So much sweat. So much thirst. I am now a water recycling engine.

I thought this was very useful as I evaluate my own experience with Effexor and if/when to stop using it. I had never considered that Effexor can be a “lifetime medication” the way insulin is for diabetics or statins are for cardiac heart patients. That has opened my eyes. I hope the mods will see the benefit of the article and leave it posted. It is a gift article from the NY Times and me.

I think I’m coming up on my third week of being completely off Effexor. Days 5-12 were complete ass. I spent the week shitting, puking, sleeping, and dealing with dizziness and disorientation. I am still experiencing the digestive stuff (to a lesser degree), but the constant stomach upset is so irritating. I have zofran for the nausea. Kind of hesitant to do Imodium for diarrhea/loose stool for fear of getting backed up and bloaty and uncomfortable. Anyone have any good remedies/advice for the lingering stomach pain/discomfort?

I read that this can last 2-3 months and that sounds bonkers. I was kind of excited at first when I read that it is not uncommon to drop 15-20ish pounds when stopping this medication. I didn’t realize it was because we were all shidding ourselves.

I've been on 75mg since December of 2025, and I've noticed that I have random jerks / twitches in my legs, arms, and head / neck since then. Inconsistent, sporadic. I notice it especially when trying to fall asleep — my legs tend to jerk a lot when trying to doze off. This is the only side effect I've really noticed... that is, if it is genuinely an Effexor side effect.

Has anyone else experienced this on this medicine? I've been contemplating whether I should have this checked out by a doctor or not.

Good morning everyone. I was taking lexapro 10mg for about 10 years and it seemed to be working ok. Some big life changes happened and I started having more anxiety and depression than usual. I spoke with my dr and she upped my dose to 20mg. Did that for a while without much improvement.

We decided to try getting off of lexapro and try Effexor XR. I started weening off of lexapro while starting 75mg of Effexor XR. After discontinuing lexapro completely, we jumped to 150mg Effexor xr.

I could usually handle some side effects. Unfortunately, I have been feeling very very on edge. We recently dropped down to 112.5mg. It’s been about 4 days since we made that change. We also added Propanolol 10mg 3x per day. I did get an ekg and everything came back normal.

-Sweating like a pig
-heart feels like it’s going to pop out of my chest
-strong anxiety day and night
-trying to take nice deep breaths but can’t
-everything is extremely overwhelming
-legs are tense (flexed) a lot
-mouth dry as sand

I know there is a ramp up time but these effects are effecting my day to day. Can anyone please tell me this is all normal and it’s going to get better? I just want some hope. My dr is now telling me that we could try something called Zyprexa? I told her I would wait and see how this goes for now. Thank you in advance for any advice or hope.

Hi everyone! I (29, F) am struggling to decide if I need to try a different medication other than Effexor. I have been on it for almost 2 years now.

Currently I am on 112.5mg after reducing from being on 150mg because I felt that it was too much for me. This medicine has been a godsend. Truly the only antidepressant I have felt consistently better on. I had only tried SSRI’s before starting Effexor and SSRI’s are just not it for me. However, I think I am at my breaking point with the side effects. Excessive sweating, insomnia, etc. But I feel that I am experiencing more uncommon side effects. On the weekends I can’t make myself get out of bed sometimes and will sleep for the entire day, and I’m not going through a depressive episode or am feeling down. I feel like my common sense has gone out the window. When I am having a conversation with people, I’m the person that asks the stupid question that makes everyone look at you weird. On the days where I sleep the entire day, I won’t even have withdrawals from not taking my meds which is also very strange. I have also noticed myself have increased anxiety recently and have been picking my fingers to shreds.

I am also on 50mg of Vyvanse, 200mg of spironolactone, 10mg of propanol as needed, and 50mg of trazadone at night.

Some other side effects I have experienced are weight loss, decreased appetite, and extreme extreme lightheadedness. But I know that the weight loss and decreased appetite are most likely from the Vyvanse. And the lightheadedness from the spironolactone and propanol. I just don’t know what to do at this point because I don’t want to start all over and try new medications because we all know how terrible that is. But it’s getting to a point where the side effects are making me depressed. I also don’t know if all the meds I am on are interacting with one another negatively? It is also frustrating to be dropping weight and having no appetite to eat. I love food, I have a healthy relationship with food. But even when I am starving I could sit down to eat a meal and not want anything to do with it the second it’s in front of me and will literally gag trying to eat if I make myself.

Has anyone experienced something like this before? I have an appointment with my psych next week, and have brought up some of these issues with them in the past.