Effexor XR and job

I was first diagnosed with depression when i was 18 years old. For 9 years i was on all different types of medication but for a majority of the time i was on Effexor xr. I remember when i missed a dose, just feeling so bad i would just want to go to bed but when i took the next dose it wouldn't take long to get back to normal. My memory has been shocking. So bad that i have trouble remembering what happened when my children were babies. I don't know if this is because of the meds or the depression. My father committed suicide during the time i was on effexor and i just could not grieve. I felt that when i cried i was just forcing it. I just didn't feel many emotions at all. My life took a turn after that and i had so much going on that i either didn't have any trouble coming off it or i just don't remember what it was like.
At the start of this year my life was very full and happy and i was so busy until one day i just felt as though i was going to die. For a week i sat in the emergency department at the hospital certain i was going to die and leave my three children without a mother. I was finally diagnosed with a panic disorder. I didn't care what they did i just wanted them to make it stop.(the way i was feeling) I was put lexapro but had a bad reaction to that so they put me back on effexor xr. I can only say thank god! I have been on it now for almost six months and i have decided to come off it again as i feel my life is back in control. The main side effects i have had this time on this medication have been, a definite decrease in sexual function, deep sleep, vivid dreams and my pupils are dilating differently. I have over the last week decreased my dose from 75mls a day to 37.5. I really don't remember going through all these side effects last time. I was on a much higher dose before too. I have had the worst migraines, i am so tired, my eyes sting, i have what i guess others have described as shocks. When i move my head or blink my eyes it feels like i get a shock in my head. I feel like i am looking through a tunnel sometimes too. Although i had this same feeling when i was first put back on the meds. Yes it is tough coming off it this time but i still don't regret taking it in the first place. Without it i may still be feeling the worst feelings i have ever felt in my life and i wouldn't wish it on anyone. The effects i am getting now are not even a glimpse of what i went through before i started.

I too was told to take Effexor 75mg a day because I was depressed. I disagreed, but took the medication to see if it would help. My husband said it did improve my mood; but what he didn't know was that I started having memory problems. Since about the 2nd month of being on this medication my short term memory became affected. I weaned myself off over a 6week period that started in February and ended in early April. While I felt fine during this time period my memory never improved and I feel strongly that this is the reason Iost my job - no short term memory = errors. I wish I would have found this site and the one at depression.about.com sooner because apparently I'm not the only one having these memory loss episodes.

night sweats, hot flash, panic feeling, fast heart rate, headache. AND THAT WAS IN ONE DAY! Felt spacey and out of this world. No joke. It started out good then it was like whamo! I took it on Thursday and Thursday night I was in the ER having an EKG done and blood tests done. Even in the hospital, laying in the bed, I had stomach pains, burning in my stomach and my heart started jumping. No heart issues, everything fine. I got severe thirst and anxious. Doc said it was reflux.. Mmmhuh. I only take Synthroid for my thyroid disorder and Prevacid for reflux. (And I don't take it every day) That is it. Friday, woke up feeling like I was drugged, flu like symptoms. Friday was little better, still kind of out of it, like I was coming off a high, kind of down. That night, around 5, I woke up with the heart palpitations and the anxiety and I just had to tell myself to calm down and I went back to bed. Today, my tongue feels funny, dry. And I only took one. I turned the meds back in..... If one day side effects are like that, I am not taking anymore. It is about trust in God!!!