Venlafaxine

My psychiatrist recently within the last week or so put me on Venlafaxine HCL for my depression, and I was doing fine, but this morning I started having really bad and scary hallucinations (I've always had hallucinations). My psychiatrist said there was a possibly it could cause anxiety and hallucinations, but "hopefully not"... well I guess I am just one of the lucky ones that has the side effects! Yay! (not!)

I don't know what to do, I've already taken 2 valium (which I am on for anxiety), and I cant take anymore, I'm only supposed to take it twice a day. And I took a Ziprasidone HCL (generic Geodon), which my psychiatrist actually only prescribed it to take once a day at bed time, and my hallucinations and anxiety is still really bad! I have been on Geodon before and it helped within like a hour, but I've never taken the generic, so I'm thinking maybe the generic stuff doesn't work for me cuz I know generic and brand name drugs can work differently cuz they might have different chemicals and stuff, but generic was all my insurance would cover. It won't cover real Geodon.

I don't know what to do! Help!

after my refusing for months, my P doc insisted i take venlafaxine. so to shut her up i agreed, i took the first one at 7pm an a Friday evening, by 4pm the following day i was just about able to drag myself downstairs, onto my scoot and to the chemists in my PJ's. the chemist took one look at me and phoned both my doc and a cab to get me there. never again will i take it, i was so ill for well over a week, all because of one single tablet. All my doc could offer was to tell me to go home and sleep till it wore off and not to take anymore. my PDoc was not happy when i said how ill it made me and that i wouldn't take it again, butafter a chat with my doc they agreed it would be better to stop taking it, which was all fair and well as i already had!

Venlafaxine can really mess with you. Needless to say, if it makes you that sick, you should not be taking it!

To OP, if Venlafaxine is causing the hallucinations, it might not be the drug for you, regardless of other drug effects.

Just called pdoc and left a message telling him that the Venlafaxine was giving me really bad anxiety and hallucinations. I asked them if they could ask him to call me something else in to my pharmacy, I also asked if I could increase my Ziprasidone since my hallucinations are so bad. Just waiting on a call back now.... *crosses fingers*

Hey guys i just started taking 37.5 mg of Venlafex and as ive never taken anything like this before was worried about side effects, im taking it for anxiety and depression and i took my first at 2pm yesterday, felt kind of hyper but tired and a little giddy then come 10/11 pm i felt realy axious and dizzy, like i was drunk and my pupils where bigger than normal, i feaked out for 2 hours thinking i was going to faint or something then got up this morning nd still feel dizzy and anxious an jittery, is this normal and how long do these feelings last? i don't want to take them again as they made me feel worse than i did before i took them. any advise would be much appreciated thanks

It's very hard to tell you exactly how long that will last. Initial side effects are typically less than two weeks, but if it gets worse, or you really feel awful, call your doctor or a pharmacist. And know that you aren't dying, it is a side effect. Can you take comfort in that?

Thanks onionknight yes that does help a lot

I take 225mg of the extended release capsules. No side effects and is the only med that works for me.

OP: You should be able to get your insurance to cover brand if you have your psychiatrist write up a prescription for the brand name and add "dispense as written." You should call your insurance company and ask if they allow this exception.

I am on 375 mg Effexor XR (as well as lithium, lamictal, naltrexone, and propranolol). It works very well as an anti-depressant but I do get headaches if I take it later than usual. I tried to switch meds years ago, but became extremely suicidal while tapering down on the Effexor.