Does Effexor Cause Bone Loss

Posted by HomeAgainLA @llynch17056, Nov 16, 2023

I’ve been taking Effexor for over 20 years. I am 76 years old. I am just now hearing about it causing bone loss. I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. No one in my family ever had it and I have always had strong bones. I have never had a fracture of anything my whole life. I have been slowly getting off of Effexor which is very hard to get off of. I am almost down to the lowest dose everyday. It will probably take me another six months or more to get completely off. I have avoided the bone medications due to the side effects which often cause the need for medications to treat the side effects, etc. etc.

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as i have pposted i had 1 prolia shot a yr ago and the side effects were severe so severe that i needed medication to help with the pain. this past january i was diagnosedd with ra i am now 80 yrs old never had any kind of ra pain swelling but soon after the prolia shot this pops up. am now suffering with that pain. now i have to take more medication with more side effects. i too have osteoprosis and that is why i was given the prolia i beg everyone to please be very cautious with this medication it has caused me a lifetime of pain. my dr says couldn't be the shot that caused the ra but it is funny before i got the shot i was just fine. got the shot went to bed and got up in severe paon unable to really move so i say it was the prolia shot. it suppresses your immune system so maybe if anything is dormant in your body it may affect iit. please please do not take prolia

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Thank you so much for this advise.
The choices are very slim for those of us with osteoporosis.

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@proliamistake

as i have pposted i had 1 prolia shot a yr ago and the side effects were severe so severe that i needed medication to help with the pain. this past january i was diagnosedd with ra i am now 80 yrs old never had any kind of ra pain swelling but soon after the prolia shot this pops up. am now suffering with that pain. now i have to take more medication with more side effects. i too have osteoprosis and that is why i was given the prolia i beg everyone to please be very cautious with this medication it has caused me a lifetime of pain. my dr says couldn't be the shot that caused the ra but it is funny before i got the shot i was just fine. got the shot went to bed and got up in severe paon unable to really move so i say it was the prolia shot. it suppresses your immune system so maybe if anything is dormant in your body it may affect iit. please please do not take prolia

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I am a little tired of being told that something that obviously is connected is not connected. I had covid in the first wave. There was no vaccine or medication. My doctor said I didn’t have it. Later he called and said based on my anti-body blood test I DID have it. Then when I said I had “long covid” he said there was no such thing. When I asked about Effexor and bone loss he said there was no connection.

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All the serotinin uptake inhibitors can contribute to osteoporosis, it is now thought. Efflexor is notoriously difficult to stop.
Sam-e might help Sam-e advances synthesis of serotonin, while selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors block the reabsorption of serotonin, leaving more available. It might help ease your transition and is thought to help with bone density. Talk with your medical provider because I haven't even read anywhere that sam-e could help the transition and there could be a reason why you shouldn't take sam-e concurrently with Efflexor even for a short time period.

In our seventies, though, we don't produce much estrogen (thank goodness). Estrogen really protects our bones. You may be need an osteo drug anyway and it might be strong enough overcome the negative-bone effects of Efflexor.
Best wishes.

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I have never had a doctor that knew of the connection between antidepressants and bone loss. It's kind of shocking when a simple google search will inform. A couple of years ago I had an appt with a gynecologist who was a specialist in menopause. It was a time when I was dealing with situational depression and she wanted to put me on an SSRI. I told her that I had osteoporosis and could not take it as it causes bone loss. Her response was, "No, it doesn't". I asked her to look at the studies. She did a quick google search right in front of me and said, "oh, I guess it does". A specialist in menopause did not know this! I was shocked but I guess I shouldn't be because every doctor I've ever mentioned it to gave me the same initial response. An alternative that has a very small chance of bone loss is a tricyclic or tetracyclic antidepressant like mirtazapine/remeron. It is a much older drug that they don't use much any longer since the SSRIs came along. It's something that is taken at night as it makes you sleepy (great!). I took it for a short time to get me through a difficult period and it was helpful. I'm not sure if it is something that is effective long term though as I think you may end up needing higher doses to have the same effect. Worth exploring though if it is something you need.

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Thank you. My goal is to get off of anti-depressants, but only if it turns out I don’t need them anymore. It’s sad that doctors don’t spend more time learning about which meds cause which health conditions.

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