"before taking effexor xr i was suicidal, crying all the time and very depressed. i have now been on it for 13 years. i love it. i feel &quot;normal&quot;. only side effects i&#039;ve had are weight gain and chronic constipation. due to my insurance not covering it anymore i now have to switch to zoloft. i sure hope the zoloft works as good as the effexor xr did."