This drug saved my life, literally. It worked when no other drug did. No other solution, period. I'm a martial artist, so I tried the eastern remedies first... but I honestly think that things like that are simply mind over matter.... and my cynical American brain wasn't about to let it work. I tried herbal remedies... nuttin. Music seems to help me a lot, but only at the time, and it certainly depends on what I'm listening to. Animals are fuzzy and make me smile at the time, but they aren't a permanent solution, either. Sort of the same situation with karate- if I could drag my butt out of bed and go, I'd sometimes enjoy it (though most of the time I was too depressed to. I'd get berated for even bothering to come if I wasn't gonna work). Nope, deep breathing didn't work, either.

I was trying to solve a chemical problem with physical stuff. And even when I finally went to meds, none of them worked. Some, like Lamictal, made me a robot with no emotions; others, like cymbalta, worked at first, and then faded off.

Effexor was the only drug out there that not only made me feel like myself again, but made me feel great without horrible side effects. I'm about to get back on it, because I've discovered that I really can't function without it, not at optimum level, anyway. I'm going to go on a lower dose, and try to keep it there, but I really do need Effexor. My therapist was candid enough to tell me that I may need it for the rest of my life. And... I guess I can live with that, because apparently I can't live without it.