Depression and Weight IssuesHave you been diagnosed with depression, are possibly on depression medication, and find it affects your weight loss efforts? Post here for support!
hi all...
i'm new here, and so relieved to have found you all!
i'm 52, Hep C positive, been told i have fibromyalgia (personally, i think it's the hep) depression, autoimmune issues, and fat on top of it all!
i'm starting effexor next week, i'm told it might be helpful losing weight, and wondered if anyone had that experience. i'm also going to try and wean myself off the vicodin i'm taking for pain. i think that might be making me feel so lazy all the time...but it takes the pain away, for sure.
i have a 13 yr old daughter, a 4 yr old german shepherd, a 5 month old kitten ( we just put our 14 yr old cat to sleep ) and live in iowa. i love the fall and spring seasons...winter? not so much!
hope to get to know you all, and hope you're all doing well.
thanks!
-gina
My thoughts on Effexor are not exactly positive. I personally have never been on Effexor (I am a Celexa girl myself) but my sister is currently taking Effexor and my husband has gone off of it.
Generally, it is a real pain to get off of. My husband had tried to go off of it before we had met and the withdrawls were so horrible that he was planning to stay on it for the rest of his life! Until he had a real scary episode that I ended up having to call the police. He just snapped! The next day we went to the doctor and he took him off of it immediately and put him on something else (for the life of me I can't remember what it was but it was another anti-depressant) to ease the withdrawls. Now I am happy to say he is on nothing and feels so much better.
He went to see his doctor years ago when him and his ex were breaking up because naturally he had the blues. Bad medication to take for something as temporary as that but Effexor was new on the market and doctors were pushing it a lot.
My sister doesn't think she will ever go off it herself as the withdrawls are so bad and what's worst, she is almost on the highest dose she can have and it is totally losing it's effectiveness but again, she'd rather feel sad and horrible than go through the withdrawls.
Niether of them gained or lost weight while taking Effexor.
Anyways - sorry this is not great news and it might work out for you but my experiences sort of stank!
I highly recommend that you do NOT start taking Effexor. I was on it for five years and for those five years I was numb to the world and gained a bunch of weight from it. If I didn't take it at the same exact time (even 30 minutes late) I would feel just awful. Weaning off of was one of the hardest things I've done besides for losing weight. You literally feel like you are going crazy when weaning off. Unless you are at extreme risk of suicide, I would not start on it. Just my two peas...
I hate to add to the bad Effexor forum but it was not a nice drug. I gained 110 pounds on it. I was going up 1 size a month. I promise you I am not exaggerating. I was taken off of it and put on something else. See if you can get on something else. It's just really not a nice drug.
Oh wow.
I've been on Effexor for almost a year and find it working wonders for me. I've been living with depression since I was a kid. It's the third antidepressant in two years and it's helped me the most. I felt the difference immediately and my fiancee (not to mention everyone else around me) saw it too and was impressed at how effective was for me. One thing I don't like about it though, is how I feel if I don't take it at the same time everyday, or miss a dose, it's beyond crappy. I haven't lost or gained any weight while taking it. I wouldn't know about the withdrawls, but a lot of antidepressants have crazy withdrawls. I know going off of Lexapro was no picnic.
But anyway, good luck!
I think it may be really helpful for your chronic pain. My first experience with an ssri was zoloft which I was given a few weeks after a car accident for my chronic pain. I gratefully remember my first pain free hour.
All the drugs in this class have the potential do be just right or not for you.
Seems that our internal differences affect the drug actions. I was on zoloft and effexor recently, both worked reasonably well for my depression but I have switched to wellbutrin to avoid the side effect of urinary retention.
good luck to you and keep us updated.
fatmad
I also gained weight on Effexor, although not quite 110 pounds. I went up 45 pounds in about 3 months. Depression wise, it was great, but the massive weight gain in such a short period of time nearly counter balanced the mood improvement. It's been almost 5 years since I got off the Effexor, but I never got that weight off.
I've been on Lexapro since, which for the most part has made me feel more "normal." I was able to lose 30 pounds at one point on it, but other issues like constant pain and quitting smoking have helped to pack on some more weight, all of which I feel is unrelated to the Lexapro.
Hi. I just got off celexa because of hallucinations & panic attack & other awful things. I have been on Effexor XR for 2 weeks, not long enough to say anything, I think. I'm suppose to call my doctor in a week to tell him if I like it or not. I haven't noticed any change in my depression or weight, but I am on a very low dose of 37.5
New and switching to effexor
