Depression Blog.com

Effexor gave me my life back, I am off of it now and take St. John's Wort. Effexor also gave me an additional 38 pounds I didn't need.
But it was the best thing I have ever done. The weight will come off

Effexor can be good or bad, depending on who you ask. I was on it for 8 months for major depression. When I was depressed every little thing mad me cry a river. But I was capable of feeling happiness at times. After a month of being on 300mg of XR my depression cleared but it wasn't until much later that I realized what it really did - it blunts your emotions like all other anti-depressants. I would feel sad and happy at times but I was no longer capable of really crying or experiencing immense joy. Emotions like jealousy, anger, lust, love, etc,. almost ceased to exist inside of me. I had broken up with a guy I liked very much and I'd normally cry for several weeks over it but I think I only shed a few tears ONCE! When I went off the drug my capacity to feel emotion to the fullest came back. So this drug definitely DOES work, but maybe not everyone will like how it works.

I have taken Effexor for over 5 yrs now. It improved my life drastically and I had no idea I could feel this normal until I was put on this drug. I was even able to have a child while taking effexor with no PPD or severe relapse. This has all been while on 150-187.5 mg effexor TABLETS...just last month I was notified that the tablets were being taken off the market w/in 6months...I have tried 2x to switch to effexor xr/xl with absolutly NO SUCCESS!!! My body does not metabolize the capsules or the contents at all and I experienced a quick, devestating relapse of my chronic depression.
I have not been able to find anyone else who has experienced this difficulty with effexor xr vs effexor tablets- the company has had no other reports of my problem either.
Is there anyone else out there????

I cannot say that my wife doesn't say that she feels "the best" that she has EVER felt but I will say that she says this from the bed of another man with whom she LAUNCHED herself into a relationship shortly after our marriage and a few months after starting Effexor.
She seems to be living in this little plastic bubble of unreality where if it feels good to her then it is ok to do. No morals, no ethics, no respect for integrity or honor remain in her.
She and I were speaking last night and I finally realized that the woman I married is gone. I do not recognize this person.
I contacted Wyeth and they want to have me release her personal med info. I have tried to get someone from that company to meet with me. No anwer yet.
I have to say that I really do feel that my wife is gone - I may never see her again. Gee, thanks Effexor.

Anyone having sexual side effects, as in no sex drive, coming OFF of Effexor?

This is a message for Brian: It really sounds like your wife has bipolar disorder. Manic and hypomanic symptoms can be induced or made worse by anti-depressants. Take a look at:

http://counsellingresource.com/distress/mood-disorders/hypomanic-symptoms.html

Hope things go better. I take effexor along with other meds to control hypomania and really like the effexor. I don't really notice any side effects from it. I bounce off the walls though on anti-depressants alone.

Would not let my worse enemy take this stuff. Side effects while on were bad, weaning myself off was pure HELLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!

For many years i suffered from depression, ligheadedness, anxiety, and social phobia ( wanting to be alone always). I was on zoloft for years, and as far as i am concerned it did nothing to help me improve. After having very bad tremors from Zoloft, i was put on Effexor 75 mg after 1 month of using lower dosages. I have been on the meds now for a year, what a change, no more tremors, no more anxiety, no more more social phobia, as far as i am concerned this medication has changed my life. Thank God for Effexor, mike

i have been taking effexor xr for almost a year- at first i found that my sex drive was dead so a doctor put me on zoloft- i nearly lost the plot completely - sure i had sex drive but i had hyper drive and couldn't control thoughts or emotions. i was prescribed effexor for anxiety related depression. i went back onto effexor- and since i can concerntrate and focus without emotional confusion.
I think when you have chronic anxiety- for me at least sex was an out let- my only out let- once on effexor i didnt need this as much and love became more of the motive for sex drive. Or genuine excitement not selfish release. I have felt myself again and i am so greatful. i am only 24 and i belive if i had not gone on effexor it my illness would have started manifesting in less reversable ways, i didnt want to be an ancious and depressed personality because i did know it wasnt me.

I find it so strange that so many people have stated that they gained weight on the effexor when in the first year I was on it I lost 100 pounds and I have been on it now for 7 years and have maintained my weight of 130 pounds and have had no side effects what so ever. All I know is my life became a normal one after being put on the effexor and not a constant rollercoaster of depression and panic disorder with suicidal thoughts or obssesive thoughts of death.

I have been taking effexor xr for about 4 1/2 years. I thought about going off the meds since a lot of things changed in my life for the better. I was on 75mg, but recently, my GP prescribed 37.5mg for 10 days and then told me to take it every other day for the next week. I started to do this and I had the worst withdrawal symptoms! Worse than my initial problem. I am staying steady at 37.5mg everyday but am feeling depressed and anxious. My doc prescribed lexapro (10mg) and told me to switch it with the effexor every other day for a couple of weeks and then just take the lexapro every day. Does this sound right? Is it normal to go back and forth like that?

Effexor made me feel great at first and after experimenting with Paxil and Zoloft and having terrible reactions I thought I had found the answer. During an especially hot summer I started sweating profusely several times a day, until I was dehydrated and had no energy to get out of bed. Because I also take thyroid pills I felt maybe my thyroid may be too high and causing the sweating. I finally convinced my doctor it was serious and he took me off the effexor. The sweats stopped in two days. Now I am on the search for an new medication for my nervous system that won't cause tremors, or shaking or other side effects. My Dr. is stumped. All serotonin uptakes seem to have the same side effects.

My husband has been on effexor for the past 8 years. In the begining it was great, no more horrible fights due to his built up anger, we could go out at night cause he was now okay in public and he had some self confidence back, however, he no longer feels any emotoin what so ever. He used to adore me, now I could pack up and leave and he would most likely not shed a tear? The only emotion he has is anger. He has wanted to get off effexor many times however the doctor would always tell him diue to work, our wedding,anything he could think of, it was too stressful of a time, then he would up his dosage? At one time he completley lost his sex drive, now it comes and goes? We are way too young to be dealing with this. I blame effor for many of our problems, his anger is semi-controlled, however if he it's 3 hours off schedule with taking his pill, all hell breaks loose. My question is why does his doctor constantly avoid taking him off, how bad is this going to be? Will I want to be married to this person once he is off the meds? I am positive the long term effects of this rx is not good, his anger is back, his mood swings are terrible actually worse then before the meds. Is there anyone else out there dealing with this? I feel the worse for my husband because he is trapped in a mental prison, he drives himself crazy thinking about going off it and how it would be.

Side effects were nightsweats and abnormal uterine bleeding. Reduced 150mg dose gradually over 4 months, but still got so sick I couldn't work. I took my last tiny dose 7 weeks ago and I am still too sick to work. What a nightmare! No one told me about this. Even the updated drug insert by Wyeth is inadequate. Is it true, some are permanently maimed by this drug? I have debilitating dizziness, vertigo, nausea, flu-like aches in my muscles/joints/skin, no appetite, brain zaps. It's like permanent motion sickness. I can't even move my eyeballs from side to side without paralyzing nausea and dizziness. All the doctors I have spoken to are clueless--they never heard of effexor discontinuation syndrome! Wyeth needs to get the news out there!

I took effexor for a period of about 4 months and during this time felt little, or no improvement in my general state of mind. My depression is that which manifests itself in feelings of no self-worth, feelings of self hatred and no desire to do anything (including washing and clothing myself). Thoughts of self harm and suicide often enter my head and I would consider myself to be bipolar (This has not been confirmed by a GP). During the time I was taking this medication I felt irritable (more so than usual), nauseous constantly (which did, I am happy to report, result in weight-loss.. though obviously not the best way to do this), muscle spasms in my face and arms and a rapid heart beat. This is not an anti-depressant which worked for me and I am now much more positive taking Cipralex (or lexapro in the U.S.) I experienced no side-effects, other than a little appetite loss, when I began taking this. For me this is incredibly unusual (I generally experience every side-effect imaginable). So for now with the help of Cipralex I am feeling, for the first time in 10 years, a little more positive.

I was on effexor for 3 years, during this time i smoked alot of marijuana. I felt good for most of the time, i even remember feeling super-charged, but i also had uncontrollable agression and wreckless behaivior. Also when people would talk to me i had trouble paying attention to what they were saying, i usualy had my own thoughts going on. Effexor made me careless and cold-hearted. when i stopped taking effexor (because i wanted to trip on mescaline) i sank into severe depression and guilt, 70 days on and still very depressed. God help us please...

Hi there

My boyfriend has been on efexor xr for 6 months he has recently started tapering off and has been off for 2 weeks now, Can anyone tell me what the side effects of coming off the drug is?
And how long it takes to flush out your body?

Hi, I've been taking Effexor XR since about 2001. I can remember distinctly one morning waking up in a fog and it has never left. Thought it was a menopausal thing, but there was such a distinct change in my mental function that I cannot forget the experience. Across the past few years, since taking this drug I have become abnormally forgetful and have difficulty finding words while I am speaking. I am the intellectual type, who used to be very articulate. Now I know I look very spacy to others and have gotten looks when I don't remember discussions I may have had a fews days before. Sometimes I will even ask questions that have already been discussed! Very embarrassing! My job performance has suffered, as well as my reputation at work. As a result, I have had more bouts of depression, less enthusiasm for a job I once loved, anxiety, worry and paranoid thoughts that others don't like me at work and are talking about me and see me as inept. My doctor finally told me yesterday that this drug can cause "dull cognition." Oh my God. I am substituting mild retardation for anxiety. Help!
I am concerned I am losing myself by taking medication. Yet if I go off I'll turn into a nasty witch. I have also gained lots of weight, but this could be from the bouts of depression. Thanks for listening. Anyone else have these cognitive experiences? Linda

I have been on Effexor XR for 3.5 yrs( now on 375 mgs!) and the only lasting side effect I have had is SWEATING profusely..I wish I knew how to get it under control- but otherwise, I am reliatively normal and able to lead a productive life !

i have taken effexor for 1 week and feeling more depressed then when i started it - can effexor make u more depressed and can you see good or bad results in only a week?

I have been on effexor for one year this week. I moved up to 150 XR around six months ago. I was in the midst of a nervous breakdown and had very bad pain from scoliosis. It got rid of most of the pain and stopped the breakdown. Over eight weeks of side effects were horrible but worth it to stop my back pain that the breakdown--I couldn't even talk to my teenage son without fear before. Now my personality has changed and I want some advice on something I can do before I ruin my career. I am just too flaky for words. I love elephants, so I tell new co-workers at my new job I want a pet elephant. If I was 20 okay, but I am almost 50. I don't want the pain back. But, I want to be the sophisticated, thoughtful, super-illegent, reserved person I am naturally. Can anyone give me some ideas that will help me? I don't want to lose another job.

I would like to see the drug EFFEXOR taken off the market. I have been taking it for about 6 months now, and there is absolutely no way that I can get off of it. I have been reduced to taking 35mg a day from 150mg. My doctor told me to wean cold turkey. This cannot be done. The effects are terrible. Vertigo, Dizziness, Nausea, Drymouth, thoughts of serious depression. It sickens me to think that I cannot get off of a drug that I want to.. It is running my life and I need off of it. However I cannot deal with these side effects of coming off of it. I cannot drive because I am so dizzy, I cannot move around alot because the feelings of vertigo is way to intense to handle. I have to keep taking the drug everyday to feel better (not emotionally, but physically.) I started taking EFFEXOR to deal with Post Partum Depression when I had my son in March 2006. I didnt think I would be on it this long, and emotionally I am fine now. The longest I have gone without it is 4 days and after that long the dizziness, nausea, vertigo is so bad that I cannot even bare to function... so I just give in and take the pill.

I am on day four of my effexor withdrawl. I have had very bad headaches. The effexor didn't even help me so having to go through the withdrawl makes me a little upset. I will try prozac as soon as I get off of this horrible drug. I wish I had never taken it. I was only on it for two months.

I have been completely off effexor now for 4 weeks, I haven't had any bad withdrawal symptons but I don't feel any different either. I thought I would be feeling really well, Im not too bad but i was just expecting to feel different. I have got a lot energy, I find it hard sometimes to sit down and relax and i have a very short fuse and i get so irritated. I have been on effexor for 4 years, if this sounds familiar to anyone could you please let me know, really i just want to know how long will it be before i will feel the benefit of not taking this tablet?

I have been on antidepressants since I was 18. Now I am 37. I have taken all the well know drugs...Prozac, Zoloft, Buspar, etc.. I have taken Effexor XR for about a year. If I missed a dose, I would feel like someone was shocking my head and face. It was terrible. I would turn the car around and go back home if I forgot to take a dose, even if I was going to be late for work!! I was terrified to miss a dose because the shocking was a freaking nightmare. Finally I decided that I wanted off it! Not because of the shocking as much as because I have gotten FAT! I have been off Effexor for about two months. I have felt like shit. I have been depressed, lethargic, hopeless etc.. I really just want to lie in bed in the dark and sleep all day. Actually I did do that for four days straight. I am on Prozac again. I hope that I can get it back in my body and start feeling better. I am working on my second Master's Degree. I hate school now. I don't want to go. I have quit doing my assignments. I can't seem to make myself care about any of it! I don't know what is wrong with me or what I need to do. Nobody understands how I feel. I have never felt this way in my life. I know it is because of the Effexor being in and out of my system and my body is in shock of some sort. I wish I had never even heard the work Effexor!!

Dazed and Confused in KY

Hi!
I began taking effexor in Aug.06 noticed some hair loss shortly after. By the end of September
noticed my hair receding and coming out from the
root. I have always had very nice thick blonde hair. It is now Jan., and the hair loss has become extreme....not sure what i am to do. If
I should stop the medication i know I will become
very ill. I am really getting very anxious about
this and can safely say i am freaking out. help
Is anyone on this med and experiencing this also?
I used to be on the tablet form of effexor but they discontinued it and was put on this capsule
form. Cannot sleep, I have no apetite but am putting on weight. I checked with the pharmacy had them look it up in their big book they have
about side affects. They said it did not indicate hair loss as a side affect. I guess if
they did none of us would be on this med.

I've been on Effexor Xr for 4 yrs. In the begining it made me feel wonderful. Out of the Blue I stopped responding. I am now experiencing sucidal thoughts, crying outburst,agitation. I'm Bi-Polar I was on it to slow the mania. I didn't have these problems before. It's been atleast 3 weeks since this all started. My doctor put me on Celexa. I'm not the person I use to be. It has totally changed who I was. This drug in my opinion isn't something I would have taken had there been more information about it when I started taking it. My relationships are all in jeopardy. Has anyone else experienced this did these feelings ever subside?

I had been on Zoloft for 6+yrs., when my doctor got the great idea that effexor may have a side effect of neuropathic pain relief. It doesn't! Now I'm off Zoloft, and on effexor xr 150. All I'm feeling from it is troubling side-effects. I get headaches every day that I can't beat back in any way, I sleep on average, 2-3 nights out of 5, and when I do sleep, it is fitfull and full of nightmares. I'm so irritable that I can't even function in groups. All I want is my Zoloft back. Sure, there were initial side-effects, but they soon disappeared, and made me feel better than I had for almost 30 yrs. Sleep patterns were normal on Zoloft, and I experienced NO headaches. It seems to me unethical to switch me from a drug that my psychiatrist prescribed for good reason, and with good results, simply to test for beneficial side-effects (my gp's idea). When I saw the long list of potentially adverse side-effects, and realized that any one of those may also appeared, I felt like I was being unnecessarily used as a test subject for my gp's entertainment or theories. Now I read all the damning evidence that it's all but impossible to get off of, I am very angry with my gp and no-longer trust his judgement, or his ethical code.
Isn't one of the first things on the Dr's list is to cause no harm? Now, he wants to try carbamazapine - to see if it has any beneficial side effects for neuropathic pain, then I get to try Pregalbalm - two more of what I call "goober drugs." The ONLY good news is that if I retain some amount of mental functioning, and these drugs don't have the side-effect they're looking for, mt neuropathic pain will be treated with Sativex - a cannabinoid based drug, which I greatly look forward to. I want to quit smoking tobacco, but I think it will be most difficult, if I'm still smoking marijuana. The hoops one has to jump through for this medication, I can tell you now, are simply not worth the trouble. If you need marijuana, just smoke it! Much easier!!!

I sadly took effexor 6 years ago, only 75 mgs daily, for 4 weeks !, almost instantly my sex drive disappeared, I started after 3 weeks to break the capulses up and wean myself off. Then the brain zaps !!!!. Well guess what, 6 years later i am still without any libido at all !.So after many visits to a Psychiatrist, endocrinologist and a neuro surgeon, I am told that i am suffering from an hormone producing pituitary micro adenoma. Did effexor Damage my brain ?, well it is a brain stem drug and your pituitary gland and hypothalmus are the most important glands in your Brain, they produce your body's endocrine Hormones, so if you are suffering with weight problems, suspect your thyroid [loss or gain] overactive or lethargic, if you are excessivley sweating, have developed Headaches, eyesight problems , Diabetes and or sexual Dysfunction [Too little or too much sex drive] latter leading to promiscuity, seek help from a Endocrinologist, all can be caused by damage to your pituitary gland, I can only say that i was perfectly Physically Healthy before i took this drug, and knowing Wyeth, this may not stay posted too long. IF YOU ARE TAKING EFFEXOR SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP !! WHEN DECREASING DOSAGES OR CESSATION OF THIS DRUG. Or just pick a different drug to begin with!!!!!!!!!. Good luck and bless you all .

I have been on Effexor XR 75mg for about 2 years now and this is after being on Lexapro for 4 or 5 years. Do they work? I haven't felt the really low lows I have felt in the past but here is the BIG drawback: our health insurance coverage keeps changing (apparently we make TOOOO much money-HAH!)and there are the prior approval problems and every plan charges a different amount, etc., so the long and short of it is I have run out at times and the withdrawal stinks! I am cold, hot, jittery,I fall asleep at the wrong times and can't sleep when I want to....Have I mentioned the sexual side effects? I know I am not the first person to say this but I almost prefer the deep dark depression and excessive misery. Now if I can only find a month or so so I can withdraw...

i have been on effexor for five years, i have gained weight but i can not blame effexor~ i was very unsure about going on this drug, i talked to my husband my two teenage kids my mother in law and other family and friends~ they all felt that if i thought that is what i needed to do for myself it was my choice, i was never a big believer of meds to regulate your feelings and emotions! but, i do swear by the drug, i am on 150 mgs.~ in the fall of 2006 my husband had one of his many anger exposions! we had alot of comotion at our house, police were called and it was a horrible night, well my husband ended up in the county jail. we have been together for twenty some years~ we have two kids and a grandchild on the way, needless to say when my husband came home,i told him, meds for your chemical inbalance or you need to move on! it was out of control, what was i teaching my kids? anyway for the most part i do believe in effexor, but when i am ready how will i get off? it makes me worry, and the same with my husband who has major anger issues with out the drug! HELP!

It seems a little odd to me, that over a year ago I went into the doctor for a slight bit of anxiety and here I am now, possibly permanently damaged. A non addictive, subtle anti-depressant/anti-anxiety. Sounded perfect for me. Little did I know as I began to take those tiny pinkish pills from their little blister pack and swallow them that my life may never be the same. For about a month, I felt great. A whole new person. Then I felt no different than before I started taking effexor (little e, for I have no respect for that drug).

After several months, I actually started having panic attacks! Horrible panic attacks that I had never experienced before. I was convinced it was the medication, since why would I suddenly begin to have these panic attacks, not to mention all the info I read about people developing Panic Disorders while taking effexor. I went to see my doctor, told him what I was experiencing. He simply brushed me off, saying he already gave me a prescription for a year, to keep taking it and if I sill had problems after even more time that we could up my dosage. He gave me Lunesta, and said maybe that would help. This didn't sound right to me at all.

After STILL having panic attacks, now EVERY night, I went back. This time my doctor said alright, Im going to give you wellbutrin, stop taking effexor tomorrow and start taking this. I asked him if it was alright to just STOP, since I read otherwise. He assured me that since I was just "Switching" that I would be fine. Two days later I thought I would die. Nothing made sense, I couldn't think, I was so scared. So I went into my doctors office, unscheduled. The secretaries were very sympathetic, the nurse however blew me off. She said the doctor had said that it would be normal to experience "FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS" while discontinuing this medicine. I said I had never experienced a flu like this and she told me I was just having a panic attack.

The "Panic attack" never went away. Its changed bit by bit, but even though it has been 5 months since I stopped taking effexor my life is still in chaos. I can hardly function, can't think straight, my days pass and I barely know whats going on thats how confused I get. I feel like I am now simply surviving, and not living. I wonder every day if I will ever feel normal. The fuzzy head, the eye pressure, headaches, nausea and all that jazz.. Brain zaps fortuntly stopped, but I wonder if the other things ever will. I have read reports of people being permanently damaged. Damaged for life. My doctors are convinced that it can't be effexor, that effexor is a godsent, so I continuously go in and am tested for an array of possible problems.

I'm 24, just married before effexor, and had just purchased a house. Had wanted to have children as soon as possible, but I fear I will never be capable of raising children since I am barely capable of taking care of myself. I can honestly say that this is a feeling and situation I wouldn't wish on even my worst enemy.

I have been on effexor months ago for severe anxiety and depression. I came off it after a couple months and felt really good, more like myself. I still have sleep problems so sometimes I take 5htp, trazadone or clonazapam for sleep. I have been feeling numb for the past couple months, somedays it lasts all day long. Wondering if this is from the pills or from my depression? I dont know what to do.