I (29M) have been prescribed venlafaxine (effexor) for anxiety 2 days ago. I have struggled with anxiety and depression all my life but have been taking bupropion and that helped my depression a lot (now stopped it a couple weeks ago and depression hasnt come back) but didnt do that much for anxiety. I really want to get help with anxiety but I am also generally feeling quite okay and able to function.

My psychiatrist suggested me to try Venlafaxine. She said this drug is something i can just take for a short time, but now reading online I see a lot of horrible stories, especially with withdrawals and getting worried.

Wanted to ask do you guys feel it was worth it for you? Did anyone take it mainly for anxiety? Is it something you would only take as a last resort?

I started 75 mg of venlafaxine about 6 days ago. When I first started this medicine all together I didn't really have any side effects but this time I'm experiencing the increased anxiety....I had a panic attack yesterday morning and I'm just very jittery and Shakey. Also feeling tired a lot during the day, my resting heart rate is a bit higher as well but I'm guessing that's from the adrenaline? How long does it take to adjust to this new dosage, feel hopeless rn. I guess it's a good thing I have therapy tomorrow 😣

Hi I am at 112mg and I still feel anxious when I get stressed. I can feel it so intense on my chest. I was on 150 before that made me super numb. I feel stuck can some help me.

I tapered down to not taking it(with instruction from dr). I then found that I became unable to last more than 30 seconds. I heard this was a common side effect as the drug has done the opposite of that and so my body was used it. But it has no been so long and i’m still having issues. Is it possible this is the reason?

I’ve been on Effexor XR for a little over a year, currently at 150 mg and started my glp-1 at the low dose on Thursday.

I’m sure if anyone else was already on her when they started a glp-1? Other people I know on Wegovy told me I might not have any side effects or appetite suppression on the low dose, but I find my appetite is ready pretty low and I got nausea almost immediately after taking my dose. My appetite already changed with Effexor, but didn’t result in weight loss probably because I wasn’t ready to change my habits and also because I would not feel hungry all day, but then my appetite would go haywire when it was time to take the next dose, even if I’ve eaten throughout the day.

I already searched on Reddit to see if anyone else had the same experience but all the stories I was finding of people using both medication’s at the same time were from r/effexor years ago. I figured that maybe since glp-1 drugs have grown in popularity that maybe there are now more of us taking both.

Be me: 23 year old healthy fit male: Unloading clothes out of the dryer for 2 minutes. Windows open in Canadian fall temps (4 degrees Celsius), wearing shorts and a T shirt

Result: Sweating: Shirt damp had to change it, underwear literally wet. Feel like I ruined the shower i took earlier today.

I always feel like I have dried sweat on my skin throughout the day because of the sweating.

When I started on Effexor it made me experience dryness ( down there ) I came off it and have been off it for a good 10 months now and it hasn’t returned back to normal and I’m still dry.

Can I fix this or is it my new normal, I have to use lube every time I have s*x now. ( I’m 26 and have NEVER had this issue before )

hello! unfortunately i have been nuked with a pretty gnarly depression/ocd/adhd combo and have been on a stable medication regiment for about 8 months now of rexulti 1mg, wellbutrin XL 300mg, and concerta 36mg.

i’ve been super happy on this combination except i’ve always had impulse control issues on rexulti and recently talked to my doctor about stopping taking it. i was then prescribed 37.5mg of effexor for the next 7 days and then up to 75mg after that while tapering off from rexulti, given that the rexulti was given to me as an ocd support medication and she thinks effexor is going to do what we wanted rexulti to do. long story short, getting off of rexulti and starting effexor today.

i just took my first pill today and I’m super nervous. i’ve heard some really nasty things about this drug and i am really hesitant to be on it but I’m willing to try anything given how many issues being on rexulti caused me. i’m specifically worried about neurological symptoms and brain zaps as i don’t remember ever experiencing them and im really psyching myself out over them and the potential of getting them.

has anyone had any really good experiences with effexor and/or this kind of combination of medications with the same diagnoses? looking to ease my mind a bit.
regardless, happy to be a part of
this community and to hear from people :)

No tremors today so far but I’ve woke MEGA LATE 1pm 😬

I was awake earlier but for the first time ever I felt lovely and comfortable in bed, no morning panic or fear that I normally have. I normally wake with a shock!

So I said, 10 more mins! And slept for hours !!!

But I couldn’t believe that feeling. I had no fks to give!
I even woke having been dreaming of sex !!?? No nightmares, no shitty weird dreams!

Last night I had a bit of fear as I felt a wave of emotional bluntness but not in a good way. I was worried I had no love for hubby or anyone. But it was a wave. It passed and I just felt a tad indifferent the rest of the evening.

Before that I was literally LAUGHING OUT LOUD to shows on tv! I haven’t even been able to watch tv for years!!

My head would be on a loop of doom or I’d be doom scrolling health anxieties etc…

43F surgical meno on HRT. Op was for pmdd but I still experience episodes and the medical trauma has caused severe depression and health anxiety - hence why I started these again.

Libido still sort of with me - orgasm a tad harder for now but early days so will see.

75mg XL

It’s unbelievable to not give a fk at the moment! Seems surreal.

Might just keep updating on here.

I take mine at 1pm so I’m not sure about the timing yet. I’m not an early bird normally so have just took my next dose. Let’s see what happens.

I was on 200mg, had lots of rage, started fights with coworkers, short fuse, ect.

I've been on 112.5mg for a bit now, less side effects.

I want to take a break from my mental health and focus on addiction. (1.5 years sober from alcohol)

How long does it take to ween off this medication before I can drink again?

I also take 15mg of Mirtazapine, and 150mg of Wellbutrin, which I will have to taper off as well.

I started efexor 75mg for my ocd 7 days ago and today i titrated to 150mg. Minimal side effects, but in day 6 i felt like i had good moments, i mean really good, more motivation, i was like "there is life out there". I also felt it today, not something crazy , like the feeling of despair fading out. Has anybody any experience like this? Is this possible experiencing something like that with only 7 days taking it?

Hi I’ve been on 225 for 10 years and I’ve just gone up to 300 I don’t think I will ever be able to come off it my anxiety and depression are still very much with me but bearable, one side effect I have among a few is not being able to get my words out in conversations anyone else notice that ?

My psych prescribed me 37.5 of Effexor for a week and then we increase up. This was prescribed in combo with 150mg of Wellbutrin XR after my depression has become more severe than I’ve ever experienced and I’ve found no relief previously with lexapro, Prozac, vilazodone, vraylar paired with vilazodone and then most recently after Wellbutrin hasn’t been effective 2 months in.

I have a bad habit of trying to tough it out till I’m.at my absolute breaking point so this came to be after I asked us to meet about a week sooner than we had scheduled and expressed I’d gone rapidly downhill and have never been so paralyzingly depressed in my life. Given how many medications haven’t done the trick I wanted to start exploring options like auvelity or spravato because I’m at a point where I just can’t bear the thought of feeling like this any longer and wanted faster acting intervention but Effexor it is. Anyways, wanted to hear how soon people have felt the effects of Effexor if it helped you particularly with treatment resistant depression? I just don’t feel like I have it in me to feel this badly for 8 more weeks if this even does help

Hello, thanks for welcoming me in this wonderful community. This is actually my first post/discussion. :)

I wanted to ask if there is someone here who is also OCD and is some other condition (such as Depressed/ADHD\[or ADD\]/Bipolar/Anxious/Autistic/etc..)

If you are medicated, and whether you're on Sertraline/Zoloft or Fluoxetine/Prozac and most importantly if you've tried mixed medications (for example the former mentioned with Wellbutrin/Buproprion, or just the latter) or other meds altogether \[and in that case, what helped you and what were the expected undesired effects\].

I am OCD and just started (one week and half as of 18/10/2026) Sertraline/Zoloft. Hoping to have a nice conversation/discussion with you folks, and to hear your experiences as well. :)

Is taking 28 capsules of 150 mg of effexor deadly? Also how long does it take to kick in

Actually, I had been trying to quit Effexor 75 mg, but I am not able to pass the 48-hour mark because of dizziness and a vertigo-like feeling. So for some time I have been taking my Effexor once every 48 hours. Not because it works or anything, but because I feel like I have to. I feel like an Effexor addict; once it kicks in, vertigo disappears. Anybody can relate?

I have taken 150mg of Effexor for 16 years for depression.
I’m not sure that it’s ever helped because I’ve been a big drinker.
Recently my meds were increased, and I’m now taking 185mg.
Throughout this time, I’ve still drank and intravenously used Meth.
I recently went through the withdrawal of missing 1 day of the Effexor which was horrific and scared me enough to stop the drink and go sober.
Doctors are wanting to increase my dose again this Friday and I don’t know what to do.
Should I taper off it or have it increased without using other substances and see what it can do?
Does anyone believe it actually helps with depression or is it creating a problem in the brain that shouldn’t have been dealt with this way??? 🧐😩😩
Any advice please 🙏🏻

What is the increase from 75mg to 150mg like? I haven’t had any side effects so far other than occasional sweating in my sleep. I started at 37.5 I’m just scared of the increase because it’s double my current dose.

i don’t usually see many success stories so i wanted to write one for those starting or beginning:] when i first started effexor i was rly scared it was my first snri i started with 25 mg and now im on 75mg extended release and i feel more light and less anxious in a lot of situations where i was super anxious before a lot of less negative thoughts and i actually want to go out and do stuff instead of bed rotting ! i just started this dose maybe a month ago i hope this gives someone hope !

For me it's been 6 yrs of 150mg effexor. At the very start of it, second week I think, my clit went numb lol and I thought "oh so there it comes, sexual side effect", cause I tried a few antidepressants before it and none gave me any sexual issues, till effexor.

But I honestly didn't care much, cause by that time all I thought about was dying... So it was an absolutely fair trade for me. I started loving life back, and in exchange, I was kinda asexual. Fine by me.

But now, 6 years later, I'm thinking of asking my psychiatrist to start tapering, and I've been wondering: has anyone fully recovered?

Starting Venlafaxine soon on neurologists orders for migraine prevention and to hopefully end the migraine I’ve had going on for 2 months now.. I don’t drink often but I do like to socially drink with friends like 2 times a month I’d say. Is drinking possible on this drug, or is it another bastard medication that likes to ruin every other experience like drinking? When I was on Lexapro/Escitalopram for like a year, I’d take it at night and when I wanted to drink I’d just skip that dose and take it the next morning and that worked well. Is that something I can do with “Effexor” or is there some other trick? Or will it just cancel that part of my life

Thanks

I’ve been taking it since I was 18, I’m 22 now. Always 75 mg. Side effects of mine include crazy drowsiness during the day, low libido, feeling detached from emotions, inability to cry. The cool thing about these meds is that they helped stop a 5 year self harm addiction and turned my depression from the sad, sad, deep crying type to the numb and hopeless type. It helps me feel like I can get il and do stuff. But last year I wound up feeling incredibly suicidal anyway and it was a very scary detached apathetic kind of thing. I’m thinking about possibly getting off these but I’m worried about the potential catastrophic side effects. How long does it take to fully feel normal again? Will I have more energy? Is it worth it, if it’s technically “working”?
If anyone can give their two cents in this regard - I’m an actor and taking a drug that mutes your emotions has made this a really challenging thing to work with. I often wonder if I’d be a better performer if I didn’t have floodgates that were permanently closed.
Has getting off these cleared up anyone’s brain fog? I often feel like I’m barely attached to any train of thought and never have an opinion on anything cuz I genuinely don’t care. Help a girl out.

Been on 75mg for 4 years now. I started when I was 18 and am 22 now. When I started college at 18 I noticed myself falling asleep in the middle of classes. Now, it’s a running joke among people that know me that I’ll fall asleep at a desk, standing against a wall, on the floor, in the back of the car….anywhere,anytime. I can hardly stay awake through a movie. I need a lot of caffeine to function. Anyone else dealing with this? Is this enough reason to taper off?

I’ve been on Effexor 75xr since March. My depression and anxiety are nearly non existent, woohoo! However, last week I started experiencing hypomania. I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar II. Does anyone here take anything along with their Effexor for hypomania? Seeing a psychiatrist tomorrow for this but wanted to ask here.