Venlafaxine for Anxiety User Reviews (Page 4)

• Nat...
• February 26, 2016

Venlafaxine "Been on Effexor XR for approximately 12 years! I regret taking it. Am on 225 mg per day, doctor wants me to taper down to 150 per day! It's a damn nightmare. I'm on day 2 of being on 150 mg, and the withdrawal symptoms are horrible. I feel dizzy, nauseous, feel like my head is hot, feel very tense, very moody, and short-fused. I could go on."

• CNa...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• February 22, 2016

"This medicine is horrible! I'm an average 20-year-old that doesn't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I've had anxiety since high school and only recently realized it. I thought a 'magic' pill would make my anxiety disappear, boy, was I wrong. My doctor prescribed me to take the 37.5 mg dose for like 5 days, then get a refill for 75 mg. The 75 mg gave me bad headaches every day. I let her know, and she prescribed me just to take the 37.5 mg and stressed to never miss a dose. I followed what she said, and I felt okay on the 37.5 mg until I started to notice hair thinning and loss! I have a head full of thick hair, never experienced hair loss in my life! The doctor lied and said it's just the anxiety. Lies! I weaned myself off after 3 months, withdrawals are the worst."

• Nev...
• February 6, 2016

Venlafaxine "I have hereditary depression, bipolar type 2, PTSD, high anxiety, insomnia, I also had some bad paranoia issues at the time prescribed because of an insane stalker. I have taken over 50 medication combinations. This, by far, is the worst drug I have ever taken. I nicknamed it 'Effects Her!!!' The medication was hell on earth for me. I had several bad side effects on this med. The worst being that when I fell asleep, my brain created extremely realistic vivid dreams. Also, after sleeping for a few hours, it seemed like very high-impact stressful weeks had just gone by in real time. So, I had to try to decipher reality upon waking. Needless to say, I lost my job! My anxiety and paranoia were worse! Plus, it is absolute hell to come off of!!!"

• Kxh...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 6, 2015

Venlafaxine "2.5 years after the birth of my child, I realized I needed help for PPD/PPA. My irritability and anger just kept getting worse, and I would go days without leaving the house. I was put on Effexor XR 75 mg. I only took one dose around 8:30 PM. I was up all night, jittery, restless, vivid dreams. The following day, I was so out of it I feared I couldn't care for my child and had my SO come home. I was incredibly nauseated and jittery with sporadic muscle spasms, my fingers were shaking a bit, and I had heart palpitations. It was awful. Around 6 PM, it started to go away but didn't completely until the following day. I will never take this medication again, it was very scary."

• Lei...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 13, 2015

"I was prescribed this medicine for anxiety. I took this stuff for a couple of days, had an adverse reaction, and needed to stop. Since then, I'm going through a severe crisis. Fits of rage, urges to hurt myself or others, migraine, nausea, self-harming, fainting, heart racing, paranoia, multiple trips to the ER, almost locked up in the closed psychiatric ward. I have never had any of the above-mentioned symptoms before. I was just anxious and a little depressed. I want my life back. I'm starting to lose hope."

• ml_...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 22, 2013

"I took this for one day. Had panic attacks, and even worse, inability to urinate until it cleared my system. Also, I have memory gaps from the day I was on it. I'd rather be anxious."

• Jad...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• October 23, 2013

Venlafaxine "Had horrible side effects, did not sleep for 2 weeks. Developed tics. Felt like I was living a nightmare. Had to be hospitalized. They took me off Effexor. And I started Zoloft. Zoloft worked fantastic. Took Zoloft for a year. Been off meds for 9 years with no problems."

• vga...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• April 19, 2013

Venlafaxine "This medicine did not work for me."

• Anonymous
• June 21, 2012

Venlafaxine "I'm 45 years old and have lived a pretty normal life except for my occasional heightened anxiety. Recently, my anxiety and panic attacks had escalated out of control. I was feeling out of touch with reality and having multiple panic attacks a day. Unfortunately for me, after 2 doses, the Effexor caused mild hallucinations: light pixelating and things moving in fast motion. It was adding to my anxiety, so I went off immediately and the hallucinations went away."

• Anonymous
• May 17, 2011

Venlafaxine "Continual weight gain, sexual dysfunction, lack of normal emotions, stomach problems."

• Anonymous
• July 18, 2009

Venlafaxine "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, 40 lb 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."

• jax...
• June 21, 2009

Venlafaxine "I was prescribed this for chronic pain. It did relieve the pain, but made me groggy and nauseated, so I did not continue it."

• Lyc...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 12, 2022

"Being on 150 mg, I have felt significantly worse since taking it after having moved off of Lexapro (both taken with buspirone). On Lexapro, I wasn't where I wanted to be in improvement, but I was getting better. This stuff, though, not only has no impact on my anxiety, but also makes my depression worse. Used to be a daily shower-taker; now I shower about once a week, stay in bed until the afternoon even when I go to bed at 9 pm (etc.). It's made me exhausted and way less productive. However, when on Lexapro with buspirone, I had a weird spasm, and now that I'm on this stuff, it happens less. So there's that. The biggest negative side effect seems to be how much it makes me sleep and how I continue to be tired."

• Kcy...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• February 7, 2022

"As with the various other anti-depressants I have tried, venlafaxine worked great for a few months (37.5 mg)... gradually, I began to feel anxiety return, disconnected, depression deepened to the point that I could hardly function. I weaned myself off over a week, now 5 days into being off and feeling mild to moderate typical withdrawal symptoms. No brain zaps but dizziness, spacey, and very weird dreams. I was hesitant to try anti-D's again. Gave it a last shot... I’m done. Never again. Thankful that I was on a low dose and am not going through the level of nightmares others are experiencing in their withdrawals. I will work hard to find positive healthy ways to manage my depression/anxiety as best as I can."

• ACB...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 8, 2021

"I've been on antidepressants for 22 years. All have been SSRIs. I started having panic attacks in the summer of 2020 and was diagnosed with anxiety depression instead of severe recurrent depression. I tried several more medications, and none helped with anxiety. I have been on Effexor 37.5 for a little over 3 months. My side effects are weight gain (about 10-15 lbs), flat mood, sexual dysfunction, and I still have anxiety daily. My doctor recommended coming off by taking one every other day for two weeks, then stopping. There are a lot of positive reviews, but this doesn't work for everyone. Definitely try it for several months before giving up. For me, I just don't feel that it works for my anxiety. I also have premenopausal symptoms, so it's probably a combination of issues at work. I would also recommend working with a psychiatrist instead of a family doctor because severe anxiety and depression call for an expert. It is definitely the hardest antidepressant I've found to come off of."

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 16, 2021

"On the fourth day, I had the most frightening panic attack on steroids - terrifying and physically painful! I actually thought I was losing my mind. So glad I was just at the intro dose and could stop immediately. Met someone who had the same reaction exactly."

• Mis...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 2, 2021

Venlafaxine "I was prescribed Effexor XR 75 mg, and at first, it somewhat helped my anxiety. I stopped taking it after about a week and a half because it made me completely lose my appetite. No withdrawals. I tried to start taking it again yesterday morning, felt fine all day until about 5 pm. I started feeling super dizzy and spaced out. Almost like I had been drugged. Felt out of reality somehow and detached. I will never take this medication again. The way I felt yesterday was so horrible, it's not worth it for me to take."

• Dba...
• February 3, 2021

"The only symptom I have is anxiety due to menopause."

• Cat...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 4, 2020

"I have been on this drug for about nine weeks now. My Paxil quit working (which I have taken for at least a decade) in September, and I waited, thinking I was just going crazy, before I finally went to the doctor and found out that the Paxil wasn’t working anymore. After being on this for almost three months, I have insomnia, no appetite, and have lost 15 pounds in this timeframe, still bad anxiety, dry mouth, and fatigue. I am going back to the doctor this week to switch to something else. I was on Prozac before Paxil and am hopeful that may be the answer. Exercise and meditation do not even help. Ug."

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 21, 2019

"I was prescribed Effexor for my depression and anxiety. I suffer from many things: BPD, bipolar, panic disorder, the list goes on. But the one personality trait is I'm an irritated person if I don't know you, but the best friend if you do. After 2 days of being on Effexor, I was so angry all day long, and it didn't matter who you were, I was going to be mean. I couldn't help myself, it was like watching myself and saying, 'like don't do it,' but I just had to be angry and mean, even to my mother. My mother and friends were terrified of me. They know I have problems, but never towards them. I lost 3 friends because of it. My mother won't forget it but sees I'm back to normal. But my friends that I knew for years said with how terrible I was, they were never speaking to me, even after trying to make up after coming off the meds. I highly recommend not taking this medication because of mood swings, and I don't know, I'm not a doctor, but if you suffer from a lot of other mental health issues, I think it triggers them. Stay away. Hope this helped."

• Mel...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 16, 2018

"I was prescribed this to try and help my mild anxiety. Took my first dose before bed, the next morning I could not stand without everything spinning and becoming nauseous, with cold sweats. Never remember feeling so dizzy before. I had to call in sick to work, and the doctor told me to stop immediately."

• Rob...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 19, 2018

"Only on this drug for 2 days, smallest dose, super nauseating and feel like my heart is going to explode. This is not good."

• Ibr...
• January 26, 2018

Venlafaxine "I took one dose of Effexor and stopped because it’s bringing me to my knees and I can’t sleep for a day now."

• Too...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 27, 2017

Venlafaxine "I was prescribed this for the onset of anxiety and possible hormonal mood swings. I was not told by my doctor how it would make me feel or how hard coming off of it would be. I took one 37.5 mg capsule and was horrified that I was given this. I woke up at 2 am with an anxiety attack for about the first hour. It then went into being wired, nauseous, shaky, weak, chills, and sweating. Eleven years ago, I quit using meth, and this was awful that I felt like I was on it again. I laid in bed the entire day, wide awake and ill. I never took another dose! And even one pill took at least another full day to leave my system. My nervous system is obviously sensitive, and I could not handle this medication at all."

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 7, 2017

"Scary for me, took my first pill, gave me tremors, couldn't sleep, kept pressing my hands and feet into my bed, my anxiety was out of control, and I was up all night. Ended up calling two friends and my mom and told them my pupils were extremely huge and I felt like I was on speed, and I was freaking out. Wanted to go to the ER, felt completely out of body. Doctor told me to stop taking it ASAP and switched me to Prozac. I have had the prescription for a week and am scared to take it. I cannot have those same side effects. I thought I might die, the effects lasted five days. Eventually, on the next day of being off, I was able to sleep, but I would wake up in the morning disoriented and depressed. I also still have muscle spasms. Will try Prozac though."