Antidepressant withdrawal and nausea

amydcarlson
amydcarlson Posts: 136 Member
edited September 23 in Motivation and Support
I have been tapering off of Effexor for a few weeks now (It gave me high blood pressure), and I am on the lowest dose now until I add my new anti-depressant to the mix on Monday (Celexa). My boyfriend and I had the flu about a week and a half ago, but I still am nauseated off and on through the day, and my shrink said that it is probably the result of the physical withdrawal from Effexor, and that nausea and "brain zaps", are the most common symptoms.
The bottom line is, I eat when I can... right when I wake up, but lately I don't feel like I actually WANT to eat until late at night. I know this is the worst time to eat, and I eat a bit throughout the day, but I actually FEEL hungry, (and healthy) at that time. Have any of you had to deal with this? I usually come in within my calorie goal, but I mainly posted this because I am just sick of feeling SICK! Also, I know it's not good to eat late at night. How long will this last??? Any words of wisdom, advice, encouragement would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all. I'm so glad I have people to talk to about all this stuff.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,309 Member
    I've not taken Effexor ( I can't take them or other SSRIs due to a DNA glitch) - but I just wanted to say you should eat whenever you feel that you can eat. Your body really doesn't care about the clock.

    That "rule" about late night eating is meant to discourage people from saving their calories all day long and then binging at night. Also, most people tend to over eat carbohydrates at night, since their insulin production diminishes at night. Not a good habit. But if you aren't eating during the day, and you aren't going way over on your calories, the rule is still calories in versus calories out.




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  • Luckymam
    Luckymam Posts: 300
    I've not taken Effexor (or any SSRIs, I can't take them due to a DNA glitch) - but I just wanted to say you should eat whenever you feel that you can eat. Your body really doesn't care about the clock.

    That "rule" about late night eating is meant to discourage people from saving their calories all day long and then binging at night. Also, most people tend to over eat carbohydrates at night, since their insulin production diminishes at night. Not a good habit. But if you aren't eating during the day, and you aren't going way over on your calories, the rule is still calories in versus calories out.

    Absolutely agree. If you are hungry, then EAT. It's a myth that you should only eat at certain times/not after certain times etc.

    I do shift work so sometimes my evening meal is REALLY late and I'm losing weight! There are all sorts of 'rules' that we should follow when losing weight. The onlyone I stick to is 'listen to your body'. It will tell you when it needs food.
  • Jilli2010
    Jilli2010 Posts: 28
    You should be over the worst of the withdrawals if you have tappered off slowly, but Effexor, and other antidepressant withdrawal is not fun. You do just feel sick all the time. I would call your MD and discuss.
  • Mariposa187
    Mariposa187 Posts: 344 Member
    Withdrawal from antidepressants really sucks! i've had to stop several times from different medications (zoloft, wellbutrin, wellbutrin xl) and I had the same problem wanting to eat in the night. Just try tomake healthy choices... It is the best thing to do even tho i usually wanted fast food. You can do it! I know the feeling of withdrawal i twitched and felt like a drug addict, wanting to throw up and felt like i was going to go crazy. Prayer got me through it and support from my husband and mom. It will get better... i usually drank tea to soothe the nausea
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,309 Member
    Anyone who takes SSRIs should seriously consider getting a pharmacogenetic test done to be sure you are actually able to metabolize these very complex drugs. The fact that about 40% of the population has a genetic metabolic issue with these drugs due to a common enzyme defect should be a red flag to anyone being put on these drugs.

    After four different doctors tried to put me on these and other drugs, I finally found out why I had bad reactions to them, and that was when I had the testing done in 2004. If you have this DNA variance, and cannot metabolize efficiently or metabolize too quickly, the standard dosing can become toxic or non-effective (depending on your morphology) I'm not on any SSRIs or any other psychotrophic drugs and all my supposed problems have been cured by diet and exercise and other therapeutic means.

    Google "Pharmacogenetic Testing" for more info, or send me a personal message.
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