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Anyone on Effexor/Venlafaxine for OCD?


Guest lio_ed

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Guest lio_ed

I've been on Effexor XL 225mg (75mg in the AM, 150mg in the PM) for 7 years now. Wow I can't quite believe it when I write that, 7 years. Anyway I think it has helped me, and every time I review with my GP I don't want to stop it because overall my OCD has been mild the last 7 years and don't want to rock the boat.

But it has always bothered me a little that this drug is not typically used for OCD, compared to say Zoloft/Sertraline which is licensed for OCD. The Psychiatrist who put me on it 7 years ago incorrectly diagnosed me with Depression which is why I am on it. But regardless I'm pretty sure it has helped. It is licensed for GAD, though,. Although I don't have GAD at the end of the day I figure anxiety is still anxiety, worry is worry, the feeling in your body is still the same.

When I'm going through a tough time like at the moment, I notice I feel much better in the evening after taking the higher dose 150mg. I've been thinking about asking my GP whether it is worth increasing to 300mg in total (150 twice a day).

If you have taken/are taking this one what dose are you on? I'm not sure if 225mg is high. My GP said it is not high it is a "therapeutic" dose.

Interestingly just checked Wikipedia article for Venlafaxine which says it "was found in one study to be equal to anafranil (Clomipramine) in the treatment of OCD with fewer side effects."

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Guest millicentbystander

hiya

only this week i have had a discussion with my phyciatrist regarding changing my meds from prozac to some thing else as it doesnt seem to be working anymore. she suggested venlafaxine or clomipramine. she said venlafaxine was more for depression and general anxiety, and clomipramine was more for depression and OCD. so i opted for the clomipramine with no side effects as yet! dont know if this helps but i thought i would let you know.

take care

Mills x

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Guest Stella

I was on venlafaxine 300mg and quetiapine 600mg for OCD. I have since switched to prozac and quetiapine because of trying to conceive, but it isn't as good for me. I found venlafaxine really helped my OCD. I had to be careful to take the dose at the right time though as it has bad withdrawal effects even after a couple of hours - electric shock sensations - do you find that? I haven't tried clomipramine but the tricyclics are reported to have more side effects. I'd say if venlafaxine works and you are happy with it, stick with it (in my non medical opinion!) There are lots of drugs used for purposes other than they are licensed for - it's often how they find out a drug is good for something - by trying it for something else and discovering it has that side effect too.

Stella :)

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Guest lio_ed

I was on venlafaxine 300mg and quetiapine 600mg for OCD. I have since switched to prozac and quetiapine because of trying to conceive, but it isn't as good for me. I found venlafaxine really helped my OCD. I had to be careful to take the dose at the right time though as it has bad withdrawal effects even after a couple of hours - electric shock sensations - do you find that? I haven't tried clomipramine but the tricyclics are reported to have more side effects. I'd say if venlafaxine works and you are happy with it, stick with it (in my non medical opinion!) There are lots of drugs used for purposes other than they are licensed for - it's often how they find out a drug is good for something - by trying it for something else and discovering it has that side effect too.

Stella :)

Thanks all for your replies, really great to hear others' experiences. Stella, I was thinking a lot about your experience since yesterday. Because your dose of 300mg, I have been thinking that I need to increase from 225 to 300. I do think that when I take my 150mg in the afternoon/evening it helps me much more than the 75mg in the morning.

Did you take one 150mg twice a day?

Yes I have experienced the electricity sensation, although it is very mild and not bothersome.

Also your post really is interesting because of the fact that your treatment is augmented with a an anti psychotic, the quetiapine. That is something I've never considered and just realised that this is commonly done with OCD patients.

I am thinking now about asking my GP about increasing my Venlafaxine to 300mg, and possibly trying an antipsychotic med. Although I'm not sure about the antipsychotic. Can you share anything else about the quetiapine? How did it help? Side effects?

Thanks again, sorry to ask so many questions, Stella :) If anyone else has any comments about augmenting with an antipsychotic please do post.

Thanks all.

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Guest Stella

Hi lio-ed

There are good and bad things with the anti-psychotic. It is a sedative and makes everything seem more of a chore, but it does take the edge off the OCD, definitely. It helps me sleep too, but makes my stomach very sluggish so I end up on lots of things to speed up my digestion and in that way it's quite unpleasant.

I don't know if GPs prescribe them or if you have to be referred to a psychiatrist. I got put on it in hospital. I want to be off it and would say it's better not to be sedated if at all possible. I feel it covers over the problem in some ways rather than deals with it - you are too tired to do all your routines etc, although it has helped with lessening the need to do some of them too, so it's a double edged sword. My psychiatrist said it was a turning point for me, but I'm not sure it wasn't the exposure I was forced to do by being in hospital with a baby.

I took 150mg venlafaxine in morning and 150mg at night - I could tell if I'd forgotten it within a few hours because of the discontinuation syndrome (not withdrawal as I said earlier because it's not addictive), so I would say 300mg would be better for that reason - keeping the blood level more steady, but that's my non medical opinion. I didn't realise it was the drug causing the electric shocks until I tried to come off it, which was hell and took a long time. Maybe you could ask to try and see if the extra helps?

Stella :)

Edited by Stella
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Guest lio_ed

Hi lio-ed

There are good and bad things with the anti-psychotic. It is a sedative and makes everything seem more of a chore, but it does take the edge off the OCD, definitely. It helps me sleep too, but makes my stomach very sluggish so I end up on lots of things to speed up my digestion and in that way it's quite unpleasant.

I don't know if GPs prescribe them or if you have to be referred to a psychiatrist. I got put on it in hospital. I want to be off it and would say it's better not to be sedated if at all possible. I feel it covers over the problem in some ways rather than deals with it - you are too tired to do all your routines etc, although it has helped with lessening the need to do some of them too, so it's a double edged sword. My psychiatrist said it was a turning point for me, but I'm not sure it wasn't the exposure I was forced to do by being in hospital with a baby.

I took 150mg venlafaxine in morning and 150mg at night - I could tell if I'd forgotten it within a few hours because of the discontinuation syndrome (not withdrawal as I said earlier because it's not addictive), so I would say 300mg would be better for that reason - keeping the blood level more steady, but that's my non medical opinion. I didn't realise it was the drug causing the electric shocks until I tried to come off it, which was hell and took a long time. Maybe you could ask to try and see if the extra helps?

Stella :)

Thanks Stella, that is really good info for me to be aware of. Thanks a million for sharing.

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Hi, I've been on Effexor for many years (not sure how many but probably 7 or 8). I take one 150mg tablet every night.

It seems to work for me although I've still had plenty of nasty ocd/anxiety episodes whilst taking it.

The one thing I hate about this drug though is the side effects I get if I miss my dose, even by a few hours. I get this awful whooshing sensation when I look in any direction quickly. Some people refer to this as a brain shiver or an electrical sensation. Whatever it is, it's really unpleasant.

If I could I would try and get off this drug and try Prozac instead, I took this in the early nineties and it seemed to work for me then. However, I.m almost too frightened to try because of the side effects I know I will experience.

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Guest lio_ed

Hi, I've been on Effexor for many years (not sure how many but probably 7 or 8). I take one 150mg tablet every night.

It seems to work for me although I've still had plenty of nasty ocd/anxiety episodes whilst taking it.

The one thing I hate about this drug though is the side effects I get if I miss my dose, even by a few hours. I get this awful whooshing sensation when I look in any direction quickly. Some people refer to this as a brain shiver or an electrical sensation. Whatever it is, it's really unpleasant.

If I could I would try and get off this drug and try Prozac instead, I took this in the early nineties and it seemed to work for me then. However, I.m almost too frightened to try because of the side effects I know I will experience.

Thanks Kevyla. I don't get the brain shiver/electric sensation, at least hardly at all.

I feel the same way as you, don't want to come off Effexor as I think the withdrawl will not be nice, it has a bad reputation on that front. But I think it does help me, and I'm going to ask my GP if we can increase my dose to 300mg.

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I tried once and it was horrendous. I lasted 2 weeks, suffering with horrible head swooshing and I went into a black depression I couldn't shift.

It was partly my own fault as I thought I was well enough to stop my meds altogether and just stopped taking them one day. I now know why this is not a good idea!

From what I've read online, the way to come off them is by gradually decreasing the dose whilst also taking Prozac, the Prozac is supposed to combat the nasty side effects.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Guest lio_ed

Just to add an update, I ended up gong to a Doctor and asking to increase to 300mg, and he agreed. So I began taking 150mg in the morning and 150mg in the early evening, exactly 3 weeks ago.

My first two weeks I felt a lot better but I'm not sure whether it was because of the increase, as normally my OCD episodes last a week or so and then I usually get a lot better, even before the increase.

Just finishing my third week since increasing, and it has not been a good week. I nosedived on Sunday evening back into a really rough time with OCD. But I attribute this to other factors, I have been away for a week staying with in-laws abroad where I don't speak the language and I find these visits stressful, on top of which while we were there my wife and I visited a friend who's partner had started beating her, and she was of course quite upset, and that stressed us both out, and that's when my OCD came back.

So I will hopefully update this thread again in a few weeks to report how it is going.

I asked the Doctor about possibly going to see a Psychiatrist about augmenting with a benzodiazepine and he gave me a stern look and said "You don't want to be on one of those". I guess they have a bad reputation with some doctors. I guess I'm going to give it a while more to see how the increase in Effexor goes before thinking about benzos.

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