Pristiq withdrawal - sick with headaches, body aches, nausea, sweating

your words -- All was well until an inexplicable gloom overcame me. So I jumped back up to 50mg. , fearing that horrible threat of deep depression -- really hit home. I have had depression my whole liefe, treated it with various antidepressants and managed okay, but the pristiq did not suit me and I am now withdrawing from it and the sadness is almost unbearable. I guess it is bc my depression isn't being treated any more although my doctor did start me on 20 mg prozac (not the same doctor who took me off pristq and didn't prescribe a replacement andi-depressant) -- I don't know how long it will take the prozac to help with the depression but so far it's not. I just have to keep telling myself that the negative, self-hating thorughts are part fo the withdrawal and yes, suicidal ideation, but bc my mom tried to kill herself when i was 16, i know i would never to do to the people who would be left behind. So this has been going on for about two months now, starting with one mental health NP who took me off cold turkey, then me trying to do and couldn't and then trying again and then fnally finding a doc who seems to appreciate the severity of the situation. My biggst fear is it is never going to end. My symptoms were the brain zaps and sloshing brain and hard to focus, concentrate or thnk, and being extremely jittery at the beginning and now the brain zaps are about gone but i'm stil having hot flashes (i'm 74), my top of my head still feels like it's just going to separate abd fkiat awat leaving my brain just exposed. Hard to describe really but it's not good. My coordiantion is off, my vision is blured, and im getting the shimmering in frojnt of my eyes that i understand sometime come with a certain type of migraine but i dojn't have a migraine headache, just pressure on both sides of my head like it's being squeezed. Not a very cheerful note, but i imagine people going through this want to hear the good bad and ugly. I should add that my doctor suspects that I am bipolar and should have been diagnosed as that from the beginning, instead of just chronic depression. She said that antidepressants like the Pritiq family and wellbutrin can actually increase pump up the mania, if you are bipolar. otherwise they act as antidepressants. So I guess I am bipolar, and she is going to prescribe lacimal (sp?) for that. Ai Yi yi yi yi - hang in there, y'all. I don't cry easily but feel like i'm on the verge of tears all the time. and then i worry that I'm making it all up and I'm just a drama queen or a bad girl. . Have to keep telling myself and my doctor has to keep telling me it's real. and it will get better.

I was initially placed on Prestiq due to a seizure disorder. Move forward 2024 I no longer take seizure medication it's been 5 years and I a ready to be rid of Prestiq. The issue is I been on this medicine for since 2011 @150 mg my doctor told me to drop to an 100 for a week well still on an 100mg 4 weeks later. It was a little rough but I really want taper off to 50 or maybe 75mg I want to be done with this any advice

my personal experience is that I have been taking it for about 2 years, started on 50mg's. Not realizing over the first couple of months my skin would be itchy when I got out the shower. I hadn't changed anything that I use for shampoo or soap, nor did I change my laundry detergent. this went on for a few months but wasn't everyday. I thought and was scared I had shingles, so I went and got the shot just in case. a few more months go by and the itchiness (more like pins and needles on my arms and back), it was awful, it would stop after my body cooled down so still not thinking it was the medication. keep going forward, I was put on 100mg's because of some depression. About a month or so after that, I noticed my itchiness/pins and needles were happening most days. I started thinking I was allergic but still also thinking it could be dry and irritated skin because of the weather (I tend to have dry skin and have had eczema). Keep taking the 100mg's. A few more months go by, now I can't even take a shower and the pins and needles/itchiness start happening in the shower and I notice a red dry patch on my arm with white in the middle, oh boy, now I think I have ringworm. I couldn't go to the Dr., I was in between jobs with no insurance. So I try treating it myself with Lotrimin and cortisone, no avail, still getting worse. Now I know it is allergic reaction, so I go back down to the 50mgs for about a week, then every other day for a week, still not feeling better, even trying to put burn lotion on it. I have had enough so stop taking it (again I still have no insurance so no dr visit, just research on-line). This was 3 days ago. The first 2 days were fine, today not so much, I have become aggressive, weird dreams, bad dizziness and can't sleep. Well here I am trying to get thru work. Thank goodness my insurance kicks in in 8 days and I can go back to the doctor. Good luck and I will never use it again. PS, today was the first day with no itchiness so I KNOW it was the medication.

After I started pristq I started to feel itchy at night. I never connected the two Pristiq wasn’t a good med for me. I’m almost done and the itching is almost gone

I took Pristiq for a few years in 2012-2014. My psychiatrist felt it was a very good drug with few side effects. However, due to it being an extended release tablet that can't be cut, they did not give a good exit plan. It is also not available in very low doses that would make a taper easier. He gave me low doses of Prozac, which is much easier to taper off. As I would decrease the Pristiq, I would take a little Prozac. I would alternate days. It was an easy off that way.

Has anyone weaned themselves off of Pristiq?? I have been taking it for 7 years now and I am ready to be done, I do not want to depend on a drug any longer. I have tried to get off of this a couple times. Doing research, I didn't realize how bad this drug is for you and doctors are failing to tell patients how bad it is for you let alone how hard it is to get off of this. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have been on pristiq for at least 3 years, and it has worked really well for me. I am now in a place where I want to try and taper off it. Please don't tell me to work with my doctor as he is totally hopeless and knows nothing. He will however provide it at a lower dose if I ask him. What is the best lower dose to begin with?

Has anyone weaned themselves off of Pristiq?? I have been taking it for 7 years now and I am ready to be done, I do not want to depend on a drug any longer. I have tried to get off of this a couple times. Doing research, I didn't realize how bad this drug is for you and doctors are failing to tell patients how bad it is for you let alone how hard it is to get off of this. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I recently started pristiq the 1st of August
they started me on 25mg about a month ago. Then she recently put me on 50mg a week ago But it’s making me very irritable so I am going back to 25mg today for a week and then I will start Zoloft. Do you think the withdrawals will be horrible?

I recently started pristiq the 1st of August
they started me on 25mg about a month ago. Then she recently put me on 50mg a week ago But it’s making me very irritable so I am going back to 25mg today for a week and then I will start Zoloft. Do you think the withdrawals will be horrible?