Effexor Side Effects: Anyone Else Struggling?

I started it a few months ago and have had pretty rough side effects. I would have stopped it a while ago but no psych meds have ever worked for me yet and my doc is trying to get me to the dose were it works more as a stimulant and after I did research and found is is similar to my pain pill- tramadol which is the only medication that has ever helped me function on. Helps with my mood, anxiety, depression, bipolar, energy and pain levels. But I cannot take enough on my current prescription to keep me somewhat stable on a daily basis since it’s not allowed to be prescribed for psych issues in the US. So that’s why I’m really trying to suck it up with Effexor since it’s the closest medication to it and hopefully the side effects wear off soon and starts having the effect I’ve been going for. Trying to hold on but fatigue is on a level I’ve never had before and I’ve deal with constantly being tired since I was little so I can handle it normally but on Effexor I can’t so far. I get random bouts of nausea. Headaches, brain fog, and sensitivity to light and not sleeping well. Taking salt and electrolytes helps with this. However all of these symptoms were happening before starting Effexor but gotten progressively worse and within the past 2 weeks I just got to the dose to were hopefully soon it’ll start working more like a stimulant. So still waiting for anything positive but so far I’ve been horrifically miserable. Within the last few days I’ve started taking 75mg in the morning on empty stomach and the rest 150 early afternoon and so far that’s been slightly helping with side effects. My best friend has been on it for years and swears by it. He said that if he misses the timing of the dose he’ll start getting more irritated. Also reduced appetite. But it’s really a life saver for him.