Side effects please help!

How are you getting on with your increase? Thankyou for your message and your right I guess I did increase fairly quickly. I spoke to my pysch who said to give it couple more weeks to see if the side effects improve. It’s just not nice feeling side effects as well as being depressed! 

Thankyou for your reply. I understand what your saying it may tAke longer for me but do you think it’s a bit worrying I have these intense side effects at 4 weeks after increase? I thought side effects were supposed to go after 2-3 weeks. 

What type of headaches are they ? Did you have them before ?

They are like tension headaches I think across forehead and eyes. I didn’t have them before and they are daily. 

I had them before the ven. I still get them sometimes. Was worse in the first 6 weeks on 150.

Nigel can I ask u a question u seem t9o know much more than me. I've seen people writing and you about snri and other letters wat does this mean. I'm now on velaflaxine. I've been on mitrazapine and citalopram are there's all the same snri you talk about just wondering x

Sure. There are different types of groups of anti depressants that are made out of different chemicals, and act in different ways to each other. The actual medications fall into one of these 8 or so groups. Ssris are one group/type of anti depressant that work in a certain way. Snris are another group that are similar, but work in a slightly different way. Mirtxapine is in a group of its own. Then there are older groups of anti depressants such as tricyclics and maoi's. Different groups suit different people. Nowadays, most people start on a ssri. These include zoloft, fluoxeteine and citalopram, and others. If they work for you great, as side effects are less than other types. If you have tried 2 or 3 ssris, and they havent worked, theres little point in trying any of the other ssris, as ssris arent suitable, or dont work for you. Then you go onto the next 2 groups, snris and mirtazapine. These 2 work differently to ssris. They both have low side effects and are good, and are tried when ssris dont work. There are some other groups with these 2. These are regarded as stage or tier 2 anti depressants. Venlafaxine is a snri. Stage 2 anti depressants are for more resistant anxiety or depression. If stage or tier 2s dont work, then combinations of different ones can be used. If none of these work, then the older type antidepressants, with more side effects can be used. Youve tried cit, mirt and ven. So a first and second tier ones. There would be little point in you trying a ssri again, although some people do with success. Its a question of trying different ones, until you find one that works. Cit is regarded as brst ssri, and ven best snri. Ven can be combined with a small amount of mirt. This combination makes each other work better, than what they do on their own. Hope it helps.

Thanks thats so helpful. I was in citalopram for over 10 years and it worked fab at the time. Then they added mitrazapine and I was never right on that but doctors thought maybe upping the dose would help but it never really did anything other than me putting on over 2 stone in 10 months. So I came off mitrazapine then that's when my problems all started it was hell. But I'm getting better mental health was called it n now I'm on venlafaxine 75mg twice a day n feeling much better. What do u think of this venlafaxine xx

Nigel I'm off citalopram and mitrazapine now just venlafaxine xx

Karen, i really like venlafaxine. I was in such a state from january to june, after a disaster trying citalopram. Its really pulled me back from complete misery. Took a long time to get going, and needed several dose increases. Despite time its taken, it always felt right, as no side effects, and

as its immediate release, i felt sort of dreamy about a hour aftef taking it. Id say i started gradually feeling better from 187mg onwards, which i started about 9 weeks ago. Such a transformation in last 9 weeks, and im still improving. Ive been on 225mg for last 7 weeks. Getting to 187mg took about 8 weeks, from initial 37.5mg. Those first 8 weeks were grim, as id got into such a state from citalopram. Still early for you, as you can see how long its taken for me. Keep at it. If you do as well, you will be satisfied with it.

Hi Nigel, when you say the first 8 weeks were grim what do you mean with side effects or with depression? I’m 9 weeks in total and 5 weeks on 225mgs. I’m still depressed. Anxiety has improved but I have no energy, No motivation, tired and I ache. Just keep lying around feeling sorry for myself. As I increased quickly to 225mgs do you think there is still chance it could work? I’m starting to worry. Thanks 

During my first 10 weeks on ven, i wouldnt get out of bed at weekends, and would take me 3 hours or so to get up during the week. I had no interest in doing anything. Couldnt watch tv, speak to friends or family, and couldnt read. Everything was just too upsetting. Even after i started improving, still wasnt interested in much. I stayed stayed with my parents for the weekend 7 weeks ago and didnt enjoy any of it, and wasnt interested in talking to them. Stayed with them 4 weeks later, and it was completely different and back to normal. It took ages to start to work, when i did start to improve, it was very slowly for about 3 weeks, then improvements snowballed. This puts your time line and situation into perspective. Took 10 weeks on ven, just to be able to get up on a weekend.

Awww that's great news thanks for your help Nigel xx