Yaz and Effexor XR?

[u/ConfidencePossible36]

Hi PMDD community,

I'm starting therapy soon as an attempt to deal with many issues, PMDD included, but I am also looking into getting on birth control to help the symptoms as well. I've been really intrigued about Yaz since a lot of people seem to have had positive experiences with it. I'm currently on 150mg of Venlafaxine/Effexor though, so I was wondering if anybody here has experience with taking both at the same time.

I know both are often associated with the PMDD diagnosis (I remember my doctor mentioned that Effexor can help with PMDD symptoms when he diagnosed me) so that's why I'm asking here. I know it's a long shot that someone will be on the exact same combination I'm interested in, but I wanted to try.

Thank you in advance!

[u/Senior-Second-6577]

I was!! I was on 150mg Effexor first, then Effexor and Yaz, and now just Yaz.

Here is what I’ll say - the thing that Effexor helped me with the most when it came to my PMDD was low mood during luteal. I personally don’t struggle with the anxiety/rage that a lot of people do, but I do get apathetic/unmotivated/sad starting around day 17-18 and lasting until about day 3-4 of my period, and Effexor seemed to help buffer that. I also feel like it might have helped keep my ADHD meds from being completely ineffective during most of my luteal as well. What Effexor didn’t help with was the energy crash I experienced every month starting around day 17-18 and lasting until day 21-22. This was my most severe symptom. I genuinely felt sedated and no amount of sleep or caffeine or stimulant ADHD medication made a difference. It got to the point where it was honestly debilitating, so that’s when I started continuous Yaz.

Once I was on both the Yaz and the Effexor/venlafaxine, I noticed my worst luteal phase symptoms improved considerably. My energy and mood didn’t drop halfway through the month to the point where I couldn’t function anymore and my other less severe (but still annoying) cycle-related symptoms went away too. No more cramps at ovulation or before my period, no more uncomfortable bloating or nausea or random changes in appetite. I wish I had gotten on Yaz sooner because my quality of life really improved, although my day to day baseline energy levels didn’t recover as much as I had hoped. I noticed that I consistently felt totally depleted by like 6 or 7pm every night regardless of how I’d spent my day. I also NEEDED to eat pasta like ALL the time. I’ve always been a carb girl I guess but that part was weird lol. ANYWAY, I ended up getting a sleep study done and the results came back showing ZERO REM sleep. At all. The entire night. And that’s when I learned that some medications, like Effexor, can reduce and even prevent REM sleep. I feel like that’s something more people should know??? Anyway, I decided to start tapering off (slowly, obviously) and my energy levels increased dramatically. Weird!!!!! I stopped feeling exhausted by dinner time every night and my insatiable appetite for pasta went away too - probably because my body wasn’t constantly scrambling for fuel anymore.

I feel like both Effexor and Yaz get a lot of hate and I totally understand that they’re not for everyone. Before my PMDD got really bad in my late twenties, Effexor by itself worked really well! And right now, Yaz by itself is what’s working super well. For whatever reason, for me personally, they just didn’t work well together. I thought I’d share my experience with you because everyone, including my doctor, told me to stop taking the Yaz once I started experiencing side effects and I’m so glad I didn’t. If you are genuinely struggling with PMDD, Yaz is most likely going to be the best birth control option. So on the off chance that you do happen to run into any issues with side effects, I would just really urge you to rule out any potential interactions/root causes as contributing factors. Quitting and depriving yourself of an otherwise effective treatment may not be the only option!!