I am a 30 year young female with a husband, three kids, and bipolar disorder. My regular doctor prescribed 75mg of Effexor XR in the morning after I went into a bout of major depression and all I could think about was dying every day. I was just done with life, done. It made me feel "wired" like I had too much coffee and I was hot all the time. But I was happy, maybe a little too happy and talkative according to my family. I lost my appetite and 10 lbs. I was on that dose for a year and then went into another major depression. I then went to a psychiatrist and he raised the dosage to 225mg once in the morning (3x 75mg Effexor XR). I again noticed a raise in my mood, but I still cry and have emotions. I do feel it helped me. I ran out of it a couple times and was off it for a few days, but I did not experience any withdrawl symptoms. I am horrible at taking it the same time every day and have never had a problem. No headaches. I'm on other anti-depressants too though, maybe that helped. I did feel the zzzzzzzzzzip in my head at first, it kindof feels like you've had too much coffee and your head does a flip, but then I was fine.