Side effects of Pristiq

I wanted to post this to help anyone withdrawing or considering withdrawl from pristiq.I was taking 50 mg's per day for 2 years. I didn't want to take any drugs anymore. I wanted to "battle" on my own. No judgement - I hated my side effects from the drug. I experienced a signifigant lack of intrests in all things creative, sex, music (i am a life long musician) Also I felt it deadened my ability to be passionate about anything? I never actually "felt" anything while taking the drug? Before I started it I felt absolutely hopeless, if not for my animals I don't know what I may have done. ok - I decided 6 weeks ago I was getting off this drug. I spoke with my doctor and started to taper. 50 mg everyother day for 10 days, than I cut the pills in half(yes I know NOW there was a time release coating) for 10 days, than cut into quarters (12.5 mg's for 5 days, now 3 days completely off. IT HAS BEEN VERY DIFFICULT. This drug is a beast. Side effects have included horrible VIVID nightmares of betrayl, weird taste in my mouth, weird smells, weight all over the map, feeling like constant out of body experience, mood swings, despair, insomnia. But - it is getting better every day. There is life after pristiq... I have focussed through all of my symptoms on knowing - it is the withdrawl! NOT ME! Hard to do. But do able. Just know in your core it is the drug NOT YOU losing it. For me - it seems like this drug surpressed my emotions/feelings/issues the moment it got in my system and now i'm dealing with these issues again as I coming off the drug. I admit I am way better suited Now compared to 2 years ago to deal with these things and not everybody will be as "LUCKY" as I am, so just know that. Also, I let everyone close to me know what I was doing for support reasons. If anyone has any questions I would humbly lend advice and support. MY DOCTOR IS COMPLETELY INEPT AND INCOMPETENT RE: PRISTIQ AND ALL MATTERS RELATING TO PRISTIQ! Remember - you are NOT alone. Just reach out...

I wanted to post this to help anyone withdrawing or considering withdrawl from pristiq.I was taking 50 mg's per day for 2 years. I didn't want to take any drugs anymore. I wanted to "battle" on my own. No judgement - I hated my side effects from the drug. I experienced a signifigant lack of intrests in all things creative, sex, music (i am a life long musician) Also I felt it deadened my ability to be passionate about anything? I never actually "felt" anything while taking the drug? Before I started it I felt absolutely hopeless, if not for my animals I don't know what I may have done. ok - I decided 6 weeks ago I was getting off this drug. I spoke with my doctor and started to taper. 50 mg everyother day for 10 days, than I cut the pills in half(yes I know NOW there was a time release coating) for 10 days, than cut into quarters (12.5 mg's for 5 days, now 3 days completely off. IT HAS BEEN VERY DIFFICULT. This drug is a beast. Side effects have included horrible VIVID nightmares of betrayl, weird taste in my mouth, weird smells, weight all over the map, feeling like constant out of body experience, mood swings, despair, insomnia. But - it is getting better every day. There is life after pristiq... I have focussed through all of my symptoms on knowing - it is the withdrawl! NOT ME! Hard to do. But do able. Just know in your core it is the drug NOT YOU losing it. For me - it seems like this drug surpressed my emotions/feelings/issues the moment it got in my system and now i'm dealing with these issues again as I coming off the drug. I admit I am way better suited Now compared to 2 years ago to deal with these things and not everybody will be as "LUCKY" as I am, so just know that. Also, I let everyone close to me know what I was doing for support reasons. If anyone has any questions I would humbly lend advice and support. MY DOCTOR IS COMPLETELY INEPT AND INCOMPETENT RE: PRISTIQ AND ALL MATTERS RELATING TO PRISTIQ! Remember - you are NOT alone. Just reach out...

The real issues about tapering off of these drugs is that NOBODY understands the multitude of ways they affect the body and make permanent changes to the cardiovascular system, brain, neuromuscular, endocrine, etc. Doctors, especially, do not understand or try to. If you are one who has bad post acute withdrawal (hits after off of the drug), reinstating the drug may not work. I can't emphasize that enough. It's not as simple as "I'll go off and go back on if I have to". Some people have no problems at all and others are permanently disabled by withdrawal.

Serotonin has numerous effects on the cardiovascular system, for example. It is stored in platelets, effects clotting, vasodilation, just to name a few. Since I tapered off of Pristiq over a YEAR in 2010-11, my BP and heart rate will not stabilize. They swing wildly within a minute or two. It's autonomic dysfunction, but no doctors understand it in this context or know how to control it. It's not unusual for my BP to be 60/30ish. Then go up to 160/110 within a short time. It's horrible. Same with heartrate. There are really no treatments for low BP (SSRIs are mentioned to increase BP), but when it swings both ways, it's hard to treat. A pacemaker has been suggested for heartrate. I'm aware of a few other people who've required pacemakers after withdrawal. I am mostly bedbound because this is so erratic and I pass out. It is posdibly neurogenic.

I had NO early warning signs or typical acute withdrawal symptoms during tapering. No zaps, nausea, etc. So, I marched on. I'm now on more drugs than before I tapered off of Pristiq. I've been to doctors across the USA, all with conflicting diagnoses. I have brain lesions, but no specific dx aside from autoimmune diseases that may be causing lesions. SS/NRIs do trigger autoimmune diseases, lupus, in particular. It does not go away with removal of the drug.

My best advice to people is don't start these drugs until every possible medical, nutritional, vitamin, mineral disorder is ruled out and serious therapy is used. I was put on Zoloft in '93 for mild fatigue and not depression or anxiety. I had immediate neuromuscular movement reactions, but no doctor made the connection until recently. I lost everything at age 39 -- career, home...life as I knew it. Then, withdrawal made everything so much worse. I'm now 55 and have no life and am too sick to try. I have no family, friends don't know how to help, and they fall away after a few years of being sick.

Please, please be very cautious, go slowly, never CT, don't skip doses, etc. You may have no problems or you may end up like me or worse.

Hi, you can get off of it, it will take some time, here is what I shared with a support group livng with mental illnesses and depression. You first need to change one thing with everything you do in a day. Meaning stop waking up to doing the same thing each morning, stop doing the same things as you go through the morning, stop doing the same things at lunch, the same for the rest of the day. What this means, you have been living one day to the next with about a 95% repeat of the things you did the day before. So, whats new in your life? What are habits? Habits are things you do without having to think about how to do them. Try to catching yourself doing two things at one time. This also means doing something and also thinking about something not relating to what you are doing. This is a bad habit. *You need to explore your five senses, eat something you have never tried, find new things to smell, listen to something different, engage in new ocnversations, walk away form the same old stuff, reach out to touch all surfaces, feel a flower, feel rough surfaces, feel running water on your hand, find new things to see. What this will do is stimulate your brain helping you to slowly come off your medication with little side effect.
Imagine having a sharp pain, the more you try to feel it, the stronger it will get. But, focusing on something new and different the pain isn't as bad. By doing new things, by taking risk to try something different while slowly over time reducing your intake of the medication will make it easier to get off of it. >I shared this with the group, four months later, a college girl told us she was able to reduce your med. intake by half and was feeling good enough to start dating again. by the time I left the group she was off her meds.
Change your daily habits. Explore your five senses. Find new things to do which means challenge yourself. Avoid interacting with wasteful conversations or activities which have no value. In the future, know that your brain can porduce any medication, all you need to do is change how you think. Thinking makes the brain produce good and bad chemicals

Hello, Savanti!
I like your advice to our anonymous friend re: Pristiq and coming off of a medication. However, I would--with respect--disagree strongly with your latter statement as an entire matter of fact for all people who suffer, have suffered, or will suffer from a mental illness. It is not the case that all individuals can alter their brain and neuro-chemistry through physical activity, exercise, and mental activity, exercise, and the sundry life changes that are, to be certain, good for most everyone who suffers from a mental illness. There are those folks in this world whose brain and neuro-chemistry are hard-wired in such a way congenitally (or as a result of brain injury or trauma) that they will never be able to overcome this "hard wiring" or "re-wiring" that results from trauma whether physical, neurological, or psychological. This is akin to saying a person suffering from epilepsy can change the disorder and end all seizures by making life changes. There are some things epileptic patients can do, to be sure, but such changes are not a pancea for all persons who so suffer. Psychiatry, Psychology, Psycho-biology, Neuro-biology and all the sundry related sciences have not determined--and, I think, likely never will--all that there is to know---and most importantly, to do---in addressing these issues. This is why a combination of medication AND "talk therapy" AND life changes/coaching and sometimes cognitive therapy and related are all valid and necessary or useful in varying ways for various people. There is no one approach that is right for all. It is dangerous, and no doubt so, to toil and explore the neurotransmitters through use of chemicals in medication. Yet, without such approachs many people including myself would never find any relief.
I look forward, I sincerely hope, to a response. Again, my sincerest respects to you.