[Shawnee123]

Wow.
I've been coming here for just a short time, and I can't get enough of the wit, and insight, and support, and intelligence...I could go on. I hadn't seen this thread until today.
I am taking Effexor and Welbutrin. Effexor was doing well for a while, but then I started having really bad depressive episodes again. If it had gone on, I was afraid my job would be in jeopardy, because at the same time it was very stressful and I couldn't keep a handle on my emotions.. Though my friends try to understand so many don't get it; I felt like a leper, though they did not view me as such.
I have been on Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil. Effexor had worked best for me, until recently. My doc gave me the option to up my Effexor scrip or add another, like a person not responding to blood pressure meds. I opted for adding Welbutrin. I'm doing pretty well.
The withdrawal effects of Effexor are just horrible. It has a half-life of less than a day, and I hadn't had it filled for a couple days and I was SO sick. I felt like I might die.
But I don't worry about having to wean myself off it. As my doc says, I'm "chronic" and will probably need antidepressants for the rest of my life. It's just who I am, and I don't feel ashamed of it. It's an illness like any other illness.
Of course, I have an ex-friend (whose favorite hobby is to get drunk with her husband and fight in public) who had the nerve to tell me she used to be on meds but she just made up her mind she didn't need them. Her husband says "it's just mind over matter." They, however, are uneducated, barely tolerable humans taking up space, so I just consider the source.
Thanks for a place to chat about this. It's nice to vent that now and then.