No, correction. I am on day 16 with no effexor.

Hello catbitess. Good on you girl! You have to think of yourself first . I am almost off effexor & have chosen not to discuss my process with family, they , like most people just don't get it! So I have kept to myself for three months. Shoshi

We really are on the same path, aren't we! And more than 2 weeks off? Hooray for you!! I am very curious to see how I will think and feel -- physically and emotionally -- now that I won't be putting any of it into my system. I feel those little zaps even as I'm writing and I'm a little woozy, but so far, everything is bearable. I do have a couple of commitments tomorrow that I really, really regret having said ``yes'' to, but I think it would be more stressful to try to get out of them than to just push on through. I keep reminding myself that neither of them has to be done perfectly and in fact it won't be the end of the world if I mess them up totally! After tomorrow, though, my week is open and I'm going to keep it that way! I'm really sorry you're getting criticism for not spending enough time with your pregnant daughter-in-law. What do they expect you to do anyway?? Rub her belly and tell her it's going to be ok?? Adult kids can be far more self-centered and demanding than they realize and it's often nearly impossible for them to view their parents as actual human beings, too. On the positive side, you'll be a much more helpful, loving granny once you get through all this -- and you're so very close to that point! I'm sorry they're so caught up in their own situation that they can't spare any concern for you as well. I know it must really hurt you. Yet you're strong, you're a survivor and you have all of us on this blog in your corner and caring for you. One day at a time, we're all getting through this -- together!!

Regarding your statement on others not getting it, I have never fully understood why people just don’t get it. If the heart races too fast we sweat and act ‘off’. If the stomach is upset, we get ulcers. If areas of the body don’t get what they need, results in physiology and behavior occur.

Why the brain and neurochemistry should be any different boggles the mind. Sleep deprivation and sugar lows, hyper caffeine and alcohol all affect neurochemistry. It just makes zero sense that people have and continue to exclude disorders of the brain, especially given that it controls everything and without it we are nothing but biomass.

If you havent ever heard of the ‘god center’ of the brain, it’s fascinating. Volunteers allowing neurostimulstion of different sectors of the brain demonstrated astounding changes. Stimulate one way, the volunteer is a devoted saint, stimulated another they are a total atheist. Bio electric chemistry controls the brain. Malfunctions and variations occur across the board...yet somehow people waive their hand and just dismiss all of it as malingering, hysteria, character flaws, weakness, maladaptivity and anything but a bonafide medical issue of the brain.

Thankfully changed in attitude have been happening but they are at times slow as a Byzantine bureaucracy.