Posted by Crazy Horse on September 28, 2006, at 11:05:07
In 1998 following the birth of our first child, my wife suffered a severe depressive episode (diagnosed as postpartum depression).
She cryed all the time, could not eat or sleep, had a very difficult time caring for her newborn child, she tragically saw no hope in the future and wanted to die. Apon my insistance she sought medical help, and her Doctor started her on low dose Effexor. After another grueling couple of weeks, she finally began to feel better. She was able to eat ( at least somewhat) her insomnia was beginning to disapate, she began to give very efficient, loving care to our baby, and she no longer wanted to die. After 4 weeks she was completely well..no depressive symptoms whatsoever. She was a happy loving wife and mother!
Eight years later and she is still going strong and still taking her Effexor every day. She has accomplished some great things in the past 3 years. She went back to school and is now an LPN. This year she is working towards her RN, and will graduate in June 2007.
During this time she once tried to discontinue the Effexor to see if perhaps she no longer needed it, this experiment backfired and she relapsed for a short while..she promptly restarted her Effexor and recaptured her wellness.
The 50 million dollar question..when and if she ever decides to go off this medication will she suffer the horrible withdrawal symptoms many have talked about on this website? Who knows? But if a problem occurs, we (my wife, her Doctor, and myself) believe a very slow taper off of the med will remedy the problem. Until then, we will enjoy the benefits.
-Monte
poster:Crazy Horse
thread:689917
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060927/msgs/689917.html