Hello! 20 year marriage teetering... (part IV)

[InnerStrength]

Great to hear about the renewed hope AS - you really deserve the progress, especially after taking so much time out to help people around here.

I have just discontinued ADs as well. I'm only a week and a couple of days in but the worst has passed. It was a little rougher than last time I discontinued an SSRI which I could taper, as this SNRI uses a time-release coating and can't be tapered past the lowest dose of 50mg. It was a nice surprise to see that I'm largely fine without them (so far)! I do tend to have a few sad moments here and there that I didn't notice on ADs but it is nice to feel normal again.

It seems like you have even more energy for your hobbies after stopping the ADs - I have noticed this as well. Aside from starting my new job with a heap of energy and drive, I'm making music again (once upon a time I was a musician and audio engineer professionally) and have recorded 5-6 new songs in the past four days. That's more than in the past four years since I changed careers! One thing I've always hated about ADs is they make you artificially happy and in turn seem to kill drive and motivation, at least to an extent. Getting this back can't hurt us being more attractive!