Did Venlafaxine change your life for the better?

[Crispsmakemehappy]

Venlafaxine prescription sitting a few days now and I’m unsure what to do. I’m AD free as week now but scared to try these incase they make me have suicidal thoughts like others have….

Tell me your positive stories please, I know they are meant to be horrendous to come off and needs to be done at a super slow pace.

TIA 😌💐

I’m not a psychiatrist but I was told that a therapeutic dose is from 150mg and there is not much benefit to a lower dose. It really is horses for courses unfortunately. I tried everything my GP could prescribe - it did nothing but make me grind my teeth and give me horrific dreams. Seroxat made me actively suicidal.

There are a number of atypical AD’s that are prescribed as second-line. Vortioxetine is a relatively new one you might want to enquire about.

Fluoxetine was amazing for me at first, but then the crazy came back so I've tried other ones, most recently Venlafaxine. I probably stayed on that the longest and was on 300mg at the end. The crazy came back again so the GP suggested trying something else so I had to gradually come off the Venlafaxibe. The last weekend was cold turkey due to the horrible woman I spoke to at the surgery who refused to let me speak to a GP and said I'd been taking the wrong dose so it was my own fault I had run out. When I mentioned this to the GP (who happened to be the senior partner) on Monday, she was very angry bless her.

I'm now back on Fluoxetine having apparently "had at least one from all the different families".

I suppose my point, there is one honestly!, is that even though we may all have the same diagnosis, brain chemistry or whatever means that what is good for me might be terrible for you. It's all so "trial and error" with MH. Just give it time as none seem to work overnight IME, and try to not panic about any side effects at first. They generally, as you know, wear off within 4 weeks ish, so unless things get really bad, try to work through it and see how things are once the beginning awfulness settles down.

Good luck and I hope you find something that works for you, whether that's Venlafaxine or another (try to avoid Mirtazapine though as in my experience, and those of anyone I know who has tried it, it causes MASSIVE weight gain. I refer to it as the lard tablet)

Embarrassed to admit I still haven’t taken the Venlafaxine due to fear 😞

My love for Venlafaxine has no bounds❤️❤️

Tried ‘em all. The this stuff came
along and was like a another world. Felt sparkly and happy. And anxiety gone.

75mg prescribed by psych. Life changing. I would like to be on a higher dose, but it messes my sleep up if l do

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow me too! <high five>

I feel sad that I wasted so many years before taking it. It’s been life-changing for me.

Tried ‘em all. The this stuff came
along and was like a another world. Felt sparkly and happy. And anxiety gone.
I'm glad it worked for you. I just wish there was a way to know before taking it! I couldn't feel happy at all on it, just numb or zombie like. It would be good to know what causes such different effects for different people.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow thank you. Seen your name in a few posts about them and glad they worked for u. I’m just so nervous about taking them as I focus too much on the negative reviews - story of my life. I need something. Im
just plodding along at life now and I’m struggling. Sat at my table earlier wondering if I disappeared, who would really miss me, I don’t like them thoughts

@MinervaTerrathorn

It would be good to know what causes such different effects for different people.

i think this too. It would be a game changer. What side effects did u have on them that they didn’t agree with you? I’m so scared they make me feel like fluxotine did

I felt nothing, I couldn't feel happy or sad, just flat. I couldn't cope with feeling like a zombie, it was worse than the ups and downs. Then there are the significant memory gaps, things friends and family tried to remind me that I have no memory of.

I tried several SSRIs but couldn't get on them because of the anxiety side effect.

@Deguster sorry I’m confused at ur posts(my muddled up head) which AD worked best for you?

@MinervaTerrathorn i felt exactly like that on fluxotine, my summer with my DC blurred to that horrid drug. What do u take now?

@Crispsmakemehappy I’ve been on Effexor (venlafaxine) for 15 years! It literally saved my life. I’ve had no issues with side effects at all and managed to stop Effexor while pregnant easily. Got depressed again while not on it!

I gave up on trying anything else at that point. That was almost 20 years ago. I couldn't risk losing more of my life to it all.

@MinervaTerrathorn if u don’t mind me asking, how did u cope with ur down days then?

I take one 250 mg slow release capsule a day
Not any obvious side effects ...

Well I already had been having to cope, with the added side effects from SSRIs on top. Then the venlafaxine nothingless being worse. No other option than to ride them out really. I was more having good days and bad days rather than being stuck in an endless black cloud like some people, so I knew the bad days were a temporary thing.

I'm on low dose 75mg and it took a good while to kick in, like 4/6 weeks but I preferred to wait than increase the dose due to sweating, fear, I started on 37.5 and moved up. Been great for me, I'm so much happier and anxiety and depression almost gone.

@Buteverythingsfine see I wouldn’t mind staying low and waiting that time if I knew eventually it would work in 4/6 weeks, I need something, I’ve barely got out of bed this week.

It believe I have ADHD, i think I need medication for it instead of AD

I'm not a psychiatrist/psychologist/doctor, but based on my experience, I'd say try them. If you're on a low dose then the withdrawal if you decide not to stay on them is not going to be as bad as for other posters, including me, who were on higher doses.

If you already feel like who would miss you, then can things really be worse? What works for me won't necessarily work for you and vice versa. You've had a fairly even mix of positive and negative stories here which shows that it is entirely variable and unfortunately nothing that anyone can predict. It may be a miracle drug for you, it may not, but as the Dr Pepper ads used to say "What's the worst that can happen?"

@Athenajm80 ur right. It can’t be any worse than I’m feeling right this second. I don’t want to be here at all. Tomorrow I take my first tablet

About to take my first Venlafaxine, am I doing the right thing? Hand hold needed

A hand here Crisps! I'm one of those who love Venlafaxine and I'm on a low dose. You are doing the right thing to try it - you could feel SO much better soon. Fingers crossed.

@ThatCheeseIsMine can I take it now? Them from tomorrow take it from 9am?

And down it goes…..I’m nervous 😕 hope I’m doing the right thing