Posted by iheartmuffy on April 6, 2006, at 1:43:23
I have been on anti-depressants since I was 12, not sure why the dr put me on them so young, but I have been 'hooked' ever since. At first I was on prozac, then paxil and then lexapro and occationly some mixed in Zanax or Valium. So while on Lexapro I also wanted to quit smoking but didn't want to gain weight like most people I knew who quit, so my dr added Wellbutrin to the mix. It worked and within 2 weeks I had quit smoking entirely and even lost a few pounds doing so. I took that combination for over year and it was great. I then moved to a different city, far away from friends and family to go to a new college as a transfer student, so I developed severe social anxiety. So I went to the dr (a new dr) and she prescribed me Effexor 75mg to start off and she told me to stop taking my other meds right away. I also liked the fact I was going to a new dr, I made a vow to myself after I moved to stop taking valuim and zanax recreationally, so I decided to tell her I didn't want to take those anymore, moving to a new place I wanted to lose the zanax and other downers weight I had gained. So I took the Effexor, I couldn't really eat for almost 2 weeks, I had to force myself to eat anything. I didn't sleep more than 4-5 hours a night and I lost 15 pounds just in the first 2 weeks. (I'm 5'9, and went from 150 to 135) I continued taking it, it wasn't helping my anxiety, but I was losing weight and excersizing more, which is what made me happy. It was so weird, I would forget to do things like eat and brush my teeth and go to bed yet I could sit there and type a 10 page essay or read a novel in no time. I went back to my dr because I came to the realization that it wasn't helping my anxiety it was actually making it worse, I found myself with hypernetalating for no reason. She thought it was because I didn't have a strong enough dose, so she prescribed me to 150 mg. I took that for a few months and it seriously felt like my heart was going to explode sometimes. I have developed severe joint problems in my knees and hips and its hard to stand for long periods of time. I also found out I had entirely lost my sex drive, I am only 23 and I don't think I should have totally lost interest in all that yet. My boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years and now I have no desire and to be intimate at all, so I had to decide to either stop taking it and have a sex drive or keep taking it and be thin but still not have any help on my anxiety, maybe lose my relationship with someone because I have no interest in anything anymore and have my hips go out on me(?). So now, even 2 months after I stopped taking it I still have little to no sex drive and I still can't sleep and to top it all off I have gained all the weight back (plus some). My knees and hips still swell and are always very sore. I really don't understand any of this, but it seems as though Effexor might have perminatly damaged me some how. Anyway, this is the first time in 11 years I have been without any medication at all, its been 2 months, I think I feel alright, just tired and I can't concentrate, its my senior year in college and I seem to be failing everything and just by that I know something's wrong. I find myself drinking more than usual and putting things off more and making up excuses why I can't do homework, trying as many diet pills as possible to lose the weight I gained from getting off Effexor. I have also thought I might have ADHD, maybe I should take Aderall, I heard that helps people with concentraton. But I really don't like the fact I am gaining so much weight back and it really bothers me my hips hurt so badly all the time. So if anyone has any ideas as to what I should take instead of Effexor or any ideas as to whether these side-effects are perminate/normal or not, let me know.
poster:iheartmuffy
thread:629516
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060403/msgs/629516.html