Posted by jdawg on October 5, 2004, at 18:06:23
In reply to Starting up again on Effexor, posted by Hannah_LouLou on October 4, 2004, at 15:21:21
You can try increasing your Effexor dose -- 150 mg/day is standard. Some take more depending on symptoms and side effects.
I think you should be fairly aggressive about treating your relapse. We know that depression when not treated (or inadequately treated) gets worse over time.
> 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:jdawg
thread:398876
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041002/msgs/399323.html