Is anyone else taking Effexor for anxiety? Some ?'s... - Anxiety Message Board

abethepunk · 07-10-2006, 11:16 AM

Well, I finally broke down and went to the doctor to get a rx for my extreme social anxiety. She gave me Effexor. After reading horrible things about this drug, I'm surprised to say that I'm tolerating it quite well. I guess I didn't realize how depressed I was

The only thing I'm concerned about, is that it has given me more anxieties. BUT, it seems that little parts of my social anxiety are much more tolerable than before. I am only on day 10 of this drug (75 mg), so I'm wondering if maybe (hopefully) this is just a startup side effect?

I went shopping with my boyfriend the other day. We went to wal*mart first (evil place), and I started to feel nutty & panicy, my heart was racing, felt like I was going to pass out, etc. I didn't really seem to fell others were watching or judging me (as I usually feel), just anxious in general. After we left there, I started to get better and was fine for the rest of the day. I even jumped in conversations w/ my boyfriend & his coworkers (something I would have a very hard time doing before I started Effexor).

Has anyone who has taken Effexor for social anxiety had this side effect? Did it go away? Could it get better with a higher dose?

Any help is greatly appreciated

trg247 · 07-10-2006, 12:24 PM

I believe that most of the problems with effexor happen when you stop taking it, its halflife is funny so it may effect alot of people. Effexor takes a good six weeks to really work so you have to give it time.

trg247

jeffster · 07-10-2006, 04:39 PM

Anxiety unfortunately is one of the side effects of the med as your body gets used to it. It will almost definitely go away with time. You will probably end up going up in dose from 75mg (maybe not, but usually) but once you're stable at a certain level for some time, that extra anxiety goes away. I took Effexor for anxiety and it was a miracle drug for me. Reading about Effexor online would scare anyone, but it's the people who have a bad time on the drug that are online posting about it, rarely the people who feel better, they're outside at the beach enjoying themselves

I had trouble getting off it, I won't lie. It is the half-life, it's much shorter than most other AD's, and causes some "weird" feelings while coming off it. There are many things you can try when you are going off it, such as a dose or two of prozac (gets your serotonin back to normal but has a much longer half life), or what worked great for me, benedryl. I'm off it completely now and my symptoms haven't returned. Even though I had the difficulty coming off it, if my symptoms ever come back, I will be right back on Effexor, it's that good.

abethepunk · 07-10-2006, 05:46 PM

Thanks jeffster, I hope youre right

When I was younger (I'm 23 now) I didn't stay on any AD very long because of the startup side effects (I didn't know they would go away then), and I didn't really want to be medicated anyway. I have had only minimal & short lasting side effects with Effexor, which really surprised me. I was also terrified of gaining weight, as I gained 30 pounds from when I quit smoking. It turns out I'm loosing some of that now

I'll stick with it & see what happens!

jeffster · 07-11-2006, 12:35 AM

Good for you. Yeah, I unfortunately had the opposite with Effexor, gained 50 lbs in one year..... I was skinny to start with, so the weight doesn't look terrible on me, but now that I'm off, I'm going to try to drop 15lbs or so.