u/-_-thatoneguy-_-

I started Venlafaxine back in 2022 and went up to 150mg at my highest dose. It was amazing how I felt. Depression and anxiety basically disappeared. I enjoyed life and was excited for things. Couldn’t cry if I wanted to. I started to have some negative side effects late 2024. Couldn’t orgasm at times during sex. Gained 15% Of my body weight. Kind of started to feel like I was on auto pilot. Granted the lows weren’t as low as they once were before, but I wasn’t really experiencing the highs either, I felt flat.. decided to start tapering off of it and I took this very slow due to reading about how horrible coming off venlafaxine was (it is…) Took my last 37.5mg dose December 2025.

I had been doing okay without being on it until March. I started to notice. I was just grumpy and pissed off about everything. Wasn’t excited about much, just in a bad mood.

Had a doctors appointment first part of April (different doc this time) explained my past experience with venlafaxine. He decided to have me try Wellbutrin xl 150mg (the generic bupropion xl)Anxiety has been much worse. I thought I was gonna have a panic attack at times. One good thing was it motivated me to increase my exercising because I couldn’t hardly sit still. Lost 6lbs during the month of being on it.

Had my one month follow up appointment. Explained the good and the bad. The doctor took me exercising and being motivated to do more as a huge plus of the medicine and encourage me to not stop taking it just yet. We did talk about switching meds completely or adding something else to help. I started the generic of Prozac last week to add to my Wellbutrin. Started at 5mg and am now on 10mg Prozac and 150mg Wellbutrin.

I just don’t know what to do. I cried my eyes out the other day, which was the first time in years that I’ve cried. I feel nervous about everything. Depression has been really rough and I’m having suicidal ideation’s which I’ve had in the past, but went completely away when I was taking venlafaxine.

Been on 150mg bupropion for 5 weeks and 10mg Prozac for a week. Should I just keep riding this out. How do I know when to say this med isn’t for me?

I’m kind of wishing the whole expat idea never even came onto my radar. I can’t stop thinking about moving out of America and living somewhere else for a better quality of life. I’ve been really focused on SE Asia lately. I can’t even remember what originally got me researching Americans doing this, probably a YouTube video, but now I can’t stop thinking about it or about how the “American Dream” just doesn’t feel worth pursuing anymore.

I’m 41 years old. I’ve had some sort of job since I was 14. Started working full-time at 18 and haven’t stopped since. My wife and I are middle class, but like a lot of people, we fell into lifestyle creep: nicer house, nicer cars, nicer stuff. Thankfully we only have a mortgage and one car payment, so we’re not buried in debt. At least credit car or medical.

I guess I always assumed there were no other options. Just work until I’m elderly and maybe retire someday. But with the increasing cost of everything, I don’t even know if retirement is realistic anymore. Full Social Security for me won’t even kick in until 70. I’ve also been self-employed/1099 for years, so I don’t have much in investments. We’ve done well saving money, but honestly it mostly just sits in a savings account.

Being in our early 40s with no kids definitely gives us options. We stay busy and occupy ourselves, but I do feel a void when it comes to friendships and community. We moved to another state 9 years ago, and while I have some friends here, most are hobby-based friendships. If we moved again, I honestly think those relationships would just fade away.

A lot of people our age are busy raising kids, while others are fully invested in hustle culture, careers, and chasing more money. I just have a hard time relating to that mindset anymore. We work to live, not live to work.

I think what I mean when I say I wish I never discovered the expat world is that I was comfortable living in my little bubble, getting excited about the next car, the next house, the next thing. But now it feels like the curtain has been pulled back. I see there are completely different ways to live, and people out there building lives centered more around freedom, time, and experiences instead of constant grinding.

Anyone else in the same shoes? The freedom of geo-arbitrage sounds incredibly appealing, but I also wonder if that lifestyle eventually gets old too. Are building friendships even more hard being an expat?