Improvements on Venlafaxine

Posted , 5 users are following.

Hi all who have recovered from depression with Venlafaxine or  are a bit further in their recovery. I have been been unwell for quite a while now and being on Mirtazepine by itself brought me down to the darkest place I could ever imagine. I have been getting really bad anxiety since August related to being still depressed. I have just started 8th week on Venlafaxine (2 weeks in 225) and my anxiety related to not improving has calmed slightly down in the past 2 days. However my mood is still depressed and flat. I have been able to do little jobs such as cleaning or small shopping to distract my mind but I still have no interest in things I used to like doing. Does anxiety usually improve first and then mood? I know it takes up to 6 weeks to feel better after each increase but I feel mentally and physically exhausted by my stubborn depression. 

0 likes, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • Posted

    early on in recovery, or after a dose increase, anxiety tends to go up, then you calm and go back into depression. you then go backwards and forwards between each state, sometimes with a good period in between. each time you go back into a state, its gradually not quite as bad as the previous one, until you become more balanced, bit like slowing down on a see saw. once you become more balanced, then your rate of revovery picks up. improvements can be hard to notice for some time, then they seem to take off. its different for everyone though. some improve much more quickly, and for others, much longer. the state you were in at the start, probably has a lot to do with it. even though you still feel deadfull or no better, if you get a sense that its working, its just a matter of waiting for the improvements to take off.
    • Posted

      Nigel always makes me feel better too. I've been on venlafaxine for about 14 weeks now touch wood I've been doing much better but earlier on when I was on a lower dose I wasn't so good give it another couple of weeks n see how it goes . I know how tough it can get believe me I was so ill I thought that was it n that I'd never recover. I never left the house my anxiety was thru the roof I ended up with the mental health crisis team been called too my home. But I did get better in venlafaxine it just took time xxxxx

    • Posted

      Thanks Karen, I have had tough 2 weeks after increasing to 225 and I felt dreadful: extreme fatigue, headaches, dizziness... and I honestly thought that’s it- I will never recover and will stay like this forever. I am now waiting...trying to do something during the day which is not always easy. I have a 4 year old to look after so I am desperate to feel ‘normal’ again! Xxx
    • Posted

      Mitrazapine made me feel worse too xx and now I have issues with my sleep because of it xx
    • Posted

      Hi Karen, my anxiety related to being depressed for a while and not feeling better has eased this week. I hope my mood will start lifting now when my brain does not get constantly flooded with stress hormones. I will be starting week 9 on Monday and 4th week on 225. What an awful journey... x
    • Posted

      I know it's not easy . I'm having a bad day one of they days u just want too stay in house blinds down away from people. But u can't you be got a family too look after feel as if I can't even hold a conversation with someone today hopefully it will pass xx

  • Posted

    Hi,

    I started Venlafaxine around July 20th and have been at my current dose (150mg) for more than a month now. As Nigel said, I am still circling around, with a cycle that goes from anxiety (2-3 days) to mild depression (1-2 days) to feeling normal (5-6 days), then back to anxiety. I am being followed by a psychiatrist and a CBT therapist. Both agree that the dosage is OK and that it's only a matter of time before this cycle turns into moments of anxiety, moments of depression and feeling normal most of the time.

    The psychiatrist, in particular, told me that TYPICALLY depression improves first and anxiety improves more slowly, but that's in fact because - in his experience - most patients he meets have a prevalent anxiety disorder with secondary depression, while only a minority have a prevalent depressive disorder with anxiety as one of the symptoms. In the latter case, he says, it is well possible that anxiety is reduced before depression is taken care of. 

    I would say you hang in there and wait things to go as Nigel told you they should. Don't misunderstand me, I know it's hard to take this advice when you're down. I am doing the same and when I have a bad day I just lose my faith that I am getting anywhere better, despite doctors and friends and people on the forum telling me otherwise. But then after my "cycle" is complete I almost go back to feeling normal and all this despair goes away and I ask myself how could I not believe things were going to improve just a day earlier.

    I think your expression "desperate to feel normal again" sums it up perfectly. Keep up the great work you're doing and keep us updated. All the best.

    • Posted

      Thank you for a nice and encouraging message x 

      I think this is what has been happening in the past 3 days. My anxiety has calmed down a lot and I hope depression is next... Anxiety came later and became severe when I felt like going round the circles and not getting better but worse. As I started my 3rd week on 225 and have overcome all the side effects  I be believe more improvements are just round the corner. X

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