I thought this poll might be useful for folk.

This was the results from the old site.

Question: Effexor: how long before it started to take effect :: Total Votes:73
Votes Statistics
1 month 38  [52.05%]
2 months 10  [13.70%]
3 months 5  [6.85%]
4 months 1  [1.37%]
5 months  1  [1.37%]
6 monts 2  [2.74%]
Longer  0  [0.00%]
wasn't suitable/didn't work 16  [21.92%]

As you can see it should work in 1 to 3 months.  Though some find it takes longer.  And approximately 1 in 5 people will find it is not suitable for them.

Remember though this is not a scientific study, so the results are only based on personal experiences of members who joined DF.

Take care and I wish you the best if taking Effexor.
Eileen

Since I was the first to vote, yes it did seem to take ages for me to benefit.  Although I will say that it did lift my mood in the first few months.

For me, it took a long while to work. I was initially put n 75mg/day

I found this made me feel a bit lighter after the first week, as if the fog was beginning to clear, but i after that i didnt feel any better. My doseage was increased to 150 then to 225 and it is only now, after being on 225mg that i feel it is working and my mood is improving  :cool:

good news quiety-crying, I hope it continues.

Eileen

For me, the Effexor began to work almost immediately.  Within 72 hours I noticed a positive difference in the way I felt.  It is the only A/D I've ever taken that hasn't produced any side effects annoying enough to stop taking it.  :D

:D good for you Annabelle, I hope it continues.  

Eileen

im currently on my 6th day of taking it... i dunno if it's cuz of the med, or just incidental, but im currently in a good mood... :)

they're putting me on it again.

when I was put on 37.5 awhile ago, the fog I had began to clear a little.. it was too low of a dose to necessarily lift my mood, but I noticed that I generally felt better.. not suicidal at least.  I was generally able to think a little more.. and that was, from what I remember, within the first 3 days of taking it.. less than 72 hours, actually.. then I stopped and was put on lexapro.. I don't know why they did that, but they did.

now they stopped the lexapro, put me on wellbutrin, and it made me worse, so now they put me on 150 of effexor.. my first time taking it will be tonight.. um.. so yeah.. I hope it works out.. I heard very good results from this medicine, and even on the low dose of 37.5 mg, I was able to feel something very quickly..

wish me luck.

I do wish you luck Matt.  I hope it goes ok with you.    

150 mg seems a very high dose to start off with but I guess the dr knows what they are doing.  

Eileen

For me, 150mg/day took the typical 4 weeks to kick in full effect. I spoke with my Pdoc and wanted to see if 225 would be even better but it seems to have made no difference other than costing me double what I was paying for 150.

John

Took a good 2 months for me.

It's like I felt going from 5th gear to a cool cruising 2nd gear. I kept on telling my doc he was giving me sugar pills but he told me to be patient  :oops:

Guess what? He was right  :whistling:

hey sometimes placebos work better than the right stuff.  :p  :mad1:

I have been on and off Effexor for three years and it seems to hit the spot almost straight away. Coming off is worse. I got down to 37.5mg and still couldn't do a day without it. The doc thought it had become too much of a comfort blanket and I cut them in half and then quarters.
Three weeks without anything and I feel ok - side effects gone and still able to go to work and be "normal"

Effexor ROCKS!!!!!

I was at the end of my drug rope when I was prescribed this. It basically gave me back my life.

The only downfall is trying to quit.  I know this will be hard for me because if I do not take it at the SAME time every day....I KNOW!!!!!

Anyway, I hope it has worked as well for everyone else as it has for me.

Caya
:)

Hi,
If anyone's reading this who knows me - I just took my first dose this morning.  I took the leap, finally.
Miss talking to everyone here.  Wish me luck.
libra

I do wish you all the best.  Let us know if you have any questions.

I do: is effexor addictive?  if not, why are there so many discontinuation symptoms?

Effexor is not addictive, nor is any anti-depressant.  Yes there can be discontinuation effects but thats because our brains have gotten used to the additional seratonin & norepinephrine that are going about.  Plus the shorter the half life of the AD (like Effexor) it means that our brains are particularly sensitive to going off meds.  Not everyone will get discontinuation side effects, others will get minor effects, some unfortunately may get them in a bad way.  It does not mean that the drug is addictive like tobacco, alcohol, cocaine or heroin etc are (maybe I should add caffeine here as well).

Thanks Eileen!

Well I'm into my second week now, and I feel more calm.  My bf said I seem way more level now.  I still have some anxiety, that comes and goes instead of just staying all the time.  Hopefully that improves.  I'm having less fear of being around people now, and I'm actually thinking of how I can be nicer to people, when before I was just irritated all the time and didn't care about being nice.  
I can sit and read a book now too.  I've actually started reading again, and I'd been disappointed in myself for never being able to concentrate long enough to even read a page of a novel.  This affected me in all kinds of ways, for example, you can just forget learning anything new if you can't even sit and read on it!  I am not saying this is all night and day type changes, but little changes that I notice are happening.  What I'm saying is it's really lifted the anxiety... and I hope that it only gets better.
:)

I was on effexor for about 8 months... I topped out at 375 mgs a day...   It didn't have any positive effect for me.  :verysad3: Now I'm being weened off effexor... down to about 75 mgs today...   :verysad3: I'm taking 20 mgs of Celexa and increasing up to 40 mgs.  Before the effexor I was on a daily dose of 100 mgs prozac for just over two years. And before that it was paxil. The Meds seem to be effective at first, but symptoms always come back worse then before. With the effexor I never got better just slowly worse and worse. Depression, anxiety, OCD, panic attacks... I've got it all. On Effexor, I mostly had problems with manic depression... Concentration is a real problem... I tend to ramble a lot and go off topic...  :blah:

Legend if you suffer from manic depression you should maybe not have been on Effexor unless you also had a mood stabiliser med as well.  

Effexor is known to cause a manic episodes.

Hope that you didn't suffer that way.

I'm sorry that you are having problems with the meds you take.  Have you tried talking therapies or only meds?

Initally I was taking Celexa for about 9mos. or so but along with some blood pressure medication I was very tired all the time and didn't seem to be helping the depression all that much. I was put on Effexor 75mg about 8mos. ago and did notice some improvement in my mood after 1-2 months. At present my Dr. put me on 150mg daily, 75am/75pm and I am going to have to wait and see if things improve some more. I will post when there is noticeable change. Thx from a newbie to site, Brant

psy
be careful with your blood pressure, effexor can cause high blood pressure in people especially those with a history of it.

Eileen

Hi, . I've suffered from depression and anxiety for almost 7 years. I finnally went to see my doctor about a month ago.been on effexor for a month now, it's my first time on meds. I started at 37.5 and after a week of hell I had 3 of the best days I've had since it all began. then my doc doubled my dose and I felt low again but no panic attacks like when I first started. I'm now at 112mg and feeling crappy. My doc says he thinks I'll stop at 150mg which I'll start in a couple days. I don't know If I want to increase the dose, I guess I'm worried that it will mean increased discomfort! Has anyone here had a couple of unbelievable days of high flying , and then plummeted back down to the hard ground? It's so frustrating to be taunted like that. Has this happened to anyone else? Should I just be more patient?    
One more thing, does it pi** anybody else off when after telling a good friend about your condition they show little reaction, almost with indifference.  Wait a second, everything pi**es me off.....especially the news!  :ranting:

thanks

gusser
its not that unusual to get a feeling of euphoria when starting effexor, its generally temporary, but once you are at your max dose you should find that it helps you within a month to 6 weeks.   It can take quite a few months to be over the depression altogether so do be patient.  By the way 150mg might not be the max dose, 225mg is usually the max, but everyone is different.  150 mg might be fine for you.

Your friend might not know how to react to your news, at least they haven't told you to just pull yourself together.   Have you thought that his/her reaction might actually mean that s/he is taking it matter of factly and is not scared.  Have you asked her why she reacted that way?  Depending on the way you look at it, her reaction might be a good or bad thing.

Oh and being irritated is a side effect of being on effexor, it goes away soon.

Welcome to DF.
Eileen

I originally had voted one month--I'd love to change my vote to two months now that I'm older and wiser.  I was flying high on that wondrous placebo effect (euphoria isn't too strong a word!) at 75mg when I crashed hard, hard, HARD!  I'm now at 187.5 and counting.  Where can I get more of those placebos, anyway?
Firelizardee makes an excellent point about the time it takes AFTER you reach your max dose.  I've been on effexor for nine weeks, but at 150mg or more for only four weeks.  The last thing I want to hear is 'Give it more time' but that really is all I can do.

Dan

Well I've hit 150 and so far so good, there hasn't been that initial slump that occured when I previously upped the dosage. Two minor flashes of anxiety, interestingly at around the same time both nights. I'm certainly not in any euphoric state, but better is certainly better!  About the friend, I guess I just wanted a " hope you feel better". I hope it doesn't sound like I'm going around looking for sympathy, I"m not, I guess I just expected some reaction from my best friend of at least 15 yrs .He's still my best friend and I understand that everyone reacts differently.
 Yeah you're right about that whole "give it more time" shpeel that the docs use.  It's doctor jargon for "suck it up buttercup"  
Dan, how are you doing now, if you don't mind me asking? by two months do you mean a gradual process, or a good day, bad day process with the bad days becoming less frequent? I ask that cause I wouldn't want to add to the anxiety if I experience a bad day after a week of good ones.

Hey gusser,

I was lucky enough to have 2-3 weeks that were mostly symptom free.  Unfortunately my pdoc and I held the dosage at 112.5mg for that time, and when I crashed I felt as bad as my initial breakdown.  We really thought I was on the right track, even on the bad days I was coming around by the afternoon (which indicates biochemical depression rather than situational).  I've since ramped up to 225mg, but wish I had done it a month ago--maybe I'd be feeling better today.  Now I'm in hell, I broke down and raided my xanax bottle two days in a row.  Sobbing like a baby in the middle of the afternoon will do that to a 'tough guy'.  The pdoc wants me to give it another couple weeks; after that I'm gonna try Lexapro or Zoloft.
Its beginning to appear that depression recovery takes awhile, with only gradual improvement from one week to the next (we typically don't wake up out of the blue one morning feeling cured, except for that early placebo/euphoria that eileen mentioned.)  That's really disappointing for me--but as long as I'm sure I'm improving and not deteriorating (and I'm not at all sure of that yet) then I can take it.

I believe I noticed a difference within a month after my withdrawals from the Remeron were gone.

Well, count me as an effexor casualty.....it never really did the trick for me.  I've switched meds and have found some relief, and the great news is I've been effexor free for a week with no discontinuation problems.
I won't knock effexor -- I know it's a life saver for so many.  But I would caution anyone using effexor as their first AD.  The problem is that it's no more likely to be the 'right' med for you than any other....and there are a half-dozen different doses to try.
That means it could take up to six months of hell before you realize it's never gonna work.  So you might wanna try a med with only, say, two doses, and if it doesn't work you'll move onto med #2 a lot sooner.  I hate the med-go round!!!!

well, I've put a month, but it fluctuates, have been taking it since the end of Nov last year. I started on 75 mg day and moved to 150 when I was going through an upheaval.

Right now, and for a few months, I haven't been able to manage without taking Zopiclone (sleeping med) to 'knock me out' at nights when things are really tough.

Though the anxiety can still be sky high especially in crowded places (where it can appear as agression), I often think that things would be much worse if I wasn't taking it.....

(especially since I live in London, U.K. and right now....)

I have been on Effexor for 4 years and it has helped the anxiety but I don't feel it has done much for the depression; the doctor started me on 150mg and that is what I stayed on....I found that before starting effexor, if something terrible would happen I would get very bad anxiety attacks but after starting on them the anxiety attacks seized but nevertheless the depression is still pretty much there and I would spend all day in bed if possible so I went to the doctor about 1 month ago and he put on another antidepressant which I can't recall the name of right now, but they give me horrible headaches which normally I am not that prone to and they affect my sinuses as well so I have tried to go without anything for 4 days and on the 5th day I started taking them again, that was yesterday but I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday so I will discuss that with him and he will have to prescribe something else.

thats a shame foreveralone cos most of the side effects, I found, went after a week or so. But it all depends on how bad you found the side effects, I suppose, everyone is different.

It took about 6 months and BNF maximum dose for me to notice an effect, but it was only when i added lithium that it kicked in and i noticed the benefit.

sofaraway
that is sometimes the case with some people, that they need a combination of meds for it to be of much benefit.

Whilst I noticed some difference, meds are only marginally helpful for me.

Eileen

Efexor has been known to be effective for people where other types of ADs havent' worked. Such as if you've tried a tricyclic and an SSRI and a MAOI and...

Eileen

I've been on Effexor for about 7 or 8 months and for the most part it worked until recently. I'm only on 75 mg (I know - It's hardly anything) but just lately I've felt really crappy. I told my physch I wanted to change meds, but he thinks I should stay on it

it could be .cellardoor that you could do with a doseage increase. 225mg to 300mg a day is considered the therapeutic dose and certainly above 200mg Effexor works on noradrenaline as well as seratonin.

Hope whatever you decide that it goes ok with you.

Eileen

.cellardoor,

A very warm to you!

I'm sorry to hear you're not feeling very well
You don't necessarily have to change meds. You say you did benefit from it until recently. This means Efexor does work for you but as Eileen suggested, may be your doc should increase the dosage.
I was on 75 and 150 before and I also thought that I'd better change meds because I didn't feel good. Since I'm on 225mg I feel a bit better so... It worked for me. Perhaps you could address your doc about an increase of the med?

I hope all goes well for you! Keep us posted!

Luv,
Autumn

I've been struggling with depression for about 6 years and within the last year began feeling anxious about everything i do. I finally started effexor yesterday and felt relief even before i took the first pill. This is my first time on meds so i think i was just relieved to know i made a step in the right direction. BUT now that i've started the pills the nausea is overwhelming. My Dr. gave me ativan to calm me down until the effexor has time take effect but i'm still a bit anxious. I'm wondering i guess how long the nausea lasts and if there is anything i can do to lessen these not so great side effects (the dizziness and broken sleep too)...I'm just hoping this works for me and don't want to go back to that desparate feeling of not seeing an end to the clouds.