Lulu70, check out the site
www.crazymeds.org .It is the mother of all psych med sites-it will answer all your questions about all the antidepressants-what they do, what type they are, side effects, how to get off them, how to go on them, etc, etc, everything. And all other kinds of psych meds. Antipsychotics, anticonvulants, off label usage-it's got it all. Just click on the med in the frame and you'll get it all.
Effexor is an antidepressant. It is a multiple reuptake inhibitor-this from
www.crazymeds.org : This site has links to other sites and the company site as well.
"Effexor (venlafaxine hydrochloride). Yet for many people it is a godsend, because the combination of serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake is literally just what the doctor ordered for the darkest of depressions. Of course Effexor (venlafaxine hydrochloride) has to be complicated about it, it can't just work on everything all at once from the beginning. Oh, no. First it starts to work on your serotonin. Then somewhere around 200 mg a day it starts to work on norepinephrine. Then around 300 mg a day it starts to work on your dopamine. Mileage will vary for each individual, and there's no guarantee on getting all that much dopamine action. Of course as you up your dosage to get to the next neurotransmitter, you keep pushing the previous neurotransmitter, whether you need more action on them or not. And that's what leads to problems,..."
As stated Effexor is a godsend for some people-for the darkest of depressions because as it says above it works on all three transmitters. But it also has the reputation of having the hardest discontinuation syndrome of them all. I've never taken effexor-I'd be interested to hear from someone who has.
Good luck.-Oh your question about the difference between Effexor and Zoloft and Wellbutrin, well Zoloft is an SSRI, it works on serotonin. Wellbutrin is a multiple reuptake inhibitor it works on two transmitters, dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake.