Posted by dancingstar on January 5, 2005, at 1:46:23
In reply to Re: I AM GRATEFUL for Effexor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, posted by emtbman on January 4, 2005, at 16:57:15
emtbman,
It's hard to say whether or not you will gain weight. I think all of the side effects affect each of us differently. I am a university-trained fitness instructor in addition to other stuff that I do, and I used to work out and teach classes at the gym up to a couple of times a day. On 75 mg of Effexor my 5'6" frame ballooned up from 125 lbs to 151. I didn't know that it was from Effexor and totally freaked out, went to a new internist, changed my diet to something like 400 to 600 calories a day, no carbs :-), got my weight down to about 138.
Originally Effexor was prescribed to me for minor fatigue when I had a low back injury by a family practice doctor, but suddenly I was depressed and asked my internist for a higher dose, still not having any idea that it causes weight gain. In fact, I always heard that Effexor was the happy, horny, skinny pill. I figured I'd finally lose a little weight. I still never ate and my weight would not drop below 140-141...just couldn't lose weight. It hovered around 143-144. Talk about depression.
One day in September I decided to stop taking Effexor to see if it would help me to lose weight. I was sick as a dog for a good three months. I still have some symptoms that I won't go into here...but my weight has dropped to 130 all on its own, no help from me. I eat cookies, pasta, you name it. Wow, I had no idea.
Will it do the same thing to you? Who knows? When I stopped taking Effexor, my depression went away, too. The increase from 75 to 150 only increased my depression, it didn't decrease it. I just wish that I had known some of this stuff; so I figure you might want to know. That way you can decide for yourself. There isn't any way to know for sure whether or not you will have the same reactions. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you.
Bebe
poster:dancingstar
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050103/msgs/438003.html