[karnival8]

Hey there. I am a 33 year old male. Depression has been a part of my life since I was a teenager. For the majority of my adult life I have been able to manage it (put up with it).

Lately, A LOT has gone in my life. Lot's of good things, bad things, and everything in between. This has caused quite a bit a stress which has made my depression increase beyond what had had been just background noise.

My irritability is through the roof, I have no patience now and my outlook is muddy. All the regular signs of the depression having the upper hand.

So anyway, I went to my doctor.
First we tried Welbutrin. The side effects were too severe for me to continue even after 2 weeks. Headaches and severe dizziness. Too bad, I had a lot of hope for it.

So now I am on Buspar. It's been a week, same effects as the Welbutrin. Dizzy, nauseous, headache. Less severe but if this continues more than another day or 2 I gotta quit it.

The question is what should be next. I want to stay away from SSRI's because they make me gain weight big time. This happened on Zoloft a few years ago.

There is a newer class of SNRI's, I think this may be the way to go. I was looking at Effexor.

Anyway. I need some guidance. I need some assistance here.
If anyone can help I'd appreciate it.
I'm looking for something that won't make me gain weight or mess with my libido.

[waterknob1234]

Hi Karnival8. Welcome to the Community. I would suggest copying this post to your doctor. Different meds work for different people. I would hope Effexor could work for you. I have heard good things about this med. I could not take buspar because it made me nervous and made my heart race. Best of wishes and I hope you find a medication that works well for you.

[Velouria]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with Wellbutrin. I loved it. Wellbutrin pulled me out of a black hole filled with obsessive ideation -- a week after I started it, I was feeling amazingly better, faster than I'd ever expected, and then a week after that had an allergic reaction to the drug.

I'm on Pristiq, which is like Effexor. I don't know how or if the side effects differ, but I do know that the main difference is that you don't have to gradually increase the dosage on the Pristiq.

A lot of people here love Cymbalta, also an SNRI. I might switch to that since Pristiq failed me. But, up until that point, Pristiq worked well. There might be something else going on with me. It's worked since 2010.

As for weight gain and libido, I think when I started taking it it decreased my appetite but then it returned to normal. Not sure about Effexor. My libido is fine on it. Again, not sure about Effexor.