effexor side effects

[deaglan]

Hi everyone. I just found this forum and I am hopeful that someone may be able to offer some advice regarding the following.

Ten days ago I started taking effexor 37.5 mg for anxiety and depression. From day one it disagreed with me as I was nauseaus, extremely anxious, dilated pupils, insomnia, tension and the worse sympton by far was when my entire body went numb after only a week.

I had to attend a doctor as I never thought that I would have such an adverse reaction.

As it stands, and because it seems like the ideal medication to treat my illness, with consultation from my doctor, I decide to give it another chance as it is early and it may take more than a week to ten days for it to effectively work. I'm back on it now, taking the same dosage for a few days and I feel so unwell. Everything I felt before is back.

I just want to know if anyone else has experienced similar symptons when the first began to take Effexor and how long should I give it before it I begin to feel any better?

Thanks for reading this. I appreciate any advice you may have to offer.

Declan

[Mark_helsinki]

I have been on Effexor for 5 weeks now and just want to share the experience. First, some context - severe depression that had developed over a period of about 5 years. Suicidal thoughts, awful and constant negative rumination, self-confidence all but shattered, increasing social isolation, and just watching a gradual shut-down.

When I started with Effexor, I had side effects after the first half an hour. Everyone is different, but there was absolutely no mistaking it's immediate effects. I started on 75 mg a day for two weeks, then up to 150 mg a day.
POSITIVE EFFECTS: First I just want to say that the positive effects came very quickly, it was like someone put a floor back in my house and I stopped sliding down into the dungeon the minute I woke up. It was quite weird to go from very severe depression to almost no depression in a matter of days. At first, I think maybe I'm just being distracted from the side effects, but after five weeks, I can say that the effect is pretty constant. I did have some tough personal news during that time, which left me scared and sad, but it was a fairly normal reaction that I recovered from within a few days.

I wouldn't describe this medicine specifically as a 'happy pill' (British slang), rather it's more of a 'stop depression pill'. And for me, that exactly what I want. I just so relieved to not have that horrible cloud of negativity hanging over every thought, the constant self-negation and the feeling of deep and painful anger and the idea that the only exit was to end it all. I also lost all urge to self-medicate with alcohol, which was another blessing. I was not yet alcoholic, but I could clearly see the slippery slope ahead of me.

SIDE EFFECTS: sweating, sleep disturbance (sleeping 5 or 6 hours and waking up wide awake even though still tired), restless leg (the extra sweating depletes potassium, so added that as a supplement), yawning (the kind of yawns that get stuck in your throat), difficulty focusing (my work requires constant concentration and analysis, so this has been a challenge), reduced motivation to push myself to the bone (in a way, this is a positive, less anxiety, but also less fear of consequences from a stressful job), muscle stiffness (this went away about a week after first dose and also dose increase), difficulty climaxing (sex drive remained the same, even somewhat increased, but sexual climaxing has become something of a challenge. Sex used to take half an hour or so, and now it's often over an hour, and not guarantee of climax. No problems maintaining an erection though. In fact, my partner is very happy with the changes, and we've had many smiles and fun with it).

As a metaphor, it's a bit like having a gastric band on your psyche. You don't have the possibility to gorge on your fears in the same way, but likewise, you struggle to get deeply into any topic unless it was very familiar to you. I have no problem being analytical, but just find myself not really able to engage in the same way. I guess a lot of my critical faculties were driven by various anxieties about society and also my personal experiences, but without that underlying depression, there is less urgency about having to constantly process things, or to intellectualize the problems as a way to cope with the horrible feelings. I still have the same values, but I'm just not feeling like I'm pushed into a corner and having to fight and call people's attention to the problems we are living with. I'm curious to see how this works out longer term.

My advice is to stick with the medicine for at least a month and expect dose changes to start a new cycle of adaptation. For me, to have some relief from the severe depression made the side effects more than bearable, they are nothing in comparison.

[Tigers99]

Thank you for taking the time to express your experience. Its helpful to know there is someone in my boat.

[jesslea]

i was put on effexor just after xmas due to a panic attacks, when i first started taking they it was horrible i was warned by my doc of the side affcts and to try and get through them coz when you do you will fell the difference, i did took them for 3 and a half weeks felt great never been better,so me being stupid thought i'd got over my panic attacks and stoped taking them. i'm now bk on them day  6 and having the same side affects as last time some a bit worse i wished i'd of never stoped them. so hand in there don't give up or you'll end up bk on them with the side effects all over again. jesslea

[deaglan]

Thanks Jerzeegal and MrGreen for replying to my post. I really cannot fathom why I would react so negatively to Effexor as what it's for seems so suitable to my disposition.

Basically, for ten years I've been taking Diazepam, however, over the past couple of years I stuck with them, even though they failed to achieve any real change in me. I believe I may have been on them far too long and become somewhat immune to them. Hence my reason for looking for something else that may enable me to become more social.

I've been enduring the most awful feelings of social anxiety and depression and I don't want to become reclusive, it's happened before and much as it scares me to be amongst people I really don't wan't to withdraw myself from society.

I spoke with my doctor concerning the side-effects of Effexor and even though I experienced symptons that weren't even mentioned on the leaflet that accompanied the medication, my doctor advised me to try them for a few more days. I can't. I tried and it's the same and that's never happened before with any medication I was prescribed. He said that Effexor is the only thing available and it it fails then there's no other alternative but to resume taking Diazepam again. I thoroughly believe that there is a medication out there that will suit, however, up to my visit to my doctor I'd never even heard of Effexor let alone anything else.

I hope to return to my doctor tomorrow and it would be a positive if there were other medication I could mention to him tha tis used to treat Social Anxiety Disorder, Depression and Panic Attacks. Because I reside in Ireland, perhaps there is only one medication that treats the symptons I suffer from that's been approved, I honestly don't know, maybe that's why he mentioned that I'd have to go back on Diazepam again?

I realise from reading some posts here that there are a lot of people that are going through terrible suffering and I thought that what I had made me unique. I was way off. I sometimes hold back from letting those around me what ails me, beasically in all of us, there's times when we dig deep and encourage, however difficult it is the actor/actress in us to come to the fore, that's what keeps me going or at leat did. My symptons are out of control now and they call the shots, they dictate how I lead my life. I don't like being dictated too, that's why with the last strenght I have I wan't to do something that will enable me to lead a relatively normal life before I can no longer consciously do so.

I apologise for the long post. I guess I've been quiet too long I'm losing the run of myself.

If anyone can supply me with the names of medication that may be helpful in treating Social Anxiety/Phobia could you please post the name of it so i may discuss it with my doctor. If you like you can send it to me as a message, that way it will remain private, whichever mehod is fine by me.

Thanks a million for your help and I hope someday I can return the favour.

Regards to all,

Declan




  



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[MrGreen]

Hey my friend, just look on the next page of this forum and you will see a thread similar. I went through hell after taken that tablet for just one day. Nightmare tablet. Had me in tatters. Made me worse than I was before I started taken it.

[Jerzeegal]

Personally I wouldn't take anything that made me feel so unwell unless it was the only treatment of choice. There are other meds used to treat anxiety that you may tolerate a bit better. It has been my experience that people tend to not take the medicine if they can't deal with the side effects so it's much better to try something different that will encourage compliance.

I hope you feel better soon