Hello!  I feel a connection already.  I took 140 mg of Teva-Venlafaxine XR for a few years and now at 53…I can’t cope, go to pieces, cry over anything and everything and just collapse in bed for a day or two with no relief in sight.  I am now taking 15 mg of Escitalopram and feel more calm after a month on it.  I have other things on board as well that I’m trying to accept and get through….2nd darling little grandbaby now, still grieving the 1st one still-born at 32 weeks, my dear 85 year old mother w/severe dementia that I’m trying to get medical coverage in Canada for and have her in a care home, so feel guilty about that and my 3 special step-children…..but I do have a very dear loving husband. 

You do have a lot going on! But frankly guilt is a feeling I wish I could delete. It is such a waste of energy. We do the best we can do given the circumstances of the moment we are in. We can't always be at the top of our game. And we're certainly not angels or saints. Caregiving is not for the faint of heart.

If you want to talk to others about caring for a parent with dementia, please visit the Caregivers group https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/caregivers/ I suggest starting here: "Caring for someone with dementia / Alzheimer's" http://mayocl.in/2ccA0jO

Thank goodness for your dear loving husband! Do you also live in Canada?

Yes, I married and moved to Canada 8 whole years ago from the States!!  Your reply and first paragraph says tons!  I must memorize it by heart!!  Thank you!  I’m home by myself delighting in quiet time….but it’s gone the second the door opens and the others come home.