Can anyone tell me if they have any experience with taking valdoxan?
My doc added it to seroquel 300mg and xanax for severe anxiety and panic attacks,has anyone any comments good or bad with this med? The seroquel was making my anxiety worse and keeping me awake instead of putting me to sleep. He said this med would work,just wanted any feedback from anyone who knows or heard of this med??
Thanks in advance
Experience with taking valdoxan?
Question posted by puckiemull on 27 July 2011
Last updated on 11 October 2023 by Alicat201
31 Answers
I have been taking this medication for just over a month now, horrible feeling!
I was originally on sertraline which made me completely blunt, I had no emotions.
I can off it and went on these a while after.
Around two weeks ago, I have been feeling emotionless again…does anyone else get this?
One week in, taking 25mg Valdoxan. Was on paroxetine before.
Sleep has improved with Valdoxan. When I wake up at night, I can go back to sleep, it's amazing. A side effect: feel dizzy when I get up and start moving.
Still Valdoxan is so much better than Paroxetine. Paroxetine gave me constipation, sexual disfunction and heartburn. Now all of this is gone.
Hi Puckiemull
I was put on Valdoxan 25mg originally as I get Serotonin Syndrome from ALL SSRI’s and SNRI’s ... I also have had Medication Resistant Depression for over 25 years... it has taken 3 months for it to work for me and I had to increase up to 50mg at night.. I take it at 7pm and go to bed at 9pm... I also have severe anxiety which has caused agoraphobia and I can now leave the house.. I am also on 10-15 mg of Valium, 5mg at night and 5-10mg during the day for the anxiety... I still wake up a number of times at night but can go back to sleep unlike prior to being on Valdoxan where I would get up watch TV and eat... so for me this medication has worked.. even though it has taken longer than typically other medications to do so.. hope that helps
After 3 months of using Valdoxan i stopped it , i never felt better & it increased my anxiety & over thinking .. no more
I've been on valdoxan since Dec and seen massive improvements in my sleep. I was having alot of nightmares and trouble getting/staying asleep with. Although it did take a couple of months to work and longer for it to have an effect on my mood. I almost gave up on it after 6 weeks and had a med r/v with a psychiatrist who prescribed me prn queitapine for sleep when my brain is overwhelmed and won't shut down.
However I'm not 100% convinced it's the drug... my mood/sleep/ nightmares seem to be situational and christmas time is a massive trigger for me. Its so hard to tell, nothing happens in isolation.
I’m after some advice myself.
I take Valdoxan for bipolar 2. All other medications to date make me unwell. If I take it daily it eventually puts me in a hypomanic state and I then reduce dose to every second daily and then I eventually become very depressed and the cycle starts again. However I’ve been having very bad cramps. Especially in the legs. Including feet, calves and quads. I’ve wracked my brain as to what might be causing it and have been consuming copious amounts of electrolytes, stretch etc and nothing seems to be addressing the issue. I can only assume it’s the valdoxan. Has anyone else experienced muscle cramps while on valdoxan?
Cheers x
Yes it gives me pain in my stomach and lower back, and stomach cramps. They usually happen a few hours before bed time and don't last too long. I'm not sure about other parts of the body as I have chronic pain in a few areas.
My advice for the hypomanic state even though I've only been on it 3 weeks is try to channel it into creative but focused energy. Don't just do a bunch of random things, try to have a plan for your life in general and a plan for everyday. I feel like Valdoxan allowed me to get my head straight, rather than just making me have a good mindset without effort. Because at first it destroyed me due to the emotions it allowed me to feel, I very well could have stayed that way and felt sorry for myself. But it also allowed me to feel positive emotions if I was willing to let myself feel them, and after a lot and I mean a lot of deep, self-reflection and planning I emerged triumphant. I also watched a lot of self help and really got inside my own head which helps tremendously.
Hopefully this advice is helpful for you! Best wishes
... and I would prefer clonazepam instead of alprazolam (Xanax) as it is less likely to cause addiction because of its long half life (once daily preferably in the evening). Taken before going to bed, along with the Seroquel, will most likely reduce your insomnia.
Seroquel (quetiapine) has this peculiarity: the higher the dose the less it puts you to sleep (same with mirtazapine, Remeron). Are you taking the immediate release or the XR? If I were you I would opt for the immediate release as the XR causes less sleepiness. Most people who take it for insomnia only take 25-50mg preferably on an empty stomach.
Valdoxan is pretty useless in my experience but everyone is different. Ask your doctor to add gabapentin to the mix. It is very good at allaying anxiety and may enhance the effects of the anti-psychotic. Do some research.
Saw my doctor today with a request for an SSRI that I had previously taken, and he pretty much promoted this Valdoxan as being this superior drug that would make me happier than any SSRI and would not have any side effects. He told me to go home and research it, so I’ve read the results of some studies and people’s experiences on forums but I really can’t find that much information on it, and from what I have found it doesn’t sound that great. So I’m wondering what to do now and whether to try this or just go with the Lexapro which I know worked and was fine to take for a couple of years.
Hi there!
I am taking Valdoxan for 2 months now. First 12,5 mg and second month on 25 mg.
I suffer mostly from anxiety. At first it was hard to sleep because I had lots of vivid dreams (it is better now).
But now, I feel MORE anxious, I feel fear of situations I was comfortable with, I overthink all the time...
Feeling a little desperate, don't know what to do. I will give it maybe 2 ou 3 months more but if it continues like this, I will stop it.
Did this happen to any of you? Or something similar?
Thank you!
How are you getting on? I'm due to start this medication and worried about it causing me an anxiety increase and abnormal body movements... the last two antidepressants I tried caused bad side effects for me. This one is supposed to cause far fewer side effects, but I do read that some people become anxious and irritated, or get restless leg movements. I'm worried about beginning it now.
Hi JG2!
Right now I feel more or less like I felt before I started taking Valdoxan. I feel anxious as I felt before. It had no effect on calming my anxiety (and sometimes I think it became worse).
I never noticed abnormal body movements. I still have vivid dreams every night. On the first weeks, I slept less hours and felt good, but now I sleep a lot more and I feel I needed to sleep even more...
Fortunately my problem is not depression (maybe a soft depression), but I suffer most from anxiety.
I think I get a LOT more irritated now. I work directly with people and they annoy me more than before.
This is MY experience, but yours may be different. I read reviews of people that say Valdoxan was the best thing that happened to them, others say they had nausea (I didn't), others say they didn't sleep at all (I sleep), etc.
I think you should give the medicine a chance. I will stop it gradually in January, because I feel I gave that chance and it did not work for MY issue but it might work for YOUR issue.
Give it a try. I didn't have any crazy bad effects. The ones I had were middle and I could manage them.
Sorry for my bad english, not my native language!
Give me news about your progress! Hope I could help.
I’ve been on it for just over two weeks to address anxiety and consequent insomnia and I’m really not finding it’s having much impact on my anxiety. I’m seeing my GP today to ask how long I should give it before trying something else. I’ve used Zoloft before but I found it really disrupted my sleep so was really hoping this might be my silver bullet. How long have people been told to stay on it for to see the benefit?
I find valdoxan keeps me awake . You get used to it but I recently increased dosage and I am alert all night again . Hoping it will adjust
I’ve tried antidepressants, ritalin, dex, antipsychotics, and my biggest issue with them have not been that they don’t work, but that the side effects are so severe and so debilitating. But this medication, did absolutely nothing.
I don’t have a single positive thing to say about it, I was up at all hours of the night, I developed severe severe restless leg syndrome which also impacted my arms, I’m constantly hungry, I’m feral with rage over the smallest things. I practically skipped out of the my doctors office with my trials of this medication. I was so excited to try something so different from previous medication but this was such a waste of time. It is covered under PBS (Australia) and your liver has to be constantly monitored. Again not a single good thing to say about it.
I'm disappointed to hear that this caused you restless leg/arm movement disorder. My psychiatrist told me it wouldn't cause that for me... but another antidepressant caused me very bad dyskinetic movements and I'm still recovering, so I had hoped this drug would be safer. Now I know to be cautious and get help as soon as I feel anything going wrong, as clearly it can indeed cause adverse reactions. It says in NICE that it can cause movement disorders, but that it is rare. Some of us are more sensitive than others to such effects.
This is strange because while I was on Valdoxan and experiencing opioid withdrawal, which for me causes restless legs and arms that ache badly, I experienced less aching and restlessness than usual in my body.
Although I haven't taken it myself, according to the recent large lancet international test study on all major antidepressants 2018. Agomelatine (valdoxen) came out on top ranking as the most effective antidepressant of all of them and the one with the least side effects. The results were based on 28000 patients response and feedback regarding efficacy and side effects profile. This is also backed up by earlier smaller studies which also ranked agomelatine as one of the fastest and most effective antidepressants of all time. The other three that came close in terms of effectiveness were e-citalopram (Lexapro) , amitriptyline and mirtazapine. Only citalopram however came up in the top just under agomelatine with regards to easier side effects. The issues with increased liver enzymes is only a risk if you have an existing liver condition.
Both duloxetine and venlafaxine have a similar effect on liver enzymes and so it is not a major concern of this ad if you have a healthy hepatic profile. It should be a good choice if you can get hold of this medication because up until now it has not been a first choice for prescribers. There is now quite a demand for it because of the recent study so if you are able to get a prescription I would suggest you treat it like gold and go for it. No way is it "snake oil"!
Hi folks.
I have been reading the responses to those on Valdoxen and the majority seem to have more problems than solutions. I have been considering Valdoxen as the write ups are positive, none of the side affects common to ssri's. I have been on Moclobemide for 3 months and the write up for that says it's the wonder drug of the century. No side affects, increased labido, lmproved sexual disfunction, improved cognative abilitys, more energy, the list goes on. The reality is it does none of those things in fact they get worse and the prime reason for taking this drug is to relieve depression which it does not. So I began looking at Valdoxen but due to the cost here in Australia I need to know it works in the majority of cases, I know everyone is different but I don't see too many positive reviews. I can't tolerate any of the ssri' due to side affects.
The only three I know of that don't have these affects are Moclobemide that doesn't work, Welbutin thats not available here unless you giving up smoking (which doesn't make sense as smoking is self in flickted and depression is not) and Valdoxen which will cost about $800 per year. Anyone have any other suggestions?
Hi ,
I recently had big changes in my life ie relocation, new career and post grad studies . I started to suffer from insomnia due to increased anxiety and depression . I resisted any depressants , but it came to a point where I couldn’t go on as I couldn’t get to sleep til 3 am . Finally I have valdoxan a go and it has been great . It has helped me get to sleep within 30-60 mins of taking it . It has helped with my mood . Anyway the main issue was sleep . I like the fact if I stop taking it there are no discontinuation symptoms. That’s why I won’t tske SSRI ‘s or SSNI’s. It’s helped me immensely. No pill is the magic fix I still see a therapist , I need to exercise more and eat better .
Related topics
seroquel, xanax, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, insomnia, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder
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