Starting on venlafaxine.

hi. i am starting to go off of lexapro 15mg now but in 2 weeks will be starting effector xr .. at 3.75 mg.. am i was hoping to get some info on the effector ..  how do you feel and how did you feel going off of your other med..  can you give me a summery of what your experence is with effector?  any help 

Hello, I'm a couple of weeks ahead of you. Tapered of cit, as was too anxious. Did 10 days 20mg cit, 37.5 mg of effexor. 2 days ago dropped to 10mg of cit and upped effexor to 75mg. Have to admit I am very low. No issues with taking effexor though. 2 more weeks of this, then drop cit and increase effexor up to 150mg. Hate these tapered switches. If you don't respond to a couple of ssris, effexor is next logical choice. If depression is bad, I don't think you get much in way of improvements until you've been on 150mg for a while. Not for all though. So difficult waiting for improvements.

Effexor is supposed to be better at treating bad depression, than ssris.

Think you mean 35.7mg of effexor. That is a very low dose for effexor. In UK they can start you on 75mg, which is still not high. 150mg seems a common eventual dose, though can go to 225mg. Think when you switch from another anti depressant, they like to start you off on half starting dose of 35.7mg. 75mg to 150mg seems average dose of where people end up on. Effexor is supposed to be more effective for people where ssris haven't worked, than for people going into effexor as their first anti depressant. Lots of horror stories about it, mostly coming off it. My current state means I prefer to see if it works, than worrying about coming off it. Benefits quite a few people where ssris haven't worked. If ssris haven't worked, then the next one you want to work is effexor.

My experience

Was on 40mg of cit 45mg of mirtazapine and 10mg of valium. The cit made me much worse. I tapered the cit to 30mg for 4 weeks then 20mg fir 4 weeks then 10mg for 2 weeks. Felt a bit better by 10mg. The day after i stopped cit i took 37.5mg of ven i felt really low for a couple if days then a bit better after 2 weeks went to 75mg of ven then 2 more weeks 150mg of ven. Over that time my mood was very erratic but better than on cit. It was not till 6 weeks on 150mg of ven that i noticed an improvement. It was gradual from then. I feel the mirtazapine is not helping me so am now tapering that slowely as i have been on a high dose for 2 years.

I did not have any bad side effects from the ven but i did feel particularly bad before they started to work. I was at my worst just before the 6 week mark. I have been on 150mg for over a year now. I still struggle but not as much as before and i think that is more side effects from the mirtazapine and a physical condition i am dealing with.

i am sorry  i don;t know what 55r1s is..   i am so new at this,

same thing.. what does cit mean..  

what does ssris mean... i am sorry

what is cit?  i am sorry new at these

 

Thanks Sarah. Gives me a very good idea of what I can expect. Over last 13 weeks, cit has made me worse. Anxiety was unbelievable.

Cit is citalopram. Ssri is a seratonin anti depressant, a snri is a seratonin and norpinephrine anti depressant. Ssri works on one chemical in balance, snri works on 2.

SO IF I AM ON LEXAPRO NOW.. GOING OFF AND STARTING EFFEXOR XR.  IN A WEEK.  I AM SO NEW TO THIS I DON;T THINK I AM GOING TO UNDERSTAND YOU..   ITS ME.. NOT YOU..   I AM JUST A 56 YR OLD THAT WANTS HELP WITH EFFEXOR.  THANK YOU SO MUCH..  

thank you for sharing . i just relized that you wrote me back..     you have been on this med for a while.  how do you feel now.    i won;t be starting ven til fri or sat   my doc wants me to take 4 days on lex 5mg before i swithch to the ven.  starting at 37.5 for 7-10days then 75mg 7-10 days then she will go from there... i would like to know if you will keep me posted on how you are doing so i can be ready for my new med.   

I am alot more stable than i was but i am reducing my mirtazapine now so that may upset things.