Venlafaxine

Hey everyone hope you are all well?? I have a question to ask and I hope someone can help me....... I’m currently on 225mg venlafaxine and since it’s been upped I’ve been having horrible dream and realistic ones too where I recognise the face but the place is unknown to me and then some nights it’s vise versa I just want a good nights sleep without any dreams every night I can guarantee I have one thank you for reading 💗

[Sprinkle1]

I was on that for over a year, the side effects were awful, especially the dreams and nightmares, I have since come off it.

It is not easy to change med's but I had too, and now I am going thru pill roulette, I felt great in the beginning but then my mind revolted then my mind rejected them. I am on Abilify now dealing with a new set of side affects!!!

Hang in there sister, we are here to help you if we can, write to us and we will reach out to you. I send you love, hugs, peace Sprinkle 1.

[Hidden in reply to Sprinkle1]

I’m the same I’ve been on so many different anti depressant tablets I thought these was the best but it’s not the dreams are horrible I’m not sleeping I just want to have a decent night sleep I have a telephone conversation with my doctor tomorrow morning so I’ll see what he says thank you I received your love and hugs so I’m going to return them back to you take care and thank you for replying

[just_here]

i have been there when i started to take pills i was having bad dreams but since i was in a mental hospital i doctor helped me out and got me back to sleep normal maybe you can dot he same go to a doctor or a psychiatrist and tell them about your dreams they might give you more meds or change meds but its worth a try right

[Hidden in reply to just_here]

I am going to tell my doctor about what has been happening at night time and to see what he can do I don’t know what else to go on as I’ve been on that many different medication over the past?

[Brookiesb in reply to Hidden]

Try desvenlafaxine (brand name Pristiq)!! Worked the same as venlafaxine for me, but without such terrible side effects. Venlafaxine/Effexor & desvenlafaxine/Pristiq are the ONLY antidepressant meds out of what I tried that have worked for me. Wellbutrin helped a bit in combination WITH Effexor for awhile when I started feeling like the Effexor alone just wasn't cutting it. I've also tried Celexa & Lexapro, & neither of those worked at all for me.

[Hidden in reply to Brookiesb]

I’ve been on that many different medication I honestly can’t name them all but venlafaxine is the best so far until recently

[Brookiesb in reply to Hidden]

If it's just been an issue since your dosage was increased, then it sounds like the dosage needs to be decreased again. As I said on my other response, your dosage sounds like it may be too high? 225mg sounds like a LOT for that med, in my opinion. If you were having problems with depression more again at your original dosage before the last increase, but weren't experiencing the sleeping/dream issues then, I would ask your doctor about decreasing venlafaxine again, & putting you on a low dosage of an additional, different antidepressant. As I said, I was helped when prescribed bupropion/Wellbutrin at a 300mg dosage in addition to the 150mg of venlafaxine I was on.

[Imakook]

I know my husband is on only 75 mg (no more per his request since he drives a semi for work). He's noticed that when he doesn't take it (forgot to take) he has vivid, horrible dreams.

Good luck, hon. Be sure to keep us posted. Looks like more questions than answers on this one!

[Hidden in reply to Imakook]

I’ve never not took my medication as I’ve been told that can happen but I still get horrible dreams and thanks I will keep u up dated

[Brookiesb]

Ah... the ever wonderful & yet horrible at the same time Effexor!! Lol I was on it for many years... starting back in 2009. Finally quit it a year ago, had a bad situation with depression again for a bit, & tried to go back on it, but found it was giving me a terrible, unnatural level of tiredness now... I could do almost nothing but sleep, & with depression I have enough issues with wanting to sleep constantly anyway, so don't need the med that's supposed to be helping me, causing that problem even worse for me! So be careful with venlafaxine... I've learned apparently you can apparently develop some sort of almost "intolerance" to it after awhile if you go on & off it too many times. Getting off of it is a nightmare also. Not too bad if you do so under your doctor's care & wean off it slowly, but I never had time or patience for that, so I'd go thru the week of absolute horror of being extremely sick that it took formy body to detox from it.

That said, yes, it can & will give you crazy vivid dreams & nightmares. I even experienced my one & only instance I've ever had of sleep paralysis while on that med & I hope I never experience sleep paralysis again, because it's the most horrifying thing. On a regular basis I would have incredibly vivid dreams that felt so real I actually woke up in a panic one time, fearing I had accidentally run someone over. I'm the type of person who very rarely remembers my dreams... but on venlafaxine I remembered them on a pretty regular basis. Sometimes I enjoyed that since it would be almost like having watched a cool movie while I slept... one that doesn't actually exist, but I could give producers some good movie ideas based off some of those dreams! Haha Other times they were scary & I didn't enjoy it at all. Anyway, they've gone away since I stopped the med, & I'm back to my usual state of feeling like I don't dream, which is actually just not recalling dreams.

I tried many different antidepressants, & venlafaxine was one of the only ones that worked for me. For awhile I took it along with Wellbutrin (not sure of the technical drug name for that). I was never at a higher dose than 150mg of venlafaxine/Effexor however. When I complained to my psychiatrist of side effects of venlafaxine at one point, she put me on desvenlafaxine (brand name Pristiq) because it works in a similar manner to venlafaxine, but has less negative side effects. So you may want to give that a try if venlafaxine has worked well for you, but the side effects (such as the dreams) are just too much. I stayed on the Pristiq for quite awhile & for me it worked just as well as the Effexor, but didn't have so many negative effects. Good luck to you! Hope you find something that works!

[Hidden in reply to Brookiesb]

Thank you for this reply I’ve spoken to my doctor this afternoon and he has just said for me to basically stick to what I’m on and he will see me in three months he doesn’t want to reduce the amount or increase it so I’m stuck feeling like this and having horrible dreams if it carry’s on I will have to see another doctor

[Brookiesb in reply to Hidden]

I would go see a different doctor. How long have you been on venlafaxine, & how long has it been since your dosage was increased? I'm not sure where you live or what the laws are there regarding these meds, but every doctor & psychiatrist I've dealt with here in the States always wants to see patients back in no longer than a month after prescribing new med, upping dosage, etc. And they've taken it pretty seriously & been willing to try something else if I tell them I'm having a problem with a current med. The only time I've ever been asked to wait a bit to see if a med will work better after awhile, is if it's been less than a month I've taken it. And no doctor should tell you that you need to wait 3 months, when you're going in & have legitimate complaints & problems with the med. I would be appalled! Another month maybe, at most, depending on how long you've been on your current dosage already. But 3 months is insanity! Find a physician who listens to your concerns & is willing to try to do what's best for you. Your dosage sounds quite high to me... I guess I'm not sure if that's a typical dosage of venlafaxine or not... as I said, mine never exceeded 150mg/day & even when I felt it wasn't working as effectively for me anymore at one point, I was given Wellbutrin to take in addition, my psychiatrist didn't up my Effexor dosage. If you weren't aware of desvenlafaxine/Pristiq when you last went in & your doctor didn't mention it, either go back to your current doc or a different doc & insist that they try you on that instead. Hope you can find a physician who will listen! I know what a struggle & pain it can be going thru all the different doc appointments & having to try lots of different meds before finding the right one or combination of meds that work best for you. Everyone's different & reacts differently to medications, so unfortunately there's no "one size fits all" answer & it's always a process of trial & error.

[Hidden in reply to Brookiesb]

I’ve been on that many different antidepressants I’ve been on 225mg venlafaxine about three four months but previous a lower dosage he said it was a review in three months I’m from the uk I will ask about the desvenlafaxine/pritiq and try and see another doctor I will call up next week

[Windy101]

I've been taking it for a while now with no problems. It works for me pretty well. With these meds you have to be sure that you're on a therapeutic doseage - you can look it up online.

[Hidden in reply to Windy101]

Ok thank you for this I’ll look online now