Side effects of Pristiq

I took Pristiq for about 2.5 weeks (50mg) due to random pains (neck, calf, groin, arm, etc) that nobody could pinpoint a cause for and my doctor believed it to be caused by a combination of depression/hypochondria/anxiety. So he put me on Pristiq. I had swore never to try pills again after attempting Lexapro and Citalopram with no results good or bad, Paxil and Buspar with immediate negative side effects, Lorazepram and Ativan due to dependency and withdrawal difficulties. But I was so frustrated with taking blood tests and x-rays I agreed to try Pristiq. I'd never heard of it and when I initially looked for information it seemed to be one of the more positively accepted and helpful drugs.

After a week I developed a slightly swollen throat or tonsils which felt like food was getting stuck in my throat. It was very uncomfortable. I stopped taking the Pristiq because I thought it might be a mild allergic reaction (I have no known allergies however). I saw my doctor 5 days later and told her I stopped taking the Pristiq and she said "good," and wanted to see if the throat issue went away. Granted, it had been 5 days and during this time, I'd had no withdrawal symptoms. That night I had an extremely vivid and frightening dream...I've heard you rarely dream in color or can feel, but this was one of the most detailed, vividly colored, and scary dreams and I couldn't wake up. And I could feel pain and discomfort in the dream. I woke up in a near panic attack.

It's been another 5 days since then and have had an odd headache, more dreams though not as vivid or frightening, I've become almost violently irritable (punched a wall, beat some furniture, and yelled at my pets for about an hour straight), and just now had a bout of possible arrhythmia or very heavy heart beats. So I was on it for about 17 days and off it for 10 days...when can I expect these withdrawal symptoms to end?? They seem to be getting worse and more frightening.

(ALSO, SINCE STOPPING THE PRISTIQ I'VE HAD NO SEX DRIVE AND ALMOST NO ERECTIONS WHICH IS VERY ABNORMAL. IT SEEMS TO BE GETTING SLIGHTLY BETTER EACH DAY BUT STILL, THIS IS VERY SCARY AND TOTALLY NOT WORTH IT.)

there is also a good discussion site for the weaning process: medschat.com with a specific Pristiq forum. Some of these people have been successful with weaning off the med.

there is also a good discussion site for the weaning process: medschat.com with a specific Pristiq forum. Some of these people have been successful with weaning off the med.

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.

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 .

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.