I hate this Effexor XR

Nurses General Nursing

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I hate this med. I have been on it for almost a year and now suddenly I get dizzy spells (even when I am sitting still) and every now and then it feels like my heart will beat really hard just once or twice, but enough to notice. I have trembling hands every so often. All this started sort of off and on about a month or two ago. I have an appt. with my doc in about a week and a half, I gotta get off this bizarre med. Any one have anything like this happen? Any suggestions on what the heck to do for the next week or so? This is driving me nuts!!

I took Effexor for a few months. Awful side effects. Muscle twitches, palpatations, and absolutely no libido. The docs don't seem to understand how many people have side effects from it.

My advice---DON'T stop taking it cold turkey. It will be 10x worse than what you're experiencing now. Call your doctor and ask him/her over the phone what to do. He/she may recommend cutting back on the dose.

When I went off it my dr. said to just quit cold turkey. It was hell. You need to slowly ween yourself off, if that's what you end up doing.

Originally posted by itsme

I hate this med. I have been on it for almost a year and now suddenly I get dizzy spells (even when I am sitting still) and every now and then it feels like my heart will beat really hard just once or twice, but enough to notice. I have trembling hands every so often. All this started sort of off and on about a month or two ago. I have an appt. with my doc in about a week and a half, I gotta get off this bizarre med. Any one have anything like this happen? Any suggestions on what the heck to do for the next week or so? This is driving me nuts!!

I am extremely happy I got off this one. Dizziness, EXCESSIVE weight gain, water retention, dry mouth, irritability. I've been on it for 3 years and jumped off instead of getting off gradually (you'll see how bad are withdrawal symtoms later on, I guess). I have been off antidepressants and any other medication for 3 years. I DO NOT need any. And presently I am even afraid to take tylenol.

Its your body....

You must wean off this med or it has a withdrawal syndrome.Try decreasing it by 50mg each day til GONE-What about your depression?

Your

symptoms sound perhaps thyroid related

Thanks sooooo much for the replies! Well, I am on 37.5mg. I had attempted to try every other day to wean off, but the side effects were horrible! I am taking it for situational depression, which I dont have anymore(i dont think) because my life has turned remarkably great in the past 2 months, and also for unreal irritability during PMS. It gets like i am another person, extremly *****y and short tempered. normally i am so easy going and the weird part is that when i am like that ( the crabbiness) I can tell that it isnt me like that, my poor family!! My hubby knows my cycle better than me because of my mood!! These side effects are so horrible! I will be calling the MD first thing in the am to find out what we are going to do about this. Thank you again for your support! I was so afraid no one would reply!!

For some it works well, but when one has the side effects, it's not good at all. A few months ago a coworker was sitting in the dayroom talking with a pt's mother when all of the sudden he dropped over and into a seizure. They did everything possible to determine the source of his problem (it was the first, and thus far the only)--ct, MRI, bloodwork, etc. and all they could figure was it had to be the effexor. No rhyme; no reason. He ended up being off work for a couple months as a result of it.

As for the reason you were taking the medication--obviously I don't know the circumstances, and I am not trying to lecture, but if you are having a sudden change in moods, I would highly recommend seeing a psychiatrist before your FP MD if at all possible. Psychiatrists are much more qualified for such things and perhaps they wouldn't have put you on a medication for a temporary issue if it was a short term problem.

My husband recently was put on this med for a mild depression, along with something else he named but I can't emember, but it was given to him by a pshychiatrist. So far, the only side effect has been excessive sweating at times, and delayed orgasm. When I say delayed, I mean...he takes longer. (ofcourse he thinks this is a great side effect...I hate it!) But he is on 150mg....and that's after starting at 75, and then moving up. So far so good!

That's one positive!

Marsha

And after the 3 or so weeks when the med is starting to show signs of working, that'll be a 2nd positive. Like I said, it is good stuff if you don't have some of those bad side effects, like any medication.

Specializes in OB, House Sup, ER, Med Surg.

I have been on Effexor XR 75mg for about 2 months now, after several years on Zoloft. So far, I am having great results with the Effexor. I have been on meds of one sort or another for about 16 years now. I do have to say that today's meds sure don't have as many nasty side effects as the old ones did.

Originally posted by itsme

...Well, I am on 37.5mg. I had attempted to try every other day to wean off, but the side effects were horrible...

Did the symptom you discribe (in your first post) happen when you skipped doses?

Since you are on a reletively low dose ask your MD to switch you to regular acting Effexor, I have heard it is easier to wean off of (and it has the added bonus that if you step down to fast and develope symptoms you can resolve them quickly with a dose).

I have been on Effexor XL for 3 years for chronic pain, 225mg/day for 2 years and 150mg/day for a year before that. I have had ZERO problems with it (one of the lucky ones I guess) other than withdrawl symptoms if I forget to refill my script and go a couple of days with out. I did taper down down to 150mg/day over a month but jumped it back up when I realized my Mom was dying.

I had the same symptoms you describe with it. I did not take it for very long because of the lack of libido mostly. I made the BIG mistake of going cold-turkey (guess I should practice what I preach, huh?!) and felt like a zombie for about a week. Such a strange feeling. Currently taking wellbutrin and having much better time with it. I don't think it is quite as effective as the effexor in the antidepressant sense, but the side effects are really none for me and taking the edge of my depression makes a world of difference to me.

Court

I have been taking Effexor XR 75mg BID....I was taking only one dose of 150mg in the morning...but I was still having withdrawal symptoms (muscle twitching, blurred vision, vertigo, irritability) I felt like I was just going nuts, by psyche said maybe I metabolized my medications faster and only taking one dose in the AM, I was actually withdrawing from the medications everyday, so no I am taking it BID as I said earlier. It has worked wonders for me....But I always feel it when I miss a dose. Definately don't stop taking it cold turkey. ( I did this w/ Paxil CR and had no idea that is what was causing all of my symptoms, I really thought I was going crazy, or had a tumor or something,)when I found out it was from stopping the Paxil, my psyche put me on a low dose of Xanax and the Effexor XR, so maybe you should try taking it BID so you always have it in your symptom, of course talk to the doc first though

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