Exhausted on Venlafaxine

Have been on ven for a year still feel tired . Would not replace this for any other anti depressant it is weird but with this pill you still feel down sometimes but it seems to take the edge off it. I have only one warning do make sure you dont forget to take it as in my case it makes me feel ill.

I'd say hang in there if you can, it's still early days for this drug.. It might be doing your body benefit to get plenty of rest at this stage, as long as it isn't interfering with life, work, etc. They usually say 6 weeks before you feel full benefit from an antidepressant.

Hi ive been on venlafaxine for over two weeks its def the best ad ive taken and i personally dont get tiredness from it. Id say give it abit longer and see how you get on. I was told by my doc it can take 2-4 weeks to gain full benefits. Good luck x

Hello.

Take it at night if you are on extended release. Venlaflaxine has a sedative effect.

I used to take mine at 7pm with my dinner and I was sleepy for bed and slept through without any worries. Helen

Venlafaxine seems to be a bizarre drug, for some it makes them super-stimulated, others super-tired and then I guess there's in-between and a mix of the two.

I take mine at night and I still feel zonked the next day, it's even worse if I'm on it in the morning. Tried both long-term and also morning and night in divided doses. It sucks as it's such a great antidepressant (more efficacious than SSRIs I've found) but the tiredness absolutely sucks donkey dong.

​I've talked to my GP about possible solutions and the response for me has pretty much been "get more exercise and eat healthy". Already eat healthy but exercise is exhausting when you feel like you've been shot with a tranquilizer. It's even worse when your GP doesn't believe you (in my case) or thinks it's depression-related tiredness.

You can try throwing in another drug or raising/lowering the dose. Higher doses work on more receptors, lower doses might relieve some of the zombie-like fatigue. Another solution is considering whether the VEN is disturbing your natural sleep (it'll be in your system 24/7) in that case agomelatine or a sleeping tablet could either help or make the issue worse. The opposite is of couse anything stimulating such as reboxetine or modifinil (interactions possible).

Best of luck!