Christin, how are you doing today? Better I hope! I feel like you might be or on the verge of the upside. Jane is right about listening to the Dr., she's also right about the Xanax and the Valium. We are adicts and we have to be careful, but you have to fight the fight with whatever you can and yes any more than taking care of the bad days with those would be a horrible idea. I would not get caught up with any other of the options I was offered because of the long term consequences, effixor which some people swear by has been found to cause people with depression to progress to manic depression. I have a friend who will never be able to live with out the pills as far as I can tell. She stopped and spent almost a year hiding in a closet or on drug binges. All anicdotal and I put less faith in the pros than Jane, unless you are at ucla medical, adiction is a new disease and only recently been treated as such. Hell psycology is still merely a century old. Do what you have to do. Be aware of what you are doing, there are no magic bullets. We have all formed a bond and we will make it together. I'll wait at 3mg if you want. I know you will be here soon and feeling good. I am on day 2. I'm taking all three in the morning which makes me feel good all day but when I wake in the morning I need my dose to get my ass moving and to stop sniffling and coughing. I've got a couple of more days of things being rough or getting rougher and may need to employe your alternating method at the lower doses, it seems to make sense.