Venlafaxine and A & D Help

[granadagirl]

Been on venlafaxine since 2011start if menopause!! Although never even registered it was that that could give me suicidal depression and sky high anxiety , I literally thought I had lost it so frightening. Even gp never mentioned it could be hormones be a I’ve struggled with anxiety/depression for years on/off
At 54 I was a wreck so much so I didn’t won’t to be left on my own, appetite completely gone with anxiety symptoms for what seemed like months.
Starting seeing psych and under secondary mh team . I was already on Ad’s, so they switched me over Started on 37.5mg got to 150mg over mths
Better, but still anxiety in back ground, always lurking to startle me
Up again to 187.5mg for few months, still had sometimes high anxiety and flat feeling distant and often snappy.
Upped again to 225mg after still struggling
Just can’t be happy again and anxiety as left me over the years very reclusive knock my little bit of confidence I had left!

So to now, aged 62
I’m still flat, I literally feel I have to build myself up everyday
I hate waking up, straight away I get thoughts of what can I do today, I feel so flat
I literally make myself do things
Clean, iron anything around the house. If it’s raining or cold it’s worse because then I can’t get out into the garden
Not that I want to do anything!!

It’s like something is holding me back (iyswim) I want to be happy, enjoy life again and WANT to do things instead of hiding away at home.
Partner ask “where shall we go/do we need anything “
I either get angry/snappy and say “where is there to go”
In the back of my mind, I don’t wNt to go anywhere BUT
Then I do, but feel too flat, uninterested

I can’t even be bothered seeing sisters, I’m not interested

I’ve done therapy!!!
It’s ok at the time, and you take things away from it. But then you go back to flatness and then anxiety because of the way you feel or anxiety then depression

In all of this, you wouldn’t probably guess it
But
I’m psych drug phobic, they scare me to death
I take diazepam everyday 1mg
Just to take the edge of anxiety
That’s before the flatness starts to show its head

I don’t know if to up to 262.5mg or ask for mood stabiliser
I’ve got fluttering in stomach and in knots just thinking about it.
I know I just can’t carry on like this, just getting through each day
Don’t even know if I should pay private to see psych, as gp is good but not in mh

Sorry to hear all this x. I am on venlafaxine after years of trial and error with all sorts of different antidepressants. Unlike you, I have found it helpful for anxiety. However, I feel flat, and I am convinced it is a side effect of the medication which only becomes evident with long-term treatment. Though this sounds counter-intuitive, could you try a lower dose to see if the flatness improves? IME, reducing the dose of venlafaxine needs to be done in small increments because of the withdrawal effects, so take it slowly. Small reductions in dose and not more often than every 3 to 4 weeks. Let us know how you get on.