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possibly starting antidepressant Effexor, a few Questions

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firesilverlullaby

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I have been prescribed Effexor Xr and just have a few questions about starting it.

I currently smoke weed, drink alcohol and occasionly use Opiates and adderall. Are their any of these i shouldnt use while on this? also will i become drunk alot easier, cause i dont want to become a lightweight all the sudden?

Also does anyone have experience taking this or other antidepressants and did it help? does it make you feel weird when you first start it?

and anything else i need to know, kinda of scared to start something thats very hard to get off of, and has a long list of side effects.
 
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yeah i got the same sample pack to start. definitely let me know how it makes you feel when you first start it. It says on erowid your really not suppose to smoke weed cause it could cause seizures, but looks like some people do.

wish they could just make an effective antidepressant you could take as needed.
 
i have taken effexor before and i have to tell u when i did it gave me the worst feeling in the world.i hated it.it made me feel weird and really tired but everytime i layed down i felt sick and everytime i yawned it made me feel sick.i wont never do it again
 
Hmm, I find it prett mild when I started it. Increased anxiety and tension, as well as strange visual field, but those died down quickly. Sexually, my dick may as well have been removed; but I was taken of effexor because of heightenind blood pressure, so I don't know if the sexual effects would last. I'm on zoloft 75mg/day, and I can still fuck to my hearts content; except sometimes. Then its like the whole castration thing again. But its rare and gets rarer.

Overall though, I'm hoping to be off SSRI's within a year; I don't feel they've helped me at all. YMMV. Take care....

ps. obviously don't take any MAOI's when on effexor or any SSRI/SNRI.
 
It's not a good idea to drink while you're on it, because that will stop it from "working." I guess everyone has to go through their phase of giving Effexor and the other SSRI's a chance, so I'm not going to tell not to start. But imo it's a waste of time, doesn't do anything, and the withdrawals feel like someone's randomly running an electrical current through your body.
 
I am on day 7 of being on 5mg of lexapro a day. I feel the same way about it being the holidays and not being able to drink. I think I can handle 1 or 2 drinks but I will wait for the holidays or at least until I am completely comfortable on this drug. Still not sure if its for me, I do feel better but some of the side effects are weird and I cant tell if its my paranoia or the drugs making me feel this way. I was tempted to smoke a little weed to help with my stomach and appetite problem the first few days but decided againt it.
 
I just wanted to say that i'm over the anti-depressant thing. i'm not even going to try it out. in my opinion its just not worth the side effects and i honestly believe i'm just depressed for issues that i have that can be fixed. its just going to take time and lots of effort on my part.

firesilver - i dunno if you have tried talking to a therapist about your problems but if not you might want to give that a try. you need to find out WHY you are depressed.

but sometimes these things work wonders for people so i dunno whats best for you i'm just telling you that i'm over it.
 
read about my little brush with effexor
http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=354955

It may be a miracle drug for you, it may be a suicidal hell-inducing mania drug for you. It varies from person to person.

When doctors prescribe antidepressants they are basically pulling names of medications out of a hat, and then whether it works for you or not is a coin flip really.

If you like gambling with your sanity, anti-depressants are right for you.
 
yeah i think im over them too beachside. ive been talking to a therapist and i think its helping some. i think things will get better when i go to college next year and get away from home, just kinda bored with the way things are now.

thanks for the post spunky, looks like a horrible experience, definitely dont ever want to have to go through that shit. might try taking st johns wort again, tried it before and it didnt seem to help, but i wasnt taking it regularly
 
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Honestly i like it and it has worked really well for me. It did take me a long time to get used to the side effects, but now I dont even notice them. The main one was nausea and if I didnt take the pill with a huge glass of milk, I would feel sick. It was like that for the first three months. Now though, I will take it with a glass of water and an empty stomach and no nausea.

I like Effexor and it is all good in my book.
 
thats good to hear a good report. so whats it like drinking alcohol on, and have you smoked or anything on it?
Thanks
 
Lexapro should be a lot easier on you than effexor; less side effects and withdrawals will be no where near as severe. Effexor (and other norepinephrine active ADs) can really screw with your sleep.

Alcohol will greatly diminish the benefits of any antidepressant! Also remember if you start drinking more and craving alcohol, treat that as a symptom and tell your psychiatrist.

Good luck <3
 
thanks, yeah im really glad i didnt take effexor to start with. I took my first dose this morning and so far today i dont really feel any different just maybe a little drowsy.
 
I've tried (for periods of 3 months or longer) the following:

Lexapro
Effexor
Prozac
Luvox
Risperdal
Cymbalta
Cogentin (a Parkinson's drug, unbeknownst to me at the time)
Anafranil
Elavil
Wellbutrin

...and probably others I'm forgetting. The point is that I couldn't tell a difference between ANY of these, despite their being in different classes (tricyclics, antipsychotic, SSRI, etc.). They'd all work for the first month and then cease to affect me in any discernible way....until attempting to quit. That's when the trouble starts. You don't even realize they're doing anything, so you think, "well, it's not working, so I'll just quit." Bad idea. Even with an extremely slow taper (over the course of several months) my "discontinuation syndrome" was so awful on all of these drugs that it was the first time I'd EVER thought about suicide, self-harm, or attempted violence towards others.

I gave them all a good college try, but in the end, they've done nothing for me except fuck with my weight, bodily functions and dreams (nightmares, really) despite being very compliant with my dosing. But it's different for everybody. If you have true, clinical depression and not just "low mood", "melancholy" or "boredom", they might actually work, but if it's just your life situation causing you problems, they'll likely be a waste of time. They only work if the problem is neurotransmitter-related, which few of the cases that get treated with these meds actually are, so just know what you're getting into, especially if you like to take lots of recreational drugs.
 
I'm on 225 Effexor XR and the only side effects I've had are slight lighthededness and excessive yawning. This drug fucking saved my life and my marriage.
 
I've been on Effexor XR (venlafaxine) for five years. It's slightly different from an SSRI such as Prozac (fluoxetine); venlafaxine is actually a Serotonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor (SNRI). It's usually prescribed if someone isn't responding to SSRIs. (That's what happened with me. Fluoxetine wasn't working, so they tried me on this.)

My subjective good news: It got me through my major depression; I didn't commit suicide. It didn't pave the yellow brick road for me, but it laid a few bricks if I'm making any sense. My highest dosage was 225 mg/day. It didn't make me "feel" any different day to day.

My subjective bad news: The withdrawl is extreme. This drug will always let you know when you have forgotten a dose. I didn't have it for a period of three days (due to being out of town and forgetting it) when I was yet on 225 mg, and I wanted to die. I cried under the blanket in my dorm room the entire time. I couldn't read, write, or think. The electrical zapping in my brain (a hallmark of venlafaxine withdrawl) was extreme. I was suicidal, but held on I because I knew it was my pill's fault. (Ironically, I have read of patients being prescribed fluoxetine to get them through their venlafaxine withdrawl.)

The upshot for me...aided me in getting through a period of major depression with the toll of being physically addicted to it. I ended my depression approximately a year and a half ago. My psychiatrist has been weaning me off the entire time since. My lowest prescribed dose was 37.5 mg (the smallest capsule). I was taking one every other day, but still found when I tried to go off the drug, that the brain zapping was too annoying to deal with (though in no way as severe as when I was withdrawing from 225 mg). So I went around to every pharmacy in town asking for some empty capsules. Three pharmacies turned me away (with weird looks like I was making terribly illegal witches' brew with the capsules), but one finally dolled out after I explained my situation.

One week ago, I made my own 18.75 mg capsules by dividing the 37.5 ones in half. I took my last 18.75 mg on Tuesday, and it is now earliest Saturday. The brain zaps are present off and on, though weakening. Sometimes I go hours without a zap. Realistically, I should have kept going on 18.75 mg a little longer (and maybe even then subdivided those doses into capsules of around 9 mg each), but I think I can kick it anyway. Basically, I decided that I'm done. Within a few days, I will be all off of Effexor XR with (cross your fingers) no more withdrawl. Sorry to rant, but after being on it for 5 years, I feel kind of proud to be disengaging finally.

As for drinking and smoking pot...I think I didn't do those things much until I was on a slightly lower doseage - 150 mg. I never suffered ill effects, which is informative but obviously not akin to assuring anyone else they won't. I took MDMA once when I was on 75 mg and felt nothing. I didn't learn until several months later that one cannot roll on an SSRI or SNRI.

I hope this helps.
 
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you will be fine as far as smoking weed and taking adderall. most opiates i think you will be ok; was on this for five years and took it in combination with meth and heroin, and i'm fine. i suggest taking it in the morning if you know you're going to be drinking that night (it won't make you a lightweight) and once the effects of adderall are gone as it can kind of dim them. not sure about when is best to take with opiates....
i was on effexor and lexapro. i never felt physically addicted to lexapro... effexor i would have done just about anything to get my hands on it if i ran out of doses, crazy withdrawl.
as far as how it affected me, effexor helped me in the beginning; it did take the edge of my depression and anxiety. however, it made me incredibly hyper and crazy for the first month. after about six months of being on it it was doing nothing for me but my doctors strongly encouraged me to stay on it and wouldn't help me slowly go off of it so i had to wait. lexapro really just had no effect on me what so ever.
oh, and i can't remember what dosage of lexapro i was on but effexor was 225 mg... god i would not go back on that drug for anything.
 
i was put on effexor and xanax for my anxiety issues after i quit doing meth. i chucked the effexor, kept the xanax. it only took me a month to figure out ssri's were not for me. zoloft made me feel like a zombie. i haven't heard good stories about any ssri or snris like effexor. seems like they are a plague of western medicine. to get to the real issues of your self image, confidence and feelings of anxiety/depression takes hard work and patience. i'm going more of the eastern medicne route and trying to excercise, eat well, meditate. i recommend you do the same.
 
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