Posted by KimberlyDi on July 11, 2003, at 8:05:58
In reply to Re: Anyone had success on Effexor XR?, posted by JayJr on July 10, 2003, at 15:39:52
My apologies to Jay Jr. My husband hates me taking Effexor because of the lack of sex drive and blames his abusive behavior on the fact that he doesn't get enough sex. I responded defensively. Bad Kim Bad Kim.
> I started Effexor XR at 37.5 for a 4 days, then up to 75mg for a while but I got totally scared because I was completely exhausted all the time, didn't want to eat, was nauseous in the morning, and felt more depressed... I think that some of the side effects were just making me more depressed which was making me not want to eat and nauseous.. its hard to discern between symptoms of depression and side-effects. There IS some trauma involved when starting on this kind of medication, and when you're depressed the trauma is amplified...
>
> After a few weeks I started feeling a little better, started eating food with the meds, and a week later had myself at about 150mgs. So its been a total of 5 weeks for me and I THINK its starting to help somewhat.
>
> I still have lack of appetite and less sex drive. The sex drive part is ok because my live-in girlfriend is totally unintimate never wants to have sex anyway (which is a major problem and probably helped push me to depression!).
>
> Anyway:
> You gotta stick with the Effexor for 6 weeks or so, if the side-effects are just too much, or you feel no benefit, then you need a new drug.
>
> My doctor calls my dose (150mgs) a therapeutic dose, I guess because I'll be doing therapy with her as well. But, I still feel pretty crummy most of the time and will be upping my dose anyway.
>
> Thanks for listening : )
>
> Jay
poster:KimberlyDi
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030708/msgs/240836.html