I've been on 150mg effexor xr for the last 4 months for gad. I am not sleeping well on this stuff at all and i'm getting real bad headaches. I don't remember it effecting me this way initially and i'm going to stop it for a while-i need a good night sleep. Is anyone else having major side effects while on effexor? And has anyone had any problems while coming off effexor? I just can't take it anymore so please help

Noman, nothing to be worried .Such type of anti depressant drug initially may cause insomnia, restless, increased heart bit ...but after few months it is supposed to be normal. Already u continued effexor xr  more than 4 months. but still u are having sleep disturbance. So better contact with your physician, he might prescribe u any other alternative anti depressant.

I'm not a doctor but I had the same problem on 150mg. So I stopped 150 and went down to 75mg. The problem went away within 24 hours. I still have trouble sleeping a little and I always feel antsy. So I'm going to see a doctor to find out if I should try something else. But 150mg really was way too strong for me. I couldnt sleep for more than 4 hours at a time.

I am up early this morning searching the Internet for answers about Effexor as well. My doctor put me on a loading dose of 37.5 mg and eventually increased the dose to 300 mg. I started getting brains zaps, felt dizzy, noticed my blood pressure was high (I have high BP but it has been controlled up until taking the Effexor) and had an increased heart rate. I decreased the dose on my own over a 2 month period 4 months ago (I am a healthcare professional - sometimes sadly to say anymore) to 150 mg but am still experiencing the brain zaps, high BP, and increased heart rate. As such, I am so angry with how doctors so eagerly give us 'pills' for anything and everything. I am on so many meds and as I research medications on the Internet and read all of the sad stories about the side effects individuals are experiencing I am embarrased to be part of a profession that is carrying on this way. As for myself, I have come to realize that I may be on meds to mask side effects of the meds that have been prescribed to me. Almost everyone I talk to who is on perscription medications feels the same way. I don't know what the answer is but I feel if these 'pills' are not helping us gain some relief, we should be talking to our doctors about getting off them. My doctor is a real pill pusher and I am getting sick of it - especially now that I am reading about all the suffering on the Internet. It seems people can't turn to their doctors anymore but are instead turning to those also suffering. It breaks my heart to see so many suffering like me. No worries, I will be discussing my concerns when I see my doctors at my next appointments. I hope I haven't vented too much here - these are just my opinion(s).

Hi Jag.  I'm currently on 150mg of effexor and it sucks!  I'll start with some backstory.

I've suffered from depression and anxiety for about 15 years (I'm early 30's).  about 5.5 years ago I was living in Toronto and having really bad panic attacks in addition to my depression.  my family doctor put me on 20mg of Paxil, which did nothing for the depression but did help make the panic a little more managable.  I moved to Vancouver about a year later and after about 6 months here decided I didn't want to be on the paxil anymore so I just quit it.  Bad idea.  within a day I started getting the brain zaps and other symptoms.  I endured that for a few days and finally went to a doctor who told me I probably had a flu but advised me to start taking the pills again (I had mentioned to him the zapping and other symptoms and that I had read a bunch of stuff about paxil withdrawal in the few days I was feeling so terrible - he said I shouldn't be self diagnosing and just take the pills!).  Anyway, started taking the pills and the zapping and other symptoms went away within hours.

After this I found a new doctor.  he listened to my complaints about what had happened on the Paxil and we set out to try to wean me off of it (keep in mind I was only taking 20mg).  After months of trying to get off the paxil, the zapping sensation and other problems were out of control, so the doctor told me he would put me on 37.5 of Effexor and I should be fine.  Because I was in such distress from the zapping and finding it difficult to function at work I went along with this.  Of course, the zapping etc. immediately went away and I continued taking the 37.5 dose for 3 years. 

Last year I slipped into another deep depression and my doctor put me on 75mg of effexor, eventually moving it up to 150mg.  I have been on 150mg for about 10 months.  The problem is that although the prescription is supposed to be extended release, I have to deal with zapping and loss of motor control for several hours every day (in addition to not being able to sleep, horrible nightmares when I do sleep, excessive sweating, severe confusion and memory problems, to mention a few).  When I started taking 150mg I was taking the medication before bed time.  The zapping started happening a little tiny bit earlier every day, and now I'm taking the pills at noon and I still have to deal about 4 hours a day where the zapping is intense (about every thirty seconds I get a strong zap) plus I actually have to concentrate to walk or just move around during those hours because it doesn't seem like my brain knows how to tell my body how to walk.  Plus....I have to try to work while all of this is happening, which is getting unbearable.

Anyway, after waiting for months I was finally able to get a referral to a psychiatrist in Vancouver...but unfortunately he is so booked he is only able to see me once a month!!!  We are supposed to be trying to formulate a plan to get me off the effexor, though unfortunately I will most likely have to go on something else.  I have heard that for some people these drugs so alter your brain chemistry that you have to stay on something similar permanently.  The whole situation is unbearable.....who knew that Effexor as a "cure" for Paxil would be worse than the paxil itself.

Anyway,  good luck!

Yeah, be knowledgeable, follow your your gut, be reasonable but fire some of these practioners AND their meds from time to time.

I was happy with Topomax (bipolar), few drinks here and there, but making massive strides in my business, getting things done and then... Effexor!  My doctor said I was "depressed" and this was a great formulaic combo.  But, I liked him and let him do "his job".

Next thing you know, I was drinking more often (about same quantity, twice month) but having more disastrous blackouts and emergency episodes.  Plus, I had complained all along that somehow, Effexor was making me tired; diminishing that "get up and go, handle my business, no time for drinking" attitude that Topomax alone was good for.

Know what I was told?  I was an alcoholic and they would suspend psychopharm until I went to rehab.  Until guess what?

I just looked up the Wyeth's drug manufacturer sheet on Effexor.  Side effect, but rare:  "alcohol abuse".  Also, another website:  Effexor:  "not indicated for bi-polar depression."  Also, "can really aggravate mania and rapid cycling and cause Effexor users to 'really hit the bottle,'...'affects proper metabolization of alcohol.'

In other words, Effexor = mania = increased drinking = patient irresponsibility.

Do your homework and take it right into them.  Don't let it happen.  For me, I don't mind stopping by a fine addiction institute like the one we have in my town, but I am not going to let any of these folks off the hook by making me sicker and them blaming me.