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[Alison Moira]

Hello,
It has been suggested that I try Venlafaxine 37.5mg for symptom relief of night time flushes.This would be instead of HRT. This drug is more commonly used in depression( which I do not suffer from) and when I read up on the side effects they were a bit worrying.

Could I ask if anyone has any experience of Venlafaxine being used in this way?

Thanks
 

[Taz2]

Hi Alison - welcome to the forum.

Anti depressants are offered for hot flushes by quite a few doctors and some women have had good results. I've found this article which shows the starting dosage of 37.5 mg is correct http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/741998

The side effects of anti depressants can vary from person and do disappear after a few weeks. Is there any reason why you have not been offered HRT? Are you post menopausal?

You will find lots of help and advice on here.

Taz x 

[Alison Moira]

Hi Taz,

Post menopausal-  periods stopped at 50( nine years ago) and I though I was going OK and managing the symptoms reasonably well. However over the last year my sleep pattern has become
REALLY disturbed, the flushes are problematic,I feel chronically tired and my memory and focus are affected.
I am also keen to get back to comfortable ( and therefore enjoyable!) sex life! It has been fading for the past year because I find it so painful( despite using Sylk ect).

Because of the length of time since the menopause started the GP suggested Venlofaxine as her first choice of treatment although she is not refusing to prescribe HRT.

When I read the common side effects of Venlafaxine were ' sleep disturbance' and ' loss of libido' it seems very counter intuitive to sign up to taking a drug that might reduce the flushes but make two of my most prominent difficulties worse!

Thanks for the opportunity for discussion.
Alison Moira

[honeybun]

An AD won't help with dryness. You really need oestrogen for that. A lot of us use Vagifem which sorts the problem. If you do a search then you will loads of info on it.


Honeyb
x

[CLKD]

   ADs can be a starting point to help meno symptoms.  However, vaginal dryness won't be helped at all.  There is a good thread on vaginal atrophy by SuziQ and see my thread on the subject (name escapes me).    [my bladder etc.  ]

[Hurdity]

Hi Alison Moira

  from me too!

I agree with Taz and honeybun - that you should be offered HRT in the first instance for menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes rather than ADs. You are still just within the "window of opportunity" ie within 10 years of menopause and under 60 for this to be thought to be associated with least risk.

A low dose eg a 25 mcg patch would be a good dose to start with. However there would be some settling in time as you would need a progestogen too (if you have your womb still) and sometimes there is some spotting or bleeding until your body gets used to it - especially as you have had no oestrogen for a long time.

Personally I would prefer to go down this route ie replace the deficient hormones, rather than take medication such as ADs which just treats the main symptoms of flushes etc. However as honeybun says these will not deal with vaginal atrophy for which you will benefit from local oestrogen, even if you do decide that ADs are the way to go.

Several of us on here use local oestrogen as well as full HRT in order to feel comfortable....

There is a lot of information about all of this in the menu to the left so do have a read!

Hope this helps

Hurdity x

[Alison Moira]

Thanks for the information folks- been busy reading and weighing up the pros and cons before going to my next GP appointment.
It definitively is not a straightforward decision- I keep wondering if I start HRT and get my body used to a higher dose of oestrogen will I not have to go through these symptoms all over again when I come off it?

Still more reading to do I guess!

Alison Moira

[Meg]

This is the nub of the problem Alyson, if you start any medication, will you be on it for life, will a practitione  prescribe it for the rest of your natural and if not what happens when you try to come off. Lets have an honest answer from the medical profession or is it all confusion.  I know with loads of medications, you are on them for life because I suppose your body cant fuction properly without these meds eg blood pressure meds etc.  This is a very difficult one to grapple with and an area we need more expert advice.  It would be interesting to hear of women who are on HRT therapy, particularly combined therapy into old age!

Meg     

[Linsey44]

Just been reading this topic, both my gynae and breast consultant said I should try it as HRT has not relieved all my hot flushes.

Got a GP appoint on Monday to get my prescription, hopefully it will be the starting dose of 37.5mcg, don't want any more than that.

Any other ladies on it?  if so how has it affected you?

[tiger74]

A friend was put on Venlafaxine for hot flushes, worked for a while but is no longer doing so.  She is very concerned by potential very unpleasant side-effects on withdrawal so has continued to take it although it is no longer efficacious. So she is needlessly taking medication which, IMHO, is hardly ideal.

Just pitching this in as it might be worth having a discussion about withdrawal with your healthcare professional before you start taking it and to look at alternatives together.  Unless, of course, you're intending to take it for the rest of your life, in which case withdrawal is irrelevant.

Best of luck.

[CLKD]

Tiger: tell your friend to see her GP and ask for weaning off regime - it took me 9 weeks to stop Venlafaxine on a reducing dosage.  Difficult until I realised that the side effects of less and less went off after 36 hours ……. it does work!

[tiger74]

Thanks CKLD - will broach the subject with her this week.  She has metastatic cancer so is on various meds/regimes so could really do without taking a drug which is no longer doing anything for her.  She tried reducing the dose (under medical supervision) some time ago and had a horrendous time though. 

[CLKD]

I found that it was the panic that I would never feel better ……. each time the side effects from the lesser dose made me anxious, nauseous but after 36 hours I realised that those didn't last.  What is her prognosis?

[Taz2]

Hi tiger - the usual anti depressant for hot flushes is fluoxetine or paroxetine but if she is on tamoxifem then she has to have either venlafaxine or citalopram as the other two stop tamoxifem working efficiently. It may be worth her while asking for a change to citalopram if the venlafaxine is no longer working. It is difficult enough, I should imagine, making a recovery anyway without the added effects of hot flushes/sweats.

Taz x

[Kathleen]

Hello Alison Moira.

I have been taking Venlafaxine for about two years now and I don't have any night sweats, although in all honesty they were never one of my biggest problems, plus the menopause itself caused my libido to head South (no pun intended).
My prescription is for 75mg daily which is achieved by taking a 37.5mg tablet with breakfast and another at bedtime. With other medication and everything else going on it can be hard to attribute any side effects to any particular drug but I would say that Venlafaxine has been fine for me.

Hope this treatment helps you, take care and keep posting.

K.