I have been on Effexor 75mg and at first experienced extreme drow...

I have not suffered from depression myself but I have been affected. My wife was diagnosed and she has been on 3 or 4 different meds in the last 4 years. Currently she is on 150 mg of Effexor. Prior she took Welbutrin. She had serious problems with spending beyond our means in the past. She has accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt. Her cycle was shopping to feel better and then return some of it because of guilt I guess. But I suspect the guilt brought on another shopping trip. She justified every purchase because it was usually for someone else (kids,co-worker,relatives) but never for me. I think she turned me into her excuse for doing this in some twisted way. Everytime I said "What is the deal with these QVC boxes?" she heard "Husband is the boss and wife cannot spend unless husband says so". That made her rebel against my pleas to simply stay on some kind of budget. We were on the brink of divorce and bankruptcy. All of this may have only been her way of trying to deal with her depression. She never shared anything about it. Still doesn't. I ask her to but it just gets me an angry response. So in order to fix our finances, she said she would do "whatever it took" to correct. I returned several items around town. Anything I could get money or even store credit (better than nothing). I was embarrassed but I had to lie at some stores in order to get credits. She bought cameras, a sewing machine (we already have one), tons of clothes that never had tags removed from various "stashes" around the house. I took a close handle on all our finances. I later found out she deeply resented this "control" and her guilt was deepened, but it had to be done to protect myself and my family (3 kids). Early on she was very agreeable to truly "do what it took". After a few months of no shopping, she began to cheat (on the budget). She opened a secret checking account to use for shopping and had a portion of her check routed to it. She worked varying hours so I did not notice or she always had an excuse. One day I found a deposit slip. When asked about it, she said that she thought I was going to divorce her and wanted money of her own. This may have been the intent and a thought caused by her depression but she spent the money every week. It was hundreds of dollars for over 7 months. She agreed to close the account but continued to be in denial about her issue. When this first "slip" happened, I have often wondered if it is related to taking Effexor. She has "slipped" twice. Once when she first went on it and the second time soon after her dosage was doubled to 150 mg. It seems to "level" her but with the loss of the lows is the loss of the highs. Now there is not guilt. There is only her view that the mean old husband is controlling her. Dont I know she works hard for that money? She should be able to spend her money the way she wants. That is what I think the drug is doing to her. Obviously there are issues beyond the depression. In this case, it sure seems like the drug is making it worse and not better. Looking back, the majority of this credit card debt has been accumulated within the last 4 1/2 years which is the same time that she began her first anti-depression med.
My advice to you would be to stay off of any meds if possible or at least change the one you use and see if it changes or inhibits your spending habit.