Venlafaxine

[CatPower]

Hello

My GP has prescribed Venlafaxine (Venlaneo XL 75mg) for depression. I was on Citalopram (60mg) before, but found that it stopped helping to ease my depression and I was feeling worse on it than I was at first. My GP eased me off Citalopram slowly, cutting down by 10mg every week, and I've been without AD's for about two and a half weeks now. My depression is here with a vengeance, it's hard to get out of bed some mornings never mind try to stay on top of family life etc etc, so I really hope the Venlafaxine works but I'm pretty clueless about it. Does anyone else have any experience of it, its side effects, mood swings etc?

Thanks x

For me venlafaxine worked wonders. You have to work your way up to a therapeutic dose quite slowly in order to minimise side effects which can be unpleasant. I took it after trying several other antidepressants and at the time it was the only one which lifted my depression. If I needed to I'd take it again.

I'd agree with Fedup. Am on 150mg venlafaxine xl having tried citalopram and sertaline. Also, apart from a little dry mouth I have no other side effects at all, so am very pleased to date.
I did do a straight swap though from citalopram to venlafaxine with no taper and had no adverse problems. Not sure why your doc would need you to taper off fully from an ssri to an snri - am guessing this is why your depression is now so bad. Anyway, my GP didn't do this.

am on it now. have been on it in the past. my gp reckons it's been the best for me (i've had 4 other ads). when i was on it before i had done a straight switch from sertraline to venlafaxine so as with above poster not sure why your gp would want to taper off fully (and leave you 2 weeks drug-free for nice period of withdrawal ). i suffered more at the lower doses with side effects (loss of appetite, nausea, dry mouth, mood swings (especially at dose increases), and tiredness. reckon it's worth a go.

im on 150mg, ive been on it since january. id say its given me my life back.
still not perfect but im sleeping better (was worse at first) but once i got up to 150mg it has really helped with the panic attacks and depression with much fewer side effects than citalopram.

Venlaxafine has worked wonders for me too, I've been on it about a year now. The long term side effects aren't bad at all, infinitely better than feeling how I was before.

The start up side effects (in the first 2 or 3 weeks) I found really quite harsh, very hard work. But, they did start to reduce really quite quickly.

the only noticeable side effects ive found are increased sex drive!! lol, but its a bit harder to orgasm (not impossible though)
for the first couple of weeks i felt like i was spending a lot of time sitting staring at the wall and sleeping, but it was still a million times better than the absolute despair and horrendous misery i was feeling before i started taking it

Can't say anything about venlafaxine but the reason why you feel this bad is that your GP got you off citalopram really really quicky! 10mg a week is massive. Not saying it wasn't necessary or best for you, but don't judge how depressed you are by how you are feeling right now as your serotonin levels are all over the place.

It's the only thing that has ever helped me - I have been on it for around 5 years now and am happy to stay stable on 75mg for as long as it takes. I never ever ever want to feel what I felt before I started it. I was tried on several first and theydidn't work at all. If you've been given it after having tried others then hopefully it will be the one.

Thanks so much for all your responses, it's so good to know that venlafaxine has such a good reputation. I'm only on day two so I'm still feeling pretty low (barely get above feeling neutral these days), not sure when it's meant to kick in enough that I notice. Fingers crossed it won't be too long, though.

i started noticing an improvement after about 5 days, but you dont get full effect for a few weeks obv

I had to work up to a therapeutic dose, too. I was on 450mg for a while, but have been steady at 300mg for several years. I take Mirtazapine as well and am just about to try reducing that.

Venlafaxine was the 5th antidepressant I tried, and the best of them for me. Gave me a sore stomach and jitters for the first couple of weeks, but by the time the side-effects reduced I was noticing a mood improvement.

It doesn't tend to make you fat - the leaflet says it can, so it might, but nobody I know has gained weight with it. (Mirtazapine does, but that's not why I'm trying to reduce it! Oh, no! I care about my mental health more than such shallow matters! Honest! )