Effexor and cravings?

[AmZ]

Has anyone ever seen any articles/research on Effexor and how it causes people to crave alcohol, or perhaps you heard of a person that this happened to?
Seems to be a lot about this when I looked it up on Google.

Is it just SSRI/SNRI's in general maybe than can cause these cravings or something specific with Effexor that adjusts something in the brain and can cause this? Or it's not true in the first place!?

Thx.

 

[Daniel E.]

Re: Effexor and cravings for alcohol?

Generally speaking, if there is nothing in the prescribing information (and there isn't in this case nor for any other psych medication I know of), such online discussions are nothing to be concerned about. Even if there is some truth to it for somebody, there are millions of people taking these medications.

And, of course, if you are dealing with people who have a history of alcoholism or use alcohol to self-medicate (as a significant percentage of people with depression or anxiety will do), then eating M&Ms or walking in the sunshine may have the same correlation.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Re: Effexor and cravings for alcohol?

Daniel is correct. I am not aware of any valid evidence to suggest that any of the SSRI or SNRI medications would have this effect.

 

[AmZ]

Re: Effexor and cravings for alcohol?

I guess it's just one of those things you can look up and find people going crazy about when there is either no real truth to it and/or, like Daniel says, in this case, they've probably been/are heavy/drinkers in the past or whatnot.

How about it giving you cravings in general for bad things though? Or is that something that could just be to do with your body adjusting to the medication still? I guess if it's a yes to the latter, then one would have to be aware of the cravings and see if they continue in the future whilst taking the medication and report it to his/her doctor?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Re: Effexor and cravings for alcohol?

How about it giving you cravings in general for bad things though? Or is that something that could just be to do with your body adjusting to the medication still? I guess if it's a yes to the latter, then one would have to be aware of the cravings and see if they continue in the future whilst taking the medication and report it to his/her doctor?

I've never heard of that, either, and I don't know of any evidence that would support this as a recognized side-effect.

 

[AmZ]

OK many thanks... Will just put that down to something else then! Perhaps some OCD thoughts or depression/escapism, etc etc! Could be many things perhaps