I'm in the same boat, except I haven't tryed effexor yet, and I don't really want to. I got this new dr now since my old GP retired, and he wanted to try effexor on me, but i think it will just make my anxiety worse, since it states right on their website that effexor may increase heart beat. I've tryed Paxil in the past, and it worked a lot better than Lexapro (Ciraplex in Canada). I found that Paxil had much more harsher initial side effects though, but once you get through that, the Paxil works a lot better than Lexapro I find.. Paxil withdrawal can be hell though. I've tryed coming off it, and I felt like a terrible pass. Right now I'm on my last refill of Lexapro, and weaning off it slowly. Then I'm not sure what to do. As soon as I stop taking SSRI's, a few days to a week later, my anxiety comes back full blast. I've only tryed the two SSRI's, Paxil, and lexapro, been on Paxil twice, the lex once. Paxil seemed harder to start and harder to work the second time around though. Maybe benzo's will help until the paxil kicks in full blast, if I decide to go the paxil route again. I don't really know about these SNRI's. Effexor and Cymbalta? I think Cymbalta is not even out in Canada yet, so that leaves me just with effexor, prozac, luvox, and maybe remeron to try if paxil fails.

Not sure...

Anyway, best of luck to you.