Has anyone here taken Effexor and what were the side effects?

My dad has been on Effexor for about 20 years now. They put him on it for anxiety attacks... he's been on it so long though, that when the VA tried to ween him off of it in order to start him on a new kind of medicine for anxiety, but he had a bad spell of severe withdraw and they had to put him back on it. It's not a bad drug, per say, because it has helped him over the years with his anxiety problems with minimal side effects (his biggest complaint has been dry mouth/eyes) but I think it's better for short-term use instead of the 20+ years he has been on it. If your doctor feels that it's the best medicine for your situation, then it can't hurt to try it and see how you feel after a few weeks (most anxiety meds take 2-4 weeks to fully get into the system.. I'm on Paxil and it took a good 3 weeks before I could tell a difference.) But if you don't feel like it's helping after that time, then I'd make sure to tell your doctor to see if other medications might better help.

I hope that helps some!

I am on Effexor XR, and have been for at least five months now, though I've changed dosages many times throughout the months and tried different combination therapies.

I become extremely agitated if I run out of Effexor XR, forget to take it, etc... I also have had way more frequent migraines since I've been on it. I have iron-defieciency anemia right now, but I'm not sure if this is a side effect of my medicine or not. I've experienced extremely low libido (sex drive) since being on Effexor XR.

I'm not sure if Effexor is going to end up working for me. I may not be a very good candidate - it's got a different effect on each patient. (but I have hope that I'm going to find the right meds for me!) If you are having side effects from Effexor, talk to your prescribing doctor about whether the pros weigh out the cons. Hang in there, and good luck.

(I'm assuming you are asking this question because you are being treated for depression - not abusing drugs.)

Keep in mind with Effexor or any medication you take, especially the SSRIs, your experience may be completely different then mine. What works for one person may not work for someone else.

I am currently on Effexor XR. I've made a lot of progress on it, but it's also caused me to gain weight. I've also found that in my personal experience, it helps more with depression then it does with anxiety, but like I said, the experience can vary from person to person.

You may want to consider doing a search on effexor and it's side effects and compare it to other SSRIs and their side effects to help get a better picture of can come with taking the medication.

I've been taking Effexor for almost a year now and it works very well for me. Dry mouth seems to be the only side effect I notice.

I have taken before and stopped a few times, as well as re-started a short time ago.(with no problems) I'm not sure if this is even addiciting, to answer other questions.) You can feel lightheaded as well as many other things. I was lucky, I had no side affects and it works very well. If I were you, I'd never take any medications without a readout from the pharmacy and asking the pharmacy to run a drug interation test, if you take more than one medication. Feel better.

I have been on it for about three months now, didn't have any side effects at first unlike some other antidepressants I have tried, but now, like Vincent said say good bye to your sex drive and its much harder to achieve orgasm when you do have sex. I find if I accidently miss a dose I get really bad headaches. However my depression is a lot better so not all bad.

I had taken in past for anxiety. No real side effects, but must be taken on schedule. Your body will become dependent. I got off it, but had to go to smaller dose and then off totally. Anxiety never came back, and nothing else happened. Kinda expensive if you don't have coverage.

I took it for a while, but all I experienced were side effects. I trembled constantly. I got very spacy. I totally lost my appetite. That was the only good thing, because I lost a lot of weight.

I'm still on it and I think it has really helped. It made me drowsy the first few days, so I just took it in the evening. It can make some people anxious or manic.

My dad started taking it for depression and after a few days, he killed himself... no joke. Some prescription depression medicine can result in more depression and thoughts of suicide as a side effect. Please tread carefully.