Effexor and brain

i have been on effexor for about a month first started 25 then 37 now 75 since being on 75 feel very dizzy exhausted tingling in my brain and no motivation to do anything never had depression really only anxiety and panic but feel as if it is putting me in a depression.feel some of the symptoms people say when they come off it but im on it is this normal?

severe headaches,dry iychy skin, nausia, vomiting, sand paper rubbing together sound in my head, very weak, slow speech, achey muscles, in a fog, disconnected, unable to make decisions, terrifying dreams I am afraid to go to sleep as my nightmares never stop, stomach pain and cramps especially after eating, major gas, blurred vision, unorganised thought patterns, very difficult to think, cry uncontrolably,pain all over. This is what I feel like after one day of missing my regular 225mgs dose of Effexor. My dr. is now doing a brain MRI to find out what has been causing severe headaches for the past 8 weeks. She also said I have Cronic Fatigue Syndrom.She is eliminating other possible causes before blaming Effexor, which I have been taking for 8 years. I am at panic state and find it difficult to function.I have been hospitalize with these symptoms only to be told I had some type of virus. One week ago I was arrested and put behind bars for shop lifting. This is freaking me out as I don't recall the actual crime, I do recall wandering aimlessly in the store for two hours looking at everything I could look at. I bought some items but lost the dog collar. It was in my purse!! Off to jail for 5 days without Effexor. I wanterd them to take me to a nut house because I could not focus and I got sooo sick. Now I have to go to court and explain my Not Guilty Plee. I am distraught, frightened, and facing more possible jail time!! I am contimplating ending my life.I have never been in trouble with the law and am 52 years old.

I've recently been on Effexor for over 8 years. The reason I started taking Effexor is cuze 8 years ago my Dr. told me I had a severe panic attack. These 'Panic attacks' would lead me to have seizure like symptoms where I actually passed out, twitched & convulsed. When I came to again, I wouldn't remember anything or who some people were. long story short, they put me on this drug, also with Clonazepam. It worked for a while. After a few years, weird symptoms would come back & they'd 'up' my dose. After just over 8 years my 'attacks' came back. By this time, they 'upped' my dose to 300mg. I thought they were crazy, but agreed to try. Nothing was working, I was having these seizure like attacks every 2 weeks & I have two small children to take care of! I demanded an answer this time! I needed them to run tests, try new meds, ANYTHING! I was desperate..I knew they weren't 'Panic attacks' They found something from results that were taken from my Cat Scan. It's called Septum Pellucidum & it's absent in my brain. I have no idea what it does, but if it's absent in someone's brain, it causes seizures! Yeah! They finally found the real problem..I have Partial Complex Seizures. I've had these all along. I have been on the wrong med's for 8 years now!! I'm on a new drug for seizures called Divelproex & it's awesome so far. I'm weaning my way off the Hellish Effexor. From dose 300mg to 187.5mg, it was good, than to 187.5mg to 150mg was good also. I went down from 150mg to 122.5mg & that also surprisingly was not too bad. A couple head waves here & there. I'm now going from 122.5mg to 75mg & that's been the hardest! It's been day 5 & I'm struggling. I know it will only get better once i'm completely off! It's just sooo hard right now!! I also wanted to add that Effexor can cause Seizures!! Please reply if you have any idea's that will make this better or just to say what you've been through.

This is the worst drug I've ever been on. This has totally destroyed my life, I took it for 8 years, in which time I felt severely depressed (much worse than the depression it was meant to be treating), irrational and no sex drive whatsoever. I stopped taking it 2 years ago and have extreme withdrawal symptoms for months on end, feeling nauseous, depressed etc and now that I have stopped my body has still not recovered from the side effects. I feel that if I had never been prescribed this horrific drug my life would not be the misery it is today.

I was on effexor for a year to treat dysthimic depression and general anxiety disorder. My dose started low but was upped every few months until I was on 150 mg.

The side effects I experienced were:

- Dizziness
- Inability to sleep soundly at night (I would wake several times and have difficulty falling asleep again)
- Inability to stay awake during the day (probably as a result of the previous side-effect. this was so bad that i even fell asleep once while i was standing up!)
- A "fuzzy" mental state; everything looked cloudy, I had no concentration, poor attention span
- Frequent vivid nightmares
- This weird sensation that happened every couple of minutes. It wasn't quite like dizziness...it was more like my brain was doing a flip-flop in my head.
- I was ALWAYS exhausted
- My libido disappeared

The withdrawl affects of the drug were similar but also accompanied by twitching, nausea, increased dizziness, more frequent "brain flips", and occasional fainting or blacking out.

Worse was that I had to take the drug at the same time every day, or else I'd enter withdrawl almost immediately. If I took the drug at 7:00 AM every morning before school, and then slept in until 10:00 AM on the weekend, I would wake up in withdrawl, even though i was only a few hours late!

When I tapered off the drug, the withdrawl affects were almost unbearable for a couple of weeks, but eventually I returned almost to a normal state, except that it took over a year for my libido to return, and even though I've been free of the drug for a couple of years, I still have difficulties in that area sometimes.

I have been taking Effexor for around 2 to 3 years for depression. I am currenty taking two 150 mg at night, though I was told to take one in the morning and one at night... I found it easier to take them both at night. The only side effect I am sure comes from the Effexor is the reduction in my libido (and I am female). Effexor is the only anti-depressant I have been on, and I think I got extremely lucky in that I found the one that works for me on the first try. I also see a psycho-therapist, and between the two, I feel I have managed to get a better hold on my life. I am a thirty-five year old mom (married, and with a seven-year-old daughter) and I have "almost" nothing but praise for Effexor.

HOWEVER, I do know that the withdrawal side effects are terrible... I have missed it for up to three days when I went out of town and forgot my medication. I can usually miss one day and the side effects will most likely just be a bad headache, and maybe a little nautious. But when I missed three doses:

Missing one dose at night: I had a headache the following day.
After missing two doses: The headache became worse, I would occasionally get dizzy spellls, and I started getting very emotional - swaying between sad and cranky.
After missing third dose: The headache became worse still, and was aggravated by light - I wanted to just keep my eyes closed. I felt dizzy and nautious - nautious to the point I couldn't tell if I was going to throw-up (never did).
Oh... and I should add that the dreams while I was off the medication were incredible... like watching movies... so detailed and complex. I usually don't remember my dreams... but these I could recall... not in perfect detail... but they were amazing.

After I got back home and took my dose that night: I missed three days of work while being back on the medication. I was nautious, had a terrible headache, wanted to just stay in bed, I was no longer ultra sensitive emotional-wise - but I was ultra-pissed-off. I became very angry that I was on a medication that was addictive after having been told it was "not addictive". I was angry that I have never had an addiction before, but now suddenly I was addicted to a prescribed drug. I don't smoke, I only drink a couple of alcholic drinks in a month (socially), no canabis (pot... is that an out-dated term? ... everyone here says canabis), or any other illegal or legal addictive drugs... the only other drugs I take are allergy (Clarinex) and birth control (Nuva Ring), neither of which are addictive.

That whole experience was months ago, and now that I have had time to calm down and get a clear perspective on the situation... I wouldn't stop taking Effexor for just being addictive... and YES... it is addictive... I don't give a rat's ass what any "expert" says about it. If you can't stop taking something without your body freaking out... then IT IS ADDICTIVE.

I don't know that I will ever be able to stop the medication. I go back and forth as to how I feel about this. At times it bothers me being so dependant on a medication... but on the other-hand, I'm dependant on the allergy medication, and that doesn't bother me, so why should I let being dependant on an anti-depressant bother me? Who cares what everybody else thinks, right? - - Boy, that's loaded...

Effexor has helped me tremendously. My thoughts about death are very infrequent. I don't feel like crawling into a hole and disappearing all the time. I have found "my voice" with the help of this drug and my therapist to voice my opinions more often to help me from not feeling so trapped and helpless in situations. It does cut down on emotional sensations... I don't feel overwhelming sad at all the terrible things I hear on the news. And I don't cry at sappy commercials and movies any more (Thank you!). For the first time, I feel much more in control of my feelings and my life.

So, I can understand the anger in a lot of these postings, but I would like to add, that I don't think the people who have benefited from Effexor are posting here. They have no reason to be looking for this site. I found this site when I had been angry over finding out it was habit-forming. I believe Effexor has probably helped a lot of people - and it isn't an "evil" drug... it's just a drug. For some, it just isn't the right drug.

I should add, that I'm on here today because I've recently started experiencing night sweats, but I wasn't sure if it was a side effect of Effexor or not. I hope that it is a side effect of Effexor and not a symptom of menopause... cripes... I'm only 35! The first site that popped up after searching under "Nightsweats" was about nightweats being a symptom of perimenopause or menopause... ugh!

But if I have to weigh the benefits I have experienced using Effexor, with the downfalls: addictive, sexual side-effects, and maybe night sweats... I still am of the mind that it is a good drug for me.

I wish all of you luck in finding what helps you most to be happy with your life.

I am getting ready to wean myself off of 150mg after being on effexor for about 2 years now for post-partum depression and anxiety disorder. To me, this drug has truely changed my life, and yes, I have had most of the side effects, but not bad enough to stop taking it. What I have noticed in everyone's terrible review of the drug is the side effects when you stop or forget a dose- what you must remember is that this is messing with chemicals in your brain. It is not something that is a miracle pill with no side effects. And it should DEFINETLY NOT be stopped cold turkey!! I feel so bad for you who think that is the right thing to do. This is a powerful drug for a reason- you MUST wean off of it. Your brain is going to have to get used to making these chemicals by itself- no easy task. Please heed my advice and stop blaming the drug company for your side effects- they are a natural healing process, no matter how tough they are. God Bless.

was on venlafaxine 75mg for about 6 months had to come off it as i was pregnant! felt sick tired dizzy but put it down to pregnancy. Was then put on dothipin which i could take while being pregnant but had to come off before baby was born.
Was put back on to venlafaxine in april 05. Developed a rash but was told it would go and to persist. Carried on taking instead of loosing weight after the baby i am putting it on also rash has come back over chest hands and feet are really itchy. Told my doctor i was coming off them. tried everyother day but i could not move my head was like jelly i felt sick tired my eyes were blurry i had to really focus. my brain felt like it was wobbling in my head it was so difficult with a young baby and a 10 yr old. I went back to the doctor who reduced me to 37.5mg i dont know what to do with myself my mother has had to have the kids my head it throbbing i cant see properly i feel sick so tired !
i am going back tomorrow as i need something to help me get off this vile drug. It should be banned i feel sorry for anyone who is experiencing what i am right now its an evil drugs and should not be recommended to anyone.

Well, just wanted to say. I got off this drug!! I quit cold turkey about 3 wks ago and I must say I feel great!! I have so much energy, I'm not tired all the time, I don't sleep all day, my weight is going back down, I don't feel faint or dizzy, I don't feel dependant on this drug anymore, during the first week I was so dizzy & faint w/hardly any balance, I felt like my brain was shifting but after the second week I had more energy than I had in a long time. My body is getting back to normal, it's been 3 week's now and I don't have any of the side effect's associated with this EVIL!!! drug. My husband said this is the longest he has seen me stay awake in a long time, my kid's are enjoying me being back on earth (jokey joke) Hey!!! I'm Back!!!! IT FEEL'S SO GOOD TO BE ME AGAIN!! my prayers are with all who remains or who start this drug because your gonna need it!

-I have been on Effexor XR for almost 1 year @ 150mg.

When I was first on the drug I would feel the dizziness, brain shock, etc, side affects if I went roughly 2 days without taking the drug (on accident). In the past few months I start getting severe withdrawl side affects (dizziness, brain shocks, etc.) as soon as it hit 24 hours from my last dose (If I took a pill at 2pm on one day, by 3pm on the next day I was having severe side affects).

What seemed to be unrelated at first was the fact that in the past 2-3 months I started to have severe sleeping problems. I got extremely worse in the past 2 months as no matter what time I went to bed it became extremely difficult for me to wake up before 10am - 11am (which obviously affected my work). It was the hardest thing in the world to drag myself out of bed, no matter what time it was (it was almost impossible for me to get out of bed before 8am). I would then work for a few hours and come home and take a nap. I went to my Doctor (same one that prescribed me the Effexor XR) and he sent me to a sleep study thinking that I might have Sleep Apneia. Immediately after that a friend recommended trying to get off of the Effexor XR and as soon as I started weening down my doseage, my sleep went back to normal. In any regard, I was able to ween myself down to 37.5 MG for a couple of weeks and have now been off of it or 3 days and it has sucked. I've tried getting off before and have many horror stories as other people (the following horror story is one that happened about 2-3 months ago when I tried to quit cold turkey once from full 150 mg a day doseage, not a good idea!).

This is somewhat funny & scary...I had gone about 2-3 days at one point in trying to cut cold turkey from 150 mg a day(I was also out of pills) and was suffering from severe withdrawl affects and decided to drive to my pharmacy to have it refilled because I could not take it anymore. My pharmacy is one that is in a large grocery store...so while it was being refilled I tried to find some granola bars so I would have something to eat to take with the medication. I was so dizzy and confused that I had to call my wife (fiance at the time) on my cell phone. I had to ask her to help me find the granola bars (this was a store that I often shopped at) and was standing in the middle of an isle with tears streaming down my face begging her to help me over the phone. I'm a 30+ year old professional who is 6'2" and was (prior to my weight gain recently) a healthy 250 pds, and was reduced to tears in a grocery store trying to find granola bars. The storry is sad, true, scary, and slightly funny all at the same time.

I've also managed to put on about 25-30 pds in the last 2-3 weeks as well. One of the side effects I personally got when I went too long between doses (or now in trying to stop completely and was feeling after reducing doseage) is a weird nausea feeling (I suppose similar to the one others have felt too). If you've ever felt nausea from being overly hungry, this is the type of nausea feeling I get. I feel like my body needs some food to help it feel better, so I eat and eat, and it's a very temperal relief (unfortunately, even the temporal relief doesn't always come), then the nausea is back. Hence the 25-30 pounds in the last 2-3 weeks.

In closing, I think it is sad that most doctors probably do not fully understand the drug. I know the manufacturer states that the side affects occur in about 10% of those that use the drug. However, I wonder what the percentage of severe side affects is in those that try to come off of the drug? I'm sure it has to be very high as the only thing my doctor made clear was to talk to him when/if I want to ever come off of the drug. THESE SIDE AFFECTS FROM COMING OFF OF THE DRUG ABSOULTELY NEEDS TO BE MADE CLEAR TO PATIENTS BEFORE THEY START OUT ON THIS DRUG!
Thanks,
M

Last night was my first time taking efforex. I took the pill at 8:00 p.m. and at 3:30 a.m. I was wide awake. I was nausea and had a stomach ache. I tossed and turned until 5:00 a.m. and then I throw up. I finally fell asleep for 1/2 an hour and when I woke up, I was sweating. I feel weird today. I see myself down and isloated from everyone. I called my doctor and asked about the side effects and he told me it must of been something I ate. He told me not to take today and but to take it tomorrow. One thing for sure is that my brain is wide awake.

ZoomZoom,

Good news for you!!! The side effects such as headaches should go away in the very near future. Drs. say 2-3 weeks and the majority of side effects should go away.

What you need to keep in mind is that Effexor XR is different than Anti-D's such as Paxil. Effexor calibrates 2 neurotransmitters in the brain (Seratonin & Norepinephrine). It would make sense that you are having headaches in the early goings because the drug is just readjusting what has been caused by the depression. Hang in there!!!

Don't be surprised if your Dr. increases the dose. He/she is simply trying to maximize the efficacy of the drug. I have no doubt that you will be back to normal in the near future.

Best of Luck,

MattM

I have been on Efexor capsules for 5 years, initialy on a very high dose then reduced over a two year period so that I am taking 75mg every two days. I am ready to come off them and have spoken to my doctor, but she say she is worried about the discontinuation side effects. She sugests that I should take them twice a week for a month and then quit. I felt fine about stopping (not worried about my depression returning) but now I feel anxious about the side effects. I have felt the brain shocks and dizzyness, before, when I was on a higher dose and I forgot to take them. I was wondering if anybody could tell me how long these withdrawal side effects last when the drug is stopped?

entire body feels numb, brain feels as if in a VICE, dizzy and feel more anxious than ever.... hope i dont go over the edge and do something to harm myself...59 yrs old and only been on efforex for less than 2 months