Effexor and Weight Loss: I Lost Weight and Motivation With this Drug

With so many different types of illnesses in existence, there has to be medication to help treat or control them. There are many instances when the drug is for a certain use, only to find later on that the same drug treats or helps to cure another medical problem. Such is the case with Effexor. Effexor is a drug used to help fight depression. At least this is what its original use was.

As a sufferer of depression, Effexor was one of the many drugs that my doctors tried on me at one time or another to attempt to help me feel better. During my time taking Effexor, one of the effects that happened to me was weight loss. Now I am not complaining about losing weight, because I really could stand to lose some weight. However, Effexor and weight loss in my case was not necessarily a positive thing.

My weight loss that came as a result of taking Effexor happened almost three months into taking the drug. This was because with antidepressants, it is necessary for dosages of the medication to increase slowly over a period of time. For this reason, there is a possibility that some of the side effects of these medications may not happen with the initial dosages. In turn, they may begin as the levels of the medications increase. This was what happened with me.

The early dosages did not have much of an effect on me. However, after the increase in the dosage twice, I began to feel the effects of the drug. The problem was that the drug made me sleepy, and made me feel as if I could not do anything. In actuality I did not just feel like I did not want to do anything, I did not want to do anything. I felt to lackluster that I did not even feel like getting out of bed to eat. My family members noticed my lack of interest in anything, including food and would prepare food for me and try to get me to eat it. However, not even my favorite dishes such as macaroni & cheese or shrimp could get me to eat.

Because of my loss of interest, I lost weight. The problem with this weight loss was that it did not happen in a healthy way. Thus, what I was losing was not fat, but muscle because my body felt as if I were starving. Over the period that I lost the weight, I actually lost about 10 pounds in a month. However, I was not exercising, because I did not want to do anything. This is where the problem lay.

There were other negative side effects of the drug, which caused me to desperately appeal to my doctor to get her to take me off the drug. After suffering serotonin syndrome from Effexor, the doctor weaned me off the drug and introduced to a different drug.

As with most weight that is lost the incorrect way, as soon as the Effexor was out of my system and I had returned to my regular self, the weight quickly came back on. This is the reason that I would not suggest it as a weight loss aid. The Effexor and weight loss did go hand in hand. However, this was not as most weight loss drugs work. The serotonin syndrome caused me to withdraw from any activity including eating, which could have resulted in death had I not reported it to my doctor.

I do not believe that taking Effexor is a good way to lose weight. This is because I do not see it as a long-term solution. Only a quick fix, as is the case with many fad diets. From my experience, I would rather lose the weight the long, old-fashioned way, then to take a chance of not only losing the weight, but my life as well.