Posted by TommyIsland on September 15, 2004, at 18:53:34
In reply to Anyone experience these side-effects from EFFEXOR, posted by sanfran on August 18, 2004, at 10:59:59
> The problems Effexor was causing for me are listed below. I wish I could have stayed on it because it ended my depression & anxiety...but the flip side of it was the many seemingly innocuous side effects that I simply couldn't ignore. Now that I am off Effexor (as of 1 week), all of the nasty side effects are completely gone and I feel back at my base level. On the lookout currently for a new med.
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> NEGATIVE AFFECTS:
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> 1) HAIR LOSS & THINNING: noticed this after 3 months. Severe enough that the complete texture of my hair just changed. Ratty, whispy hair was my style now. U-G-L-Y
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> 2) NO MOTIVATION: I could barely get the motivation to mountain bike, which I usually did without thinking 4 times a week. I had no interest in anything really. Just a blah feeling...not good or bad, just no feeling.
> Depersonalization: again, I just wasn't affected 'either' way on the spectrum. Never too happy or too sad. I had a hard time getting excited about anything.
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> 3) EXTREME FATIGUE: This side effect only popped up the last 3 weeks I was on it. I could sleep 11 hours and wake up, do some work on the computer, and feel this horrific impending fatigue. Not a tired feeling, but a feeling of being anemic and simply not strong enough to get up and move. Horrible to exist this way.
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> 4) CYSTIC ACNE: Confined (weirdly enough) only to my jaw & neck. It scarred me in two places and the acne was painful and took weeks to de-flate.
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> 5)TMJ: Grinding my teeth so severely in my sleep that I woke up unable to open my mouth... diagnosis was TMJ. I also found myself clenching my teeth (unknowingly) during the day.
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> 6) WEIGHT GAIN: Intially, the med in it's first 2 weeks gave me zero appetite. I am by genetics, a naturally thin woman who has never battled food or weight. I gained 10 pounds, and my appetite was ravenous. My body had insane cravings that I couldn't control with will-power..they felt un-natural and obsessive, almost as if my body had to comply.
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> You just described me to a Tee minus #4. The fatigue AKA Energy Zapper is the worst because it puts your life on the old "When I have energy tomorrow procrastination never ends" cycle. The only time I seem to have any kind of energy in the sense of not wanting to rest or sleep is at night time hours. I almost feel like daytime makes me ten times more tired and I'm like a friggin Vampire over here with this Effexor XR drug. Anyways, the hair thinning is something I suspected the last year of so (I've been taking Effexor XR for 5 years) and I have pretty much concluded that my once thick hair has deteriated due to this drug. My hair line has not receded, my hair itself has merely gotten so pencil lead thin that it looks like angel hair pasta on my scalp.........laugh it's a funny analogy. Anways, what's the hype on this Cymbolta drug. I hear it is also a dual Ser / Nor so it must be pretty similiar to Effexor I'm assuming. Does anybody know the major differences between the two?
Thanks,
Tommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
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poster:TommyIsland
thread:379087
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040915/msgs/391226.html