Venlafaxine - Substance Search

Summary Erowid

Venlafaxine is a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor which is used in the treatment of depression and general anxiety disorder. It is also used off-label to treat a variety of other disorders.

Tolerance

Build-up varies by mechanism; therapeutic tolerance may develop over weeks of regular use

Reset typically days to weeks after discontinuation

Tolerance Decay

Full tolerance 3d Half tolerance 8d Baseline ~14d

Effects Erowid

Aggregated from 68 single-substance Erowid experience reports; 87 Erowid reports where another drug was taken too are left out

Each bar shows the share of analyzed reports whose text mentions that effect — a mention is not always a first-hand experience (fear of an effect or something witnessed can count). Mentions saying the effect did not happen are left out; that check reads keywords, so it can miss some. The shaded band on a bar, and the small range after its number, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind. Fewer reports, wider band. Tap or hover any number for details. The second value is the Bluelight extractor's per-effect confidence; a dash means the row is Erowid-derived, which has no confidence measurement.

Positive Effects 5

38.2% –

13.2% –

11.8% –

8.8% –

7.4% –

Adverse Effects 11

54.4% –

38.2% –

29.4% –

10.3% –

8.8% –

7.4% –

5.9% –

4.4% –

Also reported in combinations. In the 87 Venlafaxine reports where another drug was taken too, 15 (17.2%) mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 11 (12.6%) a seizure and 2 (2.3%) psychosis. In the 68 single-substance reports: 14.7%, 2.9% and 7.4%. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Venlafaxine alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.

Combinations

Cross-Check Venlafaxine with another substance

Venlafaxine (Effexor) is an SNRI: it blocks serotonin reuptake as SSRIs do, so these are TripSit's SSRI interactions. Its US label rules out MAOIs within 14 days before it or 7 days after it.

Community Trip Reports

Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, Bluelight, and Dose.wiki. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance. Tags summarise each author's own verdict — how reports are classified.

Erowid 8 reports 8 cautionary visit

Saved My Life, But Difficult to Quit cautionary exp #40457

I began taking Effexor for depression in 1999 and took it until 2003. After several years of trying to treat my illness with different drugs prior to 1999, it turned out Effexor was the one that really worked. For a long time it seemed as though this was the perfect prescription for me.

It Didn't Get Me High, It Changed Me cautionary exp #82048

My decade of drug use ended me up financially broken and in drug rehab for Heroin/OxyContin addiction. As evil as Heroin/Oxy may be, this substance did far more to me in retrospect especially since, at the time, it was far more subtle.

How is This Chemical Legal? cautionary exp #24166

Let me start with a little personal history, explaining why I was given this medication. I'm for the most part a normal guy, and have good days, bad days, and days that are somewhere in between.

Better Off Smoking Crack cautionary exp #29660

I thought I was alone in this, but after reading the effexor experience vaults, I realized that I am not. ... Halfway through my senior high-school year I came down with a paralyzing depression. I was at a boarding school, and one day I just couldn't get out of bed...

Looking Back cautionary exp #38973

This is a retrospective of my experiences, but first I'd like to relate one from my ex-girlfriend. My ex-girlfriend developed terrible insomnia after a 3 month period of using methamphetamines fairly heavily. This insomnia quickly developed resistance to ANY treatment, ambien, restoril, anything.

Electric Shock Brain Daze cautionary exp #67314

I am currently recovering form one of the worst few days of my life, and am still in complete shock about what has happened to me. Its Sunday afternoon now but I have to keep reminding myself of that fact cause to be honest it could be any day or anytime, I am completely disorientated and have to keep telling myself re...

Some Good, Some Bad, Some Ugly cautionary exp #38931

Since childhood I have experience mood problems, ranging from general unhappiness associated with self detachment all the way to extreme depression and hopelessness. Feelings of being isolated and incapable of experiencing a real emotion feeling fake. This peaked in my early twenties when I attempted suicide.

Separation From Self cautionary exp #35190

I consider myself to be a relatively sane and rational person. At least now. However, after faring a rather difficult time in my life I started to notice a few changes in my overall mental state. I was experiencing slight to mild paranoia, along with anxiety of a similar degree.

Bluelight 1 thread 1 positive visit

St Johns Wort 2g Unexp Effexor Xr 150mg Very Exp Quite Intense positive

A couple of points before I begin: 1. As far as I know taking this combination of substances is potentially dangerous and one risks serotonin syndrome. I guess this is why on the St. John's Wort bottle it warns on the back not to take with prescription anti-depressants. 2.

Pill Identifiers

32 known pill identifiers on record — view imprints, colors, shapes, and images

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Venlafaxine's nerd page Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more

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Helpful Links

📘 Experience Reports 📖 Erowid

Report an issue or suggest an edit

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Venlafaxine Limited data Limited data Sparse data. Doses and effects may be unreliable or untested. 1 source no dose data 28 combo interactions documented PubChem toxicity data