Effexor XR and Nausea: What Users Say (Page 5)

• Anonymous
• October 5, 2017

For Major Depressive Disorder "I have been battling with major depression/anxiety since I was 12. I’ve been admitted to a mental institution twice. I’m now 18 years old, I’ve literally been on every med you can name. I was put on a type of B/P med to calm me down. It has, but I’ve still been so utterly depressed I can’t even function correctly. I saw my doctor yesterday, and he put me on Effexor 37.5 mg once a day. I took it around 4:00 pm (I couldn’t wait, things have to get better), and now here I am lying on the couch at 5:09 am, I’ve been up since 11, with a little bit of nausea. Cannot go back to sleep... BUT I already feel better, the heaviness and sad dwelling feeling is gone. It hasn’t even been 24 hours, and I can breathe again... Taking it in the morning instead."

• Sno...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• March 17, 2022

For Depression "I really resent being put on Effexor XR as a child without my parents being told that it was addictive. Sure, I was bipolar (type 2) and needed an antidepressant, but the psychiatrist should’ve put me on something that wouldn’t give me withdrawals when I miss even one dose. I ran out of Effexor one December while waiting for it in the mail. For a week, I was having horrible symptoms: chills, rapidly fluctuating moods, vivid nightmares, crying spells, nausea, and so much more. I want to be able to get off of the Effexor, but after taking it for 20 years, I think it’s too late."

• liv...
• May 3, 2010

For Depression "I have depression, anxiety, and major back and neck pain, as well as many other problems. I was looking for an antidepressant that works, as well as something to help with my frequent sleep paralysis. Fortunately, I found one that works. Effexor XR helps tremendously with the nighttime attacks. Unfortunately, when starting (lowest dose), I had major headaches and nausea for the first two days. I also sweat a lot in general and made symptoms of sweating much worse, as well as feeling hot all the time. The benefits of stopping the sleep paralysis outweigh any other side effects. So for me, I'm sticking to it since I finally can sleep better. I hear getting off of it is awful, so do so carefully! When I stopped for two days, it was just like I started: nausea and major headaches, weird."

• bls...
• June 9, 2009

For Depression "I feel the need to write a review of this medication as I am currently experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms from missing one dose. There was a mix-up with a new insurance company, and I unfortunately had to miss yesterday's dose. I have never felt this way after missing one dose of a medication, and I have taken several different antidepressants over the last 10 years. I have the sweats, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and I have been crying uncontrollably all day. I did have benefits from taking this medication for the past three years, but I worry about continuing to take it any longer."

• Anonymous
• July 31, 2009

For Depression "I was on Zoloft for 8 years, and my doctor first tried to wean me off that and put me on Effexor. It was miserable. I am sure some of it was related to the withdrawal from Zoloft, but I was eventually able to transition to Lexapro without the same problems. This medicine made me extremely nauseous. I had a horrible headache and was so depressed my family cried from being around me."

• Ann...
• February 2, 2020

For Panic Disorder "I'm going to be honest here, it's not pretty. My doctor prescribed this to me for anxiety after a death in the family. Two hours after taking it, I was trying to get from the bathroom (felt like puking and diarrhea at the same time) to the couch, crawling on the floor. Needless to say, after being asked by a family member (7-year-old daughter), 'Should I call an ambulance?' I kept saying no. I just need to get to the couch. Remember, I'm crawling. Finally, she said, 'You look so pale, are you sure you're okay, Mommy?' I said, 'Yeah, I just need to get to the couch.' My heart was pounding, and I was losing consciousness. Daughter called the ambulance anyway, and the main EMS gentleman said any later I would have suffered a heart attack. I was in a-fib. My blood pressure was dangerously high. I had no previous issues. This drug was almost the end of me! Kudos to those it works for. But not me, never again."

• sui...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• August 7, 2015

For Major Depressive Disorder "Was switched to this after the generic version by Ranbaxy was discontinued. Developed symptoms of tolerance straight away. It causes my brain to scream out in pain all the time, and I keep getting unwanted thoughts. I also developed muscular aches and pains all over, and other drugs just kept causing my muscles to contract and be unable to relax. I tried stopping many times but kept returning because of the nausea and vomiting and all the other symptoms above. I have been off it for about three months and have been back on it for three days. Already I hear my brain screaming out in pain, and the unwanted thoughts return. The muscle aches seem to occur only in conjunction with another drug. I am taking it only because of the grief I feel in my heart."

• ByG...
• August 31, 2016

For Anxiety "I was put on 150 mg daily of Effexor after having a mental breakdown brought on by stress and severe insomnia. I did not find the medication helped at all other than to cause weight gain. Worst of all, I experienced horrific withdrawal symptoms coming off it. I started to wean off it in May, reducing the dose to 75 mg/day. I halved it to 37.5 mg a month ago, and my Dr. said I would be good to stop it after two weeks. Within 24 hours of taking my last pill, I experienced dizziness, nausea, insomnia, and brain zaps. I could barely function. Turns out the 'half-life' of Effexor is one of the shortest out there. I had to take a short 2-week course of 10 mg Prozac (much longer short life) to come off Effexor. Horrible!!"

• Add...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• September 29, 2019

For Major Depressive Disorder "I have been diagnosed with MDD, GAD, and OCD. I'm currently 36 years old and am healthy otherwise. Effexor XR worked well for the MDD and GAD, but I did not get relief from OCD (which may have intensified). However, this medicine caused me to have memory and thinking issues, and I would forget to take the medicine 1-4 times a month (which caused withdrawal symptoms to begin within ~4-6 hours of forgetting). I had to quit Effexor so I could do my job, but the withdrawal symptoms are horrendous. I've been tapering down (from 150 mg/day) for 4 months, and every step down is terrible for ~7-14 days. I can't work, or even walk around my house because I have body (and brain?) tremors, intense nausea, difficulty maintaining balance while walking, and intense muscle aches and pains in my neck and back. If the withdrawals and forgetfulness were less severe, I'd take this medicine forever because it really helped with depression and anxiety."

• Nor...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• May 30, 2022

For Major Depressive Disorder "I made the biggest mistake of my life by taking this medication. In fact, it was the worst decision I ever made. The worst nausea and sickness I have ever experienced. I wake up in the middle of the night feeling sick to my stomach, and I use ginger to relieve the symptoms. While using this product, I developed bad motion sickness, and I have never experienced this before while riding in a motor vehicle. But after discontinuing use of this product, I developed serious motion sickness. Walking for a long period of time also causes my foot to get red and hurt a great deal, almost like a nerve injury. Then there was the constant shocking of my hands, so that I was incapable of writing using a pen or even squeezing a lemon. Further, I was unable to focus on anything and was so sleepy most of the time that I could sleep at any time of the day."

• Nor...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• May 30, 2022

For Major Depressive Disorder "I made the biggest mistake of my life by taking this medication. In fact, it was the worst decision I ever made. The worst nausea and sickness I have ever experienced. I wake up in the middle of the night feeling sick to my stomach, and I use ginger to relieve the symptoms. While using this product, I developed bad motion sickness, and I have never experienced this before while riding in a motor vehicle. But after discontinuing use of this product, I developed serious motion sickness. Walking for a long period of time also causes my foot to get red and hurt a great deal, almost like a nerve injury. Then there was the constant shocking of my hands, so that I was incapable of writing using a pen or even squeezing a lemon. Further, I was unable to focus on anything and was so sleepy most of the time that I could sleep at any time of the day."

• Anonymous
• March 1, 2012

For Bipolar Disorder "The half-life of this medicine seemed to decrease over time for me (I was on this medication for several years). Eventually, the withdrawal syndrome went from an onset of about 2 days to half a day - meaning if I forgot to take it in the morning, by mid-afternoon I was experiencing debilitating body aches, nausea, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and general malaise."

• Cat...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• February 25, 2020

For Major Depressive Disorder "I started taking Effexor at 50 mg, and my dosage has slowly been increased to 300 mg. It has helped a little, in conjunction with managing my PMDD, sleeping pills, and DBT. The side effects are awful. When I first started taking it, I got so nauseous I had to lay in bed all day and couldn't do anything. I started taking it at night to combat this, but then that gave me insomnia. The anorgasmia is awful. I still have the same libido as before, but reaching orgasm is near impossible thanks to this medication. The withdrawal is bad too, which is awful for me because I often forget to take it and will often leave it at home."

• asp...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 28, 2021

For Generalized Anxiety Disorder "This medication did not work out well for me. I understand that these types of medications can affect people differently, but I wanted to share my experience. I took this medication for anxiety at 37.5 mg for 2 days, and that was enough for me. The first day was fine, the second day, I felt depersonalization and like what was happening around me was not real. That night, I went to bed at 10 p.m. and woke up 2 hours later having racing thoughts, and hallucinations, and hot flashes, and nausea. My heart was racing, I had a burning in my chest that radiated up to my underarms, and my body was shaking and sweating profusely. This was followed by chills and then a repeat of the same scenario with the hot flashes and racing thoughts/hallucinations. I thought I had been given LSD by mistake! I decided to stop taking the medication. Luckily, I did not have any withdrawal or negative side effects - only a minor headache."

• Nev...
• November 17, 2017

For Depression "I’ve been dealing with a lot lately that is out of my control and have admittedly been depressed most of my life (I am 29 years old). A breakup wreaked havoc on my mental health, and I consulted a psychiatrist. I was prescribed generic 37.5 mg for 2 weeks, then was instructed to double dose. The first pill took around 11 am yesterday, by 2 pm, I was nauseous, dry heaving, had incredibly bad diarrhea, double vision, back pain, and was becoming very lethargic. My jaw was clenched most of the day, and I was grinding my teeth all night. I didn’t sleep well, woke up panicking, and having racing thoughts. The doctor said to quit taking it. One pill was enough. Never again."

• ste...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 21, 2022

For Major Depressive Disorder "I tried this med after years of trying (with no success) various other antidepressants. I had hope. Unfortunately, like everything else, it didn't help and actually made me worse. The starting dose of 37.5 mg made me feel quite nauseated, but it wasn't bad. It lasted for about 2 weeks. It was a bit better when I ate something with the pill, though due to chronic anxiety, I haven't eaten in the day for years. The real problem though was that my pre-existing constant dread/fear/anxiety was amplified terribly every 2-3 days. I couldn't even leave the house and had no ability to enjoy anything due to the anxiety. Once I went up to a dose of 75 mg, the extra anxiety went back down, but the existing anxiety remained, and my emotional blunting has never been so severe! This started my time of sleeping most of the day, which I still do, 2 years later, even though I haven't taken these meds since late 2020. They say coming off Effexor is really hard, but I found it fine. No difference."

• Kim...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 28, 2021

For Anxiety "I could not get past the first dose of 37.5 mg. It made me extremely nauseous, loss of appetite, tired but could not sleep, very irritable, weak, diarrhea, and made my anxiety worse. It was the extended release, and I could literally feel when it was releasing into my body. This went on for two days. I could not get out of bed. Once the nightmare was over, I was so weak like I’d had the flu and needed to rebuild my strength. I’ve taken Lexapro in the past, and while that just made me feel blah, it was 100 times better than this. I know every drug affects people differently, but I believe you can tell fairly quickly if a drug is right for you or not. I’ve now been prescribed Paroxetine. I’m so nervous to try it as I’m afraid it will make me feel awful too, but I will give it a whirl once I feel I’ve fully recovered from Effexor."

• I...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• August 12, 2021

For Anxiety "Okay, so I was only on the lowest dose of 37.5, but it worked for my anxiety and OCD. Did it completely change my life? No, but that was probably just due to the dose, and I could’ve gone higher but didn’t want to mess with my mind. What got me to finally stop taking this was the side effects when you miss a dose. Good God, I don’t want to go through that ever again. I’m a nanny, so often I would get home and fall asleep and forget to take my med. Usually, I’d just take it in the a.m., but if I had a particularly rushed morning and forgot, by noon I would be suffering the consequences: migraines, dizziness, nausea, that hazy feeling when you’re extra sensitive to the light, and you feel like there’s a fog around you. All of that until I was able to get home and take another pill. It shouldn’t be like that. Do I need to maybe be better about taking it on time? Yes, absolutely. But I shouldn’t feel like a zombie 12 hours after missing it. Anyway, I ran out of them and decided it was time to stop."

• M3g...
• October 17, 2018

For Generalized Anxiety Disorder "I was given this drug when I was 24 years old to help combat my generalized anxiety. This is the worst drug. The first five nights I took it, I would wake up each night at about 3 or 4 a.m. The first night I sat up and put my feet over the side of the bed, and everything around me was dancing or moving in some way, shape, or form. I thought this must be what some kind of bad acid trip feels like. Then suddenly, a wash of nausea came over me, and I ran to the bathroom and collapsed to my knees. As much as I felt like I wanted to puke, I could not. I proceeded to get up, splash some water on my face from the sink, and turned the lights on. When looking at my face in the mirror, I could see my eyes were dilating and undulating. The next morning, I felt like someone had injected the most amount of caffeine available straight into my veins. Finally, when this effect wore off, I crashed and fell asleep for 4 hours. Like I said, these were regular occurrences for about the first 5 days."

• Sma...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 5, 2024

For Major Depressive Disorder "I had tried the regular Effexor and was terribly nauseated, so bad I couldn’t get out of bed. I then was switched to the sustained release, but along with severe nausea, I felt as if I had the worst bladder infection of my life, so I stopped. Because I took this for just over a month, I have no idea how it works for depression. It certainly didn’t help me."

• clr...
• September 8, 2009

For Depression "I was prescribed venlafaxine a year ago after a suicide attempt. After about four weeks on 150 mg once a day, I started to feel less miserable all the time and a bit more sociable. However, the side effects have affected my life quite a lot. I am now constantly getting sweaty, often feel restless (especially at night), and I have little to no sex drive. The side effects of skipping a pill (just one day) are also extremely drastic. Nausea, vomiting, crying, headaches, and my anxiety problems are exacerbated to the max. It is not helpful at all to my anxiety, I have been prescribed buspirone for that on top, as I am still having frequent panic attacks, etc."

• Anonymous
• May 19, 2011

For Anxiety and Stress "I take 150 mg of this every day for anxiety. I was previously on Paxil for a few years, which stopped working for me. It's pretty good at helping me control my anxiety, however, if I forget to take the pill by more than 4 hours from the previous day (exactly 8 am day 1, past Noon day 2), I get the worst withdrawals: dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, insomnia. Then when I remember to take it if I had forgotten, it takes a few hours to kick in and for the side effects to go away. I never experienced this with Paxil. If it weren't for this issue, then I would give Effexor XR 9/10."

• And...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 21, 2019

For Generalized Anxiety Disorder "I tried this medication for my anxiety and could not continue after 2 days at 37.5 mg. I was okay for the first 4 hours, and then, I became so dizzy as if I was drunk. I could not walk straight, and the nausea wouldn’t stop, and I could not eat and think straight. The second day, I started to have tinnitus, which I never had. The second night, I tried to go pee, and it wouldn’t come out without forcing for 2 minutes. I never had that problem before."

• Bre...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• October 1, 2018

For Panic Disorder "Been on this drug previously for about half of a year, and it didn't work. I became manic and had thoughts of suicide after I was increased to 225 mg. That first time, I was introduced with a starting dose of 37.5 mg for a week and then upped to 75 mg and had no side effects at start. My new doctor wanted me to try it again almost 10 years later after we tried Celexa and had no change. The doctor was out of town, and another doctor prescribed a starting dose of 75 mg and instructions to up to 150 mg in a week. Four days after starting, I started having tremors, dizziness, insomnia, and nausea. On the 7th day, I started the 150 mg and started vomiting, and tremors were way worse. Went back to the 75 mg the next day and asked the doc for a new med, he said to stick it out because the doctor who prescribed started too high. I realized I was stupid to be on it again in the first place. I quit them."

• Ouc...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 2, 2021

For Depression "Took one pill, my first ever antidepressant. Never again. At first, just some feeling of euphoria and mild nausea. I was told to expect feeling like a very strong cup of coffee. Ok, cool. Then I started to feel my pupils dilate, and they felt very strangely warm. Realized I was high as anything, and the medication was very similar to pain meds-they don’t take the pain away, rather, they get you high so you don’t care that it hurts. I could see this helping people who struggle to get out of bed or have enough energy, but that is not what I need. Felt like I had taken a tab of E and gone to the club."