Haven’t posted lately–I was put on sertraline and while it helped with my anxiety, it didn’t do much for the depression aside from leveling out my moods, and it utterly destroyed my creative spark. Any time I tried to focus on writing or any other creative endeavor, it felt like my brain was bouncing around like a ping-pong ball. We tried to mitigate this admittedly known symptom by upping my bupropion, but that did not help, and it finally got to the point where it was making me more upset not to be able to create than the sertraline could handle.
I had an appointment last week, and my doctor agreed to put me back on venlafaxine. She did not agree to let me keep taking the bupropion with it, despite the fact that taking bupropion with the sertraline also carried a seizure risk, and the fact that I was taking the bupropion/venlafaxine combo for more than a year without any such symptoms, and the fact that I was doing extremely well on that combo. But whatever. If the venlafaxine isn’t enough by itself, I’m going to ask to try atomoxetine. I was on it briefly a few years ago, but I don’t remember if it was more or less effective than bupropion.
Sertraline is one of those medications you have to taper off, and I have to say, this is absolutely murdering me. I start the venlafaxine tomorrow and it cannot start working fast enough.