Mike,

I had several tough weeks when I could not sleep, had no appetite, and was basically a zombie. Then the meds started to kick in.
It has been six plus weeks since I started my meds and I must say that I feel 100% better.
Hang in there. It will get better!
Take care

Thanks SevenVA. I've had high anxiety in the past on Effexor and just thought the medication didn't really work for me, ie: after a week or two I would get back to normal. But I guess it does help but can't control every spike. That is what my psychiatrist says anyway and I hope it is true. But again, thank you for the support :).

You're describing class signs of a rebound effect.

Which, if you're not familiar with the term, is the emergence or re-emergence of symptoms that were either absent or controlled while taking a medication. But reappear when that same medication is discontinued, or reduced. In the case of re-emergence. Often times with a rebound effect, the severity of the symptoms are worse than they were previously.

Thank you George. I sincerely hope that is the case and my Effexor starts to help somewhat because even my Xanax didn't help me sleep last night. I told a coworker about what was going on in detail last night ie: feeling left out, thinking she didn't like or had been ignoring me even though I said it wasn't her fault,which I've never done before and although I trust her not to say anything that has been very difficult. I told her I hoped it wouldn't change how she looked at me because most of the time I'm fine and she said it didn't but I still worry I shouldn't have said anything. I was calm going to bed last night afterwards and started thinking about it constantly. So I'm not sure if it just my thinking too much that I couldn't help or a symptom of my general/social anxiety.

Would I suffer a rebound 4 months later when experiencing a situation that generally caused me anxiety in the first place? I was fine since May until a new person started at work several weeks ago and that is when I began having problems again. In other words, being in a stressful situation that typically "sets me off" would cause a flare worse and longer than normal because I have been off the medication for some time?

No one can predict in advance how our brain will react to an antidepressant, they're the most unpredictable medicine prescribed today. That's one of the main reasons there are about 75 anti-depressants available for prescription in the U.S. But only about 8 are generally prescribed.

Effexor as you well know is an SSNRI, so its a much more complex medicine than an SSRI like Lexapro. SSNRIs are almost always more difficult to adjust too than a SSRI. That's why I usually recommend a SSRI is tried before a an SSNRI is prescribed.

But Effexor is the best overall SSNRI available, so hang in there because your adjusting both serotonin and norepinephrine which may take five weeks or so before you really notice a difference. Because it generally takes longer to re-uptake norepinephrine than serotonin.

Also, make sure you were not prescribed Effexor XR but your receiving regular Effexor. This is one of the most common mistakes a pharmacist makes with regard to antidepressants.

One more thing, if your taking generic Effexor now switch over to the name brand during your next refill. And remember when a new anti-depressant is started always request the name brand until you've adjusted to the medication.

The FDA says there's no difference between generic and name brand medications, but I know better.

I was on generic effexor xr before which had been working for me, that is what is prescribed to me now so I'm expecting in time that should start to work too.

Great. Good luck with it. Just give it some time.

Thanks. I just have a very tough time not focusing on something bad or a situation my mind tells me is bad or and rerunning it in my mind until nothing else exists. I tend to worry somewhat anyways, but during a spike it's very difficult to see anything clearly and not focus on the anxiety and obsessive thinking. If only there was one pill that worked right away, all the time;).

Me too Mike. We have anxiety so it tends to interfere with our lives. But I think you'll be feeling a lot better in a week or two.

Just give the Effexor a chance to work its magic, because its pretty amazing stuff, and generally very effective.

I hope so too. And thank you again for all the advice.

You're welcome. If you can let us know how you're feeling in a few days. Friday was so bad for me I cried all the way diving into work.

But thankfully I was able to shift gears in my brain after about 30 minutes and I felt much better, and I've been dealing with this problem off-on since 1971. But since my son died last year its really been difficult for me. Talk to you later Mike. Just try your best to stay positive until the Effexor kicks in.

I'm really sorry to hear about your son George. I finally got sleep for the first time in several days and woke up anxious about 1/2 hour ago for whatever reason so trying to push that away.

Thanks. I'm still not used to the fact I'm single now for the first time since 1977 when my sons mother and I started dating.

So its been a major adjustment for me.

That does have to be very hard. I'm wishing you the best at this time.