YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Hey Gang,

Might be on here quite a bit today... even though I probably shouldn't ( Bad insurance monkey! * Slaps own wrist*) But I'm nervous, and bummed, and want to hide but can't. I recently got off my medications because Mr Stacy and I are going to try to get preggo this year and the stuff I was on ( Effexor) is one of the " Fucks with your fetus" variety. Then today I woke up feeling like the world was ending for no particular reason. This will be the first bad day I'll be facing without meds in 5 years. And it scares the shit out of me.

I don't know if this will help but once I got pregnant I felt the best I had in years even on meds. Of course then Post partum kicked in after but then there was Zoloft.

I spent about 2 years on Effexor, increasing the dose every few month is until it maxed out, and I finally decided to quit in 2006 because I was taking a 2nd medication for the side effects (a lot of kicking in my sleep), and it really wasn't helping with the depression and anxiety that much anymore besides making me kind of numb (but not in a way that really helped me with the issues in my life).

Anyway, the point is - the first few days really sucked when I stopped. Mood stuff, those shivers/brain zaps. But then, I felt like myself again and it was pretty awesome, because I didn't really feel like myself on the Effexor (or the Lexapro or generic Prozac that preceded it). It was actually really nice, and didn't take too long to get to that point.

You'll get through this, especially since you have a very strong positive motivation to do so. And who knows? Maybe after starting this new chapter in your life you will feel the way you want to feel without needing meds. Good luck!