for SNRIs: headache, nausea, dry mouth, sweating, sleepiness or insomnia, and diarrhea or constipation, loss of libido and a host of other sexual dysfunctions. Weight gain is a lot less likely with Effexor than SSRIs, and even sexual dysfunctions can go away, along with everything else, within a couple of weeks. Even if they hang around, some women may notice that the sexual side effects will diminish at dosages above 200–225mg a day when the norepinephrine kicks in. Maybe. Unfortunately sexual side effects for men could get worse at that dosage, because more norepinephrine can cause sexual dysfunction in guys.

§5.2  Not So Common Side Effects of Effexor

Increased or lowered blood pressure, sweating, farting, anorexia, twitching, shock-like sensations.
Also alcohol intolerance and/or alcohol abuse. So Effexor XR (venlafaxine) is going to be just the thing to talk about at AA meetings.
I used to have these last two listed as rare side effects, but I’ve received way too many e-mails and have read far too many similar reports here and on various other sites after putting up this page about both of them. As is often the case here, the anecdotal evidence will often trump what is in the US PI Sheet. Best guess to date as to why both of these side effects can happen - Paul of Leeds (in the U.K.) posits that Effexor’s broad spectrum use of liver enzymes probably interferes with alcohol clearance and tolerance, thus leading to the type of alcoholism that affects people without the proper enzymes to effectively metabolize alcohol. Between that and the way Effexor XR works your liver, you’re probably better off giving up booze entirely if you’re taking this med. Although there doesn’t seem to be much overlap in enzymes used, new data are always being dug up on which enzymes are being used where³ by pharmaceuticals, and even something as old as alcohol.

§5.3  Effexor (venlafaxine) Freaky Rare Side Effects

• Your hair may change color without Revlon.
• Guys, if you thought everyone freaking out about the Lamictal Rash was bad, I have one word for you: balanitis.

§6.  Interesting Stuff Your Doctor Probably Won’t Tell You about Effexor (venlafaxine)

Venlafaxine is actually one of, if not the least potent of all the antidepressants on the market. If venlafaxine hydrochloride weren’t so well absorbed and distributed Let’s see if I can write it down correctly this time. If the active ingredient venlafaxine hydrochloride were as well-absorbed and distributed when compared with the other ADs I could understand why it is so effective. As it is, I can’t understand why the hell it isn’t be practically a placebo. Those awesome shitty pharmacokinetics may have something to do with why the discontinuation syndrome sucks so much donkey dong, but that’s still just a guess of mine and there’s no research to back it up. Just like Paxil, the short half-lives of venlafaxine HCl and its active metabolite are a known reason why Effexor withdrawal sucks so much shit. And why some people experience SSRI/SNRI discontinuation syndrome if they miss a single dose, or are a few hours late in taking a dose!

It could be that venlafaxine is like bupropion, another weak-as-water drug that is surprisingly effective. According to Dr. Stahl, bupropion might be transformed into one or more of its three (so far known) active metabolites by the CYP450 genes in your brain instead of in your liver. So what it doesn’t have in the way of raw, pharmacological power, it makes up for by being undiluted by plasma. Perhaps venlafaxine HCl does the same thing.

§7.  Effexor Dosage and How to Take Effexor (venlafaxine)

Effexor (venlafaxine) comes in immediate and extended release flavors, although hardly anyone takes the immediate release form anymore. Just be sure to check your prescription for that XR to make sure you are getting the extended release form. For the XR flavor, youstart at 37.5 to 75mg a day, taken with food, at either breakfast or dinner, depending on if you’re apt to get wired or tired. Once you get the wired/tired issue straightened out, you take the med all at once at the same time every day. If you start at 37.5mg you can move up to 75mg after a week. As with any serotonergic antidepressant, it may take up to a month to feel any positive effect, so give it a month. Seriously, don’t move up above 75mg a day unless you feel it doing something positive or it’s been about a month. You’ll know if it’s going to do anything then. If you feel nothing, give up and take a med with a much easier discontinuation (i.e. anything that’s not an SNRI). After that you can move up in 37.5–75 mg increments, allowing at least a week between each increase until you reach the maximum of 375mg a day for the most severely depressed of patients. Or 450mg a day if you and your doctor have the balls for it. If the two of you are sure you are a rapid metabolizer of some medications, there are people who take 600mg a day of Effexor, but roughly 1% of people on the planet, if that many, would metabolize Effexor (venlafaxine) at a rate fast enough to need 600mg a day, and need to take the XR form twice a day. If you’re reading this site because you take your Effexor XR in the morning and feel dizzy, confused, have headaches and feel like you’re wearing an electric eel for a hat after dinner every night, you may need to take a once-a-day pill twice a day. The older immediate release version is pretty much the same, except that the dose is divided into two or three doses a day.

§8.  How Long Effexor (venlafaxine) Takes to Work

Three weeks to a month.

§9.  How to Stop Taking Effexor (venlafaxine)

Unless you need to discontinue Effexor XR at a more rapid rate due to a nasty side effect, your doctor should be recommending that you reduce your dosage by 37.5mg a day every week if you need to stop taking it, if not more slowly than that. You shouldn’t be doing it any faster than that unless it’s an emergency. Yes, that means if you’ve maxed out at 375mg a day it could take up to 10 weeks to get off of Effexor (venlafaxine). You can try it faster and hope it works out, and since the odds are actually with you it’s worth doing at the higher dosages and reduce the rate once you’re down to half of what you used to take, but it’s hardly a sure thing. Once you get down to that last 37.5mg a day you have several options:

• If the discontinuation symptoms you’re experiencing are mild, if you’re experiencing any at all, then you may as well stop taking it. You’re in the plurality of people who have taken either version of Effexor who could stop taking Effexor (venlafaxine) without too much of a hassle.
• If the brain zaps or shivers and other discontinuation symptoms are still bad you can try taking one 37.5mg capsule every other day, or getting a prescription for generic venlafaxine in the immediate-release form and working your way down. As immediate-release venlafaxine comes in a variety of dosages you have all sorts of ways you and your doctor can work out a discontinuation schedule from there.
• If you still can’t stop taking it at a low dosage, you and your doctor may want to try Prozac (fluoxetine) prescription or samples. Generic fluoxetine will even do. 10mg a day is all you should need. Even with the proper discontinuation stopping the last 37.5mg can be hellish. Taking two weeks worth of Prozac (fluoxetine) will make the discontinuation a lot easier. So when you’re off of Effexor and you cannot function, get on the Prozac for a week or two, then stop taking the Prozac. By that time you should find you’ll have either no discontinuation syndrome, or it won’t be nearly as bad.
• If worse comes to worst, there’s always the liquid Prozac. Then you can work your way down from the equivalent of 10mg, or higher if 10mg was too low, to ever-so-slowly try to wean yourself off of the serotonergic part of Effexor that had its claws in you.

§10.  How Effexor (venlafaxine) Works

Based upon the monoamine hypothesis of depression (i.e. you’re messed up due to an imbalance of one or more of three of the best understood neurotransmitters: serotonin, norepinephrine, and/or dopamine), Effexor (venlafaxine) attempts to balance your brain juices by inhibiting the reuptake (in English: delaying the breaking down and recycling) of serotonin and norepinephrine at their receptors in various (i.e. depending on which studies and books you’ve read and fancy brain scans you’ve looked at) locations in your brain. It may do a lot of other things that address depression, anxiety, other brain cooties and some off-label uses by encouraging the growth of new neurons, affecting hormones and CYP450 genes in your brain, and who knows what else. You also have serotonin and norepinephrine receptors throughout your body, especially in your GI and renal systems, which is why SSRIs & SNRIs are used to treat various conditions like IBS and incontinence. As Effexor doesn’t really affect norepinephrine until you reach a dosage of at least 225mg a day (or 175–200 for some people taking the old immediate-release version), it is practically an SSRI, and thus not as effective for pain and pain-related conditions like fibromyalgia as other SNRIs like Cymbalta and Pristiq.

§11.  Effexor’s Half-Life & Average Time to Clear Out of Your System

Effexor (venlafaxine) has an active metabolite (o-desmethylvenlafaxine) that does most of the work, and is now available in a refined form as Pristiq (desvenlafaxine). The half-life of venlafaxine is 3–7 hours, and o-desmethylvenlafaxine’s is 9–13 hours. That means it takes two days for one and five days for the other to clear out of your system. Having two parts with short half-lives is a huge part of why Effexor’s discontinuation syndrome is so harsh.

§12.  Days to Reach a Steady State

Steady state for venlafaxine is usually reached in three days.

§13.  Shelf life

Effexor’s shelf life is 3 years.

§14.  Comments

There are two last resorts among the modern, first-line meds to cure the deepest, blackest depression when your doctor is just switching you from one horsie to another on the med-go-round: Effexor XR (venlafaxine) and Remeron (mirtazapine)⁴. Either in combination with an antipsychotic would really get you out of that hole of despair, but first you should throw away every mirror and scale in your house and buy expandable clothing.

Effexor (venlafaxine) has to be the. most. loathed. drug by those for whom it didn’t work. While it can be an absolute lifesaver for many people with the most severe form of whaleshit-on-the-bottom-of-the-ocean depression, with or without anxiety, when it doesn’t work well enough, and the side effects suck to much, the discontinuation syndrome can be such a nightmare that people will fire their doctors who didn’t work out a discontinuation schedule or otherwise prepare them for what it would be like.

§15.  Discussion board

If you have any questions about Effexor (venlafaxine), the best place to ask them is on the Crazy Meds’ Effexor (venlafaxine) discussion board.

§16.  Your Reviews of, Comments About, and Experiences with Effexor

Tell us what you think about Effexor

i think i have another weird and freaky side effect for you. you mentioned that hair can change color. well, my hair has gotten curly since i started taking effexor. my hairdresser thought i gave myself a perm. i thought it was the humidity. maybe not.

I had been taking two 150mg Effexor XR pills everyday for about a year or so, and it worked beautifully for a while. But a month or two ago, it started to feel less effective as it had been before and my new doc switched me from that to Cymbalta + Depacote. So I basically stopped the effexor cold turkey. Now I’ve experienced the crazy withdrawals from it before (just by missing one measly dose), but they wouldn’t last long because I’d take my effexor as soon as possible. WELL - turns out the symptoms get much worse if you cease to take it altogether. the first day sucked, but I thought it was just my upped vyvanse making me feel nervously sick-like. The next day I woke up loopy as hell, walking around the house aimlessly doing a kind of “inpatient shuffle,” and nauseous as I don’t know what. I threw up everything I tried to eat, and taking phenergran just made it worse. I really didn’t know what was going on until my insides started to shake and I couldn’t stop crying; the same stupid withdrawal symptoms I had when i missed the effexor. I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath and had that icky nervous stomach feeling all day; it hurt to move my eyes or sit up or even think but I still had to keep moving (I kept shaking my head like I had tourettes or something). I honestly couldn’t control my crying or shaking, and eventually my head started pounding from the lack of food/water. I was seriously planning on going to the ER, but by nightfall I was practically too exhausted to speak or even roll over in bed. It was scary as hell. Today wasn’t nearly as bad, but I’m still feeling pretty sick and I’m just praying to baby Jesus that this doesn’t last much longer. I don’t think I could take it!

I have suffered from Major Depressive Disorder my whole life. I then was sexually abused and developed PTSD. I have always been resistant to medication I didn’t want to be drugged up and every time they tried a med for me, I had horrible side effects. I am now with an amazing doctor and after two horrible and Long bouts with flashbacks and severe depression I decided that I needed to try again. Effexor was hard on my system for about a month. I had serious heartburn and a very sick stomach and then it all went away. Other than the fact that I am a little chubby I have no side effects and I have been taking it for 5 months. I found the opposite to be true. My emotional numbing has been lifted, I am able to be very sexual with my husband, my attitude has seriously improved and I am much happier. Oh, I can’t sleep on Effexor though. I didn’t take my meds for 3 days because I didn’t know I was out of refills and it was a 3 day weekend…my doctor was closed. WITHDRAWALS ARE HORRIBLE!!!! I was being Rocked in my mouth, arm and head shocks (they are like biting an electric fence), I stumbled and fell, I was dizzy and I wanted to rip my skin off. I am not a crier and I was sobbing to my husband to make it stop. It is torture. Other than that I am happy. I am going to come off it however because we want to try and have a baby….apprehensive to say the least.

I am a 32 year old woman who was given Effexor 4 years ago. I started at 150 mg, then went up to 300 mg. This was my 1st anti depressant ever. I want to STRANGLE the doctor who prescribed me this drug! First withdrawl symptom occured when I went out of town & forgot my pills. The first day I was fine, but the second day turned into a nightmare of sweating, chills, brain zaps, extreme tiredness & severe headache. I could not get out of bed. By the 3rd day, I felt delerious! I’m surprised I was able to drive back home & I am POSITIVE I shouldn’t have. Anyway, I took my meds & I was fine. However, the withdrawl symptoms really scared me! I decided continue on the meds, though, but after repeated incidents similar to the one above, I decided to get off the med. That was 2 years ago. I am still trying to get off this frickin stupid drug! I stepped down my dosage until I was all the way down to 37.5, then tried to cut that in half every day. I experienced the withdrawls immediately & was stuck at 37.5 for over a year. I am now at 25 mg after dicsovering there is a 25mg version available. I feel that I will be stuck on this drug for the rest of my life! The withdrawls are so severe that to quit would require that I be at home, in bed, for at least 2 weeks. I have spoken to some people who feel that hospitalization is necessary. Bottom line: DO NOT start this medication unless other options have been explored. This should be a LAST RESORT only. If your doctor says they’ve never heard of the withdrawl symptoms, fire them. I am serious. Use this drug with caution unless you plan on taking it for the rest of your life. Not everyone will experience the severity of withdrawls that I have, but the thing is: you won’t know how you will respond until it is too late.

I have been taking venlafaxine on and off for many years. It is a cycle I hope to stop one day, but until I find an anti depressant as effective as venlafaxine or I don’t relapse I accept that this will be the case. Most of the side effects will pass after a couple of months (usually within 4 weeks)personally the side effect that continues for me that I find difficult is night sweats, after about 6 months or so I get so fed up and am so ‘well’ that I come off it, after many times I know that when coming off it I will experience terrible discontinuation symptoms..I also know they will stop. Without doubt it is best to reduce though not necessarily over months - weeks, however it is when trying to stop completely from the last reduction that the worse symptoms are felt - the best way of reducing the severity and intensity of these is to ask to be prescribed a low dose of an ssri - fluoxetine or citalopram have both been excellent for me at 20/10mg doses. After about 3 weeks I come off the ssri. I appear to be unable to manage without an antidepressant over a long period of time, when I get depressed things go downhill quickly, I have tried all of the ssris and in my earlier days tricyclics, none have been as quick and effective as venlafaxine..so thats my choice. But you can get off it, accept the effects and reduce them by cross tapering with an ssri.

I’ve been on Remeron for 4 years for major depressive disorder characterized by severe insomnia and major weight loss (lost 20% of my body weight in 2 months). Remeron was an amazing fix at treating the side effects of my depression - I immediately started sleeping and gained about 30 lbs. But it didn’t do much to cure the underlying depression. At higher doses I couldn’t sleep, so my Dr. took me back down to 15 mg and started adding one SSRI after another. Zoloft, Celexa, Paxil. Nothing worked. Still felt sad and had horrible side effects like nausea, tremors, vomiting, sleeplessness, weight loss. The last two were particularly concerning because this is exactly what I was trying to TREAT.

Then I found a new doc and he put me on Effexor. Holy crap. Within 3 days I felt myself turn the corner, even though everywhere I’ve read it says it should take 3 weeks to a month. Maybe it’s the combination of Remeron with the Effexor that makes it so powerful? Who knows. I am a new person now. I feel alert, like my old self. I never thought I would feel happy again, like, EVER. Now I can’t remember what it felt like to be so despairing.

Side effects were relatively mild for me. The first day I felt a little wired, like I drank 10 espressos. This was much better the following day, and by the third day non-existant. I take the Effexor in the morning, so this is not too troublesome, although, I did have some sleep disturbances, so I now take Restoril (along with the Remeron) at night.

For me, this has been the closest thing to a miracle drug (or combination of drugs) that I can imagine.

I had thought that my symptoms were all situational, that when things changed, I would feel better (lots on my plate). Changes happened and the dark cloud hanging over me didn’t change one iota. I was started on Zoloft twice and I didn’t tolerate the side effects well. Dizziness and a strobe light-like aura kept causing me problems at work, so I titrated myself off of the Zoloft. My dizziness never went away.

I was started on Effexor and within two weeks, I noticed the darkness lifting. I asked for an increase and now, I am excited about springtime, vacation, walking the dog, getting together with friends, quilting….all the things that had quit mattering. I was so slow and tired. I will remain on the Effexor and endeavor to NOT forget it when I travel, NOT forget to refill it, etc. It doesn’t take a lot of effort folks. I have a reminder on my calendar that is about two weeks prior to refill time. My phone rings to remind me to do the refill. I keep a list ready before I go anywhere and I make sure I have what I need.

Thanks for all of your comments. It is interesting how different we all react to various substances. %25bgcolor=yellow%25I REALLY LIKE EFFEXOR.%25%25 I hope I don’t have to discontinue taking it. That sounds nightmarish. I would imagine that like insulin, one needs to take it even when feeling better. Don’t be misguided and stop.

Okay, enough preaching. Woohoo. Time to take a little walk and see what’s popping out of the ground so far….

I am a 45 year old male who is being treated for GAD and Depression. I was on Venlafaxine ER for about 5 months. I was taking 75mg per day. I experienced many of the side effects early on like sleeplessness, sweating, nausea, dizzy, then fatigue, etc.etc.etc. They all eventually went away but the one that hung on like an STD was the delayed ejaculation. I trusted my doc’s advice and continued on and hoped it too would go away. THE PROBLEM STUCK AROUND. At first it was fine and my wife (of 20years) and I had “fun” with it but it got old and started making me more depressed. Finally I got off of the Venlafaxine and I will say that coming off has been difficult. I just finished a few days ago while I am now in my 3rd week of Mirtazapine. It appears to be better for me. The delayed ejaculation has improved. I will go on the forum for Mirtazapine to share side effect experiences…I eat like a horse and have gained 7 pounds in 3 weeks. Back to the withdraw effects of the Venlafaxine…last week it was like I bounced off the wall a few times…so to speak. Coming off the Venlafaxine has not been a pleasant experience. I will say that the Venlafaxine did do it’s job and help take the edge off for me but the sexual side effect was too much for me and my wife. As I write today I seem to be doing much better and feeling more of an energy boost from the Mirtazalpine. I appreciate reading the experiences and it has helped me out. Hopefully mine will help others as well. :)

I have been on Effexor xr 150 mg ( now generic version) for 10 years. This had been very effective for me until my pharmacy switched me to generic a few years ago. ( As per my insurance) I didn’t think anything about it until finding this site. (I live in Canada BTW) My dr. had tweaked my dosage, given me Clonazepam 0.5 mg and the Lorazepam 0.5 mg to take on occasion when really upset. these made me feel really unstable/ emotional. I was then prescribed elvail 10mg to take for pain to help me sleep. These made me gain weight and have a very short fuse during the day (out of character) so I stopped taking them a few days ago. A few weeks ago I was prescribed Wellbutrin 100mg (but generic) to take in combo with the Effexor xr 150mg ( generic). He said there have been a lot of success with taking the two together. Has anyone heard/ taken these together?

I was on Effexor 150 mg for 3 months in 2008. I guess I’m one of those people that got a rare side effect because I became anorexic. I was nauseous all the time. I hardly ever ate anything. The most I had in a day was Vitamin water and jello. Every time I did eat anything I threw up or had diarrhea. And my depression just got worse and worse. It got to the point where I couldn’t go to work, I couldn’t get out of bed. I lost 25lbs in 3 months and I wasn’t overweight. When I called the doctor and left a message on the nurses line she called back and said that the side effects should go away in a couple weeks and that I should keep taking the drug. When I finally went back into the doctor he took me off the Effexor. What is so frustrating is that every psychiatrist I’ve been to says that Effexor works wonders for people who’ve found that other drugs didn’t help. And every one else who has commented has found it to be helpful. I don’t get it.

I’ve been diagnosed with depression and social anxiety. My doctor switched me from Zoloft/Buspirone to Effexor and Buspirone after I told her I was having up and (mostly) down days. For the first few days, I was in bed due to the side effects like severe nausea and light-headedness. Later it was accompanied by heavy sweat, bad BO (regardless of sweat) and hot (and cold) flashes at night (and I’m only 25!). Some of the side effects, like the hot flashes and nausea, gradually went away after a week and that’s when my mood and energy picked up. Unfortunately, the sweating, BO and light-headedness stayed. And after about 2 weeks, the nausea came back and my mood started to fluctuate again. It was just like being on the Zoloft except I had MORE side effects! INCLUDING an extra 10lbs that I can’t seem to shake off as easily as I’m used to. Turning 25 and most likely having a slower metabolism might be a contributing factor. BUT I didn’t have trouble getting my weight down until I took the Effexor. I stopped cold when I ran out of pills and hadn’t felt any withdrawal symptoms.

%25blue%25Blue Text%25%25Hey ya’ll! I’ve been on Effexor since its lovely inception. I have been diagnosed w/ bipolar disorder since 1995. (misdiagnosed depressive disorder for a few years prior) I’ve gone up & down w/ various doseages but have now settled on 150 mg of good old regular venlaflaxine (amongst other things i.e. Keppra, Serequel, & trazadone). It was the only thing that worked for me at the time. (Imiprimine, Paxil, Zoloft all busts). It’s done a pretty good job of regulating my depressive episodes. One of the things I’ve noticed though is that if I miss 1 dose I start getting these weird, painful brain zaps, and sort of clumsy, I guess. WTF? It is SO uncomfortable, it hurts and my head gets all swimy. I’m usually VERY vigilant with my meds, but one does forget or run out sometimes. I’m frankly frightened of what will happen if it stops working and/or I’m switched off the med. (Also no doc I’ve ever had has been able to explain or has heard of the “brain zap” I feel). I’m worried about weaning off, the effects etc. (worse zaps, balance issues etc) Effexor has been mostly very positive for me, but I feel like there is a monster in the closet if I come off. Any similar experiances or advice?

This drug was okay, I guess…didn’t do much to help my MDD, but then I have yet to find the drug combo that does. Anyhoo, it didn’t bother me with nasty side effects, until my doc decided to stop it and replace with something else. I was on 300 mg, which was reduced overnight to 150 mg “for a couple of days”, then 0. Thanks to that rat bastard and (I will freely admit) my own lack of research into discontinuation effects, I felt like I was being zapped with a cattle prod every 30 seconds or so, for the longest five days of my life. Short of being outright suicidal, I have never been so miserable. Not so funny story: during those five days, I flew home for Christmas, and was stopped by the TSA for one of their random full-body inspections. I barked so hard at the agent that I was hauled in for questioning, but thankfully the supervisor must have seen my crazy eyes and they let me go. Seriously, kids: do not mess around when coming off this drug.

i’ve been on 300mg a day, and now i’m lowering my dosage down to 75 a day. the weird thing is that i felt actually better after lowering my dosage, probably my hypomania acting out.. or not. i don t even know. but after being a zombie, socially speaking (cognitive function better than usual, though)while on 300 mg, now i’m the exact opposite: i can’t think! at all! veggie like! and as a bonus i’m horny as fuck! so this is rebound.. but for a month now? i need my brain back:(

I started taking Effexor when Celexa ceased to work for me. This is about the time my dog was diagnosed with cancer. I look back now and wonder if I was just feeling more rather than the Celexa losing it’s affect on me. Guess I will never know the answer on that one. This was April 2011.

So, I talked to my doctor who told me that there had been some new concerns about Celexa and that he would rather I go off of it anyway. He told me Effexor should do the trick. Man, was I in for it… I started off at 75 mg. and eventually built myself up to 225 a day TR. Problem was the TR didn’t know when to release and there were times where I really thought I had the flu. After awhile I realized I couldn’t have the flu 3 times in 2 months. It had crazy dreams, crying bouts, I lost weight, my concentration was no longer working, ADHD was in overdrive and worst of all I wanted to kick the crap out of anyone who rubbed me the wrong way. That is not the person I am. I am normally a really easy going person. I also had a two week stint of vertigo where I thought I was going to tip over. Even rinsing my hair in the shower and then holding my head up again was enough to make me start to fall a few times.

After a few months my business started to suffer. I am a self employed CPA and I didn’t care whose books were in balance. I just stopped caring period. My breathing was horrible. I got short of breath taking off my clothes or walking 10 feet. It was anxiety that was causing this. I had never been on anything that made me feel so helpless. Sure it takes your mind off depression because you are too busy fighting the side effects. The drug should have never been put on the market.

When the holiday season came along I didn’t care if I had a tree or not. I am the type who has it together. I bought my tree xmas eve about an hour before my kids were supposed to show up. How sick is that? It was then I decided this had to stop.

The first part of January I told my doctor I was done and he told me to wean down. I thought I was stronger than that and although I told him I would I just quit cold turkey. Let me say everything you hear about the withdrawals are true. I liken the brain zaps to standing on a freeway in the center lane with cars racing by you on both sides 24/7. Then there is the crazy ass dreams, crying, confusion, dizziness, feeling of being disconnected, etc. Needless to say, I was back on them pronto. But, I went back on them starting at 150. I stayed there for awhile and decided it was time again. Wrong! Same results. Less intense, but still very intense. So, he puts me on Prozac to take off the edge. That was like taking a cough medicine with alcohol in it. It made me spacey and strange. It did work though to get me down to 75 mg. So here I was. Prozac and Effexor. I wasn’t going to have it. He then puts me on 10 mg. of Lexapro which I have been taking now for 2 months. In that period I was able to get down to 50, ran out of those and started taking 75′s I had left over. Caution, don’t increase/decrease/increase. It really plays with the mind. Got my refill and took 2 25s a day, down to 25 a day and finally 2 days ago I stopped completely.

Right now I am anxious, want to cry and have taken 2 naps in 2 days which is something I never do. But, the zaps (not bad ones) are subsiding, I haven’t cried, my hot flashing is going away and I can’t wait to say this one is kicked.

If any doctor reads this and still puts their patient on this crap, he or she should have their license revoked. Imagine being a test animal on this stuff? I had a better trip during the acid days of the 70s.

I have clinical (endogenous) depression. I was diagnosed at age 30 after several suicide attempts.

I have been on nearly every antidepressant available, starting with elavil (the first tricyclic). All had unlivable-with side effects (mostly insomnia) or didn’t work.

I have been on effexor for at least 8 years. It worked okay, but not great. The big problem was ups and downs during the day and insomnia at night. I take trazodone hcl (300 mg) at night to get to sleep. Works great.

Recently, my kidney and liver enzymes have been indicative of damage to these organs. Not unexpected—it’s a common result of taking antidepressants. My regular physician suggested I see if I could reduce my dose of effexor. I’d been wanting to try xr, so my shrink put me on 375 mg. at breakfast. I am doing great. It works even better than the non-xr version. Yes, I am tired and sometimes a bit apathetic, but I’m retired and it doesn’t matter. At least I’m not suicidal and maybe it’s helping my kidneys and liver stay ok.

I’ve not tried to stop effexor—it works so I’m sticking with it.

Seconding the comments about not being able to miss a single dose - I had to carry some in my bag because by 5pm the brain zaps were out of control. If you have the time, the patience and the discontinuation syndrome from hell, you can always taper super-slowly by pulling the capsule apart and removing some of the tiny pellets. It’s annoying, but I went from 225 to 0 that way.

I took 75mg of effexor for one day. Worst thing I have felt in my life! Uncontrollable shaking,racing thoughts, rapid heartbeat, confusion, it was like a panic attack on steroids! Needless to say, I will be finding a new doctor. This drug is terrible!

While still on Welbutrin 300 XL I began Effexor XR 37.5 May 2011 and discontinued it of my own accord December 2011. I have Asperger’s with social anxiety and generalized depression. My experience went like this.

The first two weeks were not pleasant. I went through bouts of extreme tiredness that would drop me like a rock at any time during the day. I was unemployed at the time so being home helped with dealing with that but still, it was almost incapacitating but by week 3 it abated and I was back to normal. I was prepared for that so didn’t let it get to me but it was still a pain.

I also started experiencing what other people label the ‘brain shocks’. For me, it felt like a mild numbness in my head accompanied by a low frequency ringing in the ears that lasted a few seconds. I found it highly annoying but never painful like others have said. That symptom continued through the end.

Did it do any good? Depends how you define ‘good’. It helped my depression quite a bit. Also made me less negatively reactive to things - very desirable effect - but it also made me feel less intense about everything. My boyfriend broke up with me because I just didn’t seem all that interested anymore. He wasn’t wrong. However that mellowness gave me the chance to think clearly for the first time in years and for that I am thankful. By the time the holidays rolled around tho I was becoming aware how much I was unplugged from my feelings. I still felt feeling, just not very strongly - about anything. I wasn’t lethargic but I had very low mental/emotional motivation to do much beyond my normal routine.

I decided that state was not desirable and weened myself off right before Chrismas. Went through the same symptoms as start up but it only lasted about a week. It took another few weeks before the brain shocks stopped. However, the overall less intense feeling has remained almost a year after coming off it. I really don’t like that even if it has given my life some much needed calm.

So I’m pretty sure I’m one of the weird ones. I’ve been taking Effect for 4–5 years I think…the dosage has steadily gone up obviously. And before that I was started on Prozac when I was 14 in high school. But anyway…it was working fine. I wasn’t getting stuck into those deep dark holes that feel like there is no way out, I very rarely had the urge to take a sharp pointy thing to my arm…everything was going well. I have always had these side effects if I missed a dose or was even late by a few hours I will get super loopy, clumsy, I’ll stumble all over myself, definitely have the “brain zaps”, but even more than that I will try n look to the right or left and my sight goes blurry, I get a brain zap that goes to my lips and they get super tingly and then go numb. So, obviously, I try to be VERY vigilant and not miss it. But, lately, it doesn’t seem to be working anymore. For the past two weeks or so I’ve taken it at the same time every single day but the side effects are getting worse and worse. My lips are tingly n numb all the time, I cannot walk in a straight line, my sight is going in and out…and now everything that I’m trying to avoid is coming back. I was diagnosed with MD’S and, later, with Borderline Personality Disorder. Along with the depression I also get into these huge rages. It nearly destroyed my relationship with my mum and I would get violent as well. Naturally I don’t want these symptoms to surface but lately I’ve haven’t been taking things as well as I should, I’m fighting with my boyfriend a lot more, I’m not sleeping well, I don’t wanna do anything, just lay in bed and ignore everything…Ugh. And most of these get exponentially worse when I have to take steroids for my asthma which is every 1 or two months. I’m gonna see my Dr n tweak some things… So I wanted to add my story to everyone else’s here. And maybe see if anyone else gets the tingly numb lips thing too. Effexor is great when it works but damn…I have to agree that the side effects are freakin awful. =( *Blech*

So I’m pretty sure I’m one of the weird ones. I’ve been taking Effect for 4–5 years I think…the dosage has steadily gone up obviously. And before that I was started on Prozac when I was 14 in high school. But anyway…it was working fine. I wasn’t getting stuck into those deep dark holes that feel like there is no way out, I very rarely had the urge to take a sharp pointy thing to my arm…everything was going well. I have always had these side effects if I missed a dose or was even late by a few hours I will get super loopy, clumsy, I’ll stumble all over myself, definitely have the “brain zaps”, but even more than that I will try n look to the right or left and my sight goes blurry, I get a brain zap that goes to my lips and they get super tingly and then go numb. So, obviously, I try to be VERY vigilant and not miss it. But, lately, it doesn’t seem to be working anymore. For the past two weeks or so I’ve taken it at the same time every single day but the side effects are getting worse and worse. My lips are tingly n numb all the time, I cannot walk in a straight line, my sight is going in and out…and now everything that I’m trying to avoid is coming back. I was diagnosed with MD’S and, later, with Borderline Personality Disorder. Along with the depression I also get into these huge rages. It nearly destroyed my relationship with my mum and I would get violent as well. Naturally I don’t want these symptoms to surface but lately I’ve haven’t been taking things as well as I should, I’m fighting with my boyfriend a lot more, I’m not sleeping well, I don’t wanna do anything, just lay in bed and ignore everything…Ugh. And most of these get exponentially worse when I have to take steroids for my asthma which is every 1 or two months. I’m gonna see my Dr n tweak some things… So I wanted to add my story to everyone else’s here. And maybe see if anyone else gets the tingly numb lips thing too. Effexor is great when it works but damn…I have to agree that the side effects are freakin awful. =( *Blech*

I was put on Effexor following a taxing (putting it lightly) withdrawal period from Paxil. I really, really, really wish my doctor had warned me about this one’s ability to sink its claws into your brain, but by now I’ve learned that you specifically have to ask your doctor that question. Seriously. Do it. Ask your doctor if any newly prescribed medication will cause withdrawal symptoms upon discontinuation. The embarrassment and few thousand dollars’ worth of 3am ER visits are a lot worse than just asking in the first place, and chances are that he/she won’t tell you. And just in case, do your own research before committing to the new medication.

I sleep a lot more soundly with this drug. It doesn’t knock me out or make me particularly tired, but I feel more rested with it. This is probably a result of feeling less anxiety to eat away at my energy, and certainly because my otherwise frequent nightmares either go away or no longer bother me enough to be memorable.

I’ve gained about ten pounds upon starting but I’m also on Ativan and Elavil, and the weight gain has been encouraged because I’m anorexic. If you’re only on Effexor and don’t have food offered to you every few hours, you will probably still gain a few pounds, but you’ll also have more energy to burn. Don’t think about it, just focus on being able to finally get out of bed and do stuff with your friends and family.

Don’t drink on this, and when you do, don’t expect to be able to have a drink and then drive home after some nachos and darts. A glass of whiskey that was mostly soda got me hammered and gave me an awful hangover the next day. It snuck up on me too, so seriously, don’t trust this not to fuck you up if you’re behind the wheel. If you’re depressed enough to be on Effexor now, think of the drugs you’ll need after killing someone because you combined pills, booze, and driving.

One thing that really surprised me about this pill is the effect it’s had on my severe OCD. It isn’t gone, but I go hours at a time without even thinking about my compulsions, which is great because most of them err towards self-harm. I don’t know what the deal is with that, I’m not a doctor and I don’t even play one on tv, but it’s pretty cool.

Enter your own Review, Comments & Experiences with Effexor here.
You must be a registered member of the Crazy Meds Talk forum to post a comment on this page.

§17.  Full US PI sheet, Global SPCs & PILs, Consumer Reviews & Ratings Sites, check for drug-drug interactions

Effexor Full US Prescribing Information / PI Sheet

§17.1  Effexor Prescribing Information and Patient Information from Around the World

• Australian Altven Product Information
• Australian Efexor XR Consumer Medical Information
• Canadian Effexor XR Product Monograph
• Irish Efexor XL SPC - What doctors read.
• Irish Efexor XL Patient Information Leaflet
• New Zealand Efexor XR Medicine Data Sheet - What doctors read.
• UK Efexor XL SPC - What doctors read.
• UK Efexor XL Patient Information Leaflet

§17.2  Effexor Consumer Reviews

• Everyday Health Effexor Reviews
• AskaPatient Drug Ratings for EFFEXOR XR
• PatientsLikeMe Venlafaxine Treatment Report
• DailyStrength Effexor Reviews
• WebMD User Reviews & Ratings - Effexor XR Oral
• Drugs.com User Reviews for Effexor

§17.3  Other Sites of Interest

• Drugsdb.com Effexor Page

Check for drug-drug interactions

§18.  Bibliography

PDR: Physicians’ Desk Reference 2010 64th edition back through to 53rd edition of 1999. Old copies of the PDR come in handy for PI sheets that are no longer available and difficult to find, as well as to track the changes in both indications and adverse effects.

Instant Psychopharmacology 2nd Edition Ronald J. Diamond M.D. © 2002. Published by W.W. Norton

Primer of Drug Action 12th edition by Robert M. Julien Ph.D., Claire D. Advokat, Joseph Comaty © 2011 Published by Worth Publishers.

The Complete Guide to Psychiatric Drugs Edward Drummond, M.D. © 2000. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Healing Anxiety & Depression Daniel G. Amen, M.D., and Lisa C. Routh, M.D. © 2003. Published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Mosby’s Drug Consult 2007 (Generic Prescription Physician’s Reference Book Series) © 2007 An imprint of Elsevier.

Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology: Neuroscientific Basis and Practical Applications (Essential Psychopharmacology Series) Third edition by Stephen M. Stahl © 2008 Published by Cambridge University Press.

² While classified as a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, the data are mixed when it comes to dopamine. Effexor may or may not have a therapeutic effect, albeit a minor one, on dopamine at a dosage above 300mg a day.

³ We have CYP450 genes in our gut, brain, and pancreas as well as our liver. Just as we have the genes for neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine in our gut, liver, and pancreas as well as our brain. Where the genes are, the enzymes and brain juices are. For all I know we may have UGT genes all over the place as well.

⁴ Stahl will combine Effexor and Remeron - a cocktail he calls "California Rocket Fuel - for his patients who are truly, and dangerously alt.depressed.as.fuck, and who have not responded to anything else.

Date created 25 Apr 2011 - 11:53 Page Author: JerodPoore Last edited by: Jerod Poore on February 22, 2013, at 03:13 PM

Effexor side effects, dosage, reviews, how to take & discontinue, uses, pros & cons, and more by JerodPoore is copyright 2011 JerodPoore

Effexor is a trademark of someone else. Look on the the PI sheet or ask Google who the owner is. The way pharmaceutical companies buy each other and swap products like Monopoly™ real estate, the ownership of the trademark may have changed without my noticing.

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¹ While there are plenty of books to help you with hypochondria, for some reason there’s not much in the way of websites. Then again, staying off of the Internet is a large part of curing/managing the disorder.

² Have I mentioned how open source operating systems for commercial applications is one of the dumbest ideas in the history of dumb ideas?
[begin rant] I rent a dedicated server for Crazy Meds. It’s sitting on a rack somewhere in Southern California along with a bunch of other servers that other people have rented. The hardware is identical, but no two machines have exactly the same operating systems. I don’t even need to see what is on any of the others to know this. If somebody got their server at the exact same time, with the exact same features as I did, I’m confident that there would be noticeable differences in some aspects of the operating systems. So what does this mean? For one thing it means that no two computers in the same office of a single company have the same operating system, and the techs can spend hours figuring out what the fuck the problem could be based on that alone. It also means that application software like IP board that runs the forum here has to have so many fucking user-configurable bells and whistles that even when I read the manual I can’t find every setting, or every location that every flag needs to be set in order for a feature to run the way I want it to run. And in the real world it means you can get an MBA not only with an emphasis on resource planning, but with an emphasis on using SAP - a piece of software so complex there are now college programs on how to use it. You might think, “But don’t people learn how to use Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator in college?” Sure, in order to create stuff. And in a way you’re creating stuff with SAP. But do you get a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis on Photoshop?
Back in the Big Iron Age the operating systems were proprietary, and every computer that took up an entire room with a raised floor and HVAC system, and had less storage and processing power than an iPhone, had the same operating system as every other one, give or take a release level. But when a company bought application software like SAP, they also got the source code, which was usually documented and written in a way to make it easy to modify the hell out of it. Why? Because accounting principles may be the same the world over, and tax laws the same across each country and state, but no two companies have the same format for their reports, invoices, purchase orders and so forth. Standards existed and were universally ignored. If something went wrong it went wrong the same way for everyone, and was easy to track down. People didn’t need to take a college course to learn how to use a piece of software.
I’m not against the open source concept entirely. Back then all the programmers read the same magazines, so we all had the same homebrew utilities. We even had the forerunner to QR Code to scan the longer source code. Software vendors and computer manufacturers sponsored conventions so we could, among other things, swap recipes for such add-ons and utilities. While those things would make our lives easier, they had nothing to do with critical functions of the operating system. Unless badly implemented they would rarely cause key application software to crash and burn. Whereas today, with open source everything, who the hell knows what could be responsible some part of a system failing. [/end rant]

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