Weaning Off Pristiq For Good (Page 14)

I just wanted to tell all of you trying to get off pristiq, its possible. I was on pristiq for severe panic attacks for 6 months. It saved my life. It gave me a chance to slow down my career, gave me a huge wakeup call. This drug put a cloud over my brain. I was not my happy, fun loving self. I was like a step ford wife. You can't wean off this pill. I was on 50 mg. I did every other day for a month. Every third day for two weeks then cold turkey. It really was not so bad. I layer on my couch for three days, cried a bit and watched movies. I'm happily on all holistic medications, no longer a slave to Pristiq. If I can beat anxiety, anyone can. My biggest advice.. Exercise. Next, surround yourself with positive people. Three, talk out your problems. Good luck.

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Thanks for the response Anne. I have to boys 12 and 9. Who have lots of activities. I dont have the opprotunity to be out if commission for a week. I am a beast when i am off it for one day. I need to find a way to wean off very slowly. Did you have any weight gain.

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Hey there Aldri

I would love to tell you a great story, however the truth is you are going to have a hard 3 days minimum. I am telling you i thought i would be the only one that didn't have this issue - but it hit me - and I'm VERY resilient so it was not something i expected. Additonally although i am very conservative now, i experimented with a lot of recreational drugs when i was younger, so the feelings that i was experiencing were something i knew how to deal with - people that cannot understand that feeling would have even more difficulty.

Weight gain. Yes. I went from 95 pounds to 115 in 9 months. I am very strict with my food, and work out more than people should so pristiq is the only culprit. This is the reason i wanted to come off it - i had no other side effect so had no real reason to except not only weight gain, but it got to the point that i couldn't lose it either.

I think you should know that even weaning slowly you are going to have side effects - you need to be prepared to rationalize with yourself that you are going to get them, its temporary and once you are through the tough time you will feel AMAZING! Happy to answer any questions for you :)

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Thanks again Anne. I guess I'll try to take some vacation time and get away with a friend to a summer cottage in the mountains to go through the last steps of withdrawal. I am gonna see if I can find a compounding pharmacie in my area to se if they can make lower doses of pristiq to start me off. Has anyone found that the weight came off more easily once they were off the meds.

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I went cold turkey, first 2 days not bad, then the zaps and nausea started along with some pretty scary nightmares. The dreams only lasted 2 nights. The zaps, nausea and dizziness lasted a few more days. I was not able to drive for about 8 days....I would say just do it cold turkey if you can, but be careful about driving while detoxing....I'm fine now...So for those of you just starting to wean it only took me 9 days, the worst being day 3 thru 7. Also my digestion is back to normal I just need to loose the weight I gained while on it and I now have energy again....Good Luck...

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I tapered off Pristiq over a 2 month period. This drug was so horrible to be on, like all of the other antidepressants I have tried.
I myself grew up with anxiety and panic (didnt know it then).
Living in Orange county can really be a scary place for gays (getting harassed) on top of being abused at home. I have been on this wheel of antidepressants for almost 3 years trying different ones for the "right fit" as most would say.
Pristiq and Viibryd were the worst for me. I ended up seeking therapy once again to help me tackle my anxiety.. sometimes bringing up the past isn't so good. I was given pristiq with a heavy dose of alprazolam to help cover up the side effects. The dreams were out of control and realistic that woke up in a state of panic (nightmares).
I began to this think irrational thoughts (they still haunt me) making me not want to be around anyone at all. Where I drew the line was when I was leaving my freelance job (over an hour away from home) I got lost and drove around for over an hour just shaky and confused, thoughts going a million miles an hour. In short the next week I told my Dr I want off all drugs. I went down from 50mg to 25mg for a month felt like I was not even myself. I then cut that in half and did that for 2 months, then nothing. If you have ever done LSD before it felt like a "bad trip". I am honest with my Dr and told him numerous times about the side effects while on it: worst anxiety ever, neck and body sore all of the time, I would get sick all of the time with chest problems, my headaches are still persistent (even off the med) , I began to withdraw from people in my life. My work has not been stable and my personal life was flipped upside down.
Now 3 months later I went to the Dr and told him about how horrible I feel and he just gave me another antidepressant called Brintellix.... and uped my alprazolam. I will not take the antidepressant.
I went on the meds because of the way my life was going, work was and still is not steady (management at a big corp.) changing upper management many times. I graduated school but did not celebrate the fact that through all this I kept a 90% attendance and a 3.8 in my studies. I work full time as a manager 40 plus hours a week while going to school 5 days a week at night.

Does anyone experience any of these effect still, months later:
Headaches, nausea, seeing spots, amplified hearing, intrusive thoughts, sweats and shakes? There is more but I am just curious. Sorry for the essay. I just want to be unfiltered and find some good advice. Thank you
By the way I went through 3 therapists and they turned out to be pretty horrible and not concerned about anything other than the co-pay

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Hi AJ.

I just came off pristiq. It took me about 3 days of being unable to talk to anyone and having severe symptoms then I was fine again. Minor symptoms only after that. I did recreational drugs when I was younger so agree about how it felt like LSD but I think that actually helped me cope with it!!! I actually liked the drug, it was actually the only drug I could deal with, but gained too much weight so decided to come off it.

My digestion is better but weight still on. Hoping it will start to get back to normal now.

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Hi AJ,
Thank you for sharing...good news that you are realizing that psychotropic drugs are not always the best solution. I have definitely learned this in a very difficult way over the past 2-3 years. Amazing to me that your doctors solution for possible side effects to one medication - is to up your dosage on another medication! The same thing happened to me... due to side effects (that I now know were related to Pristiq) my doctor added adderall for ADD for brain fog - and xanax for sleeping. After 2 years on this combination my life came to a crash....this was late last year - and thankfully now 6 months later or so- I am doing MUCH much better. I am still taking a low dose of lexapro (an anti-depressant that had worked well for me in the past) as well as some high quality vitamins - including vitamin D which is essential. I also found a wonderful therapist who specialized in bio-feedback training - awesome way to deal with anxiety and learn how to relax the brain in a natural way! The main thing I have learned from all of this is how important it is to be our own "health advocates" - and not just blindly take prescriptions as the one and only answer. Hope this helps... take care and keep moving forward!

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Are any of you using the Botox cosmetic or similiar? I was prescribed pristiq for the horrific side effects of botox injections. I have never experienced anxiety in my life and within a week of the injections I was having a full blown freak out panic attacks and some of the worst kind of symptoms of anxiety which required me to be medicated. Fortunately pristiq was something of a godsend for me and I have been using the product for under 2 years following injections and during my recovery. I have to consider now - how to taper off. I just can't afford 225 dollars a month it is costing me with no insurance. I have never taken chemicals, medications, painkillers for any reason in my life prior. I find that I'm somewhat sensitive to drugs anyway and Botox has injured thousands & thousands globally with the primary side effect of anxiety...I wasn't experiencing typical depression but was treating anxiety and it worked well. consider that Botox in some of your situations might be the culprit so discontinue use of this product.

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Iam on 200 mg a day and have been up n down to 50 mg but back up to 200. Thishs gone on for about 5 years. It doesn't hold me anymore the brainzaps start about 18 hours after dose. I feel more depressed then I was before and my anxiety is through the roof. I seriously detest this medication. I want off it but the zaps are so hard to handle and being a mum I have to function. When I try cold turkey I feel like iam on the nod and can't keep my eyes open. Has anyone else been this way as well. Iam loosing my way with this fight.

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I have been on anti depressants for 15 years. Zoloft then lexapro then Zoloft again and then celexa (as of two years ago) and pristiq (as of one year ago). I suspected that I was overly medicated and decided to wean off of pristiq. I can't afford the $200/month and samples started becoming scarce. My doctor said not to. But I felt in my gut that's what I should do. Not to mention I am a little annoyed that doctors don't stress the importance of therapy coupled with medication. And that these medications don't have to be lifetime meds. I've been doing a lot of reading and personal internal work and I'm no longer afraid of being medicine free. I've learned skills and am no longer afraid of the panic attacks. Here's how I weaned myself off....(no one should do this without a doctors supervision and I am not a doctor)
For ten days I took 50 mg pristiq every other day. I would get the brain zaps around 3-4pm on days I wouldn't take it. Then I would take it first thing in the am and I was fine. Then for the next ten days, I did every three days. The zaps would start on the afternoon of the next scheduled morning dose. I added a day in between doses every 10 days. Right around 5-6 day dose increments, there were no more withdrawal symptoms so I quit taking them. I'm glad I listened to my intuition and went with how my body felt. I feel less stressed and I'm not crying non stop daily anymore. My last dose was May 6

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NikStar - stick with it !! After a week you will be fine - yes its HORRIBLE in that time but after a week you will be over all the brain zaps - then its about another 2 weeks of detoxing from it - then you will be GREAT! I will tell you that the best way to get through it is to go through your normal routine and EXCERSIZE - it does WONDERS!

I hope this helps - there is a light at the end of the tunnel i promise!
:)

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Hello, my name is Kevin and I have been on pristiq for about three months and want to stop taking medicine for anxiety. I have tried cold Turkey and after three days the mind zaps are so bad it put me in a panic attack. I have heart attack and stroke like symptoms but don't die and it's very hard to deal with. The medicine works but it is only a mask that I can't wear forever. I have had every test done known to man and can't find a reason for the attacks. This is so frustrating and very hard to live with...

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Are you seeing a therapist?

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Yes I am and it's not working. I don't feel I have problems related to stress at all. I was watching Star Wars during my first attack and it lasted a week. Nothing that serious has happened in my life to just all of a sudden turn mental problem into physical symptoms. Only guess is chemical issues? Don't know but the attacks are severe and scary as he'll.

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I went through this when I was 17 and am still dealing with it today. It gets better! It is scary as all get out. But in therapy you learn to deal with the fear. The fear will keep you sick. Therapy coupled with the correct medicine and a willingness to work at getting well is the best advice I have. Oh and read 'anxiety answer book'. If I would know what I know now, I would have only been on medicine six months to a year instead of half my life.

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Good advice and thank you for sharing it. I am just weaning down from 100 mg per day to 50 and would like to get down to nothing very soon. I like the "every other day" approach. I'm also on a cocktail of other meds -- Wellbutrin, Buspar, and Xanax (I've weaned off the Seroquel, Klonopin, and sleeping meds myself). I want to go natural, like I was before I had little meltdown a few years ago. Got fat on the Seroquel. The exercise advice is so true. Thanks for sharing! Good health to you :)

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Thanxs Anne. I have managed to drop 50 mg every 3 days from 200 n I was ok with that. I'm know hitting day 4 of no meds and oh the brrain zaps.sweats n nodding off is realy taking its toll. But thanku ur words give me the strength to endure this process and see the light that I know is flickering at the end of the tunnel xo

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Keep fighting!!!! You're almost there! Soon you will be helping others on medschat. My daughter almost gave in, at this point. She decided she didn't want to start over and now she is one year free of Pristiq! You are close to freedom. I'll be praying for you

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Hi
I've been on pristiq for 3 years. I lost my insurance and I don't want to fill my prescription. I'm tired of being dependent on this drug!!! I quit cold turkey. I love how it has taken my depression away but I feel maybe I'm living in a cloud. Getting off this is so hard. Day three and I'm having all the symptoms of course. I want to thank everyone for your posts. It's 3 in the morning and reading them have brought me a lot of comfort!!!!

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Thank you!!!! So encouraging!!! I keep reading this post to push through!!

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