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Below are Effexor XR (Venlafaxine) reviews, ratings, comments submitted by patients and caregivers. Based on a total of 21 ratings/reviews, Effexor XR has an overall score of 6.95. The effectiveness score is 7.52 and the side effect score is 7.52. The scores are on ten point scale: 10 - best, 1 - worst. This information is not vetted and should not be cosidered as clinical evidence. | | Effexor XR review by 58 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | |   |
| Effectiveness: | | Moderately Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 150 mg taken 1 per day for the period of 5 years+ |
| Other conditions: | | hypothyroid |
| Other drugs taken: | | Synthyroid | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Alleviated deep depression. |
| Side effects: | | Sexual desire & response. |
| Comments: | | Treatment ongoing. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 47 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 225mg daily taken twice daily for the period of six months |
| Other conditions: | | anxiety |
| Other drugs taken: | | none | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Decreasse in general anxiety symptoms and most symptoms of depression. |
| Side effects: | | Dry mouth,
initial constipation for about one month
slightly elevated heart rate |
| Comments: | | 150 mg capsule taken with breakfast and 75mg with evening meal. This was accompanied by psychological counselling, mainly cognitive behaviour therapy |
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| | Effexor XR review by 35 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Depression/Anxiety |
| Dosage & duration: | | 37.5, 75, 150 (dosage frequency: once per day) for the period of 4 years |
| Other conditions: | | Eating Disorder-Bulimia and Anorexia; post-partum depression |
| Other drugs taken: | | None | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Immediately felt like "the cloud had lifted." Anxiety essentially disappeared and life really did get easier. Removed the sense of "running in concrete." |
| Side effects: | | At first, sleeping was intermittent and was full of bizarre dreams. This quickly passed. |
| Comments: | | Effexor was prescribed after Serzone has run it's course. Treated for depression (dysthymia) and anxiety related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Excellent results compared to Serzone and Paxil. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 37 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | No Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 225 mg taken daily for the period of 2+ years |
| Other conditions: | | Fibromyalgia |
| Other drugs taken: | | Trazodone, Tramadol | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Depression was gone for the first time in my life! I finally knew what it was like to be "normal". |
| Side effects: | | I did not experience side effects |
| Comments: | | I had taken other anti-depressants with no benefit and negative side effects. I also had done various talk therapies. When the dose of Effexor XR got high enough, I felt for the first time what it was like to be "normal" - happy, sad, etc. without the overbearing feeling of depression. When I had to go off the Effexor XR due to cost, the depression recurred. This drug literally changed my life. However, when I talk to other people who were not helped by it, they frequently are on a very low dose. I am glad that I found a doctor willing to prescribe a high enough dose to be beneficial. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 52 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Considerably Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | mild to moderate depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 150 mg taken once a day for the period of 1 year |
| Other conditions: | | hypothyroid, hypertension |
| Other drugs taken: | | norvasc, tenex, armour thyroid, astelin | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Improved mood after trying several other SSRI's. Had tried Prozac and Wellbutrin and got no effect from them. I was able to function better. I was not ecstatic, but was functional and less prone to negative thinking. |
| Side effects: | | a bit of feeling dull or neutral. |
| Comments: | | Maximum dosage indicated in literature is 150 mg per day. Took two 75 mg capsules in the morning with breakfast. The medication started to work within two or three days. However, it's expensive. I would not say that I am non-functional without it, but I believe I am more functional when taking it.
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| | Effexor XR review by care giver of 34 year old male patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | High level anxiety/depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | one capsule (37.5mg venlafaxine)/day taken once per day for the period of 3 months |
| Other conditions: | | none |
| Other drugs taken: | | none | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Unlike other anti-depressents which appeared to completely depress all emotional feeling and expression and lower energy levels, this drug appeared to free the patient from the high level of anxiety while allowing 'normal' emotional functioning. It appeared to stabalise the situation without comprimising the patients ability to perform normal work functions. |
| Side effects: | | There was some drowsiness after taking the capsule, and therefore it was taken at night. |
| Comments: | | One capsule per day, taken in the evening. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 43 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | Moderate Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 75mg taken daily for the period of 1 year |
| Other conditions: | | Migraines |
| Other drugs taken: | | Maxalt | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Effexor was very effective at alleviating my symptoms of depression. My mood improved dramatically, I felt happy and engaged in life again. It also worked fairly quickly. I began feeling the effects within the first week. |
| Side effects: | | The side effects I experienced while taking Effexor were insomnia, rapid heartbeat and grinding my teeth at night. Also, I found myself incessantly jiggling my leg while sitting at my desk, watching tv, etc.. All in all, these were minor and as easy trade-off. The major side effect I noticed was a complete loss of libido and inability to reach orgasm. Simply put, it was as if a switch had been turned off on my sex drive. This side effect was the reason I chose to stop taking Effexor. |
| Comments: | | My physician started me out on 37.5mg/day for 1 week then increased the dosage to 75mg/day for another week and, finally, to 150mg/day. After taking 150mg/day for about a week, I felt it was too much...my heart was always racing, I couldn't sleep, and I generally just felt "nervous". My physician dropped my dosage back to 75mg/day and that seemed to work best for me. I absolutely feel that the Effexor helped lift my depression. However, I eventually chose to stop taking it because of the sexual side effects. After being on Effexor for about a year, I both wanted and needed to have a healthy sexual relationship with my husband again. I dropped the dosage back to 37.5mg/day for a week, then one every other day for about another week before stopping altogether. I don't recall having any "withdrawal" symptoms. Within a few days of the last dose, all sexual functions were back. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 50 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Moderately Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 150 m (dosage frequency: once daily) for the period of 10 yrs |
| Other conditions: | | headaches |
| Other drugs taken: | | ibuprofin | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Wasn't as severly depressed as before taking the drug, didn't sleep as much and was able to function normally in a job. |
| Side effects: | | nightmares, some drowsiness during the day, minor weight gain |
| Comments: | | Took the medication in the mornings
tried to discontinue the medication gradually, but had severe side effects including electric like shocks |
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| | Effexor XR review by 40 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Considerably Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Anxiety |
| Dosage & duration: | | 300 mg / day taken daily for the period of to present |
| Other conditions: | | None |
| Other drugs taken: | | None | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Reduced anxiety, less irritability, levelized moods. |
| Side effects: | | Odd sensation in the head, somnolence, teeth grinding. |
| Comments: | | Started at 75 mg/day and increased over 3-4 months to 300 mg/day. Continued improvement and reduction of symptoms as dosage increased. Renewed period of side effects with each increase, lasting not more that 2-3 days. Also, odd, vivid dreams occur ocassionaly, but not enough to be a problem. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 48 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Ineffective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | menopausal systems |
| Dosage & duration: | | 37.5 mg taken 1 daily for the period of 1 month |
| Other conditions: | | none |
| Other drugs taken: | | none | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Although this treatment was intended to alleviate symptoms associated with menopause, either the dosage was insignificant or the product was not appropriate for this particular patient. No relief was experienced in any way. If anything, symptoms continue to worsen. |
| Side effects: | | No side effects were experienced in any way with the original dosage of 37.5 mg. Dosage was increased to a level double the original prescription and at this level the anticipated side effects became apparent. Both drowsiness and dizziness were experienced at the increased dosage. There was still no significant improvement in the original symptoms. |
| Comments: | | This was a very short lived "trial" to assess the efficacy of this particular drug for the presenting complaint associated with onset of menopause. One capsule was taken each night in an attempt to alleviate the disruption to sleeping patterns caused by recurring night sweats. After a two week period and no relief, the dosage was doubled. The ensuing side effects of drowsiness, fatigue and occasional dizziness were attributed to the medication. Still no relief of the original presenting symptoms. The value of continuing with this medication was nil, so was discontinued. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 30 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 150 mg taken daily for the period of 1.5 years |
| Other conditions: | | anxiety |
| Other drugs taken: | | xanax | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | The xanax helped slow things down and make everything less stressful. helped me to stay on a calm even level. |
| Side effects: | | unfortuntely it is extremely addictive and you can find yourself craving it, and everything can become a problem if I didnt have any. Dealing with lifes regular ups and downs all became stressful if I didnt have it. Had to stop taking it as soon as I noticed my behavior. |
| Comments: | | I want to say it was 50 mg. doses taken up to 3 times a day. It was somewhat up to me when I needed to take it. Mostly for anxiety attacks. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 38 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Marginally Effective |
| Side effects: | | Severe Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 75mg taken every day for the period of 1 month |
| Other conditions: | | N/A |
| Other drugs taken: | | N/A | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | some decreased depression but not as well as with wellbutrin |
| Side effects: | | constipation, dizziness and elevated bp |
| Comments: | | had to stop the mediccine and go back to taking wellbutrin 300mg xl. the side effect of going off of the effexor included a lot of dizziness |
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| | Effexor XR review by 28 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | depression/anxiety |
| Dosage & duration: | | 150mg taken once daily for the period of 2+years |
| Other conditions: | | none |
| Other drugs taken: | | birth control (yasmin) | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Helped with being able to feel more comfortable interacting in social settings.
Helped with being able to complete daily chores and activities. Also besides getting my daily chores accomplished I have more desire to attend social events and have picked up a few hobbies. Increased my overall since of happiness and positive outlook on life. |
| Side effects: | | At first I had trouble sleeping until my body adjusted to the medication.
I have more vivid dreams. Also has caused me to talk in my sleep and sometimes physically act out the dream while asleep. One night I was dreaming I was swimming and woke me and my boyfriend up because I was kicking my legs as if I were swimming. If I miss a dose and go to sleep it causes night sweats. If I miss a dose before bed I wake up with my clothes and hair soaked in sweat. |
| Comments: | | I was started at 37.5mg for a week. Moved up to 75mg the next week. After a week at 75mg was then moved up to 150mg. I was then moved up a week later to 250mg. I took 250mg for about 2yrs. I had to cut back on the dose because I lost my job with insurance and could no longer afford 250mg prescriptions.
I tried to (without my doctors advice or knowledge) get off the medicine cold turkey when I lost my insurance. Doing that made me extremely emotional. I would start crying for no reason at all and felt crazy! I went back to the doctor and talked about my situation. She set up a program to slowly take me off the medicine. I stepped down my dose by 75mg every 2 weeks till I got to 75mg. Then I went to taking 37.5 for 2 weeks. Then went to 37.5 every other day for a week. Then 37.5 every third day and so on till I finally got down to none. I went 6 months off the medication before going back to the doctor to be put back on it. I have now been back on it for about a year now. I have no plans to ever stop taking it again. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 23 year old male patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Marginally Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 150 MG taken once a day for the period of 1.5 years |
| Other conditions: | | N/A |
| Other drugs taken: | | lithium | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | I do not feel there were any benefits from this treatment - only side effects.
Weaning off the the drug was extremely difficult. |
| Side effects: | | Impotence, tremor |
| Comments: | | I was given Effexor to take once a day for depression. I did not derive much benefit. I received a lot of benefit from seeing a therapist and taking nutritional supplements. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 47 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Ineffective |
| Side effects: | | Severe Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 75 mg taken once day for the period of three months |
| Other conditions: | | none |
| Other drugs taken: | | none | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | I took it for three months and I did not feel any less depressed. I actually felt kind of paranois and "out of it." I did not fee any less depressed, in fact more anxious. |
| Side effects: | | Tired, spaced out, insomnia WEIGHT GAIN |
| Comments: | | It did not work I gained 23 pounds in three months! I tried taking in am and pm and neither worked out. I gained a lot of weight and experienced insomnia and early am waking. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 57 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Considerably Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 300 mg taken once in the morning for the period of years |
| Other conditions: | | anxiety |
| Other drugs taken: | | Lamictal, desyrel | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | I have been on Effexor XR for about 10 years. I am currently taking 300 mg per day. Before going on Effexor XR I was a crazy person...I tried to commit suicide several times. I still had anger issues and was given Lamictal and my anger has decreased immensely. I had been on so many different antidepressants I thought this was how my life was always going to be, my family slowly watching me sleep myself to death. Since my doctor put me on Effexor XR added Lamictal & Desyrel I feel better than ever. I also found out I'm allergic to wheat, dairy & eggs. Deleting these items from my diet along with the medications has made me a new person. |
| Side effects: | | The only adverse effect I experienced was when I tried to play doctor and wean myself from the meds. It was like withdrawals from hard drugs; chills, nausea, etc. I took periodically myself off my meds because I didn't want to be dependant on medicaton. It was always the wrong thing to do. |
| Comments: | | My Dr gave me a sample pack (containing 7-37.5 mg capsules & 7-75mg capsules) as well as a prescription for 75 mg. I was to take the 37.5 mg capsules then the 75 mg capsules. The dosage has been increased over time to 300mg. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 40 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Considerably Effective |
| Side effects: | | Moderate Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | anxiety and depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 225 mg daily taken daily for the period of 5 years and still taking |
| Other conditions: | | hay fever, low thyroid, reflux |
| Other drugs taken: | | Synthroid, Nasonex, Prilosec occ. | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Brought me out of a severe, didn't-care-if-I-lived depression without making anxiety too much worse. Not perfect but works well enough that I don't want to quit taking. |
| Side effects: | | Starting it and titrating up caused interesting side effects: low blood sugar, big pupils, palpitations (all were temporary). Now if I miss a dose, I get bad night sweats and wierd dreams, and quickly remember to take it again. |
| Comments: | | Started at 37.5 mg for few days, then 75 then 112.5 then 150mg. Did well initially, then was increased to 225 mg several months later. Tried 300 mg for a while but not much difference from 225. Will have to taper down if I ever stop the med. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 41 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | No Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Depression & anxiety |
| Dosage & duration: | | 150 mg taken 1x/day for the period of since last April |
| Other conditions: | | panic attacks |
| Other drugs taken: | | none | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | I was having panic attacks and very high anxiety. Effexor XR helped to reduce the anxiety and eliminate the panic attacks. My depression is much, much better. |
| Side effects: | | I have to take it with food or I get sick stomach. Otherwise I have no side effects. |
| Comments: | | You must take a SSRI daily. If you skip a few days you start to feel like you are getting a really bad cold, and disoriented. They are hard to wean off of. Do not stop taking! Talk to your doctor if you feel you want to reduce your dosage. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 23 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | No Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Major depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 150mg taken once daily for the period of six months |
| Other conditions: | | Anxiety |
| Other drugs taken: | | Lamictal, Buspar | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Alleviated my despair, gave me back some control of my emotions and motivated me to work harder at managing my depression and get out of the house. |
| Side effects: | | May have contributed to my insomnia. |
| Comments: | | Before I started taking Effexor I had tried Lexapro and Cymbalta with unsatisfactory results. Having weaned off those, it was hard just to get out of bed - I was missing work and couldn't hold it together at all. Within a couple of days of taking this I started to feel better. It's been the best so far at managing my depression but I still needed other drugs to help with mood swings and anxiety. Overall a good payoff, just wish it was generic! |
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| | Effexor XR review by 40 year old male patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Considerably Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Anxiety, mild depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 75 mg,37 mg taken daily for the period of 1 year |
| Other conditions: | | none |
| Other drugs taken: | | none | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Venlafaxine is a bicyclic antidepressant, and is usually categorized as a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), but it has been referred to as a serotonin-norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor. It works by blocking the transporter "reuptake" proteins for key neurotransmitters affecting mood, thereby leaving more active neurotransmitters in the synapse. The neurotransmitters affected are serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). Additionally, in high doses it weakly inhibits the reuptake of dopamine, with recent evidence showing that the norepinephrine transporter also transports some dopamine as well, implying that SNRIs may also increase dopamine transmission. This is because SNRIs work by inhibiting reuptake, i.e. preventing the serotonin and norepinephrine transporters from taking their respective neurotransmitters back to their storage vesicles for later use. If the norepinephrine transporter normally recycles some dopamine too, then SNRIs will also enhance dopaminergic transmission. Therefore, the antidepressant effects associated with increasing norepinephrine levels may also be partly or largely due to the concurrent increase in dopamine (particularly in the prefrontal cortex). |
| Side effects: | | Difficulty in reaching orgasm. Increased amount of ejaculate. Rare mild headache. |
| Comments: | | My uptake levels were not severely out of balance. I started with 150 mg and felt the positive effects in 20 minutes. I was told it would take a week. I reduced the dosage to 75 mg then 37.5 mg after six months because I felt those doses to be too strong. I know others that found this drug helpful. Others it had no effect on at all, even at doses of 300 mg. |
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| | Effexor XR review by 19 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Marginally Effective |
| Side effects: | | Severe Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 225mg taken 1 daily for the period of 7 months |
| Other conditions: | | neurocardiogenic syncope |
| Other drugs taken: | | atenolol 25 mg daily | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Instead of curing my depression, this drug made me feel completely flat. |
| Side effects: | | Besides the extreme flatness, there were not many at time of treatment; however, I had severe cramps and diarrhea getting off of it |
| Comments: | | I had been on Zoloft for 5 years with no problems. After a while it had been less effective, and my doctor cycled me rapidly through other drugs that did not work well. I had been inpatient for a week because treatment had been going so poorly. So this drug seemed better, compared to that, for a while, but gradually I noticed that I didn't so much feel better as that I just didn't feel anything at all. |
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