No improvement in my GAD and SAD - Feeling helpless
Posted , 6 users are following.
Switched from zoloft straight to venlafaxine some time ago, and yes it has helped my panic disorder but i've yet to see any improvement in my generalized and social anxiety. My doctor has told me that i will get the full effects of the medicine in 2 weeks time, but i've been on 75mg for 17 days to begin with and am now on 150mg on 12 days so far without any improvement. I'm just asking here because my doctor doesn't seem very knowledgeable in this department so i just want to double check with some of you guys if 2 weeks seems like a reasonable time to get the full effects? Should i ask for a new medicine perhaps? Thankyou.
0 likes, 17 replies
helen07497 john12745
Posted
hi John
From my experience i was on 75mg for 2 weeks and 150mg for 4 weeks with no improvement . i went on diazepam to help me through it i went back to doc and he put me on 225 mg and it took a few weeks before i felt better i would hang in and if mo improvement in few weeks ask to get upped again
hope u feel better soon im sure everyday is like a week thats wat i felt
john12745 helen07497
Posted
Thankyou very much helen, yes the days feel quite long although i have some alprazolam to take on the roughest days, most days i manage without. Will hang in there a couple more weeks!
nigel45109 john12745
Posted
hello,
its way too soon to feel any improvement. you need to have been on 150mg of ven for at least 6 weeks, to notice first improvements. ven works differently above 150mg, and tends not to work that well for anxiety above that dose. obviously, some exceptions, as 225mg worked for the other poster. generally, above 150mg it works well on depression, but makes people too anxious if their issue is more anxiety than depression. i would expect you to have a quicker improvement staying on 150mg. your dr may not even try you on 187.5 or 225mg, because your anxiety will probably go through the roof initially, particulary if no benzos to get you through it.
john12745 nigel45109
Posted
Thankyou very much Nigel, it feels reassuring that it's too soon to really tell if it's helping or not. Yes i've read that it starts to affect the norepinephrine for some even starting from 150mg which sounds counterintuitive but i hope that's not the case for me. I will stay on 150mg for 6 weeks until i contact my doctor. One positive thing so far for me is that i can workout much harder in the gym without feeling that i'm gonna have a panic attack, even tried to run a bit but stopped after 3 minutes, but one step at a time.
nigel45109 john12745
Posted
thats a really good sign, finding excercise easier, suggests a reasonably good lowering of anxiety, quite soon on. try to make sure you dont push yourself too hard, and elevate your anxiety. have to be honest, apart from the other poster on here, i havent come across anyone getting a good anxiety recovery above 150mg of ven. you are better off having a low dose of mirt added, than going above 150mg for anxiety. .
haydenm nigel45109
Posted
hi john, yes definitely hang in there, its too soon for you. i have been on 150 for 5 weeks now and just beginning to feel therapeutic benefits, but nowhere near the full effect yet.
interestingly, i too have seen exercise improvement since on ven. back on the 4th of july i was suffering side effects and decided to push myself for a run. i havent missed a day of running since! tonight will be the 19th day in a row of running.
hang in there it gets better
nigel45109 haydenm
Posted
good to see you are improving hayden. john is in the same place you were in. ven seems to take much longer than most to work. it takes a lot of faith to keep with it. i didnt notice first benefits until 10 10 weeks, but it then took off. i gave it so long, as if it works for you, tends to work well. its a med you want to give every chance to work, as next group of anti deps have more side effects. if 150.mg is not enough, pristiq, the newer cleaned up version of ven might be worth trying, as its more seratogenic than ven.
haydenm nigel45109
Posted
thank you. yes i would say it takes a degree of faith, but only because the depths of depression makes one believe that a life worth living is forever beyond reach..
i would say to stick with any antidepressant med for at least 8 weeks
johannes70131 nigel45109
Posted
I used an email that i can't remember so i created a new account on my main e-mail (i'm john12745 but johannes is my real name). I'm just wondering if you mean that the normal venlafaxine takes 6 weeks to work or the extended release one? I have the extended release version but i don't know if it's any difference in how long time it takes for it to take effect.
johannes70131
Posted
Also started to feel quite nervous in my stomach, 150 might be too much but i'll stick to it.
nigel45109 johannes70131
Posted
ive always taken immediate release. i think its slightly quicker to work, but probably not much difference. i said 6 weeks on 150mg to see first signs, on the assumption you have been on 37.5mg or 75mg for a few weeks prior, so 9 to 10 weeks from actually starting ven. took 10 weeks for me, from very start.
haydenm johannes70131
Posted
ya myself as well- 150 on extended release took around 6 weeks for side effects to subside and start to see slight benefit.
stomach issues will sort out over time, no worries. i had the same thing
johannes70131 nigel45109
Posted
By the way, i'm just curious how it feels when the venlafaxine starts working? On zoloft i was quite apathetic (which was quite nice since i had no anxiety). Do you feel normal or "weird" on this medicine?
phyllisj john12745
Posted
John I would resist a move from 150 to 225 as long as possible. Ven is a weird drug that doesn't play by the rules. Dr's don't know enough about it to advise you properly (IMHO), you would imagine that you should be seeing improvements by now but some people take longer than others to pull back up again. That said 12 days is very early in a treatment program when it can take 12+weeks to really see and feel any positive effects. Good luck, Phyllis
johannes70131 john12745
Posted
Ok now it's starting to work, been on 150mg for 5 weeks (7.5 weeks in total). Given that it took almost 5 weeks to even notice something maybe i increased too early, but i wont decrease for quite some time since i feel like im starting to gain some sense of stability.
johannes70131
Posted
(i increased from 75 after only 17 days)
johannes70131
Posted
Spoke too soon anxious as hell right now, damn it.