enjoyingspring, I can understand your daughter being fearful of stopping the Effexor. When I googled to see what withdrawal effects might be, it scared me to death. That's why I talked to my doctor about weaning off of it. Would your daughter be willing to let you accompany her to her doctor to discuss getting off of Effexor or changing to something else? My personal battle with depression, hopefully, has been temporary. The past four years, quite a lot happened - husband was critically ill, father diagnosed with cancer, father-in-law put in nursing home, Katrina taking everything we owned, then watching father die the following year. I felt like an antidepressant would help me cope through these episodes, and I guess it did. For the majority of the time, I took Lexapro with no bad side effects. I changed to Effexor late last year, because I felt like I had no energy. When I look back at the situation, I realize it was probably because we were cooped up in a horrible, unsafe apartment, surrounded by memories of Katrina, where I didn't venture outside unless I had to. I took my last pill a few days ago. I'm not planning on going cold turkey, but so far, so good. I was not the best at taking it every day, so maybe that's why the withdrawal hasn't been severe. I do know if I feel out of sorts, I will take either half dosage or full pill immediately. And of course, call my doctor. I wish I could be of more help. Depression has many layers and affects each one of us differently. Good luck to you and your daughter.

Good news. I met with my doctor yesterday. He came in announcing that I had a glowing report, excellent results on my labwork. He looked at my nails and said that I had suffered some sort of trauma 4 months ago (he could tell by the indentations and growth of the nails.) The only thing I could come up with was that I took a really hard fall on my left knee while helping my niece move into her new college apartment. Sounds trivial, but it was a solid hit, and brought tears to my eyes and deep bruises from my knee to my toes. He said that definitely could have been the cause. So, hopefully, mystery is solved. I said that I wanted to try getting off of the Effexor antidepressant, and he said not to try doing it now, during the holidays. That I should do it, slowly, weaning off. So, other than exercise and eat better, that's my plan for the new year. I can't tell you how relieved I was. I really was afraid it was something more serious. I am terribly guilty of not taking care of myself these last two years, and it could have cost me. I lost a dear friend to breast cancer in June, and she fought so hard to stay alive. She always ended her emails with "listen to your body." This episode was a wakeup call to me......thanks for listening to my ramble.

Yes! I've been on BCP forever because of PCOS. My doctor told me the same thing about getting off the pill to see if I'm in menopause or not. She said I had to be off it for 3 months before she could do an accurate blood test because my hormones would even out by then. About 3 months ago (while still on the pill) I started having the hot flashes and lots of headaches and aches and pains. I decided to go off the pill to see what would happen. I also went to a proper GYN and she said I only had to be off the BCP for 7 days before she could do the FSH test and determine whether or not I was menopausal. Result was a 32 she said was post menopausal. I haven't had a period for 2 months now off the pill, however these past few days I have had a lot of cramping, am very bloated and am having discharge that looks like ovulation. I don't know if that means I'll get a period or not. They say you are not officially in menopause until you have had no period for 12 months. So to answer your question: I felt that my menopause had started breaking through the BCP as well because I was experiencing those same symptoms...maybe the BCP just masked the menopause until it started coming on too strong to be masked??

I suffered from hot flashes for nine years, until I started taking Zoloft. My hot flashes were every fifteen minutes all morning and evening, with a little relief during the day. For women who have severe symptoms of menopause, precription meds are sometimes needed. If you have no quality of life because of your symptoms and you are completely miserable, like I was, thoughts of suicide can enter your brain -- prescription meds are a much better option. I tried all forms of natural remedies and NOTHING helped.