Effexor 75 Xr Information

About Effexor 75 Xr

Top Questions and Answers

Can I switch from the Effexor XR 75 to the generic regular 75 in one dose a day without side effects? ? I have been taking Effexor XR 75mg for about 3 months, the pharmacist told me generic Effexor 75 mg was the same, besides the extended release part. My worry is the effect it would have to take the 75 mg in one dose with a quicker release in my system. I'm out of the XR pills and would need to start on the regular tomorrow, please advice. Thanks THANKS ELLE FOR YOUR ANSWER, AND THAT IS BASICALLY MY WORRY, THAT IS THE SAME Mg BUT IN ONLY ONE DOSE.

elle replied: "It should be the same. Switching from extended release to taking multiple pills instead presents slight problems for some people. But your pharmicist shouldn't be recommending anything that is that different. When they recommend a generic it is generally the same thing."

The One and Only replied: "Yes, you can switch without any side effects. Generic versions of medicines are the same exact ingredients of brand-name drugs, only made by different companies."

kilukalasin replied: "You should be okay. I've gone up and down doses on Effexor (mostly up, dammit) and it's not too bad, so switching to a quicker release shouldn't be too much problem either."

Lea replied: "If you are taking the regular Effexor, you need to take one pill twice a day instead one pill once a day."

How long will I have withdrawls with 75 mg of effexor xr? I am currently on 75 mg of effexor xr and .5 of xanax for anxiety. The effexor is terrible..I am having dizzy spells and the dr wants me off of it. He said he would have to taper me off of it slowly. I have been on it for a year. I am hoping since I have the xanax that the withdrawls will not be so bad if I take the xanax as needed! I am so scared to get off this effexor!

panicked228 replied: "Don't be scared. I know it's a frightening feeling, but you will get through this. You're not in any serious danger of major withdrawls, if you were, the Dr. would have you in the hospital being observed. The best thing to do is just to try to relax. Drink lots of fluids (will help rid it out of your system quicker), eat properly, and rest when you feel the need. When I was coming off Zoloft, my Dr. did a two week taper, every two weeks I would reduce my dosage. It took about six months, but after the first taper, I didn't really notice at all. If you feel nervous or jittery, take the Xanax, but make sure not to use more than prescribed. Call your doctor if you have any questions, they are there to help!"

Ritchie replied: "to be honest effexor at that dose shouldn't hardly have any problems coming of it, its a really really low dose. I was weened off 375mg of effexor and even that wasn't too bad you should be fine as long as you ween of it and not crash and burn by completely stopping. Just listen to your docs instructions and you should be all good."

kay.ce replied: "if the doc wants to tapper you off you should do it that way it is not so much for with-drawls (with that drug there should not be any) that they do this for with those kinds of drugs if you suddenly stop taking them your symptoms can go through the roof people can be better and if they go off their med's all at once they can get into trouble but if they are taken off slowly their bodies can adjust and they are OK and they find out that they do not need the med's any more taking 75mg it should only take about three weeks to stop completely and once you get to a lower dose you may find that the side effects are not so bad. and your doc might want to keep you on a low dose I know you are scared but that is why they tapper it. so if you go down some and you find that your symptoms come back and the doc wants you to go back on it you already have some of it in your system so you do not have to start from scratch."

How long do withdrawl symptoms last after you stop taking Effexor Xr 75 mg? i stopped today what am in in for?? i know the withdrawl symptoms are a pain! i tried to stop cold turkey from the 150mg but i couldnt handle the withdrawls so my doc lowered my mg to 75 i need to get off this because i am preg. any advice???? thanks

tab2732 replied: "You can't stop cold turkey! If you've spoken with your doctor then he would have prescribed a regime of decreasing medication. Don't try this alone, esp. now that your pregnant. Talk with the doc.! THERE IS NO WITHDRAWAL IF DONE CORRECTLY ! Were you taking it for depression or fibro? Makes a big difference as there are other meds. which can't hurt the unborn child. You need support and counseling. Good luck and god bless!"

Effexor XR 75 MG QUESTION!!!? I"m curently taking effexor xr 75 ml a day my question is simple is 75 mg a low medium or high dose?

Salmelahb replied: "75 mg of Effexor XR is the usual starting dose, and its the middle dose. The max dose is 150 mg/day. Speak to your doctor before you make any dose changes!"

Effexor XR 75 mg question! Help!? So i currently take Effexor XR 75 mg a day every day for my serious depression. There how, however, been a few things I've been noticing lately that have been bothering me. 1. Sometimes this medication makes me "overly giddy or happy" as I would put it. Is this how it's supposed to react to your body? I don't consider it bad per say but a question non the less. 2. I am also on Ambien 10 mg per night for my insomnia and Xanax .5 mg for my panic attacks I frequently have. Now I try to take these medications in moderation in order to not gain any sort of tolerance or addiction to them. However, when I begun taking the Effexor, my tolerance to these drugs almost seemed to double instantaneously. I now have to take 20 mg of ambien to sleep and at least 1 mg of xanax to get any sort of effect from the drugs. Would this have anything to do with my increased dose of Effexor XR? I don't wanna talkto me doctor about this and have him find me to be some kind of drug addict when this isn't the case at all. Someone please help me!

Jess replied: "Seriously, talk to your doctor. Just be honest and tell him what you told us. The concerns you raise do not come across as "drug seeking behavior" at all. This is exactly the kind of thing you need to discuss with him. I know it isn't easy to do this, but try to think of him as your partner in your treatment. Never hesitate to bring up any concerns you may have or to give your input about medications and doses... There are MANY meds out there, sometimes it can be a bit of trial and error finding the right one or right combination. And yes, it absolutely could have to do with the increased dose of Effexor, which can be one of the more stimulating antidepressants. I speak from experience (I explain it in my profile, if you're interested in finding out more about that.)"

RSmith replied: "This is completely normal. Your body will constantly build up a resistance to your medication and it will need to be increased. However, follow your prescribed amount. Medications combine in your body which can cause undesired side effects. If you feel the medications have "broken through" or stop working, make an appointment with your doctor/psychiatrist ASAP and have the dosages raised. 75 mg is a low dosage of effexor but it will still take some time for your body to adjust and the giddiness is a side effect of the drugs. But still inform your doctor of any changes. All the best"

Darcy replied: "Yes, Effexor can make you feel overstimulated, or "giddy". I was prescribed it for depression, but had to stop taking it because it made me feel like I was on speed. If you don't want to talk to your doctor about it, you can call your pharmacist. But I would advise you to talk to your doctor. Are you seeing a psychiatrist or just a regular family practitioner? You need to go to a psychiatrist."

Jo replied: "I take 300mg of Efexor and a pill of tegretol and I still want to harm myself. The efexor os just interfereing with the others. Check with your doctor about upping the doses on the older meds you've been taking."

Matt T replied: "I would speak to your doctor about it. But what ever you do don't just stop taking it. It will really throw your head all over the shop. That's what I did and well, it wasn't fun"

Tara J replied: "1. While some people find Effexor to be sedating, most do find it to be stimulating. When I began to take Effexor XR, I was on Xanax daily while the Effexor took its time to take care of my anxiety. Because of the Xanax I had to stop drinking coffee but now that I can drink it again, I don't because the Effexor seems to give me plenty of energy. 2. Effexor is known to cause insomnia in some. I am on 75mg and am fine, but when I was on 150mg before I had intense insomnia to the point I was lucky to get 2 hrs of sleep per night. That may be the reason you need more Ambien. I'm assuming you take Effexor with your breakfast? If not, you may ask your doctor if that's when you should be taking it. It seems that's when most people take it to prevent insomnia. I also wouldn't blame Effexor for your tolerance to Xanax. You can quickly develop a tolerance to it and it may just be a coincidence that it happened while you are on Effexor. Effexor is indicated for the treatment of panic disorder, so you should speak with your doctor if you are still feeling a need to use Xanax for panic attacks. If Effexor is working and you are on the right dosage, you should be having almost no panic attacks. You really should talk to your doctor. Your words give no indication that you're a drug addict."

Does anyone take Effexor? I have been taking Effexor xr 75 mg. for several years. I just increased to 150mg.? I was having feelings of irritation and rage. Does anyone know anything about this?

VTX rider 812 replied: "I have the same problem. Effexor never seemed to help for me. I also hated the feeling you get if you miss a dose. I would get very dizzy and just feel awful. I would give the new dose about 3 months to see if it helps, but if it doesn't improve then I would ask to try something else."

jas30705 replied: "My brother had the same trouble with 150mg's of Effexor. He decides to come off of it slow and he still had withdrawal effect that where so bad he was put on Celexa to help stop the side effects. And now he has panic attacks. My doctor told me that effexor is the worse med. to get off of. If the Effexor help that is great but if you can get away from that drug it is best to never use it. I know more than one person that had side effects within hours of miss a pill. I don't want to scare you. Talk to you doctor about this. He or she is better to answer than anyone one here."

canada_winnipeg_man replied: "I have been taking Effexor xr 150mg. for several years(since 2000). I am taking Omega 3 and Ginger root,green tea to help with the nausa. For the past 3 months I've been lowering my dosage and for the past week and a half I've been off completely. It's been my version of hell on earth. I'm having extreme dizziness, nauseau, vomiting, tingling and numbing sensations throughout my body. My tongue goes numb when I move my head. ? The past two nights I've been going through convulsions. In the past if I missed a dose, the very next day I was distraught. Crying and angry and easily irritated.What "they" call the "withdrawal-like symptoms" effect on me like effexor. I have 2 friends that have weaned off of effexor and are having the exact same symptoms, although the one friend is having suicide ideation on top of everything else. I'm not sure what my point is here, aside that I have to write this so someone sees it. There are so many other anti-depressants out there. Please stay away from effexor. Never in my life have I had the urge to warn anyone away from anything, but please do not even start. You may be just fine as you're taking this drug, but the coming off of it is the hellish part. The entire point of taking an anti-depressant is to "right" your mind. After a few months you're supposed to be weaned from the anti depressant. An anti depressant is not a "for life" medication. The first thing to do is to find the root cause of your depression, stress or anxiety. Whatever the root cause is you must confront it and understand what it is. If you don't think you have a root cause then you need to look deeper, because you will have one or many. Many people treat the symptoms of the problem rather than finding the root of the cause and treating that instead. Once you have found the root cause of the problem then you just need to understand the meaning you are giving to it. Once you have determined what that meaning is, you then need to re-write that mean to something that works for you rather than against you. Almost like the "glass is half empty to the glass is half full" analogy. Your mind works in 'modes' and can get itself stuck in a vicious loop sometimes. And when it continuously replays in your mind you need to make sure it replays the new meaning over and over instead of the one that gets you depressed. Use these methods and techniques as a basis to fighting your anxiety, stress or depression. And you will be able to finally find happiness without the use of drugs, affirmations, potions or hypnotherapy. Hugs)()()()()( Good luck!"

Nicole W replied: "Ive taken 150mgs for about 5months..no problems of "rage" just starting to have a lot more "blah" days. Where I feel upset/sad for no reason..."

raven replied: "I was on effexor for a long time for what I thought was depression. I recently learned that what I really have is bipolar 2, which is a form of bipolar that involves mostly depression, but with periods of hypomania rather than full-blown mania. The reason I mention this is because antidepressants can sometimes flip people with bipolar tendencies into hypomania or mania, and irritability and rage can be manic symptoms. It might be helpful to you to read about bipolar 2 and see if it sounds like you. If not, maybe a different antidepressant would be better for you. Everyone reacts differently to different medications, and sometimes they just seem to stop working the same way after a while. I did like Cymbalta quite a bit, but it is similar to Effexor and has a lot of the same problems along with the benefits. If you decide to go off the Effexor, definitely do it in small steps over a long period of time and see your doctor a lot until you are stabilized on something else, because the withdrawal side effects can be really intense, not to mention the underlying depression. It can be done, though - you just have to go slowly and monitor your symptoms. One website I like a lot is crazymeds.us, which has forums with really detailed and interesting information about medications. Good luck to you, and please take care of yourself. These illnesses and medications can be really hard to deal with, but it is really worth it to persist in finding the best medication(s) for your needs."

manda.rawks replied: "My experience with Effexor XR is really negative. I had been on 75mg and was taken up to 150mg and about 3-4 days after I tried killing myself, I was put on it because I've got bipolar 1. I'd had really negative take to the upped dosage. I would be really careful, you sound like I did when I was switched. I would suggest talking to your doctor and/or your psychiatrist about new stuff or a different dosage. After I had my hospital episode (trying to kill myself) I was taken off Effexor and put onto Welbutrin which works well for me. Hope I helped, feel free to add me to your yahoo if you have any questions. :) -Amanda"

I need help. I was taking 75 mg of effexor xr and i stopped 6 days ago. I can't stop shaking what can i do? I also can't stop crying and I'm so paniced and stressed. I take wellbutrin and lamictal for bipolar so I thought i could stop the effexor xr. I have wanted off it for a long time. But I can't function. What should I do?

letslaughwithnr replied: "gotta call the doc right away they'll tell you what to do u should always go through your prescriber for coming off of meds, they know when u have to cut down, and when u can just stop. All meds are different."

Mina replied: "Stopping psychiatric drugs without the help of a physician is incredibly dangerous. Many of these drugs have to be slowly weaned out of your system because there are withdrawal side effects. Call your doctor immediately. Nobody here can tell you anything other than it is incredibly dangerous to stop taking psychiatric meds cold turkey."

sullivansg replied: "I've had the same problem. You can't stop effexor cold turkey. You have to slowly ween yourself off of it. You need to get 37.5 mg pills and slowly reduce. For example, you take 75mg one day then 37.5mg the next day... then slowly drop completely down to 37.5mg and then alternate dosage again. It will take about 1 or 2 months to slowly reduce down to none if you want to do it correctly. Even after doing it correctly, you'll still feel a little "off", but eventually you'll start feeling yourself again... about an additional 2 weeks after that. Effexor worked for me when I needed it, but it's a nasty drug to come off of. A lot of people complain about the side effects when stopping. You may have to temporarily go back on it again till you feel normal then try to reduce when you feel ready again. I failed my first time trying to go cold turkey."

~JeNN!~ replied: "I take both effexor xr and lamictal. You CANNOT stop the meds no matter what. You cannot determine whether you can stop it or not. Lamictal and effexor work in different ways. I am bipolar and depressed, but they give off different chemical reactions. Go to the DR. now"

littleblueriver7 replied: "You should call your doctor ASAP and tell him or her exactly what happened and how you're feeling. Deciding whether or not to take certain medications is your decision but you should always make changes under the guidance of your prescribing doctor. Effexor is a medication that requires gradual changes. I seriously stress the need for your to contact your doctor, other people can give you advice but we don't know your medical history and could give advice that doesn't fit your situation. Speak to your doctor ASAP so you can start feeling better soon."

What do you think of effexor xr im on the 75 mg? I really dont see much change with this i was on lexapro the 20mg pill but stopped working im mainly on these pills for irritablity, but im not reallyt liking this effexor i feel like im more moody than usual, so who has taken it and what did you think of it how has it affected you or helped you.

sarahbelle42 replied: "my boyfriend did the same switch you did, from lexapro to effexor...but for anxiety attacks. sometimes it takes a while to work. have you asked your doctor about wellbutrin? that might help more...or even xanex...or if you are still young, consider yaz birth control..ive heard it really helps out with irratability."

Serenity247 replied: "I've actually taken both of the medications you have mentioned, effexor and lexapro. Right now I am not on any medication anymore yet I found that the effexor was not effective for me. To be honest, I only took the medication for a short amount of time but I didn't really feel like it did anything for me. I know that for many people they "claim" it works wonders for anxiety but for anything else I am really not sure how effective it is. I thought lexapro worked well for my depression at the time and it seemed that it got into your system quickly, meaning that you didn't have to wait two weeks for it to take effect like most anti-depressants. Overall, I think everything depends on the person and what they are personally dealing with as you probably know. Definitely discuss this with your doctor because different medications work for different people."

ACEY replied: "I HAVE BEEN TAKING EFFEXOR XR 75 MG FOR ABOUT OVER A YEAR NOW TO HELP FIGHT DEPRESSION ANGZIETY AND POS TRAMATIC STRESS SYNDROM AND I WANT TO TELL YOU THAT I NEVER WANT TO DO WITHOUT THEM.THEY GAVE ME A LITTLE MORE ENERGY,FIGHT DEPRESSION .IT MIGHT TAKE A COUPLE OF MONTHS TO GET THE FULL BENIFIT OF IT.ALSO YOUR DOCTOR MIGHT NEED TO UP THE DOSAGE.SOMETIMES IT TAKES AWHIEL TO ADJUST THE DOSAGE TO GET THE BEST HELP FROM IT.EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT BUT IT SHUR DONE WONDERS FOR ME. MY DOCTOR FINALY GOT ME LEVEOLD OUT WITH 150 MG TWICE A DAY=FOUR 75 MG INCOMBINATION WITH WELLBUTRIN 150MG TWICE A DAY."

my puppy may have swallowed 1 capsule of effexor xr 75 mg? i called vet & he told me to watch for thrashing & vocalizing, seems ok so far, about 5 hours after she had the package (i think it was empty), can anyone tell me of other symptoms to look for, really worried! made it thru the night, this morning seemed a little more nervous than usual, belly rumbling, thinking maybe she swallowed some of the aluminum from packaging, i'm soooo worried, any more advice would be appreciated! SHE'S BACK TO HERSELF NOW...JUST FINE--THANKS FOR THE HELP!!! =)

gammadave2004 replied: "don't worry my dog ate a whole bunch of pills and we had to get her to the vet asap but one effexor wont kill or hurt even a small dog"

millieroberson replied: "Any actions out of the ordinary would be considered a reaction to the medication. You may want to call your vet back and ask how long you need to watch for the effects of this medication."

L. S. replied: "Your local poison control may be able to answer your questions also - the number is generally located inside the front cover of your local phone book. Anti-depressants are not designed for dogs, and I would be concerned, but you've called your vet, and they've told you what to watch for...if you have further questions, call them back. Most vets will have a number to call (often there is a fee for this) if you have an emergency during "off" hours..."

smooth23 replied: "My dog ate 30 of those pills I called the 24 hour vet and the posion control and they both told me to give her 2 teasponns of perooxide and rub her throut you might want to do this outside or somewhere easy to clean up cause it kicked in my dog within 15 min and she was throwing it all up."