[Jen]

Hi there. I have a question for those of you who have taken or currently take
Effexor. Do you find that it makes you feel very fatigued, does it depend on the dose, if you have been weaned off of it or down from a higher dose did you feel better or worse?

Why I am asking is that my husband has been taking it for a few years. Initially it was just a small dose, really just to level out his moods, not because he was really all that depressed. However he's had the dose increased over the past few years because of other health problems that we are now determining to be stress related. He has finally agreed to get counselling so I am hoping that these issues can be helped through that and he can be weaned off the Effexor. His fatigue level though has been tremendous and I am wondering if he needs to start weaning off it now to help with the fatigue. Any thoughts?

[adamczakt]

I'm currently taking effexor in a small dose. I was going through some stressful times in my marriage and the Dr. put me on this until I got through some tough times. I have a dr. apt. this mo. to discuss going off. At first I lost weight and now I am gaining weight and feel tired all the time. I have no energy to get up and do anything. I've gained 20lbs since Oct. 08. I know that it is a hard drug to wean off. You should talk to the Dr. first. I've spoke with people who have had bad withdraws from this drug.

[Jen]

He has an appt with his doctor about getting weaned off. I've been doing some research about this med and there are some scary withdrawal symptoms so I'm hoping this won't happen to him. He knows better to stop cold turkey and I'm a RN so I wouldn't let him do it anyway.

[EveLHaelf]

I'm taking Effexor and the only change i've noticed is that i'm feeling a bit more positive than I used to. I can actually get out of bed in the morning and do things instead of just vegging out on the couch. So I guess It's helping me, I hope that I don't have a hard time with withdrawal when it's time for me to stop taking it....

[SpinyNorma]

At the moment I am on 300mg and don't notice a change in tiredness from the 225mg dose. I do experience hypersomnia a lot which is why my doc puth the dose up to 300mg - he says some patients do get a slight energising effect from that higher dose. I will keep my fingers crossed!

[harrismm]

I am on a similar med,Pristiq.Verrrrrrrrrrry fatigued.