Do antidepressants age you ..;(((???

[LuckyElle]

Hello everyone,
So I've started taking Venlafaxine 37.5 since September.
Not only I've put on weight that also is making feel very old.
Do antidepressants age you?
Some of my bones ache , my joints ache, I even felt pain in my rib cage this morning.
I feel my body is sluggish and heavy.
I stopped training too because of the lack of motivation and tiredness.
My face looks more tired and old .
Does this happen to you too?
I lead a very healthy life , I'm a pescatarian/ vegetarian .
Don't smoke , drink very little and I don't take any drugs.
I wake up every morning feeling totally exhausted like I've been partying hard all night 
Is my body too squeaky clean for this drug?
Btw since today I've started taking Bupropion. This will help me loose the weight and get my libido back 
Hopefully I'll stop feeling like and old bag.
I told my psychiatrist all this and he doesn't know what even say ..
Has anyone know what I'm talking about ?
Thanks xxx

It's more the stress that does that. They do make you hungrier though and very tired to start with. It doesn't last though, you'll soon feel better.

Oh I don't know cos I'm not stressed whatsoever . I'm very much aware of what's happening to my body and this symptoms are there

So why do you take them if you don't mind me asking? If you aren't under stress you clearly don't have anxiety so I'm guessing depression? That is a form of stress in itself, you don't always feel stressed but it has the same effect on your brain. Exhaustion, low serotonin etc

Be careful with bupopropion, it gave me terrible cystic acne. There are lots of similar reports online. The initial effect was excellent, I was full of life, but it tapered off after a short time and then was the same as other ADs. Just with spots.

I have chronic depression .
The tablets have stopped the anxiety
Regulate my demons inside my brain and I feel much better .
But I'm having all these side effects above..

They can make you tired and hungrier which causes weight gain but nothing else you've described is typical for them. Have you had a recent blood test? Im wondering about a deficiency of something, possibly due to a combination of your restricted diet and the tablets. Some ADs can deplete your levels of certain vitamins.

That's what I need , spots

Yes got all blood test and very healthy.
It's strange
Maybe my body rejects them...

Thanks so much for answering by the way.. xx

I had side effects like this. It was awful.

Hubble , did they go ?

I take 300 mg of Venlafaxine a day.

The tablets have relaxed the muscles in my eyes so I have to wear glasses & in my bladder so I have to take other tablets (solifenacin) to stop me having 'accidents'.

I also get very fatigued but I'm on a lot of other meds.

I think the bad depression ages people more than the Venlafaxine.
When I was depressed I looked & felt awful.

I have upper back pain & sciatica now but that's thanks to my job as a care assistant.
I find regular gym helps with aches & pains.

The aching joints is also probably a result of the weight gain too rather than the antidepressants per se. I know I certainly ache an awful lot if I am overweight and the heavier I get the more achey and lethargic I become. At my heaviest (about 3st over the healthy limit) I was constantly exhausted, woke up sore and feeling worse than when I went to sleep etc.

No, it didn’t go and 4 months after coming off them I still have the side effects. Having researched online, it looks like in some cases they can be permanent. I had none of these problems before the antidepressants.

Ufffff Hubble poor you !

Billy bless you , did you manage to loose the weight ?

TierraJ I have read somewhere else also the depression makes you look older rather than the tablets..
I just feel it , not sure why .. It's a combination of everything..

Thanks for the replies xxxx
I really appreciate it x

hi OP

I've been on them since I was about 30, and no. I took citalopram initially and did gain weight....then switched to fluoxetine and was okay.

I wonder if the ageing thing is just random. I suddenly started looking a lot older at 41. It came out of the blue after years of being baby faced, so was quite weird.

I had awful side effects on venlafaxine - lockjaw, horrible thready pain in my muscles, aching joints, brain fog, a feeling like my my brain was getting electric shocks, total loss of libido, loss of appetite, an inability to feel any strong emotions or compassion and vivid and terrifying suicidal ideation. But as far as my gp was concerned I wasn’t having anxiety attacks so the rest didn’t matter

sorry, hit post too soon

I'd be wary of taking the Bupwotsit - I wonder if you would be better coming of Venafalaxine and taking something else. I also had Vena suggested to me because I'm a terrible insomniac, but the drug seems designed to slow you down and I decided I'd rather stick with SSRI meds than try SNRI, even if the SNRI is a better option for sleep.

there do seem to be many stories of people who could sleep all day on SNRIs.

I also train regularly and the fact that you have lost the inclination to do that sounds worrying, sorry. Also the aches and pains - I gained 2 stone on Citalopram but I didn't have any aches or pains. Of course everyone is different but one thing that strikes me - is there any chance your meds have an effect on joint tissues etc?

i dont know if you can take venlafaxine and bupropion together.
cant you just take bupropion?
and i dont know if long term taking of bupropion is advisable. i think the limit is 3 months.

Just to add, I didn’t have weight gain (I always tend to lose weight when other people gain it which isn’t as good as it sounds) but I still had aching joints on venlafaxine

Perhaps look at changing. Not every antidepressant will suit you. I've been through 5 or 6 before I settled on one that i could tolerate in terms of side effects and made me feel more like me.

I'm on Escitalopram (10 mg) and it's hasn't had any noticeable physical effects. If anything, I look better because I'm sleeping OK and exercising.

I agree with PPs, perhaps you should try a different AD.

Op I did! Most of it anyway (last few pounds are refusing to budge post dc), swore I will never be that heavy again because no biscuit is worth that much pain!

Though if others have had aches and the other horrible side effects without the weight gain I think it's really worth going back to your gp and trying something different.

Best of luck op I hope you find something that suits you soon