Venlafaxine for Cataplexy User Reviews

• Rob...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• March 4, 2017

"It's a no-brainer, without it, I am as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. With 75 mg per day, I am confident for any situation. It changed my life in one day. To not be able to take part in everyday life, to not smile, laugh, love, be hurt, be funny, be normal. Any risk of emotion tipped me off the edge, and I do mean any. You know when life is bad when you're scared to cross a road, fearful of not getting to the other side without collapsing in a quivering heap. Before diagnosed, life was an everyday hell. Thank God for it, easy to take, and many years later, the same now just like the first time. Works a treat."

• Dro...
• November 6, 2019

"I was prescribed 150 mg of Venlafaxine mainly to treat my cataplexy, but my doctor also told me it would help with my anxiety and depression. On the cataplexy side of things, it helps 100%. I don’t have any episodes unless I’m really exhausted, but the bad thing is if I miss one dose, I get bad brain zaps and my cataplexy comes back, but 10 times worse, so missing a dose is the worst. On the anxiety/depression side of things, it mellows my negative emotions out. One bad thing I’ve noticed is that the medication isn’t as effective during my period. Overall, the medicine is okay, I just wish it was more effective during my period. I’m not sure if this is just an issue with this med for me or if it would be like this with other antidepressants, though."

• Kin...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• December 4, 2019

"It worked fairly well with my cataplexy. I’d sometimes experience cataplexy attacks only at the end of the day or when I’m too tired. The main issue was with the side effects. I had to suffer from weight gain, periodic limb movement affecting my sleep quality, and REM parasomnia."

• Kay...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• December 30, 2020

"I took venlafaxine for five years to treat cataplexy. When 2020 started last January, I was 325 lb. The pros, well, that this drug does treat cataplexy, it is literally a miracle worker. The con is that if you ever skip a day, it feels like you’ve been hit by a truck, and every episode that you should’ve had feels like it’s coming at one time. Also, this drug causes water retention, which can also lead to high blood pressure and obesity. Taking this drug for five years, I started to have night terrors so bad that my neighbors could hear me screaming and called the police at least three times, terrified that someone was trying to hurt me because this drug will cause that to happen. Today’s date is December 30, 2020, and since December 10, 2020, I have been completely off of all my medication, and I have not had a bad dream, I’m not overeating, and I’ve lost 20 pounds."