Effexor for Anxiety

[MChamp4]

Hey guys, I am new to the site and had some questions for the board. I have suffered form anxiety the past 8 years and have been on a few different meds. I was prescribed 75mg of Effexor in the fall which helped my anxiety until recently. 3 weeks ago my doctor upped my dosage to 150mg to handle increased anxiety. Since then I have felt extremely fatigued and very spaced out. Would this indicate that I am on a dose that is too high? Please help me out. I am a law school student and need to get this figured out. Thanks

[kconnors]

Hi,

So glad you came by . . . I cannot answer your question from personal experience, but a colleague had a similar experience with Effexor and her doctor felt it was due to increasing the dose too quickly . . . it worked better for her when she increased the dosage little  by little . . . .she was always fatigued and one day at work as a network administrator, she found herself staring at a server that she had to restart and she called me to ask me how to do it . . .. she was that spaced out . . . . but, do not self-adjust your medication . . .. Effexor like all drugs affect brain chemistry so if you have been taking 150 mgs don't simply stop . . .consult the prescribing doctor for his/her input . . . . being a law student is a stressful academic lifestyle, so I certainly can appreciate that sleep, etc. are at a premium. However, do take good care of your physical health as sleep, diet, and exercise can go a long way to helping you with managing anxiety and lack of sleep, diet, and exercise can also intensify anxiety . . . .when you can, let us know how you are doing . . . thanks for your posting . . .take care, KC

[armygirl53]

Hi there. I was also recently prescribed Effexor (37.5 mg - very low dose to start off with) for my anxiety. I have yet to pick up my prescription, but am also curious as to how the medication is going to make me feel. While I have never taken Effexor, I had a similar experience with Lexapro. I started off with 10mg and worked well with that amount. I was then brought down to 5mg after 6 months or so on the medication because I was beginning the weaning process due to weight gain. However, when my anxiety spiked back up and my dosage was again raised, I felt incredibly spaced out and strange, as well. It's likely that the jump from 75mg to 150mg is initially difficult to handle and your body needs to adjust to the dosage increase. If three weeks have gone by and you aren't feeling back to your norm, I would contact the doctor who prescribed you the Effexor and ask about these side effects. Do NOT return to 75mg without the consent of your doctor, as I've heard that Effexor withdrawal is absolutely horrific.

Good luck to you!

[jesses]

I was on it for 8 years and was constantly tired
I came off them last year ! I'm a bit sceptical about it along with other anxiety medication as it does not fix the problem, just masks it and I felt no emotion for a long time. Who wants to be like that?
Keep active get proactive! Combat it with healthy options like eating well, exercising, meditation
You can do it :)

[jesses]

Also the withdrawal when coming off them was one of the worse experiences I've had to endure

[socij]

I've been steadily going up on effexor for a month and for me it made me loose interest in all the things i like and caused me to self harm. I'm now going down from it. the fastness was probably your factor, or you just don't need that much. what seems to calm me down the best is petting an animal. since starting effexor I've had restlessness and discomfort in my arms and legs and just sitting and petting a dog helped a lot. a calm pet can relieve loads of stress.

[MChamp4]

Thanks for your help guys. It is weird because I am unsure as to whether the effexor is causing the "spaced out feeling" or if it is the anxiety. Last poster-I had some restlessness for a few days after starting effexor as well.