Last 7 days i am on 150 mg. i think that i am more depressed and nervous than before.

is this normal??

Hey guys..
OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that really scarry to know that it could take 6 or 8 weeks till it works!!
people with depression/anxiety or panic have burden to cope one day with these awful feeling so what if they would have to wait thaaaaaaaaaaat much!

hope you guys will feel better quickly..

Ok. So its week 2 of upping my dose from 75mg for 5 yrs to 150mg.

I am pi**ed. for the last part of Week 1 i felt great! NOW its been 2 weeks and i feel worse :( Does this happen? How long do i have to wait for this bulls*** to pass.
good news is my anxiety is a bit better but still depressed and not sleeping

Hi all,

This is my first post on the forum.

I should preface it by saying that I have had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for the past year (which I am being managed for). About 6 months into it, my mood became very bad, perhaps as a result of the disease process itself, or just the stress of living with a chronic illness. Prior to CFS, I had absolutely no depression or anxiety issues. I had one brief (situational) bout with anxiety and depression 7 years ago, and took Zoloft for a year.

I am very sensitive to medications now due to the CFS.

About a month ago in addition to my depression I began to have non-stop anxiety. Waking up in the morning with hot flushes and the sensation of elephant on my chest. Became suicidal. I went to my psychiatrist (I had been seeing her for sleep issues), and she started me on Effexor and Klonopin. The Klonopin was to tide me over until the Effexor kicked in. Prior to that, I had been on a low-dose of Ativan daily, for low-grade anxiety.

I have been on the Klonopin for 3 weeks and I hate it-- it only marginally helps my anxiety and makes me zombie-like and depressed. Week 1 I took Effexor 37.5mg. Weeks 2 and 3 I have been on 75mg. I can't tell if the Effexor is doing much yet. It has not helped my anxiety AT ALL. Neither has the Klonopin. I'm not sure if it has done anything for depression because the Klonopin makes me sad. My main concern is anxiety more than the depression-- the physical symptoms of anxiety really drag me down physically and emotionally and make me feel more hopeless. Will Effexor eventually help with anxiety? Does it have to be at higher doses?

I am scared of increasing the dose too soon, since I am so sensitive to meds. Should I actually go down to 37.5mg? Would that do anything at all?

Thanks!

This post has been edited by Smurfette17: Apr 22 2009, 10:18 AM

smurfette,

Effexor can take up to 8 weeks for the full effect. follow your doctors orders on increases or decreases, around week 4 you should start to see some omprovement. but remember everybody react different to different meds. if you are concern call your doc and express your feelings with him...I personally would give it a bit longer

hope you feel better soon

Effexor was the first A/D I was put on. I was started on 75mg/day, and after 6 weeks felt no effects from it. I was then put on a dose of 150mg/day and 2 days after I was put on this dose, I began to feel anxious about everything (something I didn't have before being put on this dosage). I was on this dose for about 2 weeks before I was put back on 75mg, where the anxiety continued, and I wasn't feeling any benefits at all. I was then taken off Effexor, suffering from the obligatory brain zaps, and was placed on Lexapro. The anxiety continues today, but is much milder than it was when I was on Effexor!

Even though I had an unfortunate experience with Effexor, I'm happy to hear that there are many of you that have had positive experiences with it!

Josh.

It worked relatively quickly for me (a couple of weeks) but maybe I was benefiting from the placebo effect. Recently though it's lost its effect so I've upped the dose to 187.5. I've been on Effexor for about 4 months (having previously been on Citalopram for nearly 8 years).
Luckily I've had no noticeable side effects from Effexor.

I took my first venlafaxine 75mg this morning, I was so nervous and anxious about it. But it is actually OK. It's no where near as bad as I thought I would feel (so far anyway! I still have the other half of the day to go yet). Looking forward to feeling better.

afther nine days i builiging up, there were some better moments, but the real lift mood idont had
i was started 9 days agoo with 37 then 75 then 112 and abou4 days 150
but do i must feel better now?

Hi everyone! This is actually my first post on the Forum. When I saw the Poll, I felt I had to post here, as I am one of the extremely lucky people who gets excellent results within the first 4-5 days of taking it.

I've been on and off EffexorXR 3 times over the last decade, and while I experience all the "standard" dodgy side effects, the anxiety/agoraphobia/depression/whatever-it-happens-to-be, is ALWAYS relieved within days.

I have been on countless other meds over my 37 yrs, but EffexorXR is the only drug that works for me. And quite dramatically too!

I wonder how many others get such quick results?!?

after several hours of taking Effexor XR @75mg, I immediately felt better as if my severe depression was gone and I thought my life is back on track and that in no time i will fully recover. For the 1st time since i became extremely suicidal, I felt relief and normal again. Sad to say that the 'normalization' only lasted for a week before I plunged back into my depressive state. I continued to take it at 75mg for a month with no improvement and my doc increased my dosage to 150mg yesterday. Took it and still feel deeply in the pits. I really hope that it will work at this higher dosage as I really wish I can feel back the same way I felt during my 1st week with Effexor.