I've been on effexor (venlafaxine) xr for about 5 weeks now. while i feel it's helping in some ways, my anxiety and obsessive thoughts are still there. i'm also scared for the withdrawal. i read zoloft may help?

Effexor (venlafaxine): You can follow up with your doctor to see if you need to titrate the dose higher or not. You probably should stay on it for 6-12 months minimum, so withdrawal should not be a problem. Try not to miss doses or you will notice. Once it is time to stop it, you can slowly decrease the dose, just opposite of how you started it. That would eliminate withdrawal side effects.

Discuss with your MD: If Effexor (venlafaxine) is not helping, you may need increase in dose or you can increase the dose to maximum tolerable dose or can be switched to ssri group of drugs like zoloft, Paxil or lexapro.You should discuss with your psychiatrist what is best for you.You also have hypothyroidism which can also contributes to the symptoms of depression and need to correct that with proper dose of levothyroxin, by your md.

Talk to doctor: Effexor, (venlafaxine) as with all antidepressants, take several weeks to work, once the full therapeutic dose is attained. In my practice, the average dose range is 150 mgs daily to 300 mgs daily. Talk to your physician to make sure you are on a full therapeutic dose. Keep in mind that in order to fully alleviate anxiety, the higher dose ranges are needed. These meds do work well!

Yes, Zoloft (sertraline) may help: Concern about Effexor ; hypertension makes sense to me, and zoloft could be good alternative as the Effexor is very slowly tapered and stopped. I usually recommend going down from 112.5 to wk of 75, then wk of 37.5 then wk of 37.5 every other day then 1-2 wks of 37.5 every third day then none. If obsessions persist with zoloft, would add 2 mg of Abilify (aripiprazole) daily or even every other day. Talk with dr.