from citalopram to venlafaxine, good stories please!!!

[nicola1980]

I take mine about 7 in the morning, I insisted on being prescribed the actual effexor brand but i don't think there's much difference in them and the generics but I find they suit me so I stick with them. Anytime I can help just message I know how hard it is X

[maminooka]

My doc has just agreed to prescribe the slow release version so hopefully I will find things easier from next Tuesday when I start the 150mg.
Had some more good news this afternoon too - I was anxiously waiting for blood test results and they have all come back fine! I had convinced myself of all sorts... So relieved! x

[nicola1980]

That's brilliant, im sure you'll find the slow release alot smoother and easier, what a relief about your bloods too, I know we work ourselves up over things like that XX

[Annip]

Hi maminooka I take the slow release effexor 12 hours apart. !50 in the morning and 75 in the evening. When I first took ven it was in tablet form and I had 2 zopiclone every night and diaz during the day. I always took my ven after food..even if it was just a biscuit. I still do now I am on the slow release. You will find that now your are not as anxious over the blood test it will help. Just check with your doctor that you will have to increase cos my initial start up dose of 75mg was enough to work . see how you get on. It helped me once I started sleeping. Good luck with it all
Annip x

[maminooka]

Was that 15mg Zopiclone? I'm on 7.5mg but it doesn't work, I think I built up a tolerance when I was on Mert. Did your sleep get back to normal as soon as you went on the slow release or was it a while after? Thanks for replying!

[maminooka]

Also, I've just read this on a different website: "Venlafaxine belongs to the phenylthylamine class, which includes amphetamine, methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and methamphetamine".

No wonder I'm not sleeping and my eyes are like saucers! I don't understand how a slow release version of this drug will all of a sudden make me able to sleep? Can anyone help me with this please? I'm really scared now.

[nicola1980]

I've never heard anything like that about ven and I very much doubt it would be prescribed if that was the case, Google has alot to answer for!! Don't panic hun it's rubbish XX

---------- Post added at 21:12 ---------- Previous post was at 20:52 ----------

I've just had a quick Google and can't find anything to suggest ven has amphetamines in it, I came across people taking ven and amphetamine type meds together like concerta and ritalin which is used for the treatment of ADHD so please don't panic, you get dilated pupils at the start up of many ADs XX

[SADnomore]

Venlaxafine is sometimes called an activating med, but that's not the same as being an amphetamine. Once it gets to work, what it does, in my experience, is to make it easier to turn my thoughts away from the negative. Instead of helplessly being dragged down by a painful or sad thought or memory (leading to more such thoughts) right down into a depressed state, I find it has given me a bit of time to choose to not go with that first thought. After some time of me successfully steering my mind away time and again, these thoughts became fewer, and further apart. I am not totally immune to them, but they no longer consume or haunt me. I feel a more normal response. I acknowledge the sadness/regret/fear, but that's as far as I allow it to go. I believe that it has correctly adjusted my brain chemistry to give me this normalcy. I believe that I was deficient in serotonin, at least, and this has been addressed with venlaxafine. Feeling better came slowly over several months, but it was a steady progression.

I look at the "activating" part as just that: it has activated me, empowered me to let go the negative, which of course is what we need to be able to do in order for our mood to lift. Hang in there, and do give it plenty of time. If it is the right med for you as it has been for so many of us, it will be more than worth it, I promise! xx

[maminooka]

It was on http://www.emedexpert.com/facts/venlafaxine-facts.shtml

[nicola1980]

Ive just had a look at that link and from what I can gather in high doses it can have an amphetamine effect but this is more with alcohol and drug abusers, it doesn't actually contain an amphetamine xx

Hang on ive just reread it and it does say that oh my days!! xx