Posted by pellmell on August 3, 2001, at 13:47:13
I've been on Effexor (the XR stuff) for about six weeks now, at 150mg, and I've got a few questions about it.
First, how significant is its NE reuptake action at the low dose I'm on? It seems to have a more balanced effect on my mood than the SSRIs I've taken, but I think I heard somewhere that Effexor's practically an SSRI at 150mg and below. I'm asking because I'm trying to figure out, within the framework of the monoamine hypothesis of depression (which, I realize, may turn out to be rather wrong), whether my brand of this disease is exclusively serotonergic or has a noradrenergic component as well.
Also, when I saw my pdoc last week I described my sexual side effects to him, and he said that they were "atypical." Presumably because my libido's healthy and I can get to orgasm (though it takes longer), but my erections, even when they start out good, shrink to rubberyness during the course of intercourse (heh). Is this /really/ atypical? I'm doing very well on the stuff, but he said that if when I see him again at the end of August I'm still dealing with these sexual side effects that "maybe Effexor isn't for you." I have no idea what else he's got in mind, 'cause these side-effects were as bad or worse on Prozac and Zoloft, Serzone did nothing for me, and I couldn't tolerate Wellbutrin or Remeron.I think I had another question, but I've managed to forget it. :) If I think of it I'll post it to this thread.
Thanks everyone,
-pm
poster:pellmell
thread:73363
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010731/msgs/73363.html