Effexor XR, friend or foe?

Lendi · 10-01-2002, 09:41 PM

Ok, I finally went to the Dr., once I could stay awake long enough to call and make an appt. He thinks the Lexapro may be the culprit, but he also did another thyroid panel since I do take med for that and is checking for infection. I've pretty much slept round the clock since sat., and my normal is 5 hrs of sleep per day, not 20. Anyway, he says I can't take any anti-depressants until thurs. pm and then I'm suppose to try Effexor XR.

I'm not looking forward to the next 2 days since I haven't been doing very well with anti-depressants let alone without any. I'm trying to remember if this is the drug that I was hearing so many negatives about. I am not happy about this and tried to talk him into Wellbutrin with celexa, but he would not budge. Has anyone had good results with Effexor? Bad side effects? I've spent most of the evening in tears and I'm just not sure what to try. All of the meds seem to backfire on me and there aren't very many left. I'm so miserable. I'm not suicidal at all, but I can't say I'd be all that unhappy if I could just sleep away about a year or so...

healea · 10-03-2002, 04:36 PM

this may be good news, or bad news!
I was on Effexor xr and celexa about 2 yrs ago, and had good results. it did seem like i was more tired though...
just around april of this year, I was put back on it, and it did real good..(just the effexor this time) the bad thing was, it was causing me to have harmless irregular heart beats..just at sitting..but, i took myself off them, (i thought i was better)..
I think im happy to say im not on welbutrin, (just on it over a week), im up to the full 300mg dose, when i was on the 150mg for the first week, i was amazed, not tiredness, and only one day (the first) of restless sleep. though ive had a bad headache for over a day now(maybe diet or med related)..i like the welbutrin. im neither tired, nor anxious,nor have sleep problems..plus the dr says welbutrin can cause weight loss, and its sposed to be more of a stimulating effect on your body...
i love to drink alchohol,(on and off alchoholic,lol) and the side efffect of welbutrin is seizures,and worsened by alcohol...so, ive cut back on my drinking, almost to none...which,is goood, but sad.
anyways, ive been on most every antidepressant out there, and i hope ths new one works good..(im taking it now for seasonal depression)
well, plus the fact im newly single,and that alone is depressing enough..
let me know what happens,okiedokie??

all4mymarine · 10-03-2002, 07:28 PM

I've taken Paxil, Prozac, Remeron, Effexor XR, and Wellbutrin....by far the Wellbutrin has been the best! I took it for about a year and a half and then felt so good that I weaned off and havent even needed an antidepressant at all....no depression episodes either! I've suffered from major depression since I was 7 yrs old. It may have been the fact that my life changed for the better while taking Wellbutrin, but in the past it didnt matter how good my life was, I was still depressed. I even quit smoking on Wellbutrin and my libido was great! Better on it then off.....sometimes I think about trying it again just to help out my sex life...and quit smoking AGAIN (yes, I started back, shame, shame)! lol

Effexor just made me feel worse. I hated being on it. But that was just me....it may be different for different people. Effexor seemed like a harder drug to me and you can become too dependant on it. I never felt dependant on the Wellbutrin. You should have some say in what drugs you want to take....your doctor should be willing to listen. I hope you find something that works for you

Emily

Calantha · 10-04-2002, 03:09 AM

Effexor XR was my miracle drug! I couldn't handle any of the other stuff the Dr's kept giving me. I tried prozac, zoloft, paxil AND wellbutrin. The first three gave me horrible side effects, the wellbutrin didn't seem to do a thing at all. The thing with Effexor is you have to be patient. It takes time to find the right dosage. Since it is an extended release drug, it's a little trickier to get the dosing right. Too low of a dosage would make me feel "normal" in the mornings/early afternoons, then around 3-4pm I'd start sinking into my pit again. Too high of a dosage gave me headaches. It took about 2 months to get it right. One thing that I loved about it was that my Dr had had me on an anti-psychotic (VERY low dose) to help with PTSD (flashbacks and the like).. the effexor eliminated the need for that. Anti-psychotics are horrible things to have to take.
A VERY SERIOUS warning: DO NOT take Effexor if you are the kind of person that can not handle having to slowly come off of a drug. ALL drugs that alter your brain chemistry can cause very bad side effects if you just stop them cold turkey. Effexor is one of the worse ones though. I stopped cold turkey and I had a disabling headache for what seemed like forever (probably was about a month? I honestly can't remember exactly when it went away right now). I couldn't move my head AT ALL. All because I thought I knew better than the Dr when he said I should lower my dose slowly. Not long after that, a friend of mine from the net also quit effexor cold turkey.. she almost died. Cardiac arrest. Effexor is a safe drug, but you HAVE to be willing to take it EXACTLY as the Dr prescribes. I was informed after the fact that Effexor has the same withdrawal symptoms has HEROIN if you just stop taking it.

Again, I swear by it's effectiveness, but be very careful not to misuse it.

-Brandy

Kaleidoscopekb · 10-04-2002, 01:47 PM

I wasn't able to handle the effexor xr even at the lowest dose because it made me shake. I'm a police officer and I need to "qualify" with my firearm and it was screwing up my aim. Another effect I had was that I was unable to orgasm. That sucked worse than the shakes.

However, I have a friend who is on it and she is absolutely fine. I tend to be very sensitive to meds and get all of the bad side effects...ie lactated on celexa, couldn't get out of bed on zoloft, sweat uncontrollably on high does of wellbutrin.

We are compromising now and I'm on 200 mg of wellbutrin taken in the morning and Buspar at night (half a pill). Doing ok so far.

Good luck!

Kelly

Kaleidoscopekb · 10-04-2002, 02:10 PM

I wasn't able to handle the effexor xr even at the lowest dose because it made me shake. I'm a police officer and I need to "qualify" with my firearm and it was screwing up my aim. Another effect I had was that I was unable to orgasm. That sucked worse than the shakes.

However, I have a friend who is on it and she is absolutely fine. I tend to be very sensitive to meds and get all of the bad side effects...ie lactated on celexa, couldn't get out of bed on zoloft, sweat uncontrollably on high does of wellbutrin.

We are compromising now and I'm on 200 mg of wellbutrin taken in the morning and Buspar at night (half a pill). Doing ok so far.

Good luck!

Kelly

lynnerhead · 10-04-2002, 03:08 PM

Well, I don't know if I really fit in here but I'll put my two cents in anyway. I took Effexor for three months and I got the shakes and yawned all the time (mild symptoms really). I loved it though. It was quite fun. My mother and my roommates would tell me that I talked in my sleep. Actually, I would laugh in my sleep. One time, my mother thought I was awake because I was laughing, but when she touched me I woke up and was quite scared/startled.

It's kind of like it made me experience all of my emotions, instead of holding them in. (which can be good or bad) I was able to socialize of all things without feeling shy or threatened. On the other hand, my sisters were giving me a guilt trip on Christmas and I lost control and totally screamed at them, but I felt a lot better afterward. Actually, I think that was the first time they treated me like an adult (I'm the youngest). Things have been a lot different since then (better). That was six or seven years ago. Once they discovered my thyroid problem and treated it properly, I didn't need the antidepressants anymore. I still get depressed, but we all know the difference between "depressed" and "depression".

Good luck to you.

Lynn

all4mymarine · 10-04-2002, 04:55 PM

Now that you mention it....I had a problem with yawning all the time too while on Effexor. I had a chronic yawn! Kind of funny now that I think about it, but it was very annoying while it was happening. Oh and the sexual side effects were really bad....that's a big reason why I quit taking it.

Lendi · 10-04-2002, 09:01 PM

Ahhh, hmmm. Well there seem to be some very mixed reviews here. I have taken 1 Effexor and that is all. Now I'm not sure what to do. I guess I'll try them, but be very careful when I quit taking them. My Dr. wanted me to be off the Lexapro for a few days before I started something else. I'm still really tired, though so it may not have been the Lexapro at all. I was wondering, after hearing about going off meds. I went off Wellbutrin and right onto Lexapro. Could that be why I was/am so tired? I'm still struggling to stay awake and sometimes I can not stay awake no matter where I am. I am so bone weary and sleepy that I can not function. 20 hrs of sleep a day is really too much. Not making my boss happy, let me tell you. Sleeping all the time is just not me at all. I'm usually Ms. Hyper. Thanks for all of you input. I'll be very careful of the Effexor and pray that it will work for me, please. Hugs, Lendi

FIONA · 10-08-2002, 05:29 AM

a bit late I know but my 2 cents;

It worked really well for me but then I tried to come off it myself and ended up with really bad withdrawals. I eventually had to cut it down very gradually and even at the end I still had slight withdrawals - but it was worth it!

I am having a hard time with my moods right now and am thinking of going to back to my doctor - if she gives me Effexor I would be glad to take it.

thats how much I recommend it but as you see.....everyone is different.

good luck
fee