I have written before about Effexor XR/Venlafaxine HCI, a medicine my Neurologist recommended since it is one of the few meds out there that I haven’t tried!

Up to now, the only thing that truly lessened my escalating burning neuralgia was Clonazepam ODT, and the side effect of that, as those of you who have tried it know well, is drowsiness.

I found over time that I could control the timing of my doses and coordinate caffeinated drinks (coffee in the morning, iced green tea until noon) to ward off daytime drowsiness. It was working okay and I was able to function. When flares arose (mostly after dental work of any kind) I could increase the dosage and the caffeine. Life was continuing to be workable.

Effexor XR/Venlafaxine HCI is an antidepressant, and my neurologist started me out with a minimal dose of 37.5 mg once a day. I had no discernible relief from it at that level, so we doubled the dosage to 75 mg once a day. At that level, I was experiencing some relief (The burning became more of a tingle that would intensify through the day until I took the minimum dose of Clonazepam ODT around dinner time.) but it wasn’t knocking the BMS out.