The following information is NOT intended to endorse drugs or recommend therapy. While these reviews might be helpful, they are not a substitute for the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgement of healthcare practitioners in patient care.
Effexor XR did it's job in balancing me out. I had a significant anxiety and depression problem. I started out with 75mgs, moved up to 150mgs and tried 300mgs. In the end, I settled with 150mgs. At 300mgs, my dreams at night were very, very vivid and real like. They were too much to deal with. And mentally I felt bogged down. I did too with 150mgs but not as much. I didn't notice much in side effects when I started taking it. However, it is true it does affect your sexual drive and experience.
The prescription is fine if you have health and prescription insurance. The drug itself for a 30 day supply is about $180. The company does not offer you any helpful programs to try to reduce the cost. The company no longer offers free samples to my doctor so if and when I might need it due to a lack of funds, I can't get it from them.
I'm trying to come off it and have buzzing zaps dominating my head. As time goes on without the medicine the body feels like it's shriveling up and deals with other irritable side effects. During the time of coming off it, you are very irritable. I have followed my doctors orders of dropping the mgs down to 75 for two weeks. And then taking one capsule every other day after that for two weeks. It's the day in between that is awful, if I don't have one a day.
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It worked for about a year and then the panic and anxiety came back. Even being weaned off of the drug I had the most horrible side effects, mood swings, 40lb weight gain in only one month to name just a few. I have been off of it now for about 6 months and still experience the brain jolts.
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I am 26 years old and I have been on Effexor for anxiety. When first starting the medication I had severe nausea for about 2 weeks but I stuck with it. Thankfully the nausea went away and now I feel so much better. I feel smarter, more grounded and able to make appropriate decisions. Before going on Effexor it was like I was always working hyper vigilantly to ensure nothing bad happened. Now I am able to relax and go with the flow. The only draw back is the severe withdrawal symptoms of dizziness and "brain jolts." I notice these beginning even if I am just a hour late taking my pill.
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This medication has helped me out very much. I used to get anxiety attacks often about school or work, a couple times a week but now I rarely get them at all. I also used to just "blow up" in arguments with my wife but now I feel in control of my actions and speech.
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The generic venlafaxine is not comparable to EFFEXOR XR at all . You have to take them 1 every so many hours you have to figure it out to take during your waking hours. Therefore you crash daily and more than once a day. The bad news is my insurance won't pay for the EFFEXOR I have to pay out of pocket for it.
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I can't believe how much this medicine helps. Something tramatic happened to me last May which made me very anxious and my doctor tried to prescribe this but my insurance company is notorious for turning down any medicine that does not have a generic. Finally in October (after trying many other medicines) I was prescribed Effexor. Although the underlying issues are still there for me, I am myself again.
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I started taking 75 mg Effexor XR four weeks ago. I used to be extremely manic, impulsive, restless, aggressive, destructive, and all-around volatile. I'm back to being a bubbly, happy, normal twenty-year-old girl. I sleep soundly every night for 8-10 hours and wake to the alarm the first time it goes off (both are firsts in my life). I can concentrate in school, and I have hardly any anxiety. I do tire easily, and I have lost about 20 lb (I was a normal weight to begin with).
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It gave me my life back. I would have panic attacks that lasted for hours, always anxious, work was crippling. After one year no side effects. Now I feel normal, confident - it's something I've waited on for 26 years!
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I went from being to severely depressed and so lethargic I couldn't get out of bed, to taking the lowest dose of Effexor and suddenly having more energy than I knew what to do with.
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jaxony said: 
