Venlafaxine newbie

[mishas]

Hello to everyone, I am really glad I found this forum as I see a lot of you have gone through or are going through what I am. I suffer from anxiety, occasional light to mild panic attacks and worst of all, fear of walking as I think I'll fall because I get dizzy from the anxiety. So my life has become a constant worry, I'm afraid of even drinking a glass of wine for instance as I now hate the feeling of not being in control and am always one step away from a PA when that happens. Everyday I struggle with the fear and worry and it's controlling my life.

I was on mirtazapine, very low dose, and although it helped me better evaluate situations, it did zero for my anxiety and fear. So I went to see a highly recommended psychiatrist, he prescribed me an SSRI at first but I told him I didn't want to take that so he went with an SNRI, venlafaxine in combination with trazodone. My dosage for ven is 75mg and that's what I'll be staying at. So I took one capsule yesterday and at first didn't feel anything but then I started getting increased anxiety and heart beat after every movement, sweating, very bad nausea and I get random thoughts which last for 5-10 seconds. Today I barely managed to get out of bed, was very dehydrated, feel a brain fog and confusion, nausea isn't that bad but when I start eating I have to do it carefully. Going outside is out of the question as I feel I'll get lost or something, basically I feel like in a dream but I'm not really scared if that makes sense? And the weirdest side effect is that I feel horny at times and trust me it's not in a good way..

I was supposed to take my second ven pill an hour ago but am scared. How bad should the side effects be before one can conclude that the drug is not suitable?

Thanks for all your help! Good luck to all, we are fighters!

[Pipkin]

Mishas

You're in good company as there are quite a few of us here who take venlafaxine and have found that it works really well.

Feel free to join in on some of the other active threads as this may be a way of getting some support.

Take care

Pip

[mishas]

Thanks, Pipkin, will do!

Just to share my experience from day 2 - I took the capsule at 4 pm because it took me 3 hours of self-convincing to take it again, but in the end I did. Interestingly, I experienced almost no nausea, my head had cleared a bit and there were no brain zaps. I followed the advice I read on here I should try to eat small but frequent meals and stay hydrated and I think that helped. I made sure whenever I felt a little nauseous to eat a bit of fresh fruit, that made it go away or at least I felt it was bearable. I even managed to get up and do some cleaning, take a shower and help with dinner preparation. I know it sounds silly but compared to the previous evening where I couldn't move it's a great improvement. I had anxious thoughts when going to sleep, I would get very real visuals and would wake myself up because of the anxiety that came with them. I had to drink water 4 or 5 times throughout the night, mouth was really dry. I will see how I am today when I take the capsule in the morning but so far I feel super energetic actually. Might be due to the drug combo?

[mishas]

Update on day 3 - I took the pill 2 hours earlier this time, managed to go outside and initially felt better but then at one point whilst browsing around in a shop thought I got lost and started to panic and became nauseous. I wasn't alone and got some help, basically at this stage I still feel I need to hold on to someone when this happens but that's because the drug hasn't kicked in yet I suppose. Then in the evening I started to feel very anxious and very depressed, intrusive thoughts started pouring in and if I would lay down I would feel worse, like my body was super tense and anxious. I went to sleep and for the first time in days actually managed to get good sleep so that's a bonus. When I woke up I felt it was Christmas day from several years ago, it was strange. Then I came to my senses but I definitely don't feel very happy at this point and even more so because I know I can't go outside on my own. Any advice on how to battle through this, is being depressed normal? I don't usually have those thoughts, I'm more the anxious type but not the overly depressed. It sucks :(

[SADnomore]

As your serotonin levels begin to stabilize, you will likely have a range of side effects. It is normal to experience these at first on any medication of this type. These have to be gotten through, before you can really tell whether the drug is suitable.

I'm sorry these effects are so disturbing at the moment, but if you can hang in there, it should get better. Ven is an activating drug, which in the end has helped keep me moving (I have depression moreso than anxiety). I am sure your pdoc believes it will be a big help to you as well. It has effects to help with both, and your combo sounds like a good one. Try to hang in there and do the best you can to manage with each day as it comes. You are not alone there, that's a plus, and it seems like you have lots of support. Lots of good reading on here, too, and yes, staying hydrated and eating regularly is the ticket! xx

[mishas]

SADnomore thank you! I am trying to stay positive. Today I had the least amount of downtime, mild heart pain and only 1 hour of being high and having worrying thoughts (some suicidal, like last night) but in general I managed to push through the day without any complains. Still can't go outside as I'm feeling a little more dizzy than usual. I am not worried about the increased anxiety but I am worried about the worrying thoughts since they are not typical for me. How connected are depression and anxiety?

[SADnomore]

Well, I don't feel qualified to answer that last question, I'm afraid. I think that the premise in this forum is that depression can follow anxiety when it has interfered significantly with one's life.

I feel I must add that whenever we find we are experiencing suicidal thoughts, particularly when dealing with medication changes, we need to report that to a doctor forthwith. For this reason alone, it is possible that it may be concluded that venlaxafine is not suitable for you.

Have you had such thoughts arising before? Did they occur when taking another medication? These are questions you may want to think about, and if you have even one more suicidal thought, please do not hesitate to get to a doctor, even if that means going to the hospital emergency department.

Everything else you have described does sound just like my first few days on ven, side effects can be very debilitating. Sorry to say.

Not to worry, there are lots of meds and med classes out there, if this one doesn't work out. xx

[mishas]

Update on day 5 - apart from feeling hyper and like I was going to explode out of my skin all morning long and currently, there have been no physical side effects at all today, no feeling of being high, no bad thoughts. I did some exercise, went outside on my own(not for too long since I start to panic pretty soon and things seem a little dreamy), in the past hour I've been sitting in the dark playing a game on my tablet and listening to music and I'm really enjoying it. The overall situation is still not ideal but I'll wait and see what happens in the upcoming days.

[SADnomore]

Sounds good!

[Dan1975]

Hi mishas,

It takes at least 6 weeks for you to feel the full benefit of any AD, so please don't judge it before then.