Okay friends, you guys are so smart on here and I mean that sincerely!! My whole body has been itching like crazy lately and it is making me freak out. Now here is what I am on, starting from what I have been on the longest: Klonipin, 14 years, Ambien, 10+ years, Topamax, 1year, Effexor, a month, and Adderall, a month. Here's the new info; Effexor started at 75 mg one time a day for the first week. By the third week, he wanted me to go up to 150. By day six, I was not going to stay on 150 or 2 of those heinous pills a day. I dropped back to 75 mg by the next day and have been doing that ever since. I have researched all of my medications. Effexor has made me dizzy and I almost fainted in my kitchen, I sweat like crazy, all I drink is ice water day and night, the nausea before and after I reduced the amount is crazy. That includes with or without food. The dry mouth is horrible. I take the Adderall 10 mg in the morning, mostly just one time a day. I have only taken it twice a day two times. I am prescribed to take it up to two times a day. Has anyone else had a problem with this extreme itching? I am constantly looking to see if I have a mosquito or spider or something crawling on me. I live in Florida, so we have a lot of critters
I am so itchy!!! Which med is causing this? Feel like a chimpanzee...HELP?
Question posted by nevergivinup on 19 Sep 2015
Last updated on 8 October 2019 by Dottie25
13 Answers
Norco made me itch like crazy (even my lips itched) - Effexor made me hemmorage. Everyone is different. Track backward to when the itching started. Process of elimination. What became different when the itching started?
Without a doubt it’s the Effexor. I’ve been itching horribly since I started and have been on 37.5 for over a year now. I brought it up to the doctor who was no help, seen other docs and derms too with no resolution. Started weening myself off of it and one week later after completely stopping it still itching and having strange side effects . Making another doc appointment to see what now.
I'm itching like crazy too! I started on Effexor 75mg. UGH! nervous, jittery, shaky, and ITCHY!!!
I just went down to 37.5, but still itchy.
OMG finally somone with same problem, itching like crazy! I have tried to figure out what is making me itch! Arms first, legs, back stomach. Scars everywhere : ( I believe its from Effexor xr 75mg I have been on it for 4 years for hot flashes & going through stage 4 breast cancer.
Its not a surface itch its inside!
I have tried EVERYTHING! Went to 2 Dermatologists sadly waste of time! I have a bag of creams, pills, ointments, lotions, many prescriptions, also many over the counter.
At first thought it was my kemo meds but have changes them 3 times, I still itch so Effexor is my target now!! Please does anyone have an any suggestions?
I have been on this medication for a few months now and I can not stop scratching.( all over) I’m calling Thursday to get off it . I have gained weight and when I miss a pill I’m very anxious and angry. Very unlike me! It has a lot of good effects but the bad are very troublesome!
I am finding that adderall in high doses causes infernal itching of my nose and face along with a constant runny nose. It’s definitely the adderall in high doses. I believe it affects the itch receptors of the peripheral nerves. I have taken my allergy medicine but it isn’t really doing anything. This is a hypersensitivity response of the receptors in my face and mucosa of my nose in terms of inflammation. It’s totally annoying as hell because it’s like I have cube hairs tickling my face constantly.
It is the Effexor... I have been on it for 4 months and I itch like I have bugs crawling all over me... It is terrible!!
If you have suffered for 4 months with constant itching and you know it's the effexor, wouldn't it be a good idea to discuss this with your doctor and see about getting a prescription for some other antidepressant that wouldn't give you such a bad side effect?
Hello again. You ask me what else adderall did for me. Well besides keeping me awake I had lose of appetite lots of energy a bunch of headaches. I could focus and concentrate better that was a plus. Oh and weight loss. The headaches lack of sleep and weight lose is the main reasons I quit taking it.
SO sorry you are suffering like this! I agree with the other posters. It has a FREQUENT, but adverse urogenital side effect of causing abnormal kidney function. Clearly, itching is one of them, but for a person who is in actual renal failure (vs a side effect from a med like you), some other symptoms they might deal with are nausea, vomiting, not wanting to eat as much, fatigue/weak, problems sleeping, peeing more often, feeling less sharp (brain-wise), and having swelling in the feet and ankles.
I suppose it's possible, if you have even temporary kidney dysfunction, you might have some of these other side effects, so see if anything else rings true.
If so (this is me being over-protective), I don't see anything wrong with having some quick blood work done now to check to see if the kidneys really are the culprit. Then, repeating to make sure they are functioning normally again after this is all over. You never know, he/she might switch you to something different immediately to compensate for withdrawal symptoms and stop you on Day 1. You may even list it as being on your list of allergies as you move forward in life.
I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes on Monday? :-)
Thank you, MeggieGirl. I called my Dr.s office this morning to discuss this symptom and a list of others I am experiencing on Effexor. I am not tolerating this medication well at all. I told her I am at 75 mg now and would like him to write a script for half of that and then I want to completely wean off of it. The list is quite long. She called me back and said that the Dr. said I could just stop it. I said no way! I told her he may not be aware of the side effects of the withdrawal of this medication, but I sure as heck am. I told her she does not want to hear from me everyday as I am suffering and to please have him write me a script or I will keep bothering them until they do so. This medicine also makes me irritable, angry and yes a bitch. Which is so out of character for me! I am now awaiting her phone call. By the way, he is a Psychiatrist. I will print some things out for him and bring them with me so his next patient will benefit from him learning about the effects of withdrawing from Effexor.
I would suggest calling your doc. You should wean off the most recent med to see if the itching resolves. You can always add it back if it is not the cause. Only do this with your doctors guidance.
As far as the side effects from the Effexor. I am an RN. You should not be in a drug that causes all of these side effects. Your doctor needs to put you on a different drug as there are others in this class of drugs.
Please, talk to your doctor. Be assertive and tell him these side effects are not acceptable and you want to try something else.
Thank you so much! I completely agree with you. I will be calling him first thing Monday morning. I cannot wait to be off the Effexor. My body is obviously not tolerating it at all. I am very assertive with him. It is getting through to the understaffed office that is the problem. Thank you Nursenema
You're welcome. I hope it works out for you. Keep us posted.
Will do. Thank you everyone! !!!
Hi Nursenema, I wrote an update above about what happened with my Dr. Wish me luck, Becky
I believe it could be the Effexor as I have checked all the lists of possible side effects for the medications you are on and only Effexor has listed as a possible rare side effect itching or skin rash.
It would be a good idea to inform your Dr. on Monday, in the meantime I am a bit skeptical (because of all the meds you are on and the potential interactions) to say take benadryl for the itching, but it would be beneficial for you to talk to the pharmacist about it.
Thank you so much, Masso. I agree with you. I think it is that evil nasty horrible medication called Effexor. Oh how I wish I had never gotten on it. Now I have to get my doctor to lower me down to 37.5 and then off. What I have read about weaning off terrifies me. I already have gone through these side effects and I never made it past 150 mg. Thanks for reminding me of my pharmacist. I usually always call and bother them. This time it just slipped my mind!! Appreciate your help, Becki
I hope everything works out fine for you Becki, I mean it.
PS, I'm no longer on adderall due to lack of sleep and itching and picking at myself.
Thanks PepperM. It started gradually a few weeks ago and now it seems more constant. I am on such a low amount of Adderall and I feel like I have pretty much every side effect of this Effexor. Plus the fact that I am going down off of it even though I haven't been on it long. I really feel like except for the first week of Effexor, after I went up to a higher dose everything went downhill. It has been horrible. I cannot wait to get off of this. Reading about weaning off this medicine scares me. People have had such hard times. I do not know what to try. Again. I am so sorry you had to go through that with the Adderall. I haven't had any problems sleeping with it. The time I took a second pill it was only at 2 p.m. I wake up very early and take medicine to sleep if need be. What else did Adderall do for you?
Hello nevergivinup, you didn't mention when the itching started. My guess would be the adderall. I took 60 mg a day of it and it had me going stir crazy. I don't know too much about effexor. Sorry that's about all I know or have experienced. Hopefully somebody else will give you a better answer.
Related topics
effexor, depression, anxiety, pruritus, social anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, anxiety and stress, medication
Further information
- Effexor prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Effexor (detailed)
Similar questions
Search for questions
Still looking for answers? Try searching for what you seek or ask your own question.
