1. < Depression & Anxiety

Side effects of Pristiq

Posted by Native Floridian @nativefloridian, Jan 7, 2012

Has anyone successfully tapered off Pristiq? If so, what was your plan? I am considering going off this medicine. I take 50 mg per day and have done so for about 2 years. I understand there are very significant withdrawal symptoms and I would like to stop taking Pristiq because it causes my heart to race when the time release happens. I am afraid this medicine may not be good for the heart because the clinical trials state that anyone with a heart condition was not allowed to take it.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Depression & Anxiety Support Group.

LBGR1960 | @lbgr1960 | Sep 3, 2013
In reply to @chrissyt "I am on day 10 of alternating 50 mg of Pristiq to every other day. It..." + (show)
@chrissyt

I am on day 10 of alternating 50 mg of Pristiq to every other day. It has been the worst experience of my life! Brain Zaps, crying spells, anger, feeling of a cymbal clanging inside my head with vibrations that linger, head aches, confusion and despair. I had no idea this medicine would be so impossible to come off of!

Is there anyone who has come off this nightmare drug successfully????? I am really concerned!

Jump to this post

I am no medical expert, but from what I've read on this forum and my own experience, I think that alternating days just keeps you in withdrawal. I made the choice to go cold turkey and for me I think it's the right choice. If I were more patient I would have looked for a compounding pharmacy like the person in the post immediately below mine.

REPLY
hopetobedrugfree | @hopetobedrugfree | Sep 5, 2013

My doctor had me go from 100mg of Pristiq to 50mg over 3 months. Then, when I saw her yesterday and told her that I didn't experience any major withdrawal problems, she gave me the following schedule for the next 14 weeks:

every 2 days for 4 weeks, then
every 3 days for 3 weeks, then
every 4 days for 3 weeks, then
every 5 days for 2 weeks, then
every 7 days for 2 weeks

This may be overly cautious but if it lessens the withdrawal problems, I can live with it.

REPLY
2 replies
ChrissyT | @chrissyt | Sep 8, 2013
In reply to @chrissyt "I am on day 10 of alternating 50 mg of Pristiq to every other day. It..." + (show)
@chrissyt

I am on day 10 of alternating 50 mg of Pristiq to every other day. It has been the worst experience of my life! Brain Zaps, crying spells, anger, feeling of a cymbal clanging inside my head with vibrations that linger, head aches, confusion and despair. I had no idea this medicine would be so impossible to come off of!

Is there anyone who has come off this nightmare drug successfully????? I am really concerned!

Jump to this post

Thank you for your reply. I am going out-of-town to a conference this upcoming week, so I feel I shouldn't try "cold-turkey" until I return. However, I do agree it keeps me in a constant state of withdrawal symptoms alternating days. I think I will try cold turkey when I return and see how it goes... Oh how I wish I had never entered a relationship with this drug!!!!! This is the hardest break-up I've ever gone thru!

REPLY
LBGR1960 | @lbgr1960 | Sep 8, 2013
In reply to @lbgr1960 "I thought I'd add my voice to this discussion. I'm a 52 year old female, and..." + (show)
@lbgr1960

I thought I'd add my voice to this discussion. I'm a 52 year old female, and started taking Pristiq in late 2011, 50 mg, for mild anxiety. I just wanted to not feel so stressed all the time, and my doctor was happy to let me try medicating it. The Pristiq didn't help with my anxiety; learning my own coping mechanisms is the way to go.

It's now Saturday 8/31/13 and I have been trying to stop Pristiq for about a month, because I don't want to be taking something I don't need. Plus, I had the shortness of breath, and had gained a lot of weight on it (much of which I've lost in the last several months through a nutrition and exercise program). I tried putting myself on a schedule of taking it every 27 hours for a week, then every 30 hours, then every 36 hours, etc. - gradually increasing the time between doses. I did ok until I got to every 48 hours, and then it was the ping-pong effect of one day ok (after taking a pill), then the next day feeling brain zaps, dizziness, and nausea.

So last Sunday I decided to grit my teeth and quit cold turkey. The last pill I took was last Saturday night, so the first dose I skipped was Sunday night. Thus, I count Monday as my first day off the drug. The week has been rough, but I still managed to go to work and do the things I need to do. I've had brain zaps, tinnitus, and vertigo. The brain zaps lessened a couple of days go and the tinnitus became more prevalent. The vertigo is the main thing bothering me - I feel nauseous in a carsick kind of way. I'm about to go get some "coculus indicus" which someone I trust told me is a homeopathic remedy for nausea. I've read this forum and haven't been able to discern what the consensus is for how long the withdrawal symptoms generally last, but I am really hoping that by the start of the next work week I'm doing better.

One thing I've noticed is that when I go to the gym and work out (lifting), it makes the worst of the symptoms go away for a little while. That's the best relief I've found, besides stuffing my face with food, which also works. But I don't want to gain weight through the withdrawal process.

This post is kind of rambling .. which is another symptom of the withdrawal ... my thoughts have been disjointed and I keep finding myself losing my train of thought. Oh, and I've been having crazy, epic dreams at night. I will be so glad when I'm back to normal.

Jump to this post

Update, Sunday 9/8/13. More improvement. Still have tinnitus, but it's less loud. Vertigo is 95% gone. Far fewer brain zaps. Best of all, my ability to feel happy emotions has returned!

REPLY
texassugsr | @texassugsr | Sep 9, 2013
In reply to @meow620 "I was taking Pristiq for about 4 months and didn't feel like it was making a..." + (show)
@meow620

I was taking Pristiq for about 4 months and didn't feel like it was making a noticeable difference and I felt like it had caused me to gain weight so I decided to discontinue using it. I asked my doctor about tapering off to avoid withdrawal symptoms and she said it was not really necessary to wean off - I could just stop using it. I think she said this because I was on the lowest dose (50 mg). I decided to taper off a bit anyway and took it every other day for a week or two, then stopped. It didn't even register last week that it was connected, but I was vomiting one night last week so violently that I had chest pains and took myself to the ER. They said my heart was fine, chalked it up to heartburn and sent me home. Now that I have read some of the posts here, I am thinking it was probably from my abruptly stopping the Pristiq after taping off for a short period of time. I have also had those weird dizzy-like sensations - not quite the "brain shocks" that I experienced years ago after stopping Paxil, but definitely noticeable. I am glad I decided to stop taking this drug.

Jump to this post

I have been off Pristiq for 3 months now and feel great! I am now more productive than I have been in years since being on antidepressants. I am guilty of calling this medication an "evil" drug when in fact it did help me through some down times. What is evil is the withdrawl and the fact that you are not warned about the symptoms. It is great that some docs recognize the issue and are weaningnpeople slowly and safely, mine still doesn't acknowledge I was experiencing withdrawl symptoms!' I feel whole again, my energy level is great and I am experiencing joy daily from the tasks I tackle around the house, shopping, or in the garden. I am reconnecting with friends making new ones. I accept the kaleidoscope of emotions I now experience without blaming.the world for things that don't go my way. I am not afraid to seek help should I need it again but will be very wary of taking any powerful meds without being informed of all their effects. My blood pressure has returned to normal after requiring 4 different meds to control it when on Pristiq, blood sugars are also normalizing and I am using less insulin. All I can tell you is to is to keep hanging in there because you will get through the pain and can live very well without Pristiq.

REPLY
hils | @hils | Sep 14, 2013

Hi everyone! I found this forum after having a really difficult week. My backgroud with Pristiq: have been taking 50mg for almost 1 year. I'm 25, female, and have been taking depression medication (on and off) since I was 16. First, Lexapro, which worked very well, but when I was 18 I quit taking it when I got to college. Jr. year I was prescribed Prozac for PMS agitation. The entire time I was on Prozac I was very impulsive- looking back. With Pristiq, the first couple of months were great. I could tell physically I had more energy and didn't want to sleep all the time. I felt overall more calm and collected. I felt good and like this might be okay. The first side effect: no sex drive. This has come close to ruining my relationship many times. The second weight loss- I just physically do not get hungry often. Another I believe might be some kind of Attention deficit. I can't describe it except that it's extremely hard for me to concentrate at work or finish tasks. Over the last several months, I have noticed a change in myself. One that I can't put a finger on. I have emotionally "flatlined" like others recall. I have recently found myself becoming more withdrawn and wanting to be alone and not be social. The classic feeling of everyday tasks being too overwhelming is back. Today was the last straw. I do not feel good on this medication anymore. I don't feel like a human enjoying and processing life as it comes. It's hard trying to explain how you feel to your significant other when you don't even know how you feel.
Anyway, I have been completely inspired by everyone's posts here. I believe I was prescribed this drug because it's "new" and was supposed to not have many side effects. I hate how I feel on it. I had never heard it was not supposed to be taken long term, but I can see how that's true. Has anyone else had good results then seemed to have hit a wall and gone the other way?
I want to ween off this medication but I'm scared! I forgot to fill it and went 3 days without it once and I felt so awful making high-risk impulses.
I want to talk to my doctor about weening, but I don't think she knows much about this drug. Once she suggested I cut it (I have a hard time waking up in the mornings) and obviously you can't do that.
All I know is I'm done with this medication. Thank you all for your posts.

REPLY
Libbyroo | @libbyroo | Sep 14, 2013
In reply to @angiek "SUCCESS STORY HERE!!! I am on day 11 of being Pristiq free! After reading the forums,..." + (show)
@angiek

SUCCESS STORY HERE!!!

I am on day 11 of being Pristiq free!
After reading the forums, I was overwhelmed with information. I had no idea that this medication was so horrible to stop taking. I had been taking it for well over 5 years. I was having a difficult time with situational depression and then just kept taking it. Life will always have something to throw my way, so I just kept filling the script. I didn't want to go on another med to get off a med, it just didn't make sense.

There were so many suggestions on here on what people had tried to do. It's a travesty of justice that the medical profession doesn't have accountability when prescribing to have an exit strategy as well. This pill doesn't come with one.

I tried taking one pill every other day for a few days, then just decided cold turkey was my best option. I informed my husband as well as a coworker of the possible side effects I had read about. I was fully aware that this could be risky, but it motivated me all the more to pull the plug and get it out of my system. Taking one every other day or cutting them seemed to have it's own realm of problems.

Even after taking for over 5 years, I haven't had any horrible symptoms as I've read other's experiencing. I haven't had any brain zaps,dizziness, lack of energy, etc. I believe after reading so many negatives, it helped that I was so determined to make this a positive experience. I also think your brain can trick you into being submissive to letting go of something you think is helping you to not feel depressed. I can't miss a week of work to lay in bed! I made myself more active also. Spent more time working in my garden, reading during my lunch breaks at the park, etc.

Let me also add for those thinking I have it too easy. My 16 year old daughter just informed me 4 days ago that she's going to live with her dad. It has been several days of trauma and drama. I made it through it. I'm at work, I'm dealing with it. I'm moving forward. I'm ok. I'm in charge of my life and my body.

Keep in mind that when I read through hundreds of these posts I couldn't find one person that said they came off this med without horror stories. So, here's one story.... so far so good. 11 days in and I'm not going back, not ever. My energy level (which I thought Pristiq was helping) is gaining momentum again. Oh yeah.... and these pills will dull sensations in your sex drive.... that comes back too!! BONUS!

I trust in my body and my brain and I listen to what it is telling me. I'm shocked that I'm not having adverse results, but I'm thriving in the success... not looking for the failure.

Good luck everyone. I hope this one small bit of success gives someone else the hope to know there is a way out.

Jump to this post

I'm so thankful to read a positive about going off of this med. I've only been on it 50mg for 10 months but the past 2 months I've been flat, blah and nothing is stimulating at all. My DR requested I begin tapering (every other day) the med today (a weekend day). By noon I wasn't feeling right so I looked up effects of going off Pristiq and found this blog. Needless to say at 1 o'clock I took a pill because of fear of the scary results. I'm going to talk to my DR again Monday about a cold turkey approach. Thanks for the positive post and lending hope that I might have a successful story in a couple of weeks.

REPLY
hils | @hils | Sep 15, 2013
In reply to @skherren "I wnated to share my son's story with trying to get off Pristiq. We went to..." + (show)
@skherren

I wnated to share my son's story with trying to get off Pristiq. We went to the doctor thsi summer to talk to him about weaning my 18 year old son off Pristiq. He had been taking 50 mg for 8 months. He made a plan where he would be off in about a month- starting by alternating one day on and one day off then going to two days off and one on etc. This did not work and we called the doctor to tell him about the terrible withdrawal symptoms he was having. He just told us to continue doing the same thinga dn it would eventually get better. He said it make take more time. Well after 6 weeks we were at 2 days off and one day on Pristiq and the side effects got much worse. I was afraid for him to try to go 3 days off in a row and then take one 50 mg tablet. It just seemed to be confusing his brain. After reading other people's stories online, I knew he wasn't alone. I called the drug company and they were no help at all. I called the FDA to talk to them about this. They encoruaged me to file report. They said they had been receiving many complaints but they only way they would take this off the market is if people take the time to file written complaints. I did. WE decided to take his tablets to a compouding pharmacy and see if they could make smaller doses up for him so he could wean off more gradually. The ppharmacist agreed to do this. He ground the 50 mg tablets up and made several smaller doses. He put a chemcial in that made these new doses tiume released. He made doses at a 10% reduction and made 10 -14 days for each dose. This worked very well. Since my son had been going 2 days off and one day on the medicine, we figured he was at 33% of 50 or 16 mg at the time we decided to do this. So the pharmacist made his first dose at 15 mg. This took about 2 weeks to adjust to but the symptoms were much less severe since he was taking a stable dose each day and his body had time to adjust. to it. Then my son went down to 10 mg and he only had to take that 7 days before going to 5 mg. He has taken that 5 days without any problems. He is feeling really good now after haing a terrible summer of horrible withdrawlal symptoms. I really believe he would have never been able to get off this medicine if we had not done gone to the compounding pharmacy .. College was starting for him and he would not have been able to continue with those terrible withdrawls symptoms. He had a full scholarship and this medicine was causing us to think he might not even be able to start this fall. I think if we hadn't of gone to the compoudning pharmacy we would have probably just gone back to 50 mg so he could function in college.
I just wanted to share our story. If you have a compounding pharmacy available that is the way to go. It is just infuriating that Pfizer will not make the dosages needed to wean off this drug! When I called the FDA I aked them to send me the clinical trial information. The information states that there are withdrawals if you decrease the dosage by 5% or less. They knew this but only made a 50 mg dose and 100 mg dose??? They make a pill that you cannot cut into lower dosages or it will dump in your system?? They are SO liable for all this pain and suffereng people are going through. If anyone wants to start a class action lawsuit, I'm interested .

Jump to this post

I cannot believe I too have fallen victim to a drug company making money with no way out for its patients. I was not familiar with compounding, but there is a compounding pharmacy here in Nashville I am going to call first thing Monday morning! I hate Pristiq. Best wishes to your son!

REPLY
hils | @hils | Sep 15, 2013
In reply to @angiek "SUCCESS STORY HERE!!! I am on day 11 of being Pristiq free! After reading the forums,..." + (show)
@angiek

SUCCESS STORY HERE!!!

I am on day 11 of being Pristiq free!
After reading the forums, I was overwhelmed with information. I had no idea that this medication was so horrible to stop taking. I had been taking it for well over 5 years. I was having a difficult time with situational depression and then just kept taking it. Life will always have something to throw my way, so I just kept filling the script. I didn't want to go on another med to get off a med, it just didn't make sense.

There were so many suggestions on here on what people had tried to do. It's a travesty of justice that the medical profession doesn't have accountability when prescribing to have an exit strategy as well. This pill doesn't come with one.

I tried taking one pill every other day for a few days, then just decided cold turkey was my best option. I informed my husband as well as a coworker of the possible side effects I had read about. I was fully aware that this could be risky, but it motivated me all the more to pull the plug and get it out of my system. Taking one every other day or cutting them seemed to have it's own realm of problems.

Even after taking for over 5 years, I haven't had any horrible symptoms as I've read other's experiencing. I haven't had any brain zaps,dizziness, lack of energy, etc. I believe after reading so many negatives, it helped that I was so determined to make this a positive experience. I also think your brain can trick you into being submissive to letting go of something you think is helping you to not feel depressed. I can't miss a week of work to lay in bed! I made myself more active also. Spent more time working in my garden, reading during my lunch breaks at the park, etc.

Let me also add for those thinking I have it too easy. My 16 year old daughter just informed me 4 days ago that she's going to live with her dad. It has been several days of trauma and drama. I made it through it. I'm at work, I'm dealing with it. I'm moving forward. I'm ok. I'm in charge of my life and my body.

Keep in mind that when I read through hundreds of these posts I couldn't find one person that said they came off this med without horror stories. So, here's one story.... so far so good. 11 days in and I'm not going back, not ever. My energy level (which I thought Pristiq was helping) is gaining momentum again. Oh yeah.... and these pills will dull sensations in your sex drive.... that comes back too!! BONUS!

I trust in my body and my brain and I listen to what it is telling me. I'm shocked that I'm not having adverse results, but I'm thriving in the success... not looking for the failure.

Good luck everyone. I hope this one small bit of success gives someone else the hope to know there is a way out.

Jump to this post

Same here! I posted the most recent reply to the entire blog post at the top. I have been on it about the same time frame you have, and recently I'm emotionally dead. This past week in particular I wake up fine and by the evening I'm a disaster. I can't gather a thought or explain why I'm irritated. This is not me. I am afraid to talk to my doctor because at one point, she suggested I cut it in half, and clearly that's a no-no. I have 20 mg Prozac left from last year, but I don't want to "switch" right away and then wean off that if it isn't a good idea. No one seems to know since there is no medical standard for tapering. I'm looking into compounding but I'm afraid of what the cost may be. UGH. I hope we both can find a solution. Looking forward to your progress/update soon!

REPLY
Libbyroo | @libbyroo | Sep 15, 2013
In reply to @angiek "SUCCESS STORY HERE!!! I am on day 11 of being Pristiq free! After reading the forums,..." + (show)
@angiek

SUCCESS STORY HERE!!!

I am on day 11 of being Pristiq free!
After reading the forums, I was overwhelmed with information. I had no idea that this medication was so horrible to stop taking. I had been taking it for well over 5 years. I was having a difficult time with situational depression and then just kept taking it. Life will always have something to throw my way, so I just kept filling the script. I didn't want to go on another med to get off a med, it just didn't make sense.

There were so many suggestions on here on what people had tried to do. It's a travesty of justice that the medical profession doesn't have accountability when prescribing to have an exit strategy as well. This pill doesn't come with one.

I tried taking one pill every other day for a few days, then just decided cold turkey was my best option. I informed my husband as well as a coworker of the possible side effects I had read about. I was fully aware that this could be risky, but it motivated me all the more to pull the plug and get it out of my system. Taking one every other day or cutting them seemed to have it's own realm of problems.

Even after taking for over 5 years, I haven't had any horrible symptoms as I've read other's experiencing. I haven't had any brain zaps,dizziness, lack of energy, etc. I believe after reading so many negatives, it helped that I was so determined to make this a positive experience. I also think your brain can trick you into being submissive to letting go of something you think is helping you to not feel depressed. I can't miss a week of work to lay in bed! I made myself more active also. Spent more time working in my garden, reading during my lunch breaks at the park, etc.

Let me also add for those thinking I have it too easy. My 16 year old daughter just informed me 4 days ago that she's going to live with her dad. It has been several days of trauma and drama. I made it through it. I'm at work, I'm dealing with it. I'm moving forward. I'm ok. I'm in charge of my life and my body.

Keep in mind that when I read through hundreds of these posts I couldn't find one person that said they came off this med without horror stories. So, here's one story.... so far so good. 11 days in and I'm not going back, not ever. My energy level (which I thought Pristiq was helping) is gaining momentum again. Oh yeah.... and these pills will dull sensations in your sex drive.... that comes back too!! BONUS!

I trust in my body and my brain and I listen to what it is telling me. I'm shocked that I'm not having adverse results, but I'm thriving in the success... not looking for the failure.

Good luck everyone. I hope this one small bit of success gives someone else the hope to know there is a way out.

Jump to this post

Thanks for the reply. I don't think I'm afraid of brain zaps but I'm terrified of headaches. I'm a past migraine sufferer. I also don't want to fall back into sleepless nights but I know I have to get off this drug so I can begin living again. Compounding might not be that expensive if you already have the medication. I like that AngieK only did every other day for a few days then cold turkey. If my DR says I can do that then I will and just deal with the side effects. I've never been on Prozac but I did wean off Effexor about 5 years ago with only weird ear (tunnel sounds & what felt like congestion). I'd like to be free from anti depressants all together. Pristiq got me thru a very difficult winter which I'm thankful for but if I knew about this whole problem trying to get off of it, I'm not sure if I would've said yes to begin with. Have you ever been on Serzone? A friend of mine has been on several different anti depressants & says that this is a tried and true help for her. Keep me updated on your progress also.

REPLY
View MoreView Less
Please sign in or register to post a reply.