I'm on 150 mg of Venlafaxine ER and it's the best drug for me emotionally that I've ever taken. The withdrawals from missing it one day are horrific though. I missed it one day and seriously thought I had a stroke.

But now that I'm up to a theraputic level (at 75 mg the norepinephrine isn't even affected) my hands don't shake nearly as much, my headaches have stopped, I'm not suicidal and I frankly feel great.

But I would agree, it's a bit of a last ditch medication. Try everything else first because Venlafaxine can be a brutal one.