Hi all

[St.Jon]

Hi all I'm new to the forum so be kind. I'm 55 And after a fairly big episode have returned from Italy back to Scotland to get well. I've been diagnosed with Depression and Anxiety and I'm waiting on my first appointment with the psychiatrist. I'm on Efexor and Epilim Chrono. Signed off unfit for work and struggling with side effects like tremors, night sweats, weight gain and sex drive... Hope to learn more and will share more of my story :blush:

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya St.Jon and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[Carys]

Hi there St.John,


Sorry to hear you in the midst of a bad espisode - don't know if it's your first experience of mental health problems or not ? You certainly won't feel alone posting on here.



I'm on venlafaxine also, have been for many years. I don't get the side effects you mention though, but I have been lucky in that I never had one side effect from it at all.



See you around

[Rad1]

HI StJon,
I hope things are improving for you?
If you get this message, let me know.

It sounds very tough for you.
Rad1

[GiantMogwai]

Hi StJon, haven't had Efexor but have been on another SSRI. The one i took was at the lowest possible dose but immediately had gastro-intestinal symptoms. Lots of stomach gurgling and occasional diarrhoea. I had night sweats and increased anxiety on/off for about 2 weeks including suddenly waking up in a panic before these settled, but the gastro-intestinal symptoms took about 4 months before they settled. The gastro symptoms were manageable so after the 2 weeks I wasn't that bothered. However after about 2 months, when we upped my dose this caused some problems so i came back down and my dose was upped more cautiously. I'd describe the problem then as some sort of out of control euphoria/anxiety. After maybe a year of taking the drug I developed other side effects which I felt less comfortable with so tapered off the drug, but I know other people who have had less problems with SSRIs. Some of the side effects are speculation on my part so won't go into this, but one thing i did feel was occasionally moments of exhilaration or excitement would hang there and fail to complete making me sick instead and thus making me afraid to be happy. I didn't like that. Sometimes though it is so hard to tell whether it is the anxiety or the drug. However, sometimes you just know it is the drug though and in my opinion that's when you go straight to your doctor for advice. There are potentially quite a lot of different SSRIs that they can try you on.

[Squizzell]

Hey there I suffer from panic disorder and I initially was on citalopram now currently on venflaxine . I did have intial side effects on both meds but they did pass after about 5-6 days if u can try and stick it out alittle longer as they hopefully will pass I have found CBT to be a great help in altering my mind set hope things go well :)