Effexor and panic attack

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.

I have been using this drug for about 8 months and have found some of the side effects can be horrible. However i am in the process of separation and im terrified to face this without them. I know i am rather numb and at times just unconnected because of the drug but without them i would be crying constantly and i hated that. I believe i have been depressed for some time and i know for me the benefits of this drug far out way the difficulties of depression! The crying, sleeplessness, inability to get anything accomplished depression sucks. For me i have not gained or lost i am about the same. My therapist tells me to go off them slowly once things settle down i am on 300 mg of them now of which i started on 75mg to start. So i will keep you updated to my progress with getting off them!

I have to say that I love this drug! I no longer have feelings of impending doom or panic attacks. I take only 37.5 and it works great.

I have been reading about this now for three hours, and it has made me feel both better and worse. I have been on antidepressants for over 10 years; I think I have been on Effexor for around 4 or 5. It has all but banished my panic attacks; I haven't had one in months now, and those that I have had over the past few years have been endurable to say the least. What worries me is the changes in my personality that have taken place over the past decade. I have been thinking that what I have been experiencing is my depression getting worse and that I have been spiraling down into severe mental illness. It's frightening to say out loud that you think you are going crazy, and so I have managed to keep a tenuous hold on reality and ever onward I go. I mentioned my symptoms to my doctor almost 2 years ago, and her response was to increase my dosage to 112.5 a day. This only served to confirm my belief that my mental health was indeed declining. After reading these posts I want to weep with joy that I am not crazy, it is this magic pill that I take every day. I too have avoided going off Effexor because of the side effects; it seems that it would be easier to withdraw from a serious heroin jones with less suffering. My side effects while being on the medication have been: loss of interest in everything in life that ever interested me, weight gain with loss of appetite (go figure), loss of sex drive and almost an aversion to sex or intimacy, fatigue, confusion, and an emotional withdrawal from those around me. The few times I have tried to go off Effexor (or missed a few days due to forgetfulness or lack of interest in going to the pharmacy to pick them up), my symptoms have been: that weird feeling of your brain having to catch up to your eyes, that feeling of being shocked or zapped, a descent into depression equaling the speed of an Olympic bobsled run, a feeling of hopelessness, headache, cotton mouth, diarrhea, mood swings so severe and radical that I frighten myself, irritability to the point of wanting to chew off my own fingers, tears over everything and anything, and restlessness. Reading over this, I'm thinking that being depressed was not so bad after all. It's kind of sick to wish for simple depression; it reinforces my belief that this medication is bad. I see that in another post someone is asking if there is any rumble of a class-action lawsuit; I would also be interested in this information. Thank you for sharing what this medication has done to all of you, and I hope that my post helps someone else with similar experiences.

I have not yet started to take Effexor yet, just trying to see if I can find some reason to take it first.
I have read a lot of these side effects and I have had all of these side effect like symptoms and have never even take this drug.
I have taken Wellbrutrin, Lexapro, Zoloft, and Paxil and all of them cause bad panic attacks. I am not sure what to do about anything. I have also tried a natural pill called Seredyn and it works pretty good at night to sleep but causes me to feel uneasy during the day and obviously it would be needed during the day.
The ONLY thing that helps is Ativan and according to doctors and pharmacists it is very habit forming. So I cannot get anymore of those.
Has anyone taken anything for Anxiety that helps?
I am not a depressed person and do not need anything for depression.

I,ve been on effexor xr 4 months now for depression and anxiety. Overall i have nothing really bad to say about this drug. I had trouble sleeping at first and some sexual side effects occur when my dossage is upped. Other than that I,m pleased with the results that I,m getting from this drug. I have more energy and it seemed to eliminate the minor body aches and fatigue that I I was expiencing. My depression has subsided a great deal and I can drive now without having a panic attack. I seem more comffortable around people I dont know and I have also gained a lot more confidense in myself. To be completly honest I dont know if I ever want to quit taking effexor. This drug is not for everone though. I would say to take the recommended dosage prescribed by your Dr. for the recommended time to allow the effexor to take full effect. After the 6 to 8 weeks if you're still eperiencing the same side effects, this drug is not for you. Try somthing else. If everyone in the world shared the same brain chemistry I doubt that their would be so many different anti deppressants. I wish you all the best of luck in finding true happiness, but remember the drug doesn't do the work all by itself. Their has to be a line drawn somwhere between fantasy and reallity, meaning that even perfectly normal people have bad days to.

well ive been on effexor for about 2 years and im recently on 150 mg and yes it can make u feel very sick and strange b/c i had panic attacks all the time for the first two weeks. then my body got use to it,and there are days when i feel lifeless b/c i dont really cry anymore b/c my doseage is so high and its under control but im only 17 so my mom and doc control all my meds..but youll get use to the effexor..