Viibryd Side Effects (Page 16)
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What if any side effects are people experiencing on viibryd

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I started Viibryd in January in hopes it would help after having some brutal side effects with Wellbutrin. I became agitated on Wellbutrin, had insomnia, and became even more depressed. I began Viibryd and had horrible GI issues, the nausea was simply unbearable at times, and then I started gaining weight. I had intense sweet cravings during that time and even tried to curb them. I ate less, worked out, and five months later, I gained 30 pounds. I have been a steady weight the last 8 years and unfortunately when I started this medication, I put almost 10 pounds on in the first month. I made my doctor aware as well but she said it's not a side effect which in my opinion is complete BS. I had taken myself off slowly about a month in a half ago and losing the weight is pretty hard. I'm really upset and disappointed. I also had intense memory loss which I didn't realize until people started pointing out to me. I hope this is out of my system soon.

I feel a lot better mentally and as if I can handle things easier since I've been off but this is a process.

I don't recommend this medication at all. I'm happy I stopped!

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Megan, any chance you've tried Concerta instead of Adderall? A lot of the forums I've read suggest Adderall can be quick to taper off for many users at 4-6 hours, but the consensus with Concerta seems to be closer to 6-8 plus. At 27mg, I'm getting a 10-12 hours of effect. As you probably know, users can also take booster doses of Addrerall which may be an option for you.

I think you may find Viibryd to have similar efficacy to those mentioned above, but the gastrointestinal issues are significant. Having used both, the side effects of the Concerta have been minimal; while the Viibryd can really wear on you after a while.

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My doctor is wanting me to try Viibryd because I had horrible issues with Wellburtin and Celexa. The biggiest thing being tired on both medications despite being on 30mg of Adderall to help fight it, which, I am quick to metabolise medication, so 30mg wears off in about 6 hours.

I had weight gain with Celexa as it made me hungier than I was before. The only reason I didnt' try Viibyrd first was due to it being a name brand medication and what would end up being expensive. What usually works for a lot of people, usually does not work for me. Despite the problems people have reported, I will start taking this, and hope it does better than Wellbutrin and Celexa.

Every person reacts different to medication.

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weaned myself from 40 to 20 (after taking the 40 for several months. i was noticing hair loss, which was NOT a thyroid problem, as i made sure i got checked. btw, the hair loss is not a pharm co. claimed side effect, so i think we need contact them and fda about that. seems many are having that side effect... stopped taking it totally the beginning of last week and am fine, though i may need to up my nightly seroquel back from regular 100 to xr200, as i am noticing some hypomania, which was not really a problem before--except when i traded pristiq for viibryd as the pristiq seemed to give me evening hypomania. now no viibryd and a little hypomania. hmmm...

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I'm sorry you've had such a tough time, Alexandria. Surely many of us also battling depression can relate to that. My frustration with these forums and feedback websites is that so many post opinions as fact. Consider these examples from your recent responses:

"Anyone taking them can find at least one or two side effects that they can identify with from taking these types of drugs."
Not true. I've and two of my friends have compared notes on several antidepressants. At least three presented no side effects for any of us - Welbutrin, Lexapro, and Cymbalta.

"5htp...the pure kind you can find on line from Jigsaw Health is a safer organic anti-depressant than any drug doctor can prescribe."
As mentioned before, 5fhp has a warning list of side effects as long or longer than many commonly prescribed AD's.


"Too all those that are taking it..it almost killed me with serotonin poisoning..it is also being investigated into ties to cancerous tumors in the stomach."

To be fair, the serotonin syndrome was listed as a possible side effect in the literature from the manufacturer, so it's one of those things you must have taken into consideration before starting the drug. It is a listed side effect of MOST SNRI's and SSRI's! It could just as easily have happened with St. John's Wort from your local nutrition store. Consider this from RXList -

"The development of a potentially life-threatening serotonin syndrome has been reported with SNRIs and SSRIs, including VIIBRYD, alone but particularly with concomitant use of other serotonergic drugs (including triptans, tricyclic antidepressants, fentanyl, lithium, tramadol, tryptophan, buspirone, and St. John's Wort) and with drugs that impair metabolism of serotonin (in particular, MAOIs, both those intended to treat psychiatric disorders and also others, such as linezolid and intravenous methylene blue).

As to the claim of Viibryd being investigated as a carcinogen, here were the results of the study (It took 5.5x the dose to see an increase in mice) :

"Carcinogenicity studies were conducted in which B6C3F1mice and Wistar rats were given oral doses of vilazodone up to 135 and 150 mg/kg/day, respectively, for 2 years. These doses are approximately 16.5 and 36 times the maximum recommended human dose (MRHD) of 40 mg, respectively, on a mg/m² basis.

In mice, the incidence of hepatocellular carcinomas was increased in males at 16.5 times the MRHD; this finding was not observed at 5.5 times the MRHD. The incidence of malignant mammary gland tumors was numerically increased in females at 5.5 and 16.5 times the MRHD, with statistical significance at 16.5 the MHRD; this finding was not observed at 1.8 times the MRHD. Elevated prolactin levels were observed in a 2-week study of vilazodone administered at 5.5 and 33 times the MRHD. Increases in prolactin levels are known to cause mammary tumors in rodents.

In the rat study, vilazodone was not carcinogenic in males or females at doses up to 36 times the MRHD."

And finally, I would be curious which AD's work without side effects. I have found no research that such a medication or supplement exists.

"I will never take ant-depressants again..they are dangerous and there are organic alternatives that work without side effects.

So my point in all of this is not to deny that people have side effects from AD's. I got so depressed from an MAOI that it made me almost suicidal. That's a pretty bad side effect. But I can only report my reaction... not make sweeping generalizations about all things related to anti-depressant drugs. My opinion is not fact. What clobbered me could be a life saver for you.

Best of luck to you and everyone going forward in trying to manage this. It's tough.

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It gave me horrific nightmares as well as the other side effects. The doctor put me back on Cymbalata and the Soma, and the sweating and nightmares, as well as the throwing up has stopped.

I don't want to be on any of these meds, but the reality is, as I told my regular doctor who doesn't listen, the degenerative bone disease, damage to my spine, my shattered ankle and the rheumatoid arthritis are not going to go away and i will have to be on some kind of medicine for pain and inflammation. Right now I am having my psychiatrist deal with the meds until I find another doctor that actually listens. I won't be back in Arizona until November he gave me a list of doctors he knows to call when I get back. Right now the meds I am on will have to do, and staying on the beach with family will help the depression.

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I wonder why you even looked up this site; if your concider most ppl that post here to be insane in sharing their experiences, you would do well to avoid the site. I, like the majority of posters, had sever side effects from this medication. I have been dealing with depression for about 30 years, taken every antidepressant on the market at some point, even repeated some meds after a long break, and NOTHING made me feel as bad as Vibryd did! When I stopped this medication after 10 months, it was like climbing out of a black hole that was WORSE than my chronic major depression.

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First - this wasn't the medicine for me, just didn't do the job. In the beginning had stomach upset and such, that subsided after 2 days every time the dose increased in the starter pack. I read about "demonic" dreams. When I took it in the morning, I had dreams where my life or others were in danger. The disturbing part was I knew I was dreaming and tried to move and wake up and couldn't. It really shook me up. When I took it at night, that didn't happen. The reason I quit taking it was because it just wasn't doing the job.

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If viibryd works for you that;s fine, but for a majority of people it has proven to be a dangerous drug..as in my case it almost killed me. People do die from serotonin toxicity. I was lucky that an intern in the emergency room recognized I was being poisoned from the Viibryd producing far too much serotonin.

You seem too be an extremely defensive an angry person when others don't agree with your assessment or experience with Viibryd. It work for me for about momnths and then I started noticing all kinds of side effects that eventually led to me being put in hospital literally fighting for my life. I had reached a point where I could no longer even stand up.

As for 5HTP you should take to your doctor and be monitored by a doctor if you are taking it. Just because something is organic doesn't mean it is harmless. Organic meds/supplements can interfere with other meds you may be taking..organic or synthetic prescription medication. Just like you shouldn't eat grapefruit or oranges with some medicines both organic and synthetic. Many organic medicines are at a level of compounds that they can only be prescribed by a doctor.

Passionflower and St John's Wort are known for their calming effect but can also be dangerous if taken in large does, mixed together with prescription meds or certain foods.

We are all on here as support to one another..this is not a debating forum. We have every right to express our own experience with different drugs and their side effects. For me, Viibryd was poisoning me and I am not the only one..there was an 18 year old girl that died from serotonin toxicity from Serotonin. It doesn't have to be Viibryd, many anti-depressants can cause serotonin poisoning. It is imperative that one doesn't just take any prescription from a doctor without first first researching all side effects from the drufg and especially if you are on a cocktail of many different prescription drugs or taking OTC supplements. One can poison themselves just as much from prescription drugs as they can from OTC supplements.
Pharmaceutical companies are not interested in your personal health, don't fool yourself for one minute that they are..the bottom line is $$$ and simply because the FDA stamps their approval on a new drug doesn't make it safe..the bottom line is $$. We are responsible in participating in our own road back to health. It is never just one issue that causes illness in the body. After almost dying from taking this drug I research everything and ask multiple questions. If the doctor can't answer them, I get a second and even third opinion.

Allow us the right to express our own experiences with these drugs..our own experiences just may save the life of someone else on this forum. I would never want anyone to go through the months of hospitalization, pain and fear I went through, especially when it wasn't even a doctor that discovered what was wrong..it was an intern who has seen the same symptoms before on another patient that wasn't so lucky and eventually died because even the doctors that had been practicing for years never took into consideration that anti-depressants can, and do cause serotonin toxicity.

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Exactly. All medications have side effects. But just because a person has experienced a side effect of a medication DOES NOT make him or her an expert on it such that they can say "DO NOT TAKE THIS!" For the record, here are the "reported" side effects of 5-HTP. There could be many more, but it has not been studied extensively. Many of these sound worse than Viibryd:

5-HTP may cause abdominal pain, absence of menstrual bleeding, agitation, aggressiveness, anorexia, anxiety, depressed mood, diarrhea, dizziness, drowsiness, ear buzzing, eosinophilia, eosinophilia myalgia syndrome (EMS), euphoria, fatigue, gas, gastrointestinal side effects, hand wringing, headache, heartburn, hives, hypomania, impaired decision-making, increased appetite, increased blood cortisol or kynurenine, irritability, loss of inhibition, lowered blood pressure, lowered cholesterol, mania, muscle pain or weakness, nausea, pacing, palpitations, psychic hyperkinetic syndrome, rapid speech, restlessness, seizure, scleroderma-like symptoms, sleep changes, slowed heart rate, sodium retention, strong muscle contractions, sweating, taste changes, vertigo, vivid dreams, vomiting, or weight gain

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Here is a page listing 186 side effects from viibryd. Of course people taking it don't get all 186 side effects, but being put in the hospital for serotonin toxicity and hypoxia as a side effect from viiibryd was enough for me to taper off this drug completely. The side effects coming off of this drug were a nightmare.

theroadback.org/viibrydsideeffects.aspx

this medicine effects the brain which run the organs in the body. I was on it for 6 months and was getting sicker and sicker until I couldn't even stand up.

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I am a 49 yr old female. Tried Viibryd for @ 3 mos. Terrible mood swings and joint pain after reaching the 40 mg dosage. Had to stop the medication because the physical side effects were unbearable. Joint pain, severe nausea and mood swings - worse than before taking the drug.
I was hoping someone would know if this joint pain would go away.

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All one really needs to do is google the serious side effects of viibryd and there are pages of verified medicals journals listing the dangerous side effects. Anyone taking them can find at least one or two side effects that they can identify with from taking these types of drugs. Some have experienced the rare side effects, and some the mild side effects. "ALL" these types of drugs, including pain medications, have side effects..they effect not just the brain but the kidneys and liver that process the toxins from them.

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coming off of any anti-depressant cold turkey is dangerous. Even though I was hospitalized with serotonin toxicity from the Viibryd, I had to first cut the dosage in half..from 40 to 20 and then the next week down to ten and the next week to 5mgs for a few days and then stop. Coming off of psychotropic meds can be just as dangerous as taking them. (that is what anti-depressant are) They have tried so many different ones on me and the results has always been the development of more pain in my joints, nightmares, and headaches, but the Viibryd was the first one to cause serotonin toxicity. I am taking a pure form of 5HTP now and starting to feel better.

Unfortunately, the doctors don't read or have time to actually read or research in depth the dangerous side effects of these drugs.

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Did you electrical brain zaps and nightmares? I would wake up feeling like an electrical current was running on high through my brain, and the nightmares were horrific. I have been completely off of the viibryd 2 1/2 weeks and the headaches on the right side just above my eye are not as bad, but still haven't completely gone away.

I can't believe the drugs that are on the market and actually approved.
5htp...the pure kind you can find on line from Jigsaw Health is a safer organic anti-depressant than any drug doctor can prescribe.

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Idius, it is refreshing to read something sensible after so much rhetoric by others. Here's a news flash to everyone: Viibryd is not "poison". What an idiotic statement. And anyone reading this forum should surely know better than to seriously consider the advice of anonymous posters over that of their doctor. The very notion that a few people think their experience allows them to categorically tell others they should immediately stop taking a medicine - despite what that person's doctor has instructed - is inane.

And I sure see plenty of false information on here. How about the poster who wrote that CVS pharmacies were refusing to sell the drug. Lie. And what about the study being done on a supposed link between Viibryd and stomach cancer. An extensive Google search reveals no such study. If there is one - and if it has any merit - it would be great to have more information from the poster who issued the statement.

Viibryd was great for me for 6 months after I had previously hit a rock-bottom depression. I felt amazingly normal and motivated. The only frustrating side effect was the upset stomach / diarrhea which I was able to manage. No "brain zaps", joint pains, emotional instability, et cetera. Sadly, the beneficial effects of the medication stopped after 6 months and I find myself again searching for the silver bullet after 15 years of battling depression. But the 6 month reprieve I got from Viibryd was a nice break from the blues. As for stopping the drug, I just quit taking it and had no withdrawal symptoms.

By the way, I tried an MAOI called Emsam (patch). It literally caused severe suicidal thoughts for nearly a week, at which point I had to bail out on it. So should I get on this forum, call it "poison", and tell people to stop taking it? Sheesh. It didn't work for me... but it might be exactly what someone else needs to beat depression. I can't tell someone else what they need; I can only relay my experience. Many of the posters on here would do well to remember that.

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thanks lori, but the viibryd worked well for me. I liked it. I also very much liked welbutrin, but it stopped working. Its quitting viibryd that seems to have caused me the mood swings. unfortunately, the meds work in such subtle ways, and so differently for different people, that its not as if somebody can say "you should take THIS antidepressent" or that one. I don't do well taking NO antidepressants though. During such times I sleep 18 hours a day. Finding what works for me personally ... this is different then meds for other organs than the brain.

I can't help but pity my family when I am not myself. I would be a positive and encouraging father at all times. I have been very good to my children, but apparently my wife says I've been negative to her. I am normally doting, but lately I feel otherwise.

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Don't be too hard on yourself; it's not you right now. This is the pill aka the poison and it;s unfortunately taking over your body and mind. I know first hand and I couldn't control my rage and irritability no matter what I tried. I wanted to just run away from myself but as you know, that's not possible. Things will get better in time. I know it seems very bleak right now and that you have lost all sense of who you once were but it WILL come back once this sh*t is out of your system. Just ask your family to be a little patient a little longer and maybe ask them to read these multiple posts. It just might help. Have faith for there is a light at the end of this tunnel. Lori

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yes, the amount of hyperbole on such sights, and paranoia against western medicine, and other lines of rhetorical shenanigans must be overlooked when visiting such boards. The meds I am on have made my life normal....made it beautiful. The evil things people say about them discourages me. I had a bipolar friend who quit risperdal only to kill himself. I also have bipolar, but the medicine worked better for me. It allows me to work a job and be a father, and I am grateful for it. Experiences vary, but the sort of ranting that goes on in these boards must be taken with a grain of salt.

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I was prescribed Viibryd after years of Welbutrin and Lexapro combo, that seemed to do the trick until about a year ago when my mood went down and stayed there. Viibryd was offered as the med that does the trick when others don't. And so it did. Unfortunately, when my doctor increased the dose from 20 to 40, after a few months on it, my insurance asked for a "prior auth." Apparently my doctor's office is slow on these things, since it's been a week without the prior authorization going through. Meanwhile, quitting the viibryd cold turkey has gotten worse, each day, with mood swings ranging from tears to intense feelings of rage, which I must suppress. Nevertheless, my wife says she doesn't want to talk to me because I am not at all nice to her. This is abnormal for me. Nothing like this happened when I quite welbutrin or lexapro or any other. I find the mood swings affect my whole body, like a tense anxiety in my muscles. It's been intense.

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