• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

Venlafaxine

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.

LSS62

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I have been on Venlafaxine for about 6 months and just had a blood sugar result of 13.7. Is there a link between Venlafaxine and high sugar levels?
 
From the NHS website:

If you have diabetes, venlafaxine can make it more difficult to keep your blood sugar stable. Monitor your blood sugar more often for the first few weeks of treatment with venlafaxine and adjust your diabetes treatment if necessary.

So the answer may be yes. I am sure somebody with more experience will be along soon to fill in the details and suggest a course of action.
 
It’s a rare side effect, needless to say more frequent in mice. It’s always difficult to disentangle the effect of antidepressants in improving appetite, as opposed to a direct side effect in diabetic control. Biochemically, it’s difficult to postulate a direct effect on BG control because of the way Venlafaxine works. The effect is equally occasionally reported in the use of Amitryptiline, an older antidepressant which works in an entirely different way, but is equally inexplicable biochemically. So who knows? In any event, the caution only seems to apply when starting treatment.

I would have thought if you’ve been on Venlafaxine for 6 months and you have only recently had high BGs then the chances of Venlafaxine being the cause are close to zero, or non existent.

What I do know is that under NO circumstances should you stop Venlafaxine suddenly. It must be tailed off gradually, otherwise some very unpleasant symptoms can occur.
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top