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Hi Crystal. I've dealt with depression for a couple of years, and was taking Effexor when I got pregnant. (I was on a lower dose as well, as I was trying to come slowly off of it.) I found that it worked really well...it stabalized my moods. Instead of literally being on an emotional roller coaster, I was a lot more "even". The only thing I didn't like was that it wreaked havoc on my metabolism...I gained quite a bit of weight. But the good stuff definitely outweighed the bad! I'd suggest giving it a try...make sure you give it at least a month to kick in properly though. Too many people take themselves off of their meds before the drugs can fully take effect. And work with your doctor...tell him everything you notice about your moods, etc. It can help him diagnose you accurately, and get you the right type of medication. (There are two types of anti-depressants, and being on the wrong kind really sucks.) Best of luck! I hope you can find relief with Effexor...give it a solid try. (The side effects do go away...I promise! Just get through the first few weeks...) Hope this helps!

Oh! And I really recommend finding a good counselor and talking things out. It's always a good idea to hear from someone else's perspective. And possibly they could help you understand some of your behaviour and emotions; even learn how to "retrain" some of your thinking. I've been seeing someone, and am so impressed with what I've learned. It's enabled me to control my moods...My doctor told me that the combination of medication and counselling is the most powerful way of battling depression. It's been working for me, anyways. Good luck.

thanks for the information! I've been taking effexor for almost a week now, I haven't really noticed any side effects yet, except it makes me kind of sleepy and I don't have much of an appet_te. I'm starting to notice it has been stabilizing my mood quite a bit though. I'm going to give it a try for a few months to see how it works, but I don't really want to have my dose put up anymore then it is right now. I think you're right, I should look into some counselling. It might help me to find out what the root of my anger and moodswings are. Thanks again :)

Hiya Crystal... I had my baby last June and was absolutely thrilled to have her, things couldn't be better. Then my moods started to go all over the place and I was so emotionally unstable and had bout after bout of crying, etc... It was not a pretty picture, and although I didn't think of killing myself, I didn't care if I lived or died. Finally I had to do something so I talked to my doctor and he prescribed Effexor for me. I was a little scared to try it, but finally did and was amazed with how I felt even the first week. My mood swings disappeared, I wasn't an emotional wreak, and I felt happy and energetic. I was taking 75mg once a day and thought I should have done this ages ago. Unfortunately with this medication, I started to feel very sluggish and had no motivation after the first few weeks. I also was sweating like crazy and at first had no appet_te. My doctor upped my dose to 75mg twice a day to try and combat the sluggishness, because at a higher dose, this stuff can actually boost energy levels. Not for me, it made things worse... I didn't want to do anything except play with my baby. I started losing interest in friends and family, I didn't care how I looked, I had zero energy or desire to do simple daily chores, and my s_x drive crashed to a big fat zero!!! My relationship with my husband started to suffer because of all of this and after 5 months, I decided I needed to get off this stuff... Uh oh! You can't just stop taking this medication cause man oh man does it ever make you feel sick. So, I started to very slowly cut back on what I took, by opening up the capsules and taking out so many of the white grains... little by little I'd decrease it. And still I felt like c___p at times... I'd get these brain snaps that actually were painful in my head, but didn't really hurt. It's like nothing I've ever felt and I'm sorry but I can't describe it too well. It just feels really, really unpleasant. There are many more side effects, but I didn't get too many of them. I'm not saying to go off your medication or anything, just be prepared that there could be unpleasant side effects. I found a wonderful, wonderful site all about this medication. It's at venlafacts dot org (not sure if we can put links in or not???) I hope you find all the answers to your questions. Just to let you know, I've been completely off this stuff for 5 days now after weeks and weeks of cutting back, and I'm happy to say that my s_x drive is coming back and I have more motivation to do things these days. BTW... did you know that sweat inducing exercise does the same thing to your brain as these drugs??? Just a thought... but I'm definitely exercising a lot more these days, and feel much happier. Good luck and take care.

I do exercise regularly, but the effects of that wear off after awhile. I only take 37.5mg right now and I don't want it upped. I'll go off it before i have the dose increased. I know the side effects can get pretty bad when higher doses are taken. i'm doing really well with the effexor right now. it has brought me back to life. i've started exercising again and have even lost some weight (mostly due to decreased appet_te, lol) My husband says he has noticed a huge difference in my att_tude and mood. I'm not so quick to fly off the handle anymore. So far so good. But I know eventually the body gets used to things and it might now work the way it does now a few months down the road. When that time comes I'll have to find a new way to deal with things. For now I'm enjoying life!