PatientsLikeMe : Venlafaxine Treatment Report

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What is Venlafaxine?

Venlafaxine is an antidepressant in a group of drugs called selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SSNRIs). It affects chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced and cause depression. It is used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety, and panic disorder.

Reasons taken & Efficacy

Reasons and Efficacy
Reasons taken	# of patients	# of patients evaluated by
Depression	460	107
Treat my mood condition(s)	246	57
Anxiety	103	23
Other	58	9
Fibromyalgia	36	7
Major Depressive Disorder	32	7
Mood swings	13	2
Pain	12	4
Support another treatment	7	1
Emotional lability	7	0
Hot flashes	6	0
Nerve pain (neuropathic pain)	6	1
Fatigue	5	4
psychotic symptoms mostly, anxiety depression a whole tons of fear	5	0
Anxiety and frustration	4	3
Bipolar Disorder	4	2
disease-related symptoms	4	0
Don't know	3	0
Depression/Anxiety/Mood Swings	3	0
General health	3	0
Treat Parkinson's	2	0
Stress/anxiety	2	0
Obsessive compulsive disorder OCD	2	0
To reduce anxiety and depression	1	1
Low blood pressure (hypotension)	1	1
Depression, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety	1	0
Migraine Headaches	1	1
Stress	1	0
Headaches	1	0
Anxiety attacks	1	0
Depression with anxiety	1	0
Bipolar, mixed episodes	1	0
Panic Disorder	1	0
Attention Deficit Hyperactivty Disorder ADHD/ADD	1	0
Depression, Anxiety, Mood Swings, Fatigue and Emotional Liability	1	0
Peripheral Neuropathy	1	1
chronic pain	1	0
Anxiety and Depression	1	0
severe anxiety	1	0
physican states it helps the effects of the lyrica	1	0
Improve cognition	1	0
Anxiety and mood swings, it's amasing how well effexor is working for me!!!	1	0
relieve depression	1	0
major derpession disorder	1	0
Immunomodulation	1	0
low energy	1	1
Mild depression	1	0
Irritability	1	0
Major Depressive Episode	1	1
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome	1	0
Symptoms of menopause	1	0
Short term memory problems	1	1
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD	1	1
Sleeplessness	1	0
RAGE	1	0
Insomnia	1	0

See all 56 reasons taken ▼

See all 857 patients currently taking Venlafaxine

Mouse over the table for more information

Side Effects

Side effects as an overall problem

Severe	24	12%
Moderate	52	26%
Mild	61	31%
None	63	32%

Most commonly reported side effects

Weight gain	48	24%
Agitation/restlessness	29	15%
Drowsiness	27	14%
Jittery feeling	25	13%
brain zaps	25	13%
Suicidal thoughts	16	8%
Nausea	15	8%
Depression	15	8%
High blood pressure (Hypertension)	11	6%
Panic attacks	10	5%
Teeth Chattering	10	5%
Sexual dysfunction	10	5%
Sex drive (libido) decreased	9	5%
palpatations	7	4%
Loss of appetite	6	3%
Constipation	5	3%
Blushing/Flushing/Overheating	5	3%
Sleepiness	4	2%
bruising in legs	4	2%
Vivid dreams	4	2%
felt flat	3	2%
Headaches	3	2%
Hand tremor	3	2%
Insomnia	3	2%
tired	3	2%
Shortness of breath	3	2%
sweating	3	2%
withdrawal effects	2	1%
Decreased appetite	2	1%
increased sweating	2	1%
dry mouth	2	1%
excessive sweating	2	1%
Dizziness	2	1%
Delayed Orgasm	1	1%
headache	1	1%
Hearing voices	1	1%
Shaking	1	1%
dizziness/ "spinning"ness	1	1%
No Lows/Highs	1	1%
sweating/hot flashes	1	1%
Cluster Headaches	1	1%
Headaches and neck pain	1	1%
"Lucite Encased" Head	1	1%
Flu-like symptoms	1	1%
heavy sweating	1	1%
hand tremors	1	1%
hypomania	1	1%
Sleep problems	1	1%
Weight loss	1	1%
Excessive Thirst	1	1%
feeling hot	1	1%
crying for no reason	1	1%
Jaw clenching	1	1%
awful withdrawal within 36 hours of last dose	1	1%
No other negative side effects for me! YAY!	1	1%
sweating a lot (upper body); lower body didn't sweat at all	1	1%
Sweats	1	1%
no power in legs	1	1%
sensitivity to light	1	1%
Fainted / Blacked out	1	1%
Low blood pressure (hypotension)	1	1%
night sweating	1	1%
Loss of sex drive (libido)	1	1%
Muscle Fatigue	1	1%
Emotional numbness	1	1%
Ejaculation delayed	1	1%
Slowness of thought/speech	1	1%
Withdrawal begins w/in 36 hours of last dose	1	1%
Temper tantrums	1	1%
Itching skin	1	1%
severe tremors	1	1%
Excessive daytime sleepiness (somnolence)	1	1%
Psychosis	1	1%

Mild
Moderate
Severe

See all 73 reported side effects ▼

Dosages

Top 10 dosages based on patients currently taking Venlafaxine. See all 35 dosages ►

18.75 mg as needed	daily	1 mg daily	37.5 mg daily	25 mg daily	37 mg daily	37.5 mg daily	50 mg daily	75 mcg daily	75 mg daily	78 mg daily	100 mg daily	105 mg daily	110 mg daily	112.5 mg daily	125 mg daily	150 mg daily	175 mg daily	185.5 mg daily	187 mg daily	187.5 mg daily	200 mg daily	220 mg daily	225 mg daily	250 mg daily	275 mg daily	300 mg daily	337.5 mg daily	375 mg daily	400 mg daily	450 mg daily	487.5 mg daily	600 mg daily	750 mg daily	900 mg daily
1	14	1	1	5	1	70	6	1	206	1	17	1	1	9	1	279	2	1	1	4	6	1	105	3	1	118	1	11	2	10	1	1	1	1

Stop Reasons

Why Patients Stopped Taking Venlafaxine (multiple reasons could be selected)
Reason	# Patients	Percentage of patients
Side effects too severe	79	34%
Did not seem to work	67	29%
Doctor's advice	60	26%
Other	48	21%
Expense	23	10%
Personal research	8	3%
Course of treatment ended	7	3%
Not indicated	4	2%

See all 222 patients who’ve stopped taking Venlafaxine

Duration See details about how long patients take this treatment ▼

Currently Taking Venlafaxine

0-1 month	1-3 months	3-6 months	6 months-1year	1-2 years	2 years or more
7	12	30	81	88	202

Stopped Taking Venlafaxine

0-1 month	1-3 months	3-6 months	6 months-1year	1-2 years	2 years or more
25	34	22	31	37	74

Adherence, Burden & Cost See details from patient evaluations ▼

Adherence

Taking treatment as prescribed

Always	166	83%
Usually	29	15%
Sometimes	1	1%
Never	4	2%

Burden

Difficulty being on treatment

Very	18	9%
Somewhat	28	14%
A little	44	22%
Not at all	110	55%

Cost

Paid out of pocket

$200+	1	1%
$100-199	6	3%
$50-99	21	11%
$25-49	39	20%
< $25	68	34%

See more information, including instructions, precautions, side effects, and interactions.

Patient Evaluations

See all 200 patient evaluations

sumbutterfly

Pain: All

Fatigue: Most

Sleep: All

Stiffness: All

function: Most

external_stress: Little

Stickman: all

Description:

FM:3y Dx

See profile
sumbutterfly

150 mg daily

since Mar 01, 2009
Efficacy Major for Depression
Side Effects None
Advice/Tips The best thing ever for depression, confusion, memory loss! This is equally as important as Lyrica! See full evaluation

jmscout

Sex: F

Sensation: None

Overall: Mild

Cognition: moderate

Vision: none

Speech: none

Swallowing: none

Upper limb: moderate

Walking: moderate

See profile
jmscout

daily

since Aug 22, 2008
Efficacy Major for Depression
Side Effects None
See full evaluation

skater

Sex: F

Depression: 1

Emotional: 1

Compulsion: 0

Anxiety: 0

Mania: 0

Physical: 0

External Stress: None

35 F

Function: High

Distress: Low

See profile
skater

37.5 mg daily

since Aug 23, 2008
Efficacy Major for Treat my mood condition(s)
Side Effects Mild
See full evaluation