Effexor XR has been a life-saver for me! I have been taking 150m...

Effexor XR has been a life-saver for me! I have been taking 150mg per day for about 8 yrs. Recently, 75mg was added to my daily dose because of a temporary new stress or on my plate - divorce. With the increased dose came constant sweating and unbearable dry mouth. I dropped back to the 150mg dose and the sweating is back to being manageable and the dry mouth is much less. I can't imagine living without Effexor XR - this anti-depressant has literally saved my life -- I know now that life doesn't to be so horrifically painful as was the norm for me prior to taking Effexor XR. I have no other side effects - I have gained some weight but only over the past two years and that possibly can be attributed to my age (50) and the stress of a bad marriage. The half life of Effexor is short and I do sometimes get the electrical shock feeling in my head -- that usually a red flag that I missed a dose. To be on the safe side I keep a dose in my purse as a back-up. All-in-all, it feels great to be 'normal', even if it means using Effexor XR - I hope it never goes off the market. Way-back-when, I initially started out w/ Paxil (helped, but I felt just below the surface of reality and had horrid withdrawals) - then tried Wellbutrin and after a day was so terribly spaced out that I could only minimally function and couldn't even leave the house - got off of that stuff immediately! Effexor just lets me function and feel feelings at a normal volume. Thank you Lord!!