"i&#039;m 25 years old and have been depressed for the past few years. the first medication i tried was fluoxetine, which did absolutely nothing for me. when the dosage was increased from 20 to 40mg i had extreme itchiness of the skin all over my body at night and didn&#039;t sleep for a week. about 6 months ago i was put on venlafaxine at 150mg a day after a suicide attempt. it really helped a lot and i felt a lot more balanced. the effects were fairly slow to come on and it did suppress the libido and make it almost impossible to have an orgasm. after a few months the medicine seemed to wear off and i don&#039;t really feel much different now i&#039;m not on any medication. having said that, i would definitely recommend it as it got me out of a very dark place."