Posted by Racer on June 2, 2004, at 13:25:18
In reply to EFFEXOR INCREASING SUGAR LEVELS IN DIABETICS, posted by RUDE on June 2, 2004, at 11:03:18
I'm not diabetic, but my husband is. While I was on Effexor (with 10 mg Prozac), I gained a ton of weight. Effexor affected my blood sugar almost from day one, though.
It started very differently from how it ended, though. In the first few months, I was having problems associated with hypOglycemia. Once those were under control, we stopped me checking my blood sugar -- until I started having a LOT of problems associated with hypERglycemia. That was after I'd gained about half the weight I eventually gained, but I don't know which came first -- the weight gain or the problems with the blood sugar. What I can tell you, though, is that I went from very consistently low normal (about 70 on my husband's glucometer) to wild variations: 50 before a meal, 240 within half an hour after a small meal (that one was, as I recall, one poached egg and two slices of toast -- but don't quote me on that) -- basically, overreacting to any food at all. And the wild swings brought on a lot of other troubles -- some of the normal ones: feeling logy, sweating, weak when high; shaking, chills, weak when low -- but also some problems controlling what I ate, thus making it much worse.
So, I'm not diabetic, and these aren't things it ever occurred to me to mention to my doctor. (It just seemed like a curiosity to me at the time, and it was amateur medicine on my husband's part to think to test me in the first place. {{shrug}}) On the other hand, it does tend to support what you experienced, even though it took longer for me to experience the elevated blood sugars. (That might have a lot to do with having been underweight when I started the drug, by the way. I was somewhere between 10 and 20 pounds underweight at the time, depending on how much you think I should weigh, which no doctor has ever discussed with me.)
It's only anecdotal, but I hope it helps.
poster:Racer
thread:353009
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040602/msgs/353060.html