What are the specific differences between Effexor and Effexor xr?My psychiatrist told me the only difference is that Effexor XR is made to prevent a GI tract problem that some people have with regular Effexor. Please let me know if there are any other differences. I was moved from XR to regular and I feel different but not sure what it is. Thanks!
Posted by almcneilcan
Your psychiatrist is not telling the whole story! I used to take Effexor and can answer this.
The "XR" stands for "eXtended Release" form of the med and is intended to keep the level of metabolites in your system more or less even over time. Meds of these types are eliminated from your system over time. Doctors use the term "half-life" which means the amount of time it takes your body to eliminate half the amount from Your system. For instance, a med has a half-life of 24 hours and you take 100mg, then 24 horus later there is only 50mg in your system. Then 24 hours later there is 25mg, then 24 hours later 12.5 mg and so on (assuming you take only that one dose and no others the following days.) The standard Effexor has a half-life of 5 hours which is very short. So you take 150mg in the morning, by early afternoon it's 75mg and by the evening it's 37.5mg. This is too sudden a drop and can cause problems both for effectiveness and side effects. So they developed an "eXtended Release" (or "XR") form in which the med is time released into your system over 15 hours. This keeps the med level more or less consist end and you don't suffer drop in effectiveness or certain side effects (the doctor mentioned one.)
HTH,
-- Liam
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