Escitalopram to Venlafaxine, thoughts?

Hi, Mat!
Did you have terrible side effects on the fluoxetine and/or escitalopram? There's a chance that you may not have any side effects at all. Everybody's response is different and the drugs themselves are from different classes so don't work in entirely the same fashion.
The thing about reviews is that the majority are written by people who've had problems but there are tens of thousands of users who find it easy to tolerate and very effective. They are less apt to sit down and write reviews as they're busy living their lives.
Also, with these exceptions most side effects only affect 10% or less of users.
"Very common (10% or more): Headache (up to 38%), somnolence (up to 26.1%), dizziness (up to 23.9%)".
For what it's worth I took venlafaxine for many, many years and was very happy with it.
I hope it works as well for you. In my opinion I'd risk some temporary side effects if it means I live a "normal" life. Anxiety disorders are the worst to live with and treat. Don't let your anxiety prevent you from taking a chance.
Regards, Wildcat