Hi,
Like any medication, insulin, epipen, notro, the first resource should be the doctor and pharmacist. Well neither of them were able to help me understand why I have been taking Effexor for two years now! I went to a conference given by an anxiete self-help group and found out a lot...
tricyclic antidepressants are in a category of older meds with a few issues involved in their use.
ssri - selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors these meds help brain neurons spit out a chemical that communicates with other neurons (work like purolator) these chemicals (serotonin) need to find their proper seats on the next neuron. Then the original neuron sucks them all back in and stores them! Well those of us who are depressed seem to have less of this chemical and the neurons suck it back in too quickly... so the SSRI slow down the uptake; slow the suck up and storage so we have more going on in the brain... also it helps the chemical find its "right seat" on the next neuron ... so cells are talking to each other! Meds like Celexa (citalopram), Lexapro escitalopram oxalate), Luvox (fluvoxamine), Paxil (paroxetine), Prozac (fluoxetine), Zoloft (sertraline) are in this category...
then there are the newest classes of antidepressants, the selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) that affect two chemicals in the brain. Both are associated with depression, "norepinephrine" is thought to be involved more with alertness and energy, while "serotonin" influences mood. By increasing levels of both, SNRIs work on different aspects of depression. So Cymbalta (duloxetine), Effexor XR (venlafaxine) and Pristiq (desvenlafaxine)belong here!
Now should you take effexor? The doctor will look at YOUR depression and see what you need to stimulate. Sometimes its hit and sometimes its a miss because there is an imbalance to discover and try to bring into equilibrium. This is what I needed to understand why... why have I been taking these things for so long... why this one... why not another... would another make me feel good...
good luck in your quest.