Posted by Bob on August 19, 2004, at 2:09:28
In reply to Anyone experience these side-effects from EFFEXOR, posted by sanfran on August 18, 2004, at 10:59:59
I too experienced all except for 1 and 4. I may have had a little hair loss, but it wasn't like you described. As for the fatigue... I would sleep so hard that I often couldn't get up until 4 in the afternoon, no matter how early I went to bed. The jaw problems were infuriating. I also clenched my jaw when awake. Weight gain was there, and the drug completely and utterly eradicated any sexual ability after about the first month.
Of course, when I tried to get off it, I almost died during the withdrawl. My fear is that if I tried another drug like Cymbalta and it didn't work out, as it almost assuredly would not, I would be in a very, very bad place trying to get off of it. I don't think I can afford to go through another horrific, protracted withdrawl, and a 14hr half-life is just not cutting it.
I don't believe any of the hype, personally, about Cymbalta having no side-effects or weight gain (among all the other unfounded claims). I say unfounded because you cannot possibly predict long term side effects from a 12 week study. Every single one of these drugs that comes along, e.g. Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, and Effexor, claim to have better side effects profiles than the others. What else is pharma going to say... that it seems to be just about the same as all the others, so try it and see what happens? The reality is, there hasn't been a truly effective drug that is novel since Prozac and Effexor. Everything else is variations on a theme. It's all about the money. Cymbalta is being pushed very, very hard because Eli Lily is going to lose their super-ultra cash cow Prozac. They will say just about anything and put just about any sping on it they can to have it appear better than all the others. Maybe it will be, but as you may have guessed, I have my doubts. As long as the "me too" phenomenon is allowed to continue forever, there will never be sufficient motivation to undertake the risk involved in searching for a novel compound. Every single drug I have ever taken that has a SSRI component to it eventually ends up doing the same things to me: no sex, screwed up sleep and sedation, weight gain, and lack of motivation. Some take longer than others, but they all end up in the same place. YMMV.
poster:Bob
thread:379087
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040817/msgs/379345.html