Posted by peaceplease! on August 14, 2004, at 14:29:25
In reply to Re: It really, really does get better!, posted by LynnM. on July 30, 2004, at 0:31:11
> I am totally off Effexor, too, about a month, now. My brain zaps are few and far between, and when they do reappear, they are very minimal in "strength". I feel much, much better...almost back to my old self.
>
> One thing I do want to know, if someone can tell me: I probably gained about 15 lbs. while on the Effexor. Weight isn't lost easily by me. Will I start to see it drop off now that I'm off the med., or will I just have to work twice as hard to get it to come off? I did notice weight loss after I came off of Zoloft years ago, but I was also in the middle of a personal crisis, which could have helped account for the weight loss.
>
> The weight gain issue has been tough for me.I must say thanks to all of you I feel like I am not alone! My husband thinks I'm crazy most of the time. I was taking Effexor XR at 75mg for at least 1 year and then brought it down to 37.5 (my doctor has been monitoring me over this time) for at least another 8 months. Over the last few weeks it became apparent that the weight gain of approximately 25lbs over the last two years is not just due to my eating habits to compensate for days when I am in a bad mood!! I was working out for at least 4 times a week for 45 min of cardio and not seeing any change. Before Effexor I could drop at least 10lbs like this after about 6 weeks of hard work.
So I took the advice of a doctor who mentioned that one of his patients tapered himself off by taking the little balls out of the capsule gradually. I am now take about 20 balls a day and am definitely finding myself crying a lot more and feeling very anxious in social situations.
I might follow up with the advice to take Prozac to help this withdrawal. I really thought I found a balance with the 37.5 --it's not worth it to be 25 -30 lbs heavier. I'm sure it's affected my marriage :(
poster:peaceplease!
thread:12459
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040811/msgs/377637.html