Why am I finally deciding to go off Effexor XR?
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OK, I guess here's the time to issue a disclaimer--I AM NOT A DOCTOR, AND NOTHING IN THIS BLOG CONSTITUTES MEDICAL ADVICE, AND I AM NOT INTENDING ANYTHING I SAY TO TAKE THE PLACE OF PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE FROM A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL!
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I got that out of the way, I hope, so here's the rest:
Why, you may ask, if the levels of that stuff were just slightly elevated, would I make such a decision?
1) Well, I tend to get physically "off", very out of wack, and symptomatic when lab tests indicate that levels of stuff (for example, thyroid hormone, in my case--I'm also hypothyroid, meaning I have low thyroid) is only slightly out of "normal" range as opposed to wildly out of normal range. I've never had anything out of wack with my liver before, so this was a bit alarming for me. I'm a web research fiend, so I looked up "venlafaxine [effexor's "real," i.e. not-market name] and liver" on Google. And I found a couple of items--not a LOT, but a coupple--documenting a correlation between liver toxicity and venlafaxine intake. I'll put up links to those items soon.
2) I am pretty sure that my depression and anxiety are symptoms of my hypothyroid condition, which I recently found out has been undertreated. Now that my dosage of Synthroid is getting straightened out, I might not even need antidepressants, especially if the one I'm taking might have an effect on my liver. Especially at such a high dose--supposedly 225 mg/day is the highest approved therapeutic dose of Effexor XR, and I was at 300mg.
More later, I gotta go.
posted by: smokeycat (reply)
post date: 02.12.04 (5:47 pm)
sometimes hypothyroidism is a cause for depression. Hang in there getting off meds can be tough.