One week ago when my pdoc added this drug to my weekly meds (20mg Diazepam and 150mg Pregabalin per day) I had no idea at all what this was about.. I only knew the new med was an antidepressant, and it was a SNRI this time, not a SSRI like some others that didn't make absolutely nothing. She explained that what she "likes" about Venlafaxine in particular, is that every person can "tune" their dose more or less to what they need, at low doses it mostly works on Serotonin, and moderate doses also on Noradrenaline, while at higher doses it directly impacts on Dopamine. She also made me know that this drug was given in cases of major depression (when the person has many problems, does not have any will at all to continue, is in a bad situation with suicide thoughts, etc.) sorta like telling me "this is the best antidepressant we could come for your enormous depression, you have to make this work".
Back at home, when I searched about it on the internet, my first stop was Wikipedia, and I was surprised to see how similar was to Tramadol (a drug god only knows how much I have abused) the drug even worked on all opiates receptors "Venlafaxine indirectly affects opioid receptors (mu-, kappa1- kappa3- and delta-opioid receptor subtypes) as well as the alpha2-adrenergic receptor, and was shown to increase pain threshold in mice." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venlafaxine). I even found an extensive clinical report that finished stating "These results suggest that µ-opioid receptors play an important role in the modulation of the antidepressant-like effect of Venlafaxine." (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3171132/)
I kept searching, and even found thread of people on random forums comparing Venlafaxine with Tramadol; I didn't understand, so naturally, I used the search function on good ol' BL and didn't found many threads about it's mechanism (and if any, they ended in nothing), I also found some threads closed for no reason.
So far I have been taking 75mg every day for a week and I could list the pros and cons moderately easily:
+No stomach discomfort
+No huge change of mental perception when adapted to the drug (my first night on it I couldn't sleep at all)
+More willingness to do things (just a little, nothing world changing, maybe it's a time or dose dependant thing)
+Pleasant tingling in limbs, specially in the legs (which helps me relaxes a little)
-Sweat. Lots of sweat.
-Sometimes it makes me sleepy, which is weird.
-Loss of libido.
-Loss of appetite.
I would appreciate a lot if someone else has ever felt something "nice" out of this drug, if someone knows the history of how it came to be, and why it is so similar to Tramadol, and finally for those who taken it or are taking it, if it improved your life feeling less depressant (or not), how and what were the doses? Thanks in advance.
Back at home, when I searched about it on the internet, my first stop was Wikipedia, and I was surprised to see how similar was to Tramadol (a drug god only knows how much I have abused) the drug even worked on all opiates receptors "Venlafaxine indirectly affects opioid receptors (mu-, kappa1- kappa3- and delta-opioid receptor subtypes) as well as the alpha2-adrenergic receptor, and was shown to increase pain threshold in mice." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venlafaxine). I even found an extensive clinical report that finished stating "These results suggest that µ-opioid receptors play an important role in the modulation of the antidepressant-like effect of Venlafaxine." (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3171132/)
I kept searching, and even found thread of people on random forums comparing Venlafaxine with Tramadol; I didn't understand, so naturally, I used the search function on good ol' BL and didn't found many threads about it's mechanism (and if any, they ended in nothing), I also found some threads closed for no reason.
So far I have been taking 75mg every day for a week and I could list the pros and cons moderately easily:
+No stomach discomfort
+No huge change of mental perception when adapted to the drug (my first night on it I couldn't sleep at all)
+More willingness to do things (just a little, nothing world changing, maybe it's a time or dose dependant thing)
+Pleasant tingling in limbs, specially in the legs (which helps me relaxes a little)
-Sweat. Lots of sweat.
-Sometimes it makes me sleepy, which is weird.
-Loss of libido.
-Loss of appetite.
I would appreciate a lot if someone else has ever felt something "nice" out of this drug, if someone knows the history of how it came to be, and why it is so similar to Tramadol, and finally for those who taken it or are taking it, if it improved your life feeling less depressant (or not), how and what were the doses? Thanks in advance.
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