Effexor and periods

I have been on effexor for about 6 months now and I love the way it makes me feel. After my second child I we diagnosed with PPD
I have been on paxil, lexapro, zoloft,and now finally effexor I have gained 40 pounds on it. I am not a lazy person by any means I am an animal trainer, have 3 kids, and 110 acre farm, so I live a very busy life, I have considered going off it, but my withdrawal periods with my other medications, I went through hell my doctor tells me to just increase my cardio activities, his nurses believe otherwise. Anyone have any ideas?

Effexor XR worked at getting rid of a deep depression when nothing else seemed to help, made me less irritable and more pleasant to be around and rekindled some long-lost interests and made me less reactive and defensive.. AT FIRST.... within a couple months I found myself in a numb kind of depression, there was this irritable sad feeling in my head that I tried to get rid of by eating sweets, something I was never to fond of. I packed 20 pounds on my 5 foot 1 frame which is several dress sizes. I would have gained more if I didn't have periods of dieting and exercising here and there, but mostly I wasn't motivated, I would do things like sleep through doctor's appointments and not even care.. My sex drive was so gone I started thinking I was asexual, no joke.. I kept on craving junk food and couldn't stop, I also couldn't sleep at all.. It felt as if my stomach to my groin area were numb, that's why I kept on eating, to see if I could feel something but I never felt full... To me sleeping, having an orgasm and feeling full are basic human functions and to take them away is well.. depressing... I choose to accept my brain chemistry as is , that was part of the problem, feeling like we have to be happy and smiling all the time... My personality "flaws" are automatically cured when I accept them cause' they are no longer flaws and that makes me more positive and happy!