I m a menopausal 48 yr. old woman who has somehow suddenly become depressed. I have beeen dealing with a lot of lack of sleep and disturbed sleep. I was always a little bit of a night hawk ; but only on the nights that I didn t have to get up really early in the morning. Anyways, the bottom line is for the last past while;say the last 2mo. straight I haven t been sleeping much. I blame it on hormones; but it s leaving me feeling very drained and lifeless. Their has been a lot of stress in the last few years; we nearly lost our daughter 2 yrs.ago due to an almost fatal car accident. My mom underwent a major heart surgery; a double by pass; our home has been under major rennovations and my husband travels so a lot of the time, I have to be both parent; mother and father. I still have a little one at home; she s in school but she s still young . I lost my father back in 2006; but in spite of it all; I ve always been really good about anything that came my way. Oh yeah; I ve been dealing with abnormal noncancerous cells in my cervical area. So far so good; but I m not out of the woods yet; I may have to undergo a partial hysterectomy depending on the results coming up this november. I ve always been a really happy, full of life who lived her life to the fullest kind a person. I ve always taken everything in stride. I was always a very easy going type of person. Anyways it s out of character for me to be going through this whatever this is. I hope it s just a phase and I can snap out of it soon. I m not happy right now and I m trying so hard to hide my feelings; because I wanted to believe that i could overcome it without anyone noticing; and that I could fight this depression that i m going through. Anyways, I ended up seeing a doctor recently a wk. ago; and she prescribed medication called Venlafaxine for 7 days; 1 tablet daily.After the week is over, I m suppose to double my dose. Well, Ive only taken it for 2 days, and Ive been experiencing no sleep from the medication and i developed an allergic reaction ; I ended up getting a severe case o hives. So now yesterday was the third day and I did not take the medication . Oh yes, I am also taking a natural, herbal formula 2x a day for my menopausal symptoms; and I am allergic to penicllin; so I don t know what to do. But the positive side was that I noticed how my mood and my emotional state had just changed after 2 days. I was much more happier the second day that i took Venlafaxine. I must tell you that a few years ago; when I was 45, I had gone through a little slight depression so i went to see a doctor and he prescribed citalopram during the day; and Zoplicone for night time and that medication really helped me overcome my depression back then. But this time; I think I waited too long to seek help and I feel I m in a deeper depression more than I know. I totally almost stopped talking and I have always been such a great communicator; I used to have a lot of friends; but my husband is very satisfied with being by himself and he s a little bit of a loner and his job actually doesn t permit him much for socializing; too tired to now that he s getting older. I loved people, and I still do; but i dont feel that I have anything to offer anybody at this time; I feel confused, tired, empty and lonely inside; and I feel that I m sheltering myself; and I feel a lot of anxiety because I know that I m not me right now; The doctor that prescribed me to take Venlafaxine just recently is very young; but she said she s been practicing for 7 years; and I think she s qualified to help me; but I m suppose to go for blood work actually this last week; but I plan to go for sure after Thanks giving. I tried to get a whole of my physician today; but she wasn t around. I was thinking I should talk to a Pharmasist to see if he can offer me some advice about what I should do from here. Can you give me some expert advice on how to deal with myself. Also, I d like to mention that I had a family funeral to attend today; and I didn t take the medication; and I could honestly say that I was very alert for driving, but at the memorial service; I knew people their even my own immediate family; and I didn t know how to truly connect with them. Me was their, but not the 100% me. It was my sister s husband s mother who passed away due to a long battle of cancer. She was a very courageous woman; and it was very emotional for everyone; and I had become very close to her also given the little bit of time that I ve known her. She was an angel in disguise;she was a very strongminded, courageous loving,and caring beautiful person inside and out. So it was a very energy draining, emotional day today for a lot of us.Ok I would like to know if I should continue taking the medication which is Venlafaxine and is it better to take the medication early during the day, because i was taking it late in the afternoon; because i was worried that i would be too sleepy and I would t be able to get through the day. What should I do ? I did not take the medication yesterday; should i still take it tonight now at this time which is 9:00p.m my time. I really want to get some sleep; I can t keep on this way; I need medication to help me sleep; but before I took the medication; my whole system just turned around; because since I couldn t sleep at night; after I drove my little girl to school; I found myself having to severely go back to bed; and it seemed I was able to actually relax and get some sleep; but it still was not a sound sleep; but it was enough sleep to help me cope. Please give me your expert advice. I m very desperate for an anwer to solve this problelm. Believe me it would be very greatly appreciated if you could take the time to help me find a solution. Thank you for listening.