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Started Venlafaxine 37.5 and feeling awful.

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chelsea17707
chelsea17707

Hi I am new to this site and would really love to get some advice. I was on 20mg of celexa for 18 months when it suddenly stopped working. My doctor upped it to 30mg which did not help. I weaned off celexa for 2 weeks and started the Venlafaxine 37.5 and have been on it for 12 days now. At the moment I am just feeling awful. All I want to do is sleep/lay around. And the nausea is unbearable. I can go all day without eating which certainly doesn’t help my energy level. This is just so unlike me which could be contributing to my anxiety as well. I am normally very active and outgoing. Having to turn down fun things with my fiancé, family and friends because of the fact that I am purely exhausted is making me feel depressed. I just feel like I am at a loss right now. 

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2 Replies

  • julia28961
    julia28961 chelsea17707

    Posted

    Hi Chelsea.

    I started on Sertraline for a couple of weeks and felt really ill on it so my doctor switched me to Venlafaxine 37.5mg, which I took for 2 weeks before increasing my dose to 75mg extended release. The first 2 weeks on the 37.5 was hard and my anxiety was so much worse, which is normal when starting on Venlafaxine. I still have a reduced appetite but the nausea passed after about 3 weeks. The extended release stays in your system and lot longer and keeps a constant dose. The first 2 weeks I was up and down but in the third week (this week) I have started to feel much calmer, although I still have some anxious moments. I am confident that in the next 2 weeks I will feel much better as I was on it 9 years ago and it worked well. Hang on in there, it will get better. I find doing mindfulness, yoga and breathing exercises alongside the medication really helps.

    • chelsea17707
      chelsea17707 julia28961

      Posted

      That’s a relief to hear. I know the goal is to increase me to 75mg and I go back to the doctor tomorrow. I get worried that I will be even more tired with the increase though! Did you ever have the sleepiness as a side effect? I sleep a full 8 hours and then wake up feeling like I haven’t slept at all. It’s awful. 
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