Prescribed Venlafaxine advice please

[ruth76]

Hi all
I have currently been on Sertraline for a year starting on 50mg increasing to 100mg. Sadly I've become quite unwell again mainly depression don't suffer with anxiety much at all. But could of been the sertraline stopping that. The Dr asked me to wean off the sertraline which I have done. Will be starting the Ven tomorrow 75mg I've never heard of this drug before. After looking on Google (big mistake!) I am a bit nervous to take it. It has awful reviews especially the withdrawal. The sertraline wasn't helping and I have put on 15kg which isn't good as I'm recovering from major spinal surgery. The Dr thinks this will be a better drug for me and says not many people gain weight. I can cope with side effects as have had to take lots of meds before and after surgery. Some of the opiates I took had awful side effects. So I have diazepam and Xanax if needed please share your experiences also which is a normal dose for this med thanks 😊

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Ruth,

Ven gets some good reviews on here from people that take it. It's mixed, of course, but not the typical horror stories the internet shows about probably every antidepressant ever created.

I expect you will get some posts off people soon but if you have a look at some of the threads below I suspect you will see some names posting that you know e.g. Pipkin, Nicola1980, SADNoMore, pinkdove, etc and they will probably spot your thread.

If you can cope well with side effects, you are half way there with any of these meds. From what I know, SNRI's act as SSRI's until they reach a certain threshold which for Ven is 150mg. This is just because they are not interacting with the norepinephrine receptors with much strength until then. I'm on Duloxetine and my threshold is 60mg. I can tell you that the side effects for the SSRI level dose (30mg) were quite similar with nausea, dizziness, tiredness, etc. Going to 60mg was a much bigger challenge as the side effects are more anxiety based e.g. agitation, adrenaline rushes, etc. Not everyone gets them though and I've seen people on my SNRI that have had very little start up side effects. People on here using Ven can tell you better.

[Tims]

Hey Ruth
Terry's right, every pysch drug of any type has lots of bad reviews.
I started Ven last year and was initially worried, but it was the same with Paxil and duloxeteine. For me Ven has been better than many others with surprisingly few side effects. My advise to you is not to worry and not to look too deeply into negative comments,just as many positive if not more.
Tc
Tims

[Istherehope?]

Hi Ruth, I've been on Ven since mid December, was on 75mg once a day for about a month which helped quite a bit and then increased to 150mg (75 in the morning 75 in the evening) which has really improved things for me. I had less side effects with Ven than with Citalopram and Mirtazipine but I am still on Mirtazipine so that may have lessened side effects I guess. Main thing I noticed was a bit of dizziness and yawning - which is very manageable - and maybe slight increase in anxiety but that may have been my own stress levels.

I think it's meant to help potential nausea if you eat something when you take the tablet.

Hope it goes well. I understand the fear factor after googling. Ven seems to generate some pretty bad withdrawal stories but I think extremely slow tapers can work...and it may be a long time before we have to cross that bridge!

[ruth76]

Hi all thanks for your advice I took 75mg this morning and was ok it's the slow release one. No side effects so far just my left eye was twitching for a while but overall nothing bad. I was quite hungry though hoping this one won't make me gain weight like the sertraline. Can you drink alcohol with Ven? I drank on sertraline and was fine.

[Istherehope?]

I was told a glass or two would be ok but not to overdo it with alcohol.

I've heard there's less side effects on slow release Ven so hopefully the start up will be ok for you.

Ven has increased my appetite but I was losing weight before so it might just be that I'm hungrier now I'm feeling better, hopefully it won't make you too ravenous.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I know some SSRI's, Citalopram for instance, interact with a certain gut receptor and irritate it initially hence taking them with food helps. It's always worth a try. Some meds are affected by food so you might want to look that up as it can lengthen the absorption time, not that I think that would be an issue with a short half life med like Ven.

It's good your GP has put you the XR, people on here seem to indicate they have less problems with that then than the normal one which has to be due to the even shorter half life issue of the Ven standard.

If you drank on Sert, you will probably be fine. It's one to monitor, alcohol is an individual issue but if you were fine with Sert, you obviously aren't as sensitive as some people. The only thing to consider is that alcohol can increase side effects of these meds and since you are going through the side effect window, it could be possible. But the side effects tend to be limited to things like dizziness.

According to Drugs.com's interaction checker it says this:

Interactions between your selected drugs



Moderate
ethanol  venlafaxine

Applies to: Alcohol (contained in alcoholic beverages) (ethanol), venlafaxine

Using venlafaxine together with ethanol may increase side effects such as dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, and difficulty concentrating. Some people may also experience impairment in thinking, judgment, and motor coordination. You should avoid or limit the use of alcohol while being treated with venlafaxine. Do not use more than the recommended dose of venlafaxine, and avoid activities requiring mental alertness such as driving or operating hazardous machinery until you know how the medication affects you. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns. It is important to tell your doctor about all other medications you use, including vitamins and herbs. Do not stop using any medications without first talking to your doctor.


That's a pretty standard interaction. I've seen it on Citalopram, Sert, Duloxetine, etc. Just remember that these interactions can also be on Benzo's too and theirs tend to be a bit different (I recall Diazepam can make the effects of alcohol stronger).