";s:4:"text";s:5467:" So since 5 months ago I started 37.5 mg Effexor xr and now I’m up to 75mg. I was one of the small percentage that had massive weight gain, depression and suicidal obsession. Don’t get discouraged by the bad reviews. Like migraine headaches that come very suddenly in "zap" type intervals. Just ease. Coming off of it has to be done in steps at least as gradually as they ramped you up on it and sometimes even slower. But I could still feel happy, occasionally sad, and I felt more motivated than I had in a long time. However, as the dose was increased so did the side effects. My wife told me I wasn't acting myself so I decided to make an appointment and my BP had gone from normal to 175/130. They will start in less than 24 hours for some if they miss the medication or stop taking it. I was on a small dose of Xanax for the past 30 years and my GAD started to build up for about 6 months to the point of wanting to commit suicide, I've never gone through anything like this in my whole life. So far the results are good, just sometimes I still have a panic attack” It helped though, especially in terms of my mood, for some time to be honest. Discontinuation effects are notoriously bad, as testified by other commenters here, the sudden bursts of a buzzing sensation in the head were unpleasant. “I have been taking EFFXOR XR 150 MG . I do sleep a lot, almost 9 hours a night and I am slow to rise . Tamping down all the anxiety is a HUGE game changer. I’m also tapering off Lorazepam from my usual dose of .5mg to now .25, then probably nothing. Glad to know I'm not the only one that's getting extremely tired from taking it.Going to keep at it, though. “Well I’ve just recently started this medicine Effexor, I use to be a Heroin IV drug user for 7 years. I felt great every day. Seems like it just depends on the person really? “Was prescribed EffexorXR (Venlafaxine ER) after 3+ years of chronic severe insomnia (onset & maintenance) created GAD symptoms. I believe that between the two medications, effexor was in a way, "better" for me. It seems to work great for some people, perhaps MOST people but stay monitored.The hell this medication put me through has taken a long time to get over. I would consider this a success .” NO libido. Otherwise the side effects can be terrible.I've been taking it for a good, long while now and really like the results. And at one point I was scared that I had lost all empathy . Once I started Effexor I started to feel more energized, I didn’t need nearly as much sleep, and my depression has cleared away completely. This “high” is not possible with antidepressants. Like any medicine really. Anyhow, when I tapered off, I did it EXTREMELY slowly under my docs supervision. I had some pretty uncomfortable side effects for about 6 weeks when I first started, but nothing compared to the crippling anxiety.
I never had that problem before.” I started with 75 mg and I was on that for about 6 years and it was great, but then we tried to switch to Prozac because the Effexor was really expensive. But realized that being overzealous about others opinions and worries was destroying me .
I can still do it, just takes a tad longer. But when Effexor was added immediately I felt my mood lift like within 2 hours after taking first pill. “Just a friendly PSA: Cannot recommend.” The only downside is that if I miss a dose or am late taking it, I have bad detoxing side effects. I had seizures and facial ticks. Only side effect is night sweats but I can deal with that just happy to be me again.” The biggest thing - it’s permanently affected my memory. I’ve been clean for 4 years. I take it at night because it can make me sleepy. “I have been taking Effexor XR (Venlafanxine) at the 150-225mg per day level for 17 years.
Will definitely keep taking the Effexor as it seems to be helping.” (Was a few years ago)In the start it was great. After a year I weaned myself off and still felt pretty good for about 6-8 months. I understand everyone reacts differently to medications, but I feel that Effexor XR is getting an undeserved bad rap. I'm just chill. My Dr also prescribed Trazadone to take at night for insomnia and I have been sleeping better. Other medications made me really anxious, depressed and suicidal. No appetite and just feeling overall yucky and sick. It makes anxiety A LOT easier to deal with imo. The first week, I was constantly nauseated, but I stuck with it. Tried 37.5mg dose of Effexor in the mornings and after a few weeks I was feeling pretty great.