Is venlafaxine right for me?

Hi honey, I would say give it a bit longer, it takes time. Longer than 4 wks for sure. Give it another couple of weeks. If you still feel the same, go back to the doctor. It's possible they may not be right or agree with you. Everyone's different. Hang in there! Donna xxx

Hi! I understand completely. After being on venlafaxine for 2 1/2 months I know what u r going thru. I was at 187mg IR. And doing nothing at that point. Worse than better. Started seeing a pdoc..finally diagnosed and now dropped to 150mg ER and started quetiepine 25. To 50mg... At night. Feeling better every day.. You have to find the right dose and combination... Just keep pushing forward..at times I would post to get feedback and receive none or negative.. This is a difficult disease to treat..no easy answers..Stay positive.. Talk.. Pray..meditate..you will find the,right meds and feel good again.. Follow your doctor'advice. Eventually it'll all come together!😊

We walk this road with many others... Stay positive..keep us,posted!😊

Hello, it took 10 weeks for me to notice improvements for depression, and another 5 weeks, to what i call a reasonable recovered state. Its 17 weeks now, and im still improving. It took so long, as i started in a bad state. A friend of mine, who has mainly very high anxiety, started ven just after me and hers took about 10 weeks, until improvements started. For both, when the improvements started, they snowballed quite quickly. I think generally, anxiety takes longer to get under control than depression. With depression, anxiety is last symptom to improve or go. As a rule of thumb, you need to give an anti depressant at least 12 weeks, to make sure you can rule it out. Gps and doctors talk about 6 to 8 weeks, but i think thats too optimistic, judging by myself, and most people on here. By 5 weeks, you shouldnt feel any worse than when you started, and you might see very small initial improvements, that come and go, that you may not even notice. When you increase a dose, you sort of start over again. At this point, you should give 150mg another couple of weeks, to notice any very slight improvements. If none, possibly you might need a dose increase. Its difficult to say at which point you should consider an increase. In my mind, i wanted to give the anti depressant every chance to work, by staying on it long enough, so i could safely rule it out. I gave my previous anti depressant 12 weeks to make sure, by which time it was obviously not working. If i hadnt given ven at least 12 weeks, i would have missed out on ven, giving me the excellent recovery ive had. Dont expect much from ven at the moment, just look out for any small improvements, that come and go. Also look back over the week you have just had, and try to compare it to how you felt when you started. Hope this helps.

I take 300 mg venlafaxine and 15 mg mirtazapine and they work great for me. I was diagnosed with treatment resistant depression three years ago and this combo has been like a cure for me. It does take a few weeks for these meds to fully kick in for the optimal effect. Hope you will feel better soon.

Hi honey, I'm good thanks. I suffer from generalised anxiety. Have done for 20 odd years. I've always been a confident person, never nervous about about anything eg job interviews, driving test. I remember the day of my test and dad saying:are you nervous? And I'm like, nope! And I wasn't. I was calm. In retrospect, I suppose that's a bit weird. When I had my first panic attack, I didn't have a clue what was happening. Its like you can literally feel the panic rising. My nerves were shot! Constantly shaky and nervous. Couldn't talk to people and eventually didn't leave the house. I know how hard it is to cope with, it can take over your whole life. Give your tablets a bit longer. Message me anytime. Privately if you'd prefer. Donna xxx