If you have or are taking effexor please help me with this question?

Question

I am on Effexor XR and currently take 75 mg a day. I have been on it for 10 months and it helped at first but now it seems to not be helping much. I am still depressed and have anxiety. I feel tired alot and feel fatigued. My doctor ran blood work and everything checks out fine so Im wondering if it could be the medicine making me tired like this. He recommended that I take it at night instead in the morning. He also wants to increase my dosage to 150mg a day. What has been your experiences with increasing your dosage of effexor? Did you get tired from effexor? Will increasing it probably make me more fatigued? please share your experiences and thoughts.
Thanks so much! :)

Answer 1

I am on effexor xr, 150mg daily. I have had no fatigue, in fact, it has been the opposite! I have been taking this medication for about 6yrs. now. The only problem I have is when I miss more than two doses. I get dizzy, nauseous and have vertigo. You have to get to the root of your depression before any medication can help you. See a therapist regularly. I would increase the dose. If you don't notice any improvements you could always reduce the medication. (just don't stop all together! there are terrible side effects to this) You can email me if you want someone to talk to about your depression. I have overcome most of my depression, of course there are still days that I have difficulty, but they are far and few between. ([e-mail])

Answer 2

I was on that stuff for a year and all it did was make everything worse. I was fatigued and anxious, still depressed, and all my doctor would do was raise the dose. I eventually had to fire this doctor, he refused to take me off Effexor, kept increasing my dose, and also added more meds which made me so sick that I had to take a leave of absence from work, I was too spaced out to handle my workload! I found a new doctor, who put me back on Zoloft, but first I had a horrible period of withdrawal from all the garbage the first doctor had me on. This took SIX WEEKS of slowly going off the old stuff and introducing the new. When I got back to work, I was told that my job no longer existed. I had to go on disability, and eventually I lost my boyfriend of 10 years, the place I called home and family, and my dignity. All because of meds that were not working. Tomorrow is my 41st birthday, and I live with my mom. I used to be different, but now I'm this. I take seven different prescriptions for depression, anxiety, and pain. I will never be the same again.

The moral of the story is this: If you don't insist on being taken off the effexor, and I mean right now, you will wind up experiencing a world of hurt. If it's not working, increasing the dose will only fool you for a while, then it will stop working again. The higher the dose, the harder the withdrawal will be and the longer it will take. Get off that stuff honey, even if it means changing doctors. I believe that changing doctors saved my life, it really did get that bad. I don't mean to scare you, but yes I do, because I don't want you to wind up like me. Always always ask about withdrawal effects and side effects before you agree to take any medication, and if it's not working for you, keep looking till you find something that does. Make sure your doctor is willing to work with you that way. Good luck sweetie, I hope you get better and have a great life!

Answer 3

I have been on effexor for over 12 yrs I was on 75mg 3 times a day.... they did not have X R yet now I take 1tab in the evening and it is 150mgs XR meaning extended release.......THIS MEDICATION works with the serotonin in the brain which is caused by a chemical imbalance so to balance it the right way this is prescribed......you may need to increase the dose and take it in the evening..with having the X R you take less but your getting it in an extened release form....good luck

Answer 4

It's been awhile since i've been on it, but i do recall being tired all the time and felt like i was in a fog. I stopped taking it b/c i kept building up a resistance to it and they kept upping my dose. I'd be fine for a few months and then the anxieties would kick back in, he'd up it and i'd be fine for a few months ... just a horrible cycle. I finally stopped it cold turkey (which i DO NOT recommend to anyone) and have been dealing with my issues myself. I found a steady exercise program was VERY helpful. (now, mind you i am no denise austin or super in-shape person - just walking for 1/2 an hour helped). I did take it at nite and that did seem to help with my sleepiness. I am going to assume that you may be a bit more fatigued with upping the dose, but if you take it at nite, maybe 1 to 1 1/2 hours before bed, it should run it's course over nite.

Good luck and feel better! :)

Answer 5

OH, man... Yes, I took effexor, but I hated it. I'm not on anything now. From what I understand, sometimes you need to try a few different drugs to see which one works best for you. Definitely tell your doctor! Also... I strongly believe talk therapy helps.

Answer 6

I took Effexor XR from the summer of 2005 until early this year. It was horrible in my case, as it only made me feel worse. The thing about depression, bipolar disorder, etc., is that everyone is different. No one drug is right for everyone. You should tell your doctor how you are feeling.
You should also see a psychiatrist and have him/her diagnose you and recommend an anti-depressant. You should not have your medical doctor prescribing an anti-depressant.
Also, anti-depressants should be taken in the morning, not at night. When I began taking Zoloft, I took it at dinnertime. It kept me up all night. I had always taken anti-depressants with breakfast in the past.
My advice boils down to: see a psychiatrist and let him or her diagnose you and possibly prescribe an anti-depressant.

Answer 7

What I started to do was take one pill in the morning and another in the after noon then I don't feel so drained. I was on 20mg prozac now I'm trying what's called selexia 20mg so may be you can ask your doctor for one of these.Then take 1 20mg in the morning and 1 pill at about 1pm I fond that this worked for me and I find no difference between prozacs and selexia.But i don't know about taking it at night there usually not recommended for the evening since they raise your serotonin up and could possibly keep you awake all night personally I wouldn't take at night. Try this some times increasing meds is not right and makes things worse for example when I was getting hives from allergies I wass on 100mg and the pill was knocking me out and my hives didn't go away another doctor saw bottle of pills said this is way to strong put on I beieve 20mg not only did my hives not bother any more I was finally able to stay awake So instead of taking 150mg stay on you 75mg and take one in the morning then one at about 1pm or take half of your pill which will still be over 30mg in the morn.and the other half again at 1pm .

Answer 8

I think it would make sense to try switching to taking it at night, before making other changes. Also, the tiredness could also be a symptom of your depression. Did the medication make you feel tired in the beginning?
Effexor didn't make me tired from what I remember. It's been a while since I was on it.
Whatever you do, don't go off of it suddenly. With Effexor, to avoid very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, you need to be slowly weaned off of it.
I would say that since this particular medication was helpful for you for a while, it is worth sticking with it a bit longer. Try taking it at night, see what that does. Try a higher dose, see what that does. (Talk to your doctor about it before making these changes, but it's OK to suggest to him/her what you could like to try. You are a partner in your own treatment.) With these kinds of meds it can be very tricky to find the right one and the right dose.

Answer 9

It's been a while since I was on it, so I don't remember dosages. I do know that it made me so tired, exhausted and feeling like I was drugged that I had to get off of it. That's just my experience, though. Much luck to you.