You bet, but let me start with a caveat -- people are different, some just don't get the results most get and must go in unusual directions. Hope you have a very experienced psychiatrist who really knows his or her stuff, which is hard to find. But here's the you bet part. Both of these meds have an effect on the way your brain utilizes and breaks down serotonin. Whenever you combine meds that affect serotonin there is a risk of something called serot0nin syndrome, which isn't common but is pretty dire when it happens. Now, if you've been on both for awhile, long enough for both to have fully kicked in, you would probably already have suffered serotonin syndrome if you were going to get it. But it is a risk. Also, as both of these meds are stimulating antidepressants for most people, Effexor being intentionally so, both can cause anxiety in anxious people especially but even in those who weren't anxious before going on these meds. Effexor is far more of a culprit for this than Prozac, but both can do this. And for a particular person they can also not do this, so if you aren't suffering this side effect then you don't have that problem. Remember, you're asking can they be a problem, and the answer is, yes, and this is not a combination I would think most psychiatrists would recommend for anyone. But you are the only you, and there might be a reason this was suggested. You haven't said how you ended up in this place. For the average person, again, you wouldn't ordinarily take two meds that are targeting the same neurotransmitter. You might, if you were taking one and it wasn't working as well as hoped, add something to it, but probably not another drug that acted the same. Effexor is different than Prozac in a couple of ways -- for one, it also has an effect on norepinephrine, which is one of the body's stimulants and that's why it is intentionally stimulating. For those who have depression, stimulation can be helpful. For those with anxiety, it might not be. Prozac only intentionally acts on serotonin. Prozac is considered one of the easiest antidepressants to stop taking, as it stays in the body longer than most. Effexor is one of the hardest to stop. So there are differences between all meds -- no two work exactly the same, even if they are similar in what they are targeting. For you, this might work. For most, it wouldn't be recommended. You don't mention any problems with it, but you also don't say how long you've been doing this, how experienced and capable your psychiatrist is or if you're even seeing one or doing this with a general doc who might not be well versed in this stuff, and how you got to this point, all of which are important considerations. Can it? Yes. Is it bad for you? Don't know. Would I do it? No. Would others on here? Yeah. So there you go.
Hi. Are you under a doctor's care that prescribed this combination? Doctors do add on meds and come up with combos for people and it is good to go ahead and ask your doctor why he prescribed both and what he hopes from doing so. These drugs are from two classes of antidepressants. One is a serotonin reuptake inhibitor and one is a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. But you see . . .serotonin is in both. That's the fear. You are on a fairly high dose of Prozac and not a starting dose of Effexor either. So, you are not on low mg doses of either med. In general, using these two meds together would be uncommon I believe and does increase your risks. I'd speak to your doctor about this. Let us know what they say!