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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by RUDE on June 2, 2004, at 11:03:18
I quit Effexor cold turkey five days ago, and have have been going through all of the awful symptoms many of you have described.
My question is: Has anyone with Diabetess also been on Effexor and found that this horrible medication has effected their blood sugar levels drastically by increasing thier readings?
Normal blood sugar levels are between 4.2 and 6.1. With pills only, I have been able to keep mine between 5 and 8.8, for the past 14 years.
After being on Serazone for many years, my doctor switched me to Effexor three months ago. Within a week of this change, my blood sugar levels suddenly shot up to 12 to 14 each day after being on Effexor. Any readings over 10 cause long term irreversible damage and multiplies the risk of heart attack, stroke or blindness.
My doctor disagrees that Effexor could have caused this and simpely feels that I have become immune to my diabetic medications and he wants to put me on insulin needles next week.I am shocked that the docotors don't warn people about the potentional and very serious risks and side effects in using Effexor and how tramatic it is to stop usining it.
I consulted a second doctor who agreed becoming immune to all my medications in a week is difficult to believe. He said the blood sugar levels would have increased slowly over a period of time and not went from gooo to very bad in a one week period, the same week that I was switched to Effexor.
I did a lot of reasearch and found that Effexor causes blood sugar levels to be low or high and can even cause non-diabetic people to become diabetics.
I found the timing of the change in my blood readings and starting Effexor was too close to ignore. I am suffering with the withdraw of Effexor effects and my blood sugar level hit an all time high of 20.2 this morning.
Has anyone with diabetees experienced this with using Effexor? I am hoping for a reduction in my sugar levels since quitting Errexor, and that this occurs in time before being put on the insulin needle twice a day starting early next week.
Thanks in advance for any information you may have!
Posted by Racer on June 2, 2004, at 13:25:18
In reply to EFFEXOR INCREASING SUGAR LEVELS IN DIABETICS, posted by RUDE on June 2, 2004, at 11:03:18
I'm not diabetic, but my husband is. While I was on Effexor (with 10 mg Prozac), I gained a ton of weight. Effexor affected my blood sugar almost from day one, though.
It started very differently from how it ended, though. In the first few months, I was having problems associated with hypOglycemia. Once those were under control, we stopped me checking my blood sugar -- until I started having a LOT of problems associated with hypERglycemia. That was after I'd gained about half the weight I eventually gained, but I don't know which came first -- the weight gain or the problems with the blood sugar. What I can tell you, though, is that I went from very consistently low normal (about 70 on my husband's glucometer) to wild variations: 50 before a meal, 240 within half an hour after a small meal (that one was, as I recall, one poached egg and two slices of toast -- but don't quote me on that) -- basically, overreacting to any food at all. And the wild swings brought on a lot of other troubles -- some of the normal ones: feeling logy, sweating, weak when high; shaking, chills, weak when low -- but also some problems controlling what I ate, thus making it much worse.
So, I'm not diabetic, and these aren't things it ever occurred to me to mention to my doctor. (It just seemed like a curiosity to me at the time, and it was amateur medicine on my husband's part to think to test me in the first place. {{shrug}}) On the other hand, it does tend to support what you experienced, even though it took longer for me to experience the elevated blood sugars. (That might have a lot to do with having been underweight when I started the drug, by the way. I was somewhere between 10 and 20 pounds underweight at the time, depending on how much you think I should weigh, which no doctor has ever discussed with me.)
It's only anecdotal, but I hope it helps.
Posted by Sad Panda on June 2, 2004, at 14:08:11
In reply to EFFEXOR INCREASING SUGAR LEVELS IN DIABETICS, posted by RUDE on June 2, 2004, at 11:03:18
> I quit Effexor cold turkey five days ago, and have have been going through all of the awful symptoms many of you have described.
>
> My question is: Has anyone with Diabetess also been on Effexor and found that this horrible medication has effected their blood sugar levels drastically by increasing thier readings?
>
> Normal blood sugar levels are between 4.2 and 6.1. With pills only, I have been able to keep mine between 5 and 8.8, for the past 14 years.
> After being on Serazone for many years, my doctor switched me to Effexor three months ago. Within a week of this change, my blood sugar levels suddenly shot up to 12 to 14 each day after being on Effexor. Any readings over 10 cause long term irreversible damage and multiplies the risk of heart attack, stroke or blindness.
> My doctor disagrees that Effexor could have caused this and simpely feels that I have become immune to my diabetic medications and he wants to put me on insulin needles next week.
>
> I am shocked that the docotors don't warn people about the potentional and very serious risks and side effects in using Effexor and how tramatic it is to stop usining it.
>
> I consulted a second doctor who agreed becoming immune to all my medications in a week is difficult to believe. He said the blood sugar levels would have increased slowly over a period of time and not went from gooo to very bad in a one week period, the same week that I was switched to Effexor.
>
> I did a lot of reasearch and found that Effexor causes blood sugar levels to be low or high and can even cause non-diabetic people to become diabetics.
>
> I found the timing of the change in my blood readings and starting Effexor was too close to ignore. I am suffering with the withdraw of Effexor effects and my blood sugar level hit an all time high of 20.2 this morning.
>
> Has anyone with diabetees experienced this with using Effexor? I am hoping for a reduction in my sugar levels since quitting Errexor, and that this occurs in time before being put on the insulin needle twice a day starting early next week.
>
>
> Thanks in advance for any information you may have!
>
>Drugs that increase norepinephrine levels increase blood sugar levels and blood pressure as a side effect, this can be a transient or permanent side effect. Are you taking metformin?
Cheers,
Panda.
Posted by rude on June 2, 2004, at 23:32:25
In reply to Re: EFFEXOR INCREASING SUGAR LEVELS IN DIABETICS » RUDE, posted by Sad Panda on June 2, 2004, at 14:08:11
I'm happy to hear others have experienced the same thing to different degrees! It's not great that you had to experience it, but at least it gives me some hope that I may be able to get to the bottom of it.
The doctors are quick to prescribe medications, often not aware of, or at least not advising the patient of the implications of use or quitting.
Panda: Yes, I am on maximum doses of Metformin (Glucophage), along with Glyburide (Diabeta) and in the past two years, Actos.
Still fighting the Effexor withdrawl today but there is a slight improvment in this battle and the blood sugar levels have dropped a slight amount.
Here's hoping!
Thanks Panda and Racer!
This is the end of the thread.
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