Effexor Class Action Lawsuit

Seems like every effexor site I see has one of these class action law suit posts that goes no place and I have seen a lot of effexor sites it is currently my lifes work. The way I see it since effexor took my life away the least I can do is pay this drug and it's manufacturers the same type of dedicated attention. That is not completely true I am trying to learn all I can about effexor and its side effects as I want to no what the long term affects to my health mental and physical will be in years to come.
Some things I have learned so far have been rather astounding when I look back.
Effexor can change you personality and turn you into somebody you do not know or like. The choices this person makes can destroy your life for the rest of your life this is a fact. Effexor has protracted withdrawal it can take years for the changes (damage) to you brain and other systems to heal. Many people are done at 18 months others 2 or 3 years but there are some at 4/5 years and counting still not done that seems very close to forever to me. I am at 29 months off effexor I know I am never going back on as I would rather die. Sound too strong maybe but I have been thru a lot in withdrawal and know I am not going thru that again. I am done.
I do look around the internet every now and then and see if there is anything new I have not seen and troll for sites that may not be as up to date or up on understanding as some I use daily.
This seems to be one of those sites that could use some help with information so I will drop a few links for you people to visit if you so choose. The information is out there and good luck to you all in fining it.




Good luck to you all.
may see you around sometime and if there ever is an effexor class action lawsuit YOU WILL SEE ME THERE!

***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed

This site is very restrictive, all we can do is vent. My experience with Effexor was that I was put on it to help me deal with My 17 year old daughter and grandson's death. I would have been easier to deal with it normally rather than have my future ruined with this drug Effexor. I was originally on a larger amount and have over a period of 5 years dropped to 37.5 MG. I have tried taking out one bead of medication at a time but the side effects include:
horrible brain shocks, vertigo, dizziness, blacking out, craziness, nausea, low kidney pain, constipation, anxiety, crazy sensitivity to any noise or repitition, light sensitivity, tinnitus, ringing in the ears, dry mouth, insomnia, lack of energy, wandering thoughts, lack of concentration, irritation, rage, anger, mood swings, sleepiness at the wrong time, memory loss is horrible, there are many more but ........I can't concentrate or remember. There must be a lawsuit, I have seen that some are completed so why is this horrible heroin drug still on the market???????????????????????? Help. My email address is lindsayshome @live.com but they will probably blank this out. I used a lawyer for my daughter's wrongful death. Paul Harte in Richmond Hill, Ontario, maybe we should contact him to get another one going. Help. Help. Help.

If there is someone out there who has found someone doing a class action lawsuit, I am on board as well.

I am desperately looking for any information regarding lawsuits (or any legal actions) against the maker of Effexor. I have recently been diagnosed with Hemifacial Spasms (a permanent condition) which I believe is the result of the "Brain Zaps" and muscle tremors/twitches from getting off of Effexor. I took Effexor for a little over a year. I was finally able to get off the medication by opening the capsule and taking out ONE granuale at a time. It took over 6 months to stop taking the drug & almost three months for the brain zaps and muscle twitches to stop. I had to use Alprazalam to help with the anxiety, which I no longer take. I work with a young woman who took Effexor for 6 weeks before she stopped taking it. While at work she started having the brain zaps and her face twitched so badly she had to be driven home. I believe the side effects of this medicine far outweighs any benefits it may have and it needs to be taken off the market. It's just too scary.

To anyone suffering from withdrawal you can visit paxil progress it is a site for helping people wean off SSRI meds. mostly paxil but theres people there weaning off other meds too.

I hope someone manages to read this.

I was in hell trying to get off of effexor xr a few years ago. What finally saved me was to get down to the lowest capsule - 37.5. Do that for a week or two, and then start breaking open the capsules and pouring out a few of the balls at a time. You pour a few more out every few days, and eventually you can get off with much less misery. Good luck. The sooner you get off, the better.

I posted a while ago about the hell of getting off of Effexor. I have had enough waiting for someone in Canada to start a class action lawsuit against Phizer or Wyatt, I have contacted them, they can't help me get off of this. I am not sure when and if I do get off of this whether I will be normal again. What is normal????? I this afternoon contacted Sutts Strosberg law firm about a Class Action law Suit. 1-800-229-5323. I gave them a brief synopsis of my situation. I am going to send them the link for this forum. Maybe they will see the need for this. I think a phone call to them might help let them know there is other people wanting to join a lawsuit. Hope this helps. :cry: :!: :!: :!:

Ok guys let's start a petition for a class action lawsuit on Effexor in Canada. I have set up a petition for you. Since we can't post a web address. I won't. Go to ipetitions and look up Effexor Class Action Lawsuit in Canada

I lost my son in 2003 and became severly depressed . By 2004 i was so bad , my youngest son almost could not take it. I put myself in De Pauls Mental Ins. for a week the doctor put me on effexor 75mg and i started going to a doctor in St. Bernard and they put me on 150 mg and i have been on this since 2004 over 6 six years i am scared of the effects it is going to have on me when i do get off of them. I never heard of any of this until this week and i am very supprised but i have never tried to get off of effexer before i am scared now

Dianne

I have been taking Effexor XR for about 9 years. I would say this is one of the best antideppresant drug on the market.

BUT - I have always had a weight problem - but I seem to have the "i don't care" attitude. Therefore I eat unhealthy and I do not have any energy to exercise. I decided 3 weeks ago to get off the drug. I started with taking the pill 5 out of a 7 days week. Then I went to everyother day. Now I have been completely off the drug for one week and starting to feel better. Yes the light headed spells, Diarrhea and upset stomach. Oh, and I have more anxiety...but I am learning to control this. Good luck to you all - and wish you the best! I would like to say to the others - this website have been very helpful for this subject.

Hello everyone,

I too have taken this disastrous medication. I had terrible side effects while taking Effexor XR and even after I discontinued taking it as well. I still find that some of the side effects are still with me! I don't know if it's too late to join in on this lawsuit but hopefully it's not, I am hopeful that I can be a part of it. This poisonous medication nearly ruined my life and marriage. Even now as I type this, my poor husband and I are still trying to mend our ever so fragile marriage! This medication is just plain awful and there aren't enough words to describe how bad it is. I'd tell anyone considering starting this medication **DON'T**, if your doctor mentions putting you on this medication **RUN AWAY FAST AND FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR QUICK** I don't understand how this medication is still being prescribe to many innocent people out there. They have no idea what's in store for them and I cringe even now as I think about how awful their life is about to become.
First of all I was prescribed this medication because I was having some anxiety issues (I was going through some stressful stuff at the time) and it was only supposed to be temporary. Sure at first you think it's making you feel better and not worry about things or not care about the stressful stuff. Yeah it works great, I say this w/sarcasm. You get to the point where you just don't care period! You care about NOTHING, you don't care about ANYONE or ANYTHING, and you do not want to do ANYTHING AT ALL. You don't care about your home, your family, yourself, NOTHING! In a nutshell, you end up being off somewhere on planet "I'm just existing" and become totally numb to everyone and everything. That's just the beginning because then there's the insomnia, the fact that your mind races non-stop, the brain zaps, the twitching, the shakes, the weight gain, the fatigue & being exhausted all day, the random impulses, the weird, strange, horrifying nightmares that occur on a regular basis, the fact that you wake up from one of these horrifying nightmares go back to sleep just to have another one and another one and another one, and say goodbye to any and all desires for sex! Did I mention that I read on a different blog that someone had posted that the people at her doctor's office refer to this "medication" as poison?! I could go on and on but I won't.
This medication will not only ruin your life but any loved ones around you as well! I only hope and pray that anyone who reads this will learn from this awful experience I have had. Perhaps by sharing this w/others it may help anyone else avoid the hell I've been through and still continue to due to this poisonous drug. It has not been an easy fix and even now I am still trying to heal from the harm this medication has caused me, my husband and my kids. Unfortunately some of the side effects I fear will stay w/me FOREVER! Something has to be done about this terrible drug!!!!

Helen of Troy

I took efexor for two yrs and it helped me alot. I suffer panic disorder and depression.It helped me function normally and get my life back. My doctor kept a close eye on me to make sure I was on the right dose and not receiving too much or too little. After two yrs I decided to wean off. It took a while but I suffered very little side effects at all. I started by taking my usual dose every second day for 2 weeks, then every third day and so on until I was completely off it. This worked fine for me so maybe this is what you need to do. I have suffered a relapse since then and am on efexor once again and it has again given me my life back. I don't know how long I will be on this again butwhen it comes time to withdraw I will do it the same as before.
Hope all goes well for you.

WHAT THE DOCTORS DON'T KNOW AND WON'T TELL YOU ABOUT COMING OFF OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS:
The withdrawl symptoms that one feels coming off of an antidepressant is called serotonin syndrome. It can feel worse than having the flu and last up to three months if untreated. In very severe cases, it can be fatal. I myself sufferred from this when trying to come off of Lexapro. My psychiatrist told me to tirate down by half for two weeks until I was down to nothing. He couldn't have been more wrong. When I went back for help, he told me that it couldn't have been the antidepressant that was giving me so many problems because he prescribes it to children and they have had no problems. Even my family doctor said there was no such thing as withdrawl from an antidepressant and did not know what to do about my situation at all.
Here is the deal. For some reason, a lot of doctors don't know just how sensitive a lot of people are to antidepressants. Getting off of them can be a real challenge and should be handled with care. After doing some extensive research of my own, I finally discovered what I was sufferring from (the doctors did not know anything about this syndrome supposedly). I also learned that one can suffer from this from any type of antidepressant, some of which are worse than others (examples: Effexor, Paxil, and Lexapro). To get off of these medications without these horrible symptoms, I personally recommend titrating off of them AS SLOWLY AS POSSIBLE (even if it takes up to 6 months)! Doing this will allow your brain chemicals to readjust to normal levels so you can function without the drug. If this doesn't work well enough, I recommend switching to another antidepressant that has a longer half life and can taper itself off. A good example of this is Prozac. It is designed to titrate itself down when you stop taking your last dose. Switching to a drug like Prozac for a few weeks and then getting off of the Prozac should help you to avoid the symptoms of serotonin syndrome.
I hope that this message helps a lot of people out there, because I know how devastating and debilitating this syndrome can be. Don't depend solely on your doctor, as they most likely don't know about this problem as much as they should. Do your own research and find out what may work for you. Good luck to all out there!! Let me know if this helps, as I would love to hear any feedback on this message.

I am definitely interested in lawsuit possibilities; email: . I have been on Effexor XR for longer than I can remember. Started by taking Prozac which worked well for awhile (several years) then was switched to Effexor XR. It also worked well for a time; however, if I missed a dose, after a day or so, I felt horrible: headaches, messed up vision, ringing in my ears, hyper-ventilation, crushing depression and escalating negative thoughts (including suicidal ideation) that just increased the bad feelings about myself.

I've also tried tapering off Effexor only to have to go back on it because I can't stand the withdrawal symptoms. I feel like insects (big, nasty ones) are dancing inside my rib cage. It's sometimes hard for me to breathe, and, most days, if left up to me, I'd just stay curled up in bed. Words really can't describe just how bad I feel both on and off this med, and I really want a way off it that doesn't end in self-destruction.


***this post is edited by moderator *** *** private e-mails not allowed **
Please read our Terms of Use

I HAVE BEEN TAKING 225MGS OF EFFEXOR XR FOR OVER TEN YEARS. I HAD NO FEAR OF IT AT FIRST BECAUSE MY DOCTOR SAID IT WAS NONE ADDICTIVE. THE DAY I STARTED WAS THE BEGGINING OF MY DOWNFALL. TRYING TO WEEN MYSELF OFF IT WITH THE ELECTRICAL PINGING TYPE SHOCKS , BEING PENSIVE AND ALL THE REST IS TOO MUCH TO HANDLE. I NEVER IMAGINED MY LIFE, MY DAILY ROUTINES WERE GOING TO CHANGE FOREVER FOR THE WORSE. CAN YOU IMAGINE! 225MGS A DAY. I'VE BEEN CHEATED OF A NORMAL LIFE AND NOW AT 64 YEARS OF AGE I'VE CONCLUDED I'M ADDICTED, HOOKED FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. IF SOME PERSON OR COMPANY IS LIABLE I WOULD CHEERFULLY TAKE THEIR MONEY FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO ME.