Is facial numbness, tingling, pins and needles a side effect?

Yes apparently you shouldnt go cold turkey coming off and should taper slowly but your gp would guide you.

No no side-effects similar to what I am experiencing?

Oops...cross out one 'no'. 

Not a thing.  I am fine and I am on no other medications.  My blood pressure is perfect and all is fine...The only reason I want to get off of this drug is because I constantly sweat.  And I mean SWEAT! Buckets!!  It is embarrassing.  . And I live in Florida which makes it even worse. I keep my air-conditioner so cold that my electtic bill is very high.. ...I went on this Patient site to see if anyone else had this and  sooooo many people do...I hate it..But after what I read, I am terrified of going off. Every single person has awful withdrawal symptoms even when they wean very, very slowly....

It is a high dosage.  I see my Dr. tomorrow.  I have checked out rare side effects. There is nothing in the literature, although when I google 'facial numbness' , venlafaxine comes up.  I also talked to my pharmacist who couldn't find anything. 

Maggie Purple was talking about taking a higher dosage, not about weaning off of it..She is having side effects while on the drug. I had none, but I am afraid to stop it...

Yep, know this, but still thought worth responding as symptoms seem to vary so much. I think it interesting that some withdrawal symptoms mirror increase in dose symptoms. This drug never ceases to amaze me. Sorry, I did not make this clear.  

Thanks. That's correct.

I find that interesting, too. I also find it interesting that no one else, so far, has this numbness and elevated heart rate.  My blood pressure is low/normal. 

Thank you for the link to the thorough information. My symptom has a name - paresthesia. 

Venlafaxinne is not a pain killer.  It is an anti-depressant.  Why were you given that for pain???  Makes no sense....

My Dr wanted to put me on Cymbalta which is for pain and depression. It would have cost me $200 so he told me Venlafaxine worked well for pain. It did, but I got aches and leg cramps. I then wanted to off them and I did slowly and I am off them. I still feel a little light headed and the leg cramps haven't gone away get. I do water aerobics and do feel better afterwards. I do a lot of water walking.

WOW.  I never heard of this before....I have been on Venlafaxine 225 mgs. for 14 years. It was for acute anxiety and it helped a lot.  It never helped me if I was in pain though.  I had a hysterectomy while on Venlafaxine and they gave me pain killers for the after surgery pain..My only complaint is the sweating....

That is interesting. I never associated my leg cramps with Effexor.

I have severe pain in head and neck and found that Diazipam and pain killers taken together work well. The muscles and nerves relax because of the diazipam giving relief which apparently makes the painkillers more effective. I wonder if this is where Doc (in part) was coming from though Effexor seems quite extreme when there are so many other options out there. The more I hear the more fascinating this drug becomes. 

Just to say, I have lost about 3 lbs since starting to reduce dose. Got to day 8 this week before I took my 'fix' - spent a couple of very tearful days beforehand but had to go to work. I do not understand why the manufacturer cannot offer a lower dose than 37.5. It seems to be so powerful that such would make sense. Well to me anyway!!

 

Hi did you suffer from really bad tiredness when you first started to taken Ven. If so when did this stop

Thanks

Neil x

Never had tiredness even when I first started taking Venlafaxine. It took away my anxiety which was a good thing.  I have been on it for almost 14 years now...My side effect is sweating...Really sweating badly even when it is cold out...Other than that, I feel fine.

Hi Neil. I am concerned about you. I thought I saw you stated in something else you wrote that this is the 1st med you have tried for your anxiety or depression. This is not a drug to be playing with, especially if it is this first one you have tried. Meds like this one could help you, but they could also mess you up for a long time. Did you get this prescription from a general practitioner, psychiatrist, or someone else? I would like to know why they chose a SNRI and not a SSRI.

My personal experience is that I have taken this med twice and the 2nd time realized it screwed up my ability to go into REM sleep properly and then I was tired throughout the day. I also developed a heart problem while taking this med. Trying to get off of it was a slow and painful process. I have been off for about 2 months now and I think my brain is still a little jumbled if not permanently affected from what has chemically happened to it.

For anyone who is reading this, if your condition is not improved by this medication, more than the side effects are worth, you need to carefully get off of it! The hippocratic oath for a medical doctors is "first do no harm." If this drug is harming you more than helping please question why you are taking it.

I have been given Venlafaxine as an antidepressant, but it seems to have increased the pain relief I have from Gabapentin, I searched online to see if there was any proof it had (or my nerve pain had miraculously disappeared) and found a study that showed people on Gabapentin + Venlafaxine had less pain than those on Gabapentin alone.