FYI - I was told by my psychiatrist to never cut or alter the patch because it messes with the distribution of the medication.

That being said, I have been on this for a year and it is not working anymore. It may as well be a nicotine patch at this point. It worked great and I felt awesome for about 3 months and then everything came crashing down 9 months ago due to the insomnia side effect that set in. I asked for my dose to be lowered back to 9 mg from 12, which my pdoc did, but the insomnia persisted and my depression got worse. As I write this, I am 15 pounds heavier than I was a year ago because my metabolism is destroyed due to the lack of sleep. I am constantly angry, I get into misunderstandings with people, I can't stop having panic attacks or acute physical anxiety (especially in my chest area), and I don't venture very far away outside a certain mile radius because of my fatigue. Lack of sleep will literally make you bonkers. I sound like a real treat to be around, don't I.

I think when I see my psychiatrist on Tuesday I am going to ask to go off this damn thing completely. I can't get much worse anyway, I'm pretty depressed.

My pdoc is currently fighting my insurance company along with an attorney from the APA to get approval for TMS.

Sorry I don't have a more positive story for you.