Posted by Hannah_LouLou on October 4, 2004, at 15:21:21
Hey everyone
Just looking around on the internet for information on effexor and I was delighted to come across this site. Everyone seems so helpful and supportive.
I am 22 years old and a university student, and before last year I didn't really have any experience with depression. I'm not really sure where things went wrong... I had a really great childhood and no major problems in high school and always considered myself to be very well-adjusted. Maybe it was the stress of living on my own away from my support systems ... I'm not quite sure. But basically last year I had a nervous breakdown. I had to leave school for a month and go home. I was having really bad anxiety problems, and then I pretty much fell into a bad depression from there. It was the hardest thing I have ever gone through... it was completely overwhelming because I felt as though I was being swallowed up by it. I was constantly crying, having the darkest thoughts imaginable, I wanted to kill myself... it was bad. I could go through it all with you now but really, it's just an awful story. There is a history of depression on my dad's side and he's been through it before so it was great to have his support -- actually I don't think I could have gotten through it without him. He took me to a doctor who put me on effexor. I wasn't on a very high dose but i felt the relief within two weeks. This was in October/November of last year. It all happened so fast.
After a while, I felt so much better and back to normal that I felt like I really didn't need to be on the medication anymore, so I weaned off in February. For a few months i was fine. Then in the summer, I started feeling a few twinges of anxiety and depression again, and I tried to shake it off. I wanted to learn how to cope without the drugs. but then in August, things kind of swelled up again and I had another nervous breakdown. I didn't feel as bad as i did before at all, but I didn't feel good either. So i went back on the effexor. Right now I'm on the 75 dose, which i know is not a large dose but that's the dose I was on before as well.
Now it's October and I'm feeling okay, but the thing is, I still don't feel like my normal self. It worked so fast before, and i just don't feel like it's working so well for me. Should I up my dosage or maybe considering switching to something else? Is it harder for it to work the second time around?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for your time.
poster:Hannah_LouLou
thread:398876
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041002/msgs/398876.html