Hello
Welcome to Health Care Magic

Venlafaxine is a good antidepressant and anti anxiety drug. It belongs to SNRI group. SNRI is serotonin and nor adrenalin re uptake blocker. Both serotonin and nor adrenalin are thought to be deficient in depression. It is a nice and safe drug. In various trials it has been observed that Venlafaxine don't cause weight gain, instead it may cause weight loss because of increase in mobility.

But some patients have reported to gain weight following Venlafaxine therapy. The reason behind weight gain may be related to improvement in mood. In depressed or anxious patients as improvement in symptoms and sense of well being occur they tend to have good appetite and it causes gain in weight. But directly it don't cause weight gain.

It can cause more social withdrawal in some because of some poorly understood mechanisms. In patients of depression or anxiety it may cause blunting of facial expression, it may increase apathy that may cause withdrawn behavior.

Hope I cleared your doubt, You can ask again if you have more questions.

Thanks
Dr. Seikhoo Bishnoi MD
(Consultant Psychiatrist)

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Hello again

Venlafexine is good drug but it may cause sedation as side effect.
Other drugs which don't cause drowsiness and impairment in cognitive thinking are Fluoxetine, Escitalopram. These belong to SSRI group and in a lot of studies these medicines were more efficacious than venlafexine.
These drugs don't cause sedation and are usually given in morning dosing. No major side effete apart from a little nausea, restlessness during initial stage of therapy.
You can take opinion of your psychiatrist for that.
Bupropion is also a good drug that don't cause sedation but it is usually used as add on drug.

Hope I cleared your doubt. You can ask again if you have more questions, if satisfied with my answer please review.

Dr. Seikhoo Bishnoi MD

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SSRI are anti anxiety and anti depressants both. It depends upon their doses that they are being used as anti anxiety or antidepressant drugs.

Other drug that can be used is Buspirone which has got approval for anxiety disorders. A little sedation is there but it don't affect cognitive thinking.

One combination drug that is useful is Flupentixole and Melitracen combination. The combination is very useful in episodic control of anxiety. It relaxes individual without causing sedation.

Thanks
Dr. Seikhoo Bishnoi MD

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