Posted by SusanG on January 19, 2002, at 21:46:32
In reply to Re: Effexor Ex and Nicotine Patch HELPThanks, posted by NatA on January 17, 2002, at 11:57:26
I have read most of the posts on this message board and appreciate everyone's input. I thought I would share a bit of my experience with Effexor XR. I had been given low doses of Paxil, and later Zoloft, by my gyn to help with peri-menopausal mood swings. I went off each due to unwanted side effects. After experiencing some tremendous personal stress last August I called my gyn and asked for Effexor to help me get through my crises. It definitely helped and though I still struggled emotionally, I was able to function. However, after about 2 months on it I suddenly gained about 20 pounds over the next 2 months. Yes, my activity level had decreased and my eating increased (darn holidays!) but this seemed extreme even in view of those factors. Against the advice of the posts I'd seen here, I decided to just take myself off of it. After all, I only took 75 mg. The first day or so was ok, no noticable change. However, by the third day, I was an emotional wreck. I couldn't even go to work and spent the entire day sobbing. My husband was supportive yet alarmed and urged me to see someone. But who would I see? The gyn really only deals with the mood-swing aspect of things, not real depression, and had told me in the past that if these meds didn't help I would have to find someone else who could help me with meds. My family doc doesn't even know I'm on this and isn't particularly knowledgable about anti-depressants (I'd mentioned them to him before). The counselor I'd seen briefly and whom I called for a psychiatric referral so I could get this straightened out, thinks I am just hormonal. So I have gone back on the Effexor and don't know what to do from here. Just thought I'd share all this with you folks. Any suggestions are appreciated though I am easily overwhelmed these days and the thought of starting from scratch to figure out what is wrong with me feels so burdensome.
poster:SusanG
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020116/msgs/90817.html