my Effexor saga

[almostnever]

Now that it's (mostly) over, summarizing for posterity.

Going on Effexor was like climbing up a thorn three. Boost up to the first limb-- scratch! Headache. Scratch! Nausea. Poke! Mood swings.

Climb up to the next limb: scratch! Worse depression. Poke! Food cravings. Scratch! Weight gain. Etc.

Comments

[jaefire]

Thank you for writing this. I've just started therapy and will be seeing a psychiatrist about meds in two weeks, for the first time, and this helps put things into perspective--that it might take a few tries before I find the right medication and not to despair if the meds are not right for me. I'm so sorry about your symptoms, though, they sound scary and terrible, but thank you for helping people know what to expect if the meds aren't the right one.

[oonaseckar]

I'd say I've never found SSRIs useful, but since I've never got past the bedding-in stage of being either physically ill or batshit crazy as side-effects, it would probably be misleading. (Also being prescribed an anti-depressant that causes anxiety, for anxiety, when I normally only experience very minor and brief depression purely as a by-product of the anxiety itself... Well. Counter-intuitive, whatever it says on the label.)

I believe some of the older meds are supposed to be better tolerated, your doc doesn't want to try those?

[delle]

urk. I'm so sorry you went thru all that - but can I say it brightened my day to see your screenname on my friendslist this morning?

[hunnyfreak]

My psychiatrist recently added Lamotrigine to my SSRI/SNRI/benzo combo. The Lamotrigine is supposed to even out my moods and it causes the least weight gain and has the fewest side effects. That being said, there is a potentialy but rare ugly side effect but he said it's a 1 in 100,000 thing.