I took Ambien last year for two months. Talk about weight gain. I would wake up three or four times a night, walk down the stairs into the kitchen and find something to eat. I would then bring it back up to my room and consume it in the dark, in bed. The scary thing was that at least half the time I never even knew what I was doing. Only when I discovered wrappers, and empty yogurt containers did I realize that I must have been on a nightly binge.

Have never taken any HRT (my sister died of breast cancer), however, I have been taking over-the-counter Estroven. I really can't tell if it does much good physically, but psychology I think it does.

My sympathy is with you!!!

Best of luck to you!
Carla

After several months of taking it, my niece decided she would try life without it. She called me, miserably dizzy, and said she felt like she was on a rocking boat, nauseated, so dizzy she couldn't stand up.

Uh oh. But I decided I'd better get off Effexor as well. I stocked up on Dramamine, etc. to ward off the dizziness, and sure enough, it was horrible for about a month.

I had noticed when I was taking Effexor that if I just even missed a dose I would start getting dizzy. I'm talking, not just a bit dizzy. I'm talking about SICK dizzy. I'm sure this isn't the same for everyone, but it was enough for me. Anytime any of my friends mention the possibility of taking the dang stuff I have a fit.

Just thought I'd put in my 2 cents worth! I'm new to the forum and I'm basically looking for hot flash relief!

There is also a lot of info about Effexor withdrawal.

This stuff sounds very scary. I would never take the stuff no matter how many brochures the doctor threw at me.

after a month the night sweats have stopped, I wake up multiple times per night, but go back to sleep with no problem... so far NO weight gain... and I am watching since it's a known HRT side effect that I really don't want....

The "new" wisdom on this is that if you start the therapy earliler in life and then "wean" off it after a handful of years, you should achieve comfort in the "hard" years of menopause and then come down gradually from the hormones and fade into life without them.....

For the major change the lowest dose possible has made in my personal life... I'm willing to take that 0.06 percent increased risk of medical problems... this is way less than the 70-80% chance I had of conceiving a child with a MAJOR birth defect.... and I willing took that risk! (I do have a family history of that... a BIG history)