Chad, Trevor, Doug: I'm at my parents' place, call me.

Well, I've been to Janice's convocation and hung out with her and Mike, and tomorrow morning they will begin their drive to Prince George. Today was cool, I'll post some pictures once I'm in the same city as my computer again. Queen's University is so pretty—even their brand new buildings are much more beautiful than the concrete jungle at York.

I got a anonymous comment on an older entry of my blog today. Here's an excerpt:

This should be my last week on effexor but I am scared to get off the 37.5. I have read all the scary stuff about what happends when you get off of it. I expericed the withdrawl sympthoms once when wallgreens.com didn't send me my medicine (which they do automaticly). It was horrbile it was like the flu times a million and I got those "brain shocks" yuck!! But so far coming off the medicine slowly has been fine, so maybe I will be ok getting off of the 37.5. Also, I don't know if this has happend to you? But I gained 50lbs on effexor. And I am extremly active and I only eat orgainic natual food. That has been the worst part of effexor. I was a size 2 and now I am a size 10!! I had to buy all new clothes! I am hoping it will go away when I am finally off. I am getting a trainer at my gym this summer to get rid of it. But I feel for you about being on effexor. As much as I hate the drug, it did help me pull out of my depression. Since I have been on it I have been very happy.

Interestingly, this is a side effect I just noticed. Yes, I have gained 30 pounds in the last 2 months (or less, I wasn't checking). Who knows if I will gain more? It's really very hard to say. I haven't changed my eating habits or my (non-existent) exercise habits. Hopefully I won't keep gaining; this is startling enough already. This is really the first time in my life that I have ever considered trying to lose weight. It's a bit weird. It's okay—in fact, I was at the lowest weight I'm comfortable with a couple of months back, so I don't mind being above that, but 30 pounds in 2 months is quick.

I'm not sure if my anonymous commenter will check back, but I got off the 37.5 by taking one a day for a week and then one every other day for a couple of weeks and then stopping, so maybe that would be good to try if you have crazy withdrawal symptoms.

My side-effects included:
- vivid dreams (a few months at a time, not throughout),
- night sweats (ditto),
- dizziness (just for the first week or so),
- exhaustion,
- mental health.
Withdrawal symptoms have included:
- dizziness (as I ramped down, and tapering off for a few weeks after that),
- night sweats (ditto),
- vivid dreams (ditto),
- wicked headaches at night (ongoing),
- weight gain (30lbs so far),
- LOTS of appetite and cravings.

There may be more that I'm forgetting, or things that have been bothering me that I haven't yet realised are connected to the drug. Compared to many others, I've had a pretty easy time getting off of it. All in all, it's a pain in the ass, but really worth it. I can deal with headaches and a bit more tummy if it means I'm not paranoid and depressed. That deal is in my favour, as far as I'm concerned.