I've been on generic Effexor, 35.7mg (for 4 weeks now and I still don't feel relaxed. Here is some of my background: I was originally placed on Lexapro in Nov. 2006 after a bad bought of anxiety attacks which led to IBS symptoms and GERD. In Aug 2010 I decided to ween off the Lexapro after gaining about 60lbs, I thought my life was stable enough that I could handle the occasional panic attacks without too much trouble. By Dec 2010 I was a complete wreck, upset stomach, unable to eat, easily full after only a few bites of food, stomach discomfort, acid reflux, anxiety daily, worrying over minute things.

I withdrew from my spring semester of college (I was set to graduate in May), and I've had to minimize my community involvement. Worse yet, when my children (ages 5, and 6) headed back to school I found that I had terrible panic attacks while driving them to school - so I stopped driving all together.

I told my doctor that I needed some sort of medication because I cannot go on living in my room, I have to be able to participate in my childrens lives and take care of them. My doctor choose not to put me back on Lexapro because of the weight gain; instead the doctor first put me on Buspar, then Zoloft, and now I've been on Effexor for four weeks. My stomach muscle is more relaxed and I've been put on Protonix for the GERD. I am eating better but still have signs of IBS and GERD.

I wanted to wait out the Effexor and see if things would get better, and they have improved slightly - I am no longer worried about the smallest things, however I am still not able to participate in the life I was living while on the Lexapro.

After four weeks on the Effexor I am still unable to drive, and I have to convince myself to leave the house even to go to the doctors office. This 'mind over matter' convincing can take me 40 minutes before leaving the house. I KNOW this is not normal, I've never been like this before. I get uncomfortable with just the thought of entering a grocery store, and heaven forbid I have to get a prescription filled. This is all new to me, I used to love shopping and taking my kids to the park... now it's all I can do to walk to the mail box.

I was hoping that after the designated time on the Effexor that I would be feeling better - or atleast better than I am feeling. This makes me wonder if perhaps this is the wrong drug for me. Should it be taking this long? I asked the doctor about it and she said, "Well we've tried alot of medications, and none of them seem to work." So she recommended that I see a counselor (which I am going to on Feb. 10th) but I still can't help thinking that I need a stronger medication or a different one. How much longer should I wait?