Good thread, Heather. I finally had time to read it.
I take Effexor, currently at 262.5 mg. I take it as a maintenance dose to prevent my clinical depression from coming back. I really like it. No sex drive but that's fine with me! It didn't help my IBS at all though.
I also take an older AD called Elavil. It's one of the old tricyclics that causes mega major dry mouth. Like a camel slept there overnight! I take it for my fibromyalgia sleep disorder. Currently taking 150 mg at bed time. It does have the side benefit of being slightly constipating so it has helped my IBS a little, which is nice.
Also in the past took Zoloft, but it started giving me headaches, so she switched me to Effexor about 5 years ago.
But AD's alone weren't enough to stabilize my IBS. It took Heather's diet, SFS and prescription antispasmodics to control it. It's possible I need the Elavil too. Might be interesting to see what happens with the IBS if and when my doctor ever thinks I should come off the Elavil.
Hope this helps. I don't feel very coherent today, cause my head's all plugged up with a cold.