my physiatrist said that fatigue isn’t usually a side effect of Effexor but ever since my dose went from 150 to 225 i’ve literally been so unbelievably fatigued its all I can do to just keep my eyes open and my body feels like im walking through concrete I feel like a zombie 24/7. I’m so confused what could be causing this its been going on almost 3 weeks. Such a nightmare. Has anyone felt similar?

I know this has been asked before but I wanted updated responses. My psych told me I could stay on Effexor 150 mg and it won’t affect the baby at all maybe a withdrawal but it’s not very common. How ever, after reading a couple of threads I’ve heard that their babies had withdrawals or that they believe their child’s autism is linked from taking Effexor while pregnant. Should I just start tapering off of it now? I’m 6 weeks. I don’t want to go off of it because it’s helped tremendously.

Has anyone made this switch? I was on Wellbutrin 150mg for about 18 months. I was doing better on it, then about six months ago bumped up to 300mg. The 300 was working even better, and I was happy with the results. Then last week, I had a tonic-clonic seizure. The neurologist heard Wellbutrin and told me that it can lower the seizure barrier, that it does not necessarily “cause” a seizure but can make it more likely. The immediate plan was to phase out Wellbutrin and start a different antidepressant. My PCP and I discussed options and based on previous experiences, didn’t want to move to an SSRI. His suggestion was Effexor 75mg per day, and I’ll be making the transition over the weekend. I’m curious whether anyone has made the Wellbutrin to Effexor switch and how it went. Thanks!

Hope everyone is doing well. I have been taking 75mg of Effexor XR (extended release) for 4 weeks and tomorrow my dose will be increased to 150mg. I would love to hear success stories that anybody has? I am nervous/excited. My diagnoses are depersonalization/derealization disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, major depression disorder, and PTSD. I previously tried Abilify, Zoloft, and Lexapro. All of those medications gave me horrible side effects that could not be tolerated. Effexor XR is the first one that actually gave me positive results with zero side effects. I am hoping it will continue to help me at 150mg. I am looking forward to reading some of your success stories. 🙏🏼

Just started this medication. I'm sweaty and anxious. I don't like it. How do i fix this

I truly could not have done this cold turkey without the support of this group. ❤️
After getting a stomach bug last week, I decided to continue off Effexor. I’d been on it for less than a year, and it felt like the right time. This medication helped me through some dark chapters, but I felt it was no longer serving me. After gaining 35 pounds, I wanted my body, energy, and sense of self back.
I made this decision in close coordination with my psychiatric team and therapist, keeping my doctor informed of my symptoms and dehydration.
Five days of withdrawal. Here’s what I experienced, some definitions and what helped:
Brain zaps: A strange whooshing noise in my ears with electrical sensations along the sides of my head. One of the weirdest feelings I’ve ever experienced.
Vertigo and disorientation: My balance and spatial awareness were significantly affected. Stairs were difficult, and driving was unsafe. I even needed help stepping onto a chair! As a yogi, that was incredibly humbling.
Vomiting, diarrhea, and painful gas: Constant digestive issues. Even a few sips of liquid triggered vomiting, making dehydration a major concern.
Ice chips and frozen fruit: My best friends! Helped with dry mouth and getting tiny amounts of fluid when I couldn’t tolerate drinking.
Mobile IV hydration: I had a service come to my home for saline fluids and a Myers’ cocktail. This was a turning point when I couldn’t keep fluids down.
Zofran: My #1 lifesaver. After two days of vomiting, taking it as prescribed made an enormous difference.
Ibuprofen and acetaminophen: Helped manage the flu-like aches and pains.
Mouth rinses: Days of vomiting left me with painful canker sores and mouth irritation. Gentle rinses offered some relief.
Red LED light mask: An unexpected comfort! I normally use my Shark mask for skincare but increased it to 2–3 times daily. I don’t know if it did anything physically, but it was incredibly relaxing. Maybe it distracted me from the brain zaps, but more importantly, it gave me a few moments of feeling like I was doing something positive for myself.
As of yesterday, I finally feel out of the weeds. No withdrawal symptoms, and I’m starting to feel like myself again.
I respect everyone’s individual journey. Cold turkey was the right decision for me, but everyone’s experience is different.
I was afraid of withdrawal, but staying on a medication I no longer wanted to take had become its own struggle.

Thank you all for sharing your stories and helping me feel less alone. I hope my experience gives someone else a little hope. ❤️

I forgot my Effexor at home. I am on a business trip. I’ve been on 75 to 150 Xr for about 15 months. Currently on 75. Haven’t taken it for 2 days. Now it’s showing. Nausea, dizziness, headache and zaps. I will not have mine for next 2 days. Any ideas how to cope with withdrawal next couple days, and by any miracle, anyone has 75 xr in Tallahaassee Florida. I am from Spain and they won’t take my prescription for an emergency refill

Hi hope you are doing ok,

I am having a concern about this medication, I just saw a documentary about Effexor that it is dangerous drug and that it doesn’t cure and makes things worse over time.

For me I have been taking it for 2 years max 150mg
I tried to tapper and got a hard hit when reaching 37,5. Now back at 112mg. I still feel anxious. I would say the anxiety feels different then when i wasn’t on this med. It’s very sharp and So my question is does Effexor cause more and stronger anxiety as our body wants to express the feeling?

I feel lost and feel numb but also anxious then what’s the point. I really hope I can talk to someone about it.

This feels so hard to describe but I feel like I did a bit when I was younger when I wasn't emotionally blunted but I cry at little things that I desire relationship wise (platonic and romantic), like I never realized how alone I was and I crave genuine human connection but I also haven't been on top of self care like I just feel like I can't do minor inconveniences like brush my teeth, change my contact solution, or really get out of bed but my room feels like my only safe place right now. I don't really enjoy going anywhere and I haven't been able to get myself back into going to Church and feel spiritually empty and just depressed in a way. I've been able to watch stuff I used to like and do some hobbies like drawing but that's about it. Like I don't feel like I'm avoiding being myself and trying to change me but I also feel like I'm letting myself just feel and suffer and I know that effexor is supposed to help with depression and everything just feels confusing

There were issues with supplies of my usual 37.5 ir tablets that I split in half and take morning and night. I got to that situation by tapering down from 75 ir split daily. So gp said move to xr so it’s once daily it will make no difference to you. 6 weeks later I’m in a black place wondering what the fuck is going on. So I bashed this into my friendly ai bot. At such a low dose I’m pretty sure this is causing me to feel really not great. Yes it’s the same total dose but maybe my brain reacts better to those peaks? I’ve been on this for over 20 years.

Does anyone have experience of this? I’m so cross about it. I feel how I did when I tapered too low and to go back to a stable dose - which is 18.75 twice daily.

Im on i think week 5 or 6 of cross tapering to effexor, currently reading 112mg effexor and will be ending the 20mg prozac this week. I have some serious emotional blunting (which is why I wanted to stop prozac) and im wondering when I'll feel again.

I started venlafaxine at 37.5 for health anxiety about 5 years ago. I went up to 75 mg about two years ago. Then finally up to 150 April 2026. I felt great on the 75… my body felt normal and unaffected. I went up to the 150 after a bout of winter blues. Since April I have put on over 25 pounds of weight, I believe to be fat and water retention. I also started having mood swings this summer, and went through a scary situation with my hormones, where my pituitary gland wasn’t producing enough to support my systems. I had very dark thoughts and felt so overwhelmed, angry, sad, and had SI.

My psych put me on lithium, and now I’ve been on that plus 150mg of Effexor, and my gut is telling me to go off the lithium and go back down to 75 mg of Effexor to see how my body feels.

The pituitary stuff is balancing back out. It was just a weird 8 week flare up… not sure what caused it. I’m suspicious.

Anyways, just looking for some insight. Did anyone else notice weight gain or water retention as therapeutic dose? I have no been able to lose even a single pound. I’m frustrated. I also hate that I’m now on lithium to treat what could be just side effects of being on too high a dose of Effexor. Ugh. I feel like my medications are a burden and a prison sentence.

Hi i am on Effexor and 3 weeks Completed But no Improvement Noticed. I have Social anxiety.

Can Medicine is Good for Social anxiety treatment or CBT Therapy? If I go to Psychiatrist he/she is telling medicine is the treatment and if i go to Psychologist he/she told me Therapy is the treatment stop the medicine. i Don't know who is right.

I need your opinion plz comment.

Anyone else here been on venlafaxine for a long time now? I’m on 450mg every day and have been on it for a decade now. And yes, I do drip buckets of sweat if the temp raises above 71° F in the house, and that’s just when I’m relaxing and not moving around.

Effexor saved my life. 112.5 is my dose, for 4 years. However every time I go up, I either feel like a zombie (literally NO fear at all which was jarring) and have negative libido..
my anxiety has been getting worse, too, and depression has been the main thing slowing me down.
Dr recommended 75 Effexor, 25 pristq for the next few weeks.
I want to hear from people who have done something or anything similar who can speak to this experience please. So nervous to get off this drug

Hello!

I have what I would describe as PPPD and/or vestibular migraines, or just general nerve issues, still cannot figure it out. Anyways I started venflaxine about a week ago and the past couple days, my legs/feet have felt very hot or tingly(it varies), as well as increased heat sensitivity in my arms despite them not feeling especially hot to the touch.

Could this be the drug? The legs are very off putting at this point, but could totally put up with it if necessary. Just want to see if maybe its just my condition getting worse.

Is anyone here taking 300 mg of Effexor (venlafaxine)? How is it working for your OCD? How long did it take before you started noticing an improvement?

First of all, I am not if I am blacklisted as I don't get any replies so any feedback is welcome.

I have just completed two weeks of venlafaxine at 35 mg. I have also taken 15 mg Mirtazapine for a few months.

The first two weeks I was crippled with anxiety. Now I am still crippled, but by a lot self hate and self anger. I'll have a review in 10 days.

Is the anger mounting a normal sign that it is working? Can anybody relate? Thanks.

I am currently on 75mg and have been for about 10 months.
Immediately after being on this I noticed an immediate amount of motivation to do things like study, go to the gym etc.

I am really happy with the amount of motivation and discipline I have but I am just wondering if anyone else has also noticed a scary amount of discipline like to the point where you almost can’t recognise yourself.

For example, previously I would have a hard time sticking to routines. However for the past 6 months, I have been so consistent with going to the gym, eating good etc

Been on 75mg for 2 months following a taper from Sertraline for severe PTSD. I ran out last week so requested an urgent script from the GP and asked them to tell me when it was ready to collect.

Nobody contacted me. I‘ve been begging them every which way for an update since last week, but being a typical British GP surgery, they don’t answer emails and the phone lines are constantly jammed. I’ve been sat in withdrawal for 5 full days. It was manageable at first, just severe vertigo but then I suffered a bereavement during my withdrawal and obviously my mental health absolutely tanked.

I‘ve got a hold of my meds now thankfully, but I’m SO angry. What’s more, when they finally answered because I sent a hail mary crisis email to literally everyone at the surgery, they were like oh whoopsies you contacted the wrong email address silly, we can’t help you! WHAT? I am in psychological crisis and you want to lecture me about email addresses when my script has been SAT NEXT TO YOU since the day I requested it?!

I need some validation that this is as fucked up as I think it is. Yes I ran out of my medication and didn’t realise til the day of because I am mentally unwell and I forget shit. The GP deemed it urgent enough to process it within hours and the fucking bureaucratic bullies on the front desk couldn‘t be arsed to let me know. Apparently email etiquette is more important.

I have been on Effexor for years now for my anxiety and OCD. A couple months ago I went several days without my medicine due to insurance reasons, though I was back on it within 5 days. As I had been taking 225 mg of Venlafaxine, I had some crazy withdrawals (wouldn’t recommend), one of which was this crazy burning / tingling / pins n needles feeling in my hand and arms. I had never gotten this side effect before. I believe that when I went back on my dosage, it helped the feeling, though I cannot recall if it had ended it completely or stopped it from happening all the time. I believe the sensation is called paresthesia and is a known side effect of Effexor.
A few months after getting back on my meds I had gotten my dosage lowered from 225 mg to like 176 mg because I felt like the higher dosage was numbing me to happy emotions. I got some side effects from this, mainly the paresthesia, though I felt as if those had gotten better as my body adjusted to the new dosage and I even told my psychiatrist that at the check up. I get them some times still and I believe they could be a bit psychosomatic due to instances of high stress aka constant money issues. I will wake up in the middle of the night with such intense stinging sensations that I cannot stay asleep that will persist for almost an hour at a time. Due to financial reasons, I don’t want to make an appointment with my psychiatrist to speak about my side effects (especially since I do think stress might be a factor) until our next appointment in about three months.
Is there anything I can do to stop or help the paresthesia?

I'm on 75mg. I was out of pills for two days, didn't take it yesterday or the day before. I got some now, but I'm having the absolute worst withdrawal of my life, I haven't been able to sleep properly and I'm an anxious wreck (+nausea)

Is there a point in taking it right now, in the middle of the night? Is there a chance it will help the insomnia or do I just power through and take it in the morning? 🫠