sammycrazy Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Hi just wondered if anyone here is on venlafaxine ( effexor) ive been on it for 6 years without a break and have never met anyone else who takes it. i put on 6 stone in the first 18months of starting on it. Think im gonna be on it forever as doc has never mentioned changing, i did have dosage increased in dec as got very bad again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine001 Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 been on it since may, 3 stone for me, its not working as well as i would like. I think there are quite a few people on here who take it. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucyloo Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Took it for a few months last year at low dose, side effects for first few weeks were dreadful, I found it made me dreadfully numb emotionally, so now on cipralex. L x should have said, it shot my anxiety through the roof, panic attacks and couldn't leave the house. never been so bad in my life before x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
last_time_lucky Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Hi, I'm on it too. Had dose reduced as it was aggrivating my anxiety. My weight fluctuates anyway... Definitely relate to the numb feelings. It's awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drybones Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Hi I been taking it for a year I think, honestly cannot remember now when I started Taking 225mg/day now. Horrible side fx and if I miss dose. Sounds stupid but I'm kinda scared to stop taking it. I have occasional good days but they are rare Hasn't affected my weight much but affects my tummy for sure Emotionally numb, yes very much so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucyloo Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Its worth noteing, that although i had side effects when I started them, (so severe that I spent two weeks in bed) I had not one twinge, coming off them, nothing at all, so I can honestly say, not every one has a withdrawal from them L x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bereft Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Been taking it for awhile. At first it helped my depression, now it doesn't. After reading people's comments I'm starting to wonder if it's causing my problems with anxiety, weight gain, and inability to do anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammycrazy Posted February 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 I find it dulls me down a lot, my son has ADHD and people say "oh how do you cope with his noises,banging,tapping etc" but I just dont notice. I dont cry but if i miss a dose or 2 i get really bad mania. Its funny cos everyone thinks im a realy funny person always clowning around...if only they knew. Im far to scared to come off it but ive not had any probs with anxiety so lucky there, if anything im blase about my safety Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unlucky Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 I started on them in around Sept/Oct last year. I now up to 225mg and psychiatrist says he wants me up to the maximum. I was on Prozac for 6 years and they didn't really make any difference, but with these, it's like I can be ok and get things done, or I can be awful, worse than I've ever been. So I don't know which is better, flat or ok one minute then awful the next. My anxiety has always been bad but has gotten a lot worse recently, don't know if it's to do with the Venlafaxine. And I haven't noticed any difference in weight, except almost constant nausea. I thought Venlafaxine was supposed to make you lose weight? I know somebody who has been on them around 14 years and totally crashed when she tried to come off them. I am terrified to stop taking them. It was so hard to stop taking the Prozac because I was so scared of what would happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucyloo Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Been taking it for awhile. At first it helped my depression, now it doesn't. After reading people's comments I'm starting to wonder if it's causing my problems with anxiety, weight gain, and inability to do anything. is there anyone who could give you an honest unbiased opinion, as to if you have been worse since the meds kicked in? I know my anxiety was caused by them, as although I suffered before, 2 weeks after starting, my anxiety went through the roof! Worse than every before in my life. They also aggrevated ibs, i ended up taking laxatives 4 times aweek, dreadful state to be in L x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benway Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Hi, I was on Effexor XL a few times, up to 375mg at one stage. "anxiety, weight gain, and inability to do anything. " - about sums up my experience with them. I chose not to be on an anti-depressant rather than be on Effexor, I tapered myself off them for the last time in 2008. If I was over an hour late in taking the capsule, I'd know all about it with dizziness, electric shocks, feeling like water was sloshing around in my head. I came off them as I was only getting negative effects, no positive ones. They made my anxiety really bad, and I found when trying to come off them i was getting these 'face twitches' in my eye or lip, it was quite frightening, as I know of people who get this 'twitching' from either anti-p's or anti-d's , and it's irreversible. Thankfully mine went away after a month. They are an SNRI- as is Cymbalta (Duloxetine) . Everyone is different in regards to tolerance to meds. I can take Cymbalta ok, and got very few side effects when I ran out and stopped them last Autumn. But i found it harder withdrawing from Effexor. And between Zyprexa and then Effexor, I put on 5st in a year. It was horrible. But I did lose it when I came off them. There is a really good website called www.askapatient.com where members of the public list the s/effects, good effects, reason for being on medication, etc. After being on almost every anti-d of the ssri/snri type, i am now taking a tri-cyclic and it definitly has anti-anxiety qualities, I found Effexor very 'speedy' , yet paradoxically I lashed on the weight when on it. If you find it induces mania, maybe you should talk to yr Dr. about this? Or that you feel you want t try something else? Wishing you well, kitteh xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow girl Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 I was on this for just over 2 years. Dose got increased each time I had a bad patch till I was on 300 XL every day. I had to plead to come off them because truth be told they did help at first. However, once on the higher dose I couldn't be late with a dose coz of withdrawals (and I often forget) and I was feeling very numb all the time and had lost my creative edge. They didn't make me gain weight - indeed I lost a lot when I first started them. Coming off then was hideous. The withdrawals were awful so much so I was ranting at my CPN that the drug should be banned - though it must be noted not everyone is affected in this way. I have a friend who's been on it for 10 years and swears by them. After I'd been off them about 7 weeks my mood started to significantly drop so I guess they did help. Its one of those times you have to balance benefits with disadvantages to decide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abee.abee1991 Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 wow, reading this makes me scared and very nervous to start this drug next week :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manja Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 wow, reading this makes me scared and very nervous to start this drug next week don't be. every drug is different for everybody. when i was on this it just made me very tired, but i've kinda been like that on all my antidepressants so it could just be the depression or whatever the heck is wrong with me that was making me tired. so don't worry too much, just take things as they come x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BimoUK Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 I was on Effexor (Venlafaxine) for about 6 months up until Oct/Nov last year (I think). I started on 75mg which helped initially but the benefit soon faded. After that I was upped to 150mg which helped again and then faded again. After that I switched to Sertraline which was of no use to me at all, and I'm now on Lofepramine 210mg, which also is doing not a lot. But back to the Venlafaxine, I never experienced any side effects at all, that I know of, either whilst on it, or after coming off it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobody Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Hi just wondered if anyone here is on venlafaxine (effexor) ive been on it for 6 years without a break and have never met anyone else who takes it. i put on 6 stone in the first 18months of starting on it. Think im gonna be ,on it forever as doc has never mentioned changing, i did have dosage increased in dec as got very bad again. I've been on Venlafaxine (300mg od) for about 18months tov2 years (along with a bunch of others - Olanzapine, Sodium Valproate, Mirtizapine and Nitrazapam). I remember when i first took them it took a lot of adjusting to, i felt spaced out like i'd taken drugs. I also put on a lot of weight, but think that manly due to the Olanzapine. Withdrawl effects - i'm ok if i miss a days dose, 2 max, but whey, on the 3rd day do i know about it, i'm simply unable to fuunction at all, dizzy, dazed and confused a lot. I slur my words and generally seem really out of it. Last time i went to my chemist to pick up my meds, and had forgotton to take the Effexor for a few days, the lady behind the counter asked if i was getting a Controlled Substance.!!. I've been going there for over 2 years.... it shows just how out0of0it i must have looked; even my support worker laughs at me when i'm spaced out, lol.# I''ve linfound you some url's to some good sites that'll help give you a rounded view. TC Dx http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/v/venlafaxine_toxicity/intro.htm http://www.ehow.com/search.aspx?s=venlafaxine http://www.clinical-depression.co.uk/anti-depressants-withdrawal/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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