Antidepressant | Table for Five

September 22, 2011 By Elizabeth

Back in March I wrote about my ongoing struggle to manage my chronic depression and anxiety and how my doctor prescribed 37.5 mg. a day of Venlafaxine, the generic form of Effexor. 37.5 mg. is the lowest dosage, and for a while, it was enough. Since I was first diagnosed with chronic depression in my 20s, my depression has always been seasonal. I needed medication from around October until around May and skip it in the summer. Well, this past summer showed me that my depression is no longer seasonal. Things were so bad this summer that I couldn't even blog about it, because I was just trying to get from one day to the next. I was a mess. I couldn't sleep more than a few hours a night, which I know didn't help. I was just angry, all the time, about everything. The slightest thing could set me off, I was yelling, and constantly bursting into tears. And it took me WAY too long to ask my doctor for help. It never even occurred to me that the problem was not … [Read more...]

From clouds to sun to clouds again

November 19, 2009 By Elizabeth

Two weeks ago, I pulled myself out of the darkest place I had been in a long, long time, and called my doctor's office for an appointment. I told first the nurse and then the doctor the same story-what I was feeling wasn't my usual seasonal depression. I couldn't sleep, or I slept too much. I was irritated by everything and everyone, all the time. And worst of all, for two weeks out of each of the previous three months, I had experienced PMS like nothing I had ever felt. I needed help. Instead of re-prescribing Wellbutrin and Lexapro, she prescribed Venlafaxine, a generic form of the antidepressant Effexor. That way, I would only have to take one pill once a day instead of two in the morning and one in the afternoon. She handed me a sample pack with seven 37.5 mg. pills and seven 75 mg. pills, and wrote me a prescription for six months of the 75 mg. dose. The next morning, I took the first 37.5 mg. dose, and the next day and the next. By that third day, I realized that I … [Read more...]