Side effects of Pristiq

Ya, I was just wondering if adding prosaic might help, definitely don't add Effexor! I am off antidepressants completely, and feel good. Because I still have some lingering withdrawal symptoms, I don't feel great yet. Sleep has been an issue, but its probably more situational then withdrawal. I lost a ton of weight when I first went on Effexor a year and a half ago, 5'8" and 105lb! I've been putting weight back on over the last 6 months or so but it's just kind of brought me back to pre-antidepressant weight.

My thoughts are with you and your son, I hope you can complete this journey soon. It nice that you have each other to support through this. Do you have any other children?

Hi all. Just found you and wanted to jump in to add that I did cold turkey off of Pristiq a week ago and so far so good. I know that's not the recommended way, but frankly I don't think many know how to prescribe or discontinue a lot of these drugs. Particularly not a GP, which is all I have right now. My biggest complaint was this flattened emotional state I see so many complaining about, as well as my general distrust of the safety of the drug. I'm retired, so I could afford any w/d related downtime. I'd been on it six months after being on several other ADs, due mostly to chronic pain and six joint replacements in the past eight years. The surgeries should be done with now, unless my head falls off lol, and I am ready to get on with "real life", but I just suspect the Pristiq was flatlining my desire to do anything. So now, it's a bit scary to see if that lethargy and apathy is the real me or not. Hope not! Anyway, I think I've been lucky. Negligible headaches, the usual brain zaps and dizziness, tinnitus, but nothing intolerable at all - tho I will say I have enough experience to know to expect the worst, so maybe I wasn't as freaked out by the w/d as a newby to the process would be. I am not encouraging anyone to do it this way, but I thought long and hard about it and decided to journal it and watch myself carefully - and I told family members to keep an eye on me. I just wasn't too excited about drawing out the w/d duration, tho I'm sure if you have work, school, etc., you may not be able to give yourself the luxury of babying yourself, taking naps (or just holing up when your head buzzes and you can't sleep), etc. to get you through it. Anyway, good luck, and please be sure to take advantage of professional help and advice available to you!

Thank you for your post - feedback and encouragement! Good to hear of another person making it through the "discontinuation symptoms" associated with Pristiq - and also that you found them to be tolerable. I wonder if the length of time on the med (and dosage) make a difference? I would imagine so. Please post again and provide an update with how you are feeling/doing off the medication. Best wishes!

Hi there - thank you for your post - and the great info on the supplements! I have started taking the fish oil pills and need to add vitamin D to my regime. Think they both provide a huge support. So good to hear of another success story of someone coming off pristiq - congrats! :)). Do you mind sharing how long you were on this RX, the dosage and your method for tapering down? I have been on 100 mg for almost 2 years now. Have seen a noticeable decline in my overall health - weight gain and my mood. The flatlining described is pretty accurate - and have become very introverted (desire to be my myself) when used to be very extroverted and outgoing. My family has noticed a change in me too. Have tried several times to taper down to 50mg with no success - the symptoms were intolerable and put me out for a few days - hard to do with 3 kids and getting myself back to work. I've found a few new tips on here and am gearing myself up to try again. Thanks again!

Hi there - yes - I have three boys total. 18, 16 and 12. I know all of this has had an impact on them as well - not to mention the financial difficulty that we are now experiencing since i have been out of work for 6 months. I am just getting started back to work but honestly feel like I am "limping along". Don't feel that great physically and kind of numb emotionally, I can honestly look back over the last 2+ years of being on Pristiq (and adderall which I was put on a couple months after being on pristiq due to feeling "foggy" and see/feel that this is not good for me. Of course you could say - well maybe it is just depression - but it would be so nice to know what my "real" normal state would be. I don't buy the idea of having to stay on an antidepressant for life! I am sure though that it changes the overall chemistry of the brain - just wondering how long it takes to readjust. Thank you for your suggestion and support! Would it be possible to email you directly with a couple other questions? Take care!!

I have been on Pristiq about 2 months and all I wanted too do was sleep. I have 2 kids 9 and 3. I am so miserable so I haven't took one in 2 days!!! I am dizzy feeling sick to my stomach. I am done with antidepressants!!!

Hi and thanks. So far, so good. Last Friday was two weeks. Since midweek last week I've had maybe one fleeting brain zap per day, negligible occasional headache. I did have one utterly lethargic yet edgy, couched all day day, but it was also very windy which puts me on edge anyway and I think it stirred all the spring pollen up, so I very possibly was just having bad allergies, but I'm experienced enough to know it may have been one of those flu-like effects of w/d, but who knows. I will say that my emotional range seems to have been restored....it had gotten to the point that things like the OK tornado would just leave me nodding with a very distant reaction, kind of like "I know this is really sad, but..." and now I'm more me, where tears when appropriate are possible, but I'm in control and not depressive. Frankly, I'm relieved. I was feeling like a Stepford wife. I'll stay in touch. I know first hand it's really scary to mess with these drugs and it's good to share info. Again, I do what I do, don't recommend or advocate for anyone else. Be wise, prudent and take care, all.

Hi Karen...first of all I want to tell all of you how thankful I am to have discovered this discussion board! I felt so alone and scared and downright terrified as to what was going to happen to me because of this drug. I feel as you do that the doctors do not know how to really deal with this drug and will probably end up on TV with class action lawsuits. I am feeling so good again and it is so apparent that my husband and family has noticed it too. Without being able to connect with all of you, I don't know how I would have mustered up the courage to get off Pristiq. I have come to the conclusion that all of these meds are bad. What they do to your brain chemistry is OK for a short period of time but not for long term use. Here is one the things that you do not want to happen, Seratonin Syndrome. Check out this link
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004531/
It was hard to go off and I was scared knowing I would have withdrawal symptoms, but I am so glad I did it and the pain and headaches, brain zaps were worth it. I am free now and I hope you will be too. I did not agree with my doctors tapering advice and came up with my own after reading how others did it. Because of what it does to your brain the tapering off is so important. My doc recommended was 50mg for 7 days then go off. Well that scared me because it takes 2 - 4 weeks for the full benefit of the drug so 2 - 4 weeks for tapering right? So he decreased my dose to 50 and I then started adding 12 hours to the next dose. Example: 50mg every 36 hours for 1 week then every 48 hours for the next week then every 72 hours for the last week. It worked for me, and yes I did have symptoms but now they are gone. Keep in touch Karen and all of you out there too.
Bless you too Karen!
Ginger

Just checking up on you...how are things going? I am feeling so good again.

Hi everyone! Well I am now 4 weeks Pristiq free! I can't even almost express how I feel. I feel like I got my life back again. I can cry again, laugh and have energy like I used to. For me I came to realization that if I did not get off this drug it was going to do something terrible to me. And I also feel that eventually it will be pulled off the market at some point like others have. I wanted to have control over my tapering and not have to go cold turkey. Depression is a horrible thing to have but taking all of the medications can be worse. One of my son's has been on so many different drugs for social anxiety disorder, that because he has so many side effects he decided to drug free also. I joined a gym called Planet Fitness because not only because of the weight gain associated with the medication, I know that exercise is the best medicine for my emotional and physical well being and not taking pills. After 3 years of Pristiq slavery I am hopeful again that life is good. For all of you, really be strong in your fight to get off of it. I wish I could tell you that you won't have withdrawal symptoms but you will. I had them all and pushed through it. Was it hard? Yes...but compared to how I feel now, I am glad I did it. And finding this discussion board has helped more than anything else I have read. We are therapy for each other, the support is great and we are real people here.