I have seen a GP recently who recommended Venlafaxine to help with hot flushes during menopause, apparently GP has received good feedback - is there anyone out there who agrees with this ?
?
Hi Kitty,
I'm 47 and for a good few months, I wsa having bad hot fushes during the night - usually 3-4 nights a week.
I've been on Ven now since 1 December and although I still get them a few nights a week, they are nowhere near as bad as they used to be.It tends to be a more clammy sensation I am getting, rather than the more severe sweating I was experiencing.
I am convinced that Ven has taken the edge off them and I have also read other women saying the same thing.
Good Luck and let us know how you get on! X
Wow, I am dumbfounded that a doctor would prescribe such a powerful antidepressant to treat a single symptom such as hot flashes! Ven is not a trivial drug and if you search on this forum you will find many, many people struggling to come off of it! The withdrawal of ven causes tremendous suffering. I'd been on ven for over 12 years (as an antidepressant) when I tried to come off over two years ago and had such bad withdrawal that the wheels came off my bus, so speak, and I was forced to go back on. I have been tip-toeing off ever since, using a 10% per month reduction method, and often I am not even able to reduce by that much! When I was in severe withdrawal, I had hot flashes and a burning skin sensation, such that I was drenching the sheets and then freezing in them! With my last minute cut, I am having hot flashes again. These hot flashes happen to people of all ages trying to come off ven.
When you take this and other psych drugs, the nervous system pushes back against the artificial elevation of serotonin and other neurotransmitters by remodeling the nerves, in an effort to bring back homeostatsis. When you try to come off the drug, usually too fast even by doctor recommendations, the cut in drug leaves you with those changes unopposed, and that creates major instability and withdrawal that can last months and longer. So PLEASE, search this forum for venlafaxine withdrawal before getting further entrenched with this drug! This is not something you can just try for awhile to see if it helps and then decide not to use it! It's not like aspirin which leaves your system the way it found it when you stop!
There are many other things to try for hot flashes that are more benign. Have you had your hormones tested? Bioidentical hormone replacement is one direction to go. You can also get progesterone drops made from wild yams that are rubbed on the skin that are helpful.
Good luck one way or the other!
Absolutely not. I was plunged into menopause when my ovaries were removed due to estrogen reliant cancer. I had incredible hot flushes and then would sweat from my scalp first and go into meltdown. Ie my entire body would start to sweat. I was a teacher and I was having up to 4 showers and changes a day.
I forever looked as if I'd been swimming and put my clothes on over wet bathers.
Didn't connect it for a long time with Efexor because I was on it prior to having bits and pieces removed. I am now weaning myself off Efexor and yes hot flushes have stopped. I was unable to try them but try some of the natural phytoestrogens that are natural and available from pharmacy
Please please take note of what Betsy and Linda have said. It's all true
Are you in UK? If yes Venlafaxine is not licenced for hot flushes. It's for major depression and anxiety disorders.
I've been on it for years and sweating is a major side effect that has seriously impacted on my life. I'm trying to come off it for that reason and the weight gain. I too tried coming off it before and had a melt down.
Seriously I feel so strongly about this. I can't imagine what your GP was thinking. Have you had an ECG (EKG)? It can cause cardiac issues as well.
Sorry to sound OTT but I think you should go back to GP after you've researched the drug.
Fully agree with you Catherine. I've even lost jobs because of the sweating issue. Only the boss was put out. Residents didn't mind they assumed it was menopause and basically sympathised. I have hundreds of hand towels. I go nowhere without my hand towel to keep face dry.
Yeah I was the same... am.I mean haha x
Thank you , I will keep you informed x
Hi Betty, not had hormone tested as I believe these change from day to day, so waste of time. herbal Sage for 3 months, not much change. I have also read that it depends on circumstances as to whether one needs just progesterone, age, family history etc etc.. - mine field..will
Do some research on Bioidentical.
I did wonder about veno as the dosage starts at 37 mg 
Thanks for all the info
Hi Linda, thanks will look at phytoestrogens x
Hi Catherine, yes in UK . Interestingly I saw a private GP and she had been advised by a female gynaecologist to prescribe this... from replies this is a bit scary...
Linda,
There should be things in place at work for this debilitating 'thing ' we have to go through
Ditto re; Linda x
I just got started on ven. How long did it take to work for you?
Hi Pat.
I have been on Ven 150mg dose for just over four weeks now and it is helping alot!
I started on 37.5mg for one week and then was on 75mg for almost 9 weeks. My GP increased me to the 150mg and said I should notice a difference after 2-3 weeks.
I certainly noticed I had more energy and small improvements after about a week but it really has kicked in from about the 3-4 week mark. I am still practicing my mindfulness/CBT therapy and breathing exercises to accompany it, so I don't feel I am totally relying on the Ven.
My sleep was a bit up and down when I increased, but that seems to have got a bit better in the last day or two.
I found that when I increased, I was waking up once or twice in the night - not feeling anxious, just wide awake!
What dose are you on? Take it steady, look after yourself and give it time! X
I was put on Venlafaxine I think a year ago for hot flashes due to menopause. They worked great for the hot flashes and I even think made me a bit happier, not as irritable.
Now I have decided to get off the pills and I believe it's been a mth without taking them. The withdrawal symptoms are not good. I took 37.5 miligrams twice a day at first, then once a day then decided I would take them only when I started feeling the withdrawal symptoms coming. I did this for awhile and eventually got off them, it's been about a mth. But the withdrawal symptoms are still there. Electrical brain zaps, and very tired, itchy and irritable. I have read that the symptoms can last a couple mths or more. I will see,
OH and I should mention the ringing in my ears was constant. Horrible. I think to day is the first day when there is no ringing.
Hi...I'm on 75mg. Been 6 weeks. It seemed like it was working. But not so much now. The hot flashes aren't as strong but it's the anxious feeling that is unsettling. I see my doctor in 5 days so he may increase the dose. I'm rather concerned about the troubles others have with ven. Just staying positive hoping for the best!!
Take care
When I was given Ven for hot flashes, I asked some questions, but obviously not the right ones. I told him I wanted to stop taking then but when I did about the symptoms I had. My doc asked me why do I want to be off them, I said, I can't take them forever. He said, why not? So I stayed on them, they helped right away with my hot flashes. About once every couple mths they would be there, badly but I dealt with it. If I had known how hard it was to come off the drug I would never have started taking it. I was only on 37,5 daily but I didn't even take it daily. I started every second day then every third and so on. Took mths to get off but now I finally am, been off for 3 or 4 weeks now. I still feel the withdrawal symptoms. Yesterday I was gonna give it up and take the pills again, thats when I came to this forum. I didn't take the pill. Reading what everyone is going through made me stay away from them. I'm extremely tired, irritable, so irritable, I get brain zaps everyone once in a while and dizzy but nothing like before. I think the ven did make me feel happier so I was thinking about going to the doc for a very low dose happy pill, I'm wondering if it would help with the withdrawals or if it would make it worse.
My GP started me on Ven January 27th. It didn't agree with me at all. Today I had a follow up appointment. When I told him I wanted to go off it he said it would be better to increase the dose. (I DONT BEEPIN THINK SO!!). It didn't help with hot flashes it made me very jittery with bad shaking and terrible anxiety. Plus constipation. What a horrible bunch of yuck! He finally agreed to put me back on cipralex...( although it was clear he thought I was wrong) which I was on before. It will end up on a higher dose. I never had any side affects from cipralex at all. I'm hoping for the best!!