# Day 1 of venlafaxine - a wild ride

**URL:** <https://mvertigo.org/t/day-1-of-venlafaxine-a-wild-ride/20724>\
**Category:** Antidepressants\
**Tags:** venlafaxine\
**Created:** [May 22, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/day-1-of-venlafaxine-a-wild-ride/20724 "2021-05-22T13:53:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dizzyqueen](https://mvertigo.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@dizzyqueen](https://mvertigo.org/u/dizzyqueen)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/day-1-of-venlafaxine-a-wild-ride/20724/1 "2021-05-22T13:53:53Z")

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Yesterday was my first day on venlafaxine/effexor. I took 25 mg, which was definitely too high a dose for my sensitive brain. At first it just made me feel a bit floaty and drowsy and a few hours later I noticed I was even more dizzy than usual. But the bad side effects came on at night. My head started to feel really warm and foggy, almost like I was drunk, and my blood pressure increased a lot. My heart started skipping beats occasionally and I couldn’t fall asleep for several hours. This morning I woke up totally wired, despite getting 4 hours of sleep. It feels like I’ve drunk 5 cups of coffee, but without the benefit of mental alertness. I also have a slight tremor. Part of me wants to give up the drug entirely, but I decided to lower my dose to 12.5 mg today to see if I can tolerate it better. I can’t believe my doctor wanted me to start even higher than 25 mg!

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**Author:** ![turnitaround](https://mvertigo.org/user_avatar/mvertigo.org/turnitaround/32/4441_2.png) [@turnitaround](https://mvertigo.org/u/turnitaround)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2021, 1:58pm UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/day-1-of-venlafaxine-a-wild-ride/20724/2 "2021-05-22T13:58:17Z")

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A post was merged into an existing topic: [DizzyQueen’s Diary](https://mvertigo.org/t/dizzyqueen-s-diary/20725)

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**Author:** ![turnitaround](https://mvertigo.org/user_avatar/mvertigo.org/turnitaround/32/4441_2.png) [@turnitaround](https://mvertigo.org/u/turnitaround)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2021, 1:58pm UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/day-1-of-venlafaxine-a-wild-ride/20724/3 "2021-05-22T13:58:17Z")

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**Author:** ![turnitaround](https://mvertigo.org/user_avatar/mvertigo.org/turnitaround/32/4441_2.png) [@turnitaround](https://mvertigo.org/u/turnitaround)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2021, 1:59pm UTC](https://mvertigo.org/t/day-1-of-venlafaxine-a-wild-ride/20724/4 "2021-05-22T13:59:27Z")

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This would be better as a Diary Entry, so I’ve created you one :).