Posted by nilla on November 24, 2002, at 8:47:14
I've suffered from depression/angst since I was in junior high. Towards the end of college, I finally took the anti-depressant route, which was the best move I could have ever made. Serzone (I normally took 400mg but at one point, was on 500 if I remember correctly) worked wonders for me for several years but after the reports of liver failure, I weaned off of it in March. I'm back in that slump again where it's time for meds.. which leads me to this situation:
I consulted with my doctor and she started me on Effexor XR (this started this past friday, so this is day 3). She spoke very highly of the med and found it to be incredibly successful among her patients.. But after reading everyone's posts on here, I'm extremely concerned.
I asked her about meds and weight gain and she made a good point which is that when you are depressed, you generally stop eating.. Meds correct that and hence, the weight gain. I definatley do NOT want to gain weight. All I want is more energy to be able to find things like working out enjoyable. At this point, I can't even motivate myself to get to the gym. And all the other side effects that i'm reading about are worrying me..
My symptoms are horribly lethargy, lack of interest in food, constant exhaustion and anxiety, to an extent, etc. I normally have excrutiatingly vivid dreams, sometimes nightmares, sometimes just an odd assortment of thoughts, so even though I'm technically sleeping way too much for my own good, I'm not getting restful sleep. For this, my doc prescribed Ambien, which I use sparingly and only take 5mg as compared to the prescribed 10. It has helped.
I'm unclear as to the differences between Effexor and Effexor XR and if there are differences between the side effects of the two "effexors"..
Any help anyone can suggest would be much appreciated... thanks!
poster:nilla
thread:129029
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021122/msgs/129029.html