I have been on Effexor for the last 5 years, due to my anxiety and my internist pointing out that this was caused by having a chronic illness since I was 8. It has helped me immensely and I would have stayed on it long term as my Endo truly believes that it is a wonderful coping aid.
I went via my internist to start the weaning process, with just a phone call to her office no questions asked, as she knows I know what I want and I don’t need to run in for everything, like my endo wants, (different story)
Okay I am on month two of the weaning process and I feel that I am coping alright even though I know I felt much more relaxed on effexor, so you ask why go off, well I have gained a lot of weight and I never have had weight issues, and I read many horror stories on the internet recently about effexor causing weight gain, plus a few other issues, metabolism wise.
One more month to go with this decreased (150-75-now 37.5mg) dose and here goes the question, my freaking bloodsugars are through the roof, ahhh!!! No rhyme or reason and no amount of insulin is working. I am mega dosing for a salad, so now I am sad because my bgs are sky high.
Does anyone know if going off Effexor can cause elevated bgs? I realize that higher anxiety can cause this, but…I feel I am coping alright emotionally, but the high bgs are making all my plans go out the window.
Things are improving a tiny bit as I have increased my insulin big time and decreased my carb intake, but it still is a crap shoot. I see my endo in two weeks, and she will tell me to go back on the Effexor but I refuse as I only have a few weeks left to my 2 month weaning process.
Oooo and today for some reason the scale dropped 2 lbs, don’t think it is the effexor shortage, ;), but the fact that I started a diet delivery food service, but now another thing to throw into the ring as the food does not list carbs, and what I am shooting is bigtime guesstimate for low carbing meals.
Hi Karen,
I understand your wanting to get off the Effexor. And I want to send you much praise for taking charge of your life to make changes you want. I do have a question though. Do you not have time to cook? As a working mother I would have loved having meals already prepared, so please don’t think I am criticisiing you. I realize it is handy and you want to lose weight, but if you type in “low carb recipes” and hit search there are an abundance of really good ideas on the internet. .
I had wanted to lower the amount of insulin I was using, because the more you use the more likely you are to gain weight. Anyway, I found a great way to knock out a bunch of carbs in my food. I am unable to eat shellfish or fish and need to get a bunch of omega 3’s in me. So, I started using ground flax seed. I make sure I have at least 6 heaping tablspoons of it each day and the amount of insulin I need has been slowly reduced. The other good side effects I see are a slow reduction in weight and my blood sugars are so much better. I had good control over the numbers, but far better now and I can dismiss a number of the good carbs I eat because of all the fiber in the ground flax seed. I am not sure how you can include the flax seed in food that is already prepared. But in foods you make yourself it is really easy to do. I also reccomend the golden flax seed and grinding your own. It tastes far better to me than the regular. Good luck in your endeavor. I have absolute respect for people who work so hard to take control and take care of themselves.
Thanks for your kind post and yes I have time to cook (work full time). I have been married 25 years and usually cook most nights, but then I eat what I cook if it is there, now the fact that I am not cooking and only eating what is delivered to me has helped more than I could ever realize and man it has shown me true portion control. We all know what we should do, but the fact is I have eaten whatever I want for years and never had a weight problem and come from the dark ages of diabetes where we did not even know about carbs or blood sugar testing. I know age has caused weight gain, but when I researched about Effexor on the internet (takes me awhile to research, ha) I thought I have to eliminate all things that are causing this weight gain, plus Effexor messes with your metabolism. I am only going to do this delivery service until mid May when I go on vacation. My bgs are still all over the place from this Effexor decrease and from the fact I am clueless about bolusing these small portions where I really don’t know the carb count, I have messed up a lot, but I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and responses like yours helps me so much, ty. I have heard many people talk about flax seed, so I will try to incorporate that as well and I have heard also about grinding my own.
