Is there a less sucky alternative to Effexor?

I've been off medication for a few years, and slowly eroding. I have a pdoc eval next week with a new one (old one retired). I'm not sure what she'll recommend, but I do know that I did best on effexor and lamictal, but the withdrawal from effexor was so demonic I swore I would never do that again.

Do any of you know if there's an equivalent to effexor that has fewer hellacious withdrawal symptoms? Given my history, meds become ineffective after a few years and I will need to get off it at some point.

Also, it goes without saying, but I don't want to gain a ton of weight and turn into a slug.

Not sure...I just started on Viibryd and from what I have experienced so far, there has been no weight gain. I don't know about any problematic withdrawal. Incidentally, I started this after I stopped Effexor. It's supposed to be "weight neutral"...who knows. It's all a crap shoot with medication.

Cymbalta and Fetzima are also SNRIs but much more effective for depression and anxiety and are weight neutral.

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I put on 40 pounds when I was on Cymbalta...

Uh oh. Has it been hard to take off?

I stopped Cymbalta cold turkey in December 2012. By March of 2013 I was able to take the weight back off. I was exercising back then. Now I'm on the "weight neutral" Viibryd. 9 days into it, no major side-effects. If I start ballooning again, I'll have to reconsider; but for now, I am okay. Oh, and I find this better than Effexor, which I think robbed me of any ability to feel anything at all. Sure, it pulled me out of some deep depression, but the trade off was terrible. I also couldn't sleep with Effexor and had random anxiety. As such, klonopin and ambien were added. I had enough trouble with one pill, so the idea of three was killing me. So, I stopped Effexor. The withdrawal was brief, but I wasn't on it for that long either.

I'm rambling a bit with all the memories of these meds - I hope that this is helpful to you.

Thank you regretful. It's very helpful.

Wellbutrin worked well for me and had absolutely no discontinuation symptoms when it was time to come off ... There's one kind you take twice a day and another kind you only take once a day ... I was on the one you only took once a day ... XL or XR I think it was called.

According to a recent study at John Hopkins, Cymbalta is the most effective anti-depressant for treatment resistant depression. Viibryd is also weight neutral, and since it is an SSRI, it will poop out. The SNRIs typically don't. Just because an AD is weight neutral doesn't guarantee you won't still gain weight. Just like a sleeping pill can't guarantee it will help you sleep.

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Wellbutrin SR should work ok for depression and should suppress your appetite but can't be guaranteed!

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Wellbutrin is the reason I stopped taking meds. It caused tinnitus that continues to this day, three years later. My life sucked before, but it will never get back to whatever good felt like because of this infernal hissing and ringing.

Pristiq, Fetzima, Cymbalta. No guarantees on withdrawal. I am lucky and even never had withdrawal with Effexor.

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Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, Viibryd, Brintellix, Pristiq, Cymbalta, Fetzima, Nefazodone, Remeron and Aplenzin are a few.

Update: I saw new pdoc yesterday. Basically, I am more confused than ever. She recommended hospitalization, but I only see that as creating more problems later (I am self employed, so this will cost me lost billable hours, plus hosp bills). It looks like I can pretty much pick whatever meds seem the best, as long as one is a mood stabilizer, so I am leaning towards one that I won't mention because I'm sure there is someone out there that's had a bad experience with it and I don't need any more paranoia about exploding internal organs and 100 lb weight gain.

Also, I have been through this long enough to know that in the end these meds diminish quality of life. I have more problems now than when I first sought treatment some 20 years ago.

I don't know anymore. It's all a mess.