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Weight gain and effexor

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alexhart32
Starting Member

15 Posts
Gratitude: 1

Posted - 11/18/2005 : 08:07:16

I seem to be just getting fatter; which is depressing in it's self!

Has anyone else had weight gain problems with this darn drug?

Many thanks

Heatherzed
Full Member (100+ posts)

241 Posts
Gratitude: 5

Posted - 11/18/2005 : 09:10:45

There's loads of stuff on Effexor on the Effexor part of the forum, under medications.

Unfortunately weight gain seems to be a big problem with any of the SSRIs, and the old antidepressants too.

I guess all we can do is try and eat well and exercise to counteract the drugs' bad effects, but I know it is easier said than done when you're depressed as hell and have no energy or enthusiasm for anything. And I'd like to think that if I slaved away in the gym five nights a week I would look like a toned and honed goddess, rather than just as I did before the medication, i.e., just OK.

But never mind, such is life....

H x

alexhart32
Starting Member

15 Posts
Gratitude: 1

Posted - 11/21/2005 : 02:54:49

Ah ha!!!!!!!!

Just finding the whole section on medications!!!!!!!

It is scary to find out all this stuff.

One of the problems is that even though I am on these damn things I still can't seem to find it in myself to be motivated to get up and do the things I theorectically want to do! No pill to sort that out then!

Hmmm. I have halved my dose to 75mg from 150mg to try and come off them so I can try some thing else. I am worried that I will end up like a vegtable again though in the bed/can't do anything/ just existing not living state which is awful. OR just as bad the permanent agitated/ everything is terrible and the world is perpetually falling in around my ears. Oh, and that I am evil and rubbish as well, and deserve all the **** things that happen to me and not just the ones that I "make" happen. Oh goody, the fact I can even call up these feelings is worrying!

I think you are very brave to put your picture up here. You look lovely. Or was this nine stone ago before the med's kicked in!

By the way, I have noticed that you are very active in answering people's posts so I wnat to say a "nice one" to you!

Alex

Heatherzed
Full Member (100+ posts)

241 Posts
Gratitude: 5

Posted - 11/22/2005 : 03:19:24

Thanks! The picture was actually not that long ago...a few months ago at a party. I am looking so happy because I am probably quite pissed..!

It was taken by this guy that I know who is mad on photography. He's not quite professional, as he has another job anyway, but he could be as the standard of his work is so high. He likes portraits best, but has also taken some amazing shots of Paris by night and birds flying and stuff. So, if I look lovely it is probably down to him and his skills as a photographer and not me! And I know he makes good use of photoshop on the computer once he's taken the photos...!

I didn't put my picture up when I first came on this site, I left it a while. Then a few other people had put their's up, and I had this good one of me, so I put mine up too. I just thought, what the hell?! I don't really care now if anynone that I know sees it! I am sick of being made to feel ashamed for having an illness, and being made to feel like I should hide it from everyone like some kind of taboo; like I've done something wrong...

Though if someone I knew did see it and read all the stuff I have written, personal stuff, then I guess I would find that somewhat embarassing..! Then again, so would they, knowing all those details about me, and so they would probably never mention it to me, and I would be none the wiser that they had seen it....So, everyone's happy!

Best wishes

alexhart32
Starting Member

15 Posts
Gratitude: 1

Posted - 11/22/2005 : 08:11:04

Ha ha ha!!!!!!!! They would be out'ed as a fellow mentalist! I hate the "shame" thing as well.

People seem to think is you are a sufferer then after a while you should be better. It isn't as easy as that though is it! Then again my feelings about people running out of "tolerance for my rubbish-ness"-is all tangled up with it so it can be hard to try and filter out.

I will go and try and find a decent photo that I don't completely hate...

By the way how ever gooda photographer he is he couldn't have made you look that lovely if you weren't. What is nice is that you get a sense of your "spark" about it, which is relfected in your posts. No, I am not a single lesiban trying to over-flatter you. I have a long suffering boyfriend. Then again I have to put up with his "stuff" sometimes too! I just apreciate the odd nice, genuine commnent so am passing it on!

I have jsut re read this and am cringing about all the "'s I have used- never mind...

Take is easy all
Ax

Amie (inactive)
Super Member (250+ posts)

746 Posts
Gratitude: 5

Posted - 11/22/2005 : 10:00:18

Hi all,

Alex your post is fine. I don't even know what you mean by the s's. I think it shows that you are a grounded person if you give such genuine compliments. I get that shame thing sometimes too. I do have a nice digital picture that perhaps my friend could send to me but I will wait I think. The thing I worry about most re mental illness is employment. I worry that when I finally finish my nursing degree that I will bump into some of the nurses I met in the psych ward. Only the ones that I really liked would remember me I think so I really shouldn't worry. Only time will tell I guess.

I am still depressed about the no work thing. I kind of wish I hadn't quit that one until I found another. My husband says not to worry but this isn't a holiday to me at all. I just have more time to brood. Anyway sorry for the darkness. Take care.

Amie

alexhart32
Starting Member

15 Posts
Gratitude: 1

Posted - 11/23/2005 : 02:50:22

It wasn't dark- jsut honest. Don't worry about the work thing- that is easy to type but eventually you will find somewhere right for you. I worked for a time in the health service for mental health and some of the attitudes are stunning in this age and particulary in that environment!

Then again the crap people aren't bother bothering about. Go to it! If you can possibly funciton enough to do a worthwhile job then keep on persevering as it will do you some much good. Also the people that you come into contact with as you can be much more human when you battle with mental illness. If you don't deperatvely need to work for money then why not trying volunteering or working for a chartiy/ voluntary organsiation. They tend to be more understanding and reasonable and open. But more disorganised!

Take much care and I hope you find a good job soon.

Heatherzed
Full Member (100+ posts)

241 Posts
Gratitude: 5

Posted - 11/23/2005 : 07:38:30

Ha ha,

, I had not thought about that, about the other person who saw the photo being something of a sufferer of mental health issues themselves too! That is really funny, I doubt anyone I know would admit to me that they were surfing a mental health board, as, like you say, it would be admitting to me that they were the same as me.

At least then they should be able to treat me with respect and not as if they didn't know where to look or what to say, as they would have been through a similar thing themselves.

That's what's so good about this board...at last, a shame free zone where you can talk about yourself without feeling like you are "outing" yourself as a mental inadequate and a social outcast!

Yay!

ssar9
Starting Member

1 Posts

Posted - 05/28/2006 : 15:41:54

I am on Effexor, Risperdal, and Elavil and have gained 60 lbs. I know some of it is my fault as I sometimes overeat (not every day, maybe once a week) and I do not exercise as much as I should but this is most frustrating. I would go off the meds but that would not work either, I would be miserable. I am trying to get myself to exercise more. Each day I start over again. Hang in there.

Heatherzed
Full Member (100+ posts)

241 Posts
Gratitude: 5

Posted - 06/29/2006 : 11:11:49

I am getting fatter and fatter.

Every month I lose 7lb just to go back and put it on again.

I am now at my heaviest ever.

It's got to the point where I almost don't care and am just eating complete junk, which is bad for my health in other ways, but I don't care...

Trying to exercise more by cycling to work, but that isn't enough to counteract the massive number of calories I'm shuvelling in every day