[BlueEyes]

strachml, on Jul 21 2008, 10:13 PM, said:

Hi everyone!

I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder in January 2002. I was on paxil (paroxetene) for about 5 1/2 years, which obviously worked pretty well, but I thought maybe trying a different drug would aleiviate some of the minor side effects I had (weight gain, pretty much no sex drive, etc). I tried lexapro for 2 months (not enough time to notice any change), then was switched to Effexor XR to also help treat a chronic pain problem. In addition to the GAD and PD, I have a fear of flying that I use ativan for.

I was fine on Effexor XR-- it didn't noticably help the pain problem, but anxiety was fairly non-existant. The high dose I worked up to (300mg) was great for when I flew (with the addition of the ativan I took a couple hours before the flight, it pretty much knocked me out, which is the best thing to happen when I fly haha!). I went back down to 225mg due to a little moodiness, and was still fine. UNFORTUNATELY, around the time I started Effexor (this past Jan) I also started having horrible acne breakouts (I've struggled with mild-persistent acne for 11 years, but this was much noticably worse ). I blamed it on new birth control at first, but having been off that for about 3 months and still having the horrible acne... I realized that the Effexor may be the culprit (doing Yahoo searches, I saw that I may not have been the only one! But it seems like a pretty rare side effect). The acne was/is causing me problems, so I went back to the doc again...

My doc suggested Pristiq, saying it was the same compounds as Effexor, but seems to nix the side effects (seems too good to be true to me??)-- I was wary, but said I'd try it. I've taken it for 3 nights now, and I'm notiably more anxious. I hadn't felt the unexplained "everyday anxiety" (explained: e.g. forgetting to take my pills at night, or having to fly, etc.) for a long time. So this is definitely not a good sign to me. Sure, maybe it'll help the acne problem and not cause weight gain, which is great!!! But ultimately, I'm trying to not have anxiety/panic attacks here!!!!

I didn't have any problems when I started Effexor XR--- didn't feel like I needed time to ease into it. It seemed to start working right off the bat. My doc told me I didn't need to wean off Effexor to start Pristiq-- I could just go straight into 50mg from the 225 Effexor. I'm thinking of calling my doc tomorrow and telling him that its not going well so far.

I understand that it sometimes takes a while to really work, but dealing with the anxiety is really posing a challenge for me since I've pretty much been without it for a while.

I was seriously considering going back on Paxil... I didn't gain an exorbitant amount of weight, and I can deal with decreased/non-existant sex drive, even though it sucks. Or even lexapro since I didn't get a good feel for that one. Effexor did the same thing paxil did for me in terms of anxiety, but I'd rather deal with some weight gain than worsened acne (mind you, I still have the mild acne anyway!). BLAH!!!!

Any suggestion????? I would appreciate any ideas

I would give it a little more time unless it is completely unbearable. I'm no expert, but most of the side effects I experienced would last for a few days to a week, then they would be gone. Of course, everyone is affected differently. I had a couple of days of major anxiety as well, but that subsided. My pdoc gave me xanax to take as needed should any anxiety occur again, but it hasn't. I think it's worth sticking with it for a couple of weeks if you can. It might be worth it if it means you can avoid jumping back on the med-go-round. There are a couple of Pristiq threads for you to check out. I think there are a couple of people that take it for anxiety, you could always PM them and see how they are doing on it.

Oh, and it can't hurt to call your pdoc to discuss the symptoms that are worrying you.

Good luck!

-Blue

[Day2Day in the 518]

I agree with Blue Eyes.

I guess I'm very lucky, but I didn't have side effects when I started Pristiq. I weaned off Lexapro during the start of the Pristiq. Maybe that was my saving grace...

Back to you... I've seen a lot of posts from new Pristiq users, all with a similar tone. Most of the posters were not doing well for the first few weeks: nausea, downward trend in depression to the point of suicidal thoughts... overall dissatisfied. However, at that 3-4 week mark, all of the posters seemed to take an upward turn and lost the side effects.

I know it sucks to hear when you're feeling so bad, but try to stick it out a little longer.

[tiggermej]

Day2Day in the 518, on Jul 22 2008, 05:58 PM, said:

I agree with Blue Eyes.

I guess I'm very lucky, but I didn't have side effects when I started Pristiq. I weaned off Lexapro during the start of the Pristiq. Maybe that was my saving grace...

Back to you... I've seen a lot of posts from new Pristiq users, all with a similar tone. Most of the posters were not doing well for the first few weeks: nausea, downward trend in depression to the point of suicidal thoughts... overall dissatisfied. However, at that 3-4 week mark, all of the posters seemed to take an upward turn and lost the side effects.

I know it sucks to hear when you're feeling so bad, but try to stick it out a little longer.

Well, today is a bit better. Could still start crying at the drop of a hat. Took a clonazepam as soon as I got it last evening and another at bedtime.
It is only 9am now and not tired yet, but we will see what happens this afternoon.
Maybe would have been better if I had been weaned down off the effexor, but i was straight from it to the Pristiq only. Brain zaps are better today. Not quite as anxious. Guess I need to take it "corny" one day at a time.

[BlueEyes]

tiggermej, on Jul 23 2008, 07:04 AM, said:

Well, today is a bit better. Could still start crying at the drop of a hat. Took a clonazepam as soon as I got it last evening and another at bedtime.
It is only 9am now and not tired yet, but we will see what happens this afternoon.
Maybe would have been better if I had been weaned down off the effexor, but i was straight from it to the pristiq only. Brain zaps are better today. Not quite as anxious. Guess I need to take it "corny" one day at a time.

Glad to hear things are better today. Keep us posted on your progress!

[tiggermej]

Yesterday wasnt as tired again so that is a plus. But irritable as hell last evening. Had to just leave the house before I blew up at everyone. Still waiting on the anxiety to end.

[Day2Day in the 518]

Baby steps, tiggermej... baby steps...

[tiggermej]

BlueEyes, on Jul 22 2008, 08:09 AM, said:

strachml, on Jul 21 2008, 10:13 PM, said:

Hi everyone!

I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder in January 2002. I was on paxil (paroxetene) for about 5 1/2 years, which obviously worked pretty well, but I thought maybe trying a different drug would aleiviate some of the minor side effects I had (weight gain, pretty much no sex drive, etc). I tried lexapro for 2 months (not enough time to notice any change), then was switched to Effexor XR to also help treat a chronic pain problem. In addition to the GAD and PD, I have a fear of flying that I use ativan for.

I was fine on Effexor XR-- it didn't noticably help the pain problem, but anxiety was fairly non-existant. The high dose I worked up to (300mg) was great for when I flew (with the addition of the ativan I took a couple hours before the flight, it pretty much knocked me out, which is the best thing to happen when I fly haha!). I went back down to 225mg due to a little moodiness, and was still fine. UNFORTUNATELY, around the time I started Effexor (this past Jan) I also started having horrible acne breakouts (I've struggled with mild-persistent acne for 11 years, but this was much noticably worse ). I blamed it on new birth control at first, but having been off that for about 3 months and still having the horrible acne... I realized that the Effexor may be the culprit (doing Yahoo searches, I saw that I may not have been the only one! But it seems like a pretty rare side effect). The acne was/is causing me problems, so I went back to the doc again...

My doc suggested Pristiq, saying it was the same compounds as Effexor, but seems to nix the side effects (seems too good to be true to me??)-- I was wary, but said I'd try it. I've taken it for 3 nights now, and I'm notiably more anxious. I hadn't felt the unexplained "everyday anxiety" (explained: e.g. forgetting to take my pills at night, or having to fly, etc.) for a long time. So this is definitely not a good sign to me. Sure, maybe it'll help the acne problem and not cause weight gain, which is great!!! But ultimately, I'm trying to not have anxiety/panic attacks here!!!!

I didn't have any problems when I started Effexor XR--- didn't feel like I needed time to ease into it. It seemed to start working right off the bat. My doc told me I didn't need to wean off Effexor to start Pristiq-- I could just go straight into 50mg from the 225 Effexor. I'm thinking of calling my doc tomorrow and telling him that its not going well so far.

I understand that it sometimes takes a while to really work, but dealing with the anxiety is really posing a challenge for me since I've pretty much been without it for a while.

I was seriously considering going back on Paxil... I didn't gain an exorbitant amount of weight, and I can deal with decreased/non-existant sex drive, even though it sucks. Or even lexapro since I didn't get a good feel for that one. Effexor did the same thing paxil did for me in terms of anxiety, but I'd rather deal with some weight gain than worsened acne (mind you, I still have the mild acne anyway!). BLAH!!!!

Any suggestion????? I would appreciate any ideas

I would give it a little more time unless it is completely unbearable. I'm no expert, but most of the side effects I experienced would last for a few days to a week, then they would be gone. Of course, everyone is affected differently. I had a couple of days of major anxiety as well, but that subsided. My pdoc gave me xanax to take as needed should any anxiety occur again, but it hasn't. I think it's worth sticking with it for a couple of weeks if you can. It might be worth it if it means you can avoid jumping back on the med-go-round. There are a couple of Pristiq threads for you to check out. I think there are a couple of people that take it for anxiety, you could always PM them and see how they are doing on it.

Oh, and it can't hurt to call your pdoc to discuss the symptoms that are worrying you.

Good luck!

-Blue

Irritable as hell, brain zings and crying again. How much more can I take this?

[Day2Day in the 518]

Hang in there! I've seen a lot of posts where people took 3-4 weeks of feeling crappy before they turned the corner, but most if not all did turn that corner.

[lurker53]

I started Pristiq last Wednesday and I thought it was working great until today (Monday) when I woke up anxious and feeling so hopeless I had suicidal thoughts. It was not a good morning at all. I am on the 50mg dosage, which seems to be the only way they prescribe it.

However, I think the reason for my horrid morning was because I went cold turkey off both Vyvanse (amphedamine) and Klonopin (sedative) that my previous quack doctor had prescribed (I was down to 30mg of Vyvanse which had been reduced from 70mg for about a week and my original KPin amount of 2mg per day which I was on for 10 months).

I started reading about Benzos (Klonopin, Xanax) and how you're not supposed to cold turkey them because they are addictive and how it takes a slow, slow withdrawal. Little did I know. My new pdoc replaced KPin with Xanax but I wasn't feeling nearly as anxious without the Vyvanse in my system so I didn't take the Xanax (.5mg) at all. Big mistake! I thought I was going to die today. I'm back on the KPin and will be tapering off for a month so hopefully that will help me and the Pristiq can start to work as well. But until I start reducing the KPin I don't think I'll know how the Pristiq is really working.

By the way, my Yahoo messenger name is mjfarrell5959 and I'm on during the day alot if anyone wants to message. This drug stuff can be scary so talking to others helps.

[Day2Day in the 518]

Lurker,

Definitely sounds like you were taken off your other meds too soon. I hope things turn around for you. Your new pdoc seems like an improvement.

I feel "guilty" sometimes (or should I feel lucky...) that I didn't have the rough side effects of others who have started Pristiq. I truly believe that the difference for me has been that my pdoc was really good about weaning me off the Lexapro slowly as I was starting the Pristiq.

Stay strong and ALWAYS take your meds. Keep posting with updates.

[Shuyin]

Hi All,
New to the board.
This is week 2 for me with Pristiq. I actually haven't had the 'start-up sickness' that I usually get from new AD.
Just a mild headache (probably from not eating enough) and insomnia on top of my current insomnia. Its like insomnia on crack!
Recently gone through a break-up. I let the same jackass dump me 5 times over the last 4 years.
Good'ole Boderline Personlity at its best.
Anyway - having some hard times and hoping for positive results.
I usually have the sexual side effects (loss of interest) as well as a zombie effect and weight gain.
So far not much of an appetite (lost 40 lbs after coming off of zoloft and lexapro)
I still have some feelings but they aren't as extreme. Could be the shock from getting dumped again.
And right now I could care less about my love life so sexual side effects be damned!

[Isolde]

Hello gang!!! I am happy to say that after about two months, the Pristiq did finally kick in. I am feeling better and I can function, do chores, shop, make decisions and even plan on going on a vacation!!! That would have been impossible without the medication. I usually don't have so long a waiting time, but I can tell you that the wait was well worth it, in retrospect. My pdoc says that Pristiq differs from Effexor in that it bypasses the liver and therefore, makes it less likely to produce unwanted side effects. This must be true because I suffered with a lot of side-effects with other antidepressants. I got my appetite back after losing 50 good pounds, which I needed to do. Now I have to get on the scale and make sure that I don't gain any of the unwanted weight back. It's been very rare that I have gotten so depressed that I could not eat. It was getting a little scary. I have a good 15 pounds though, before my weight loss would have gotten in the danger zone. So much for the saying "a woman can't be too rich or too thin". Too rich, never......too thin, of course, we know better than that. As I said, I usually did not lose my appetite so drastically, but I was warned that as we age, bipolar can and does get worse with age. I am glad for the meds, my family and my pdoc for standing by me through the hellacious times I have been through and I hope that I don't get drug poop out anytime soon.

Take Care.

[Silver]

Isolde, that's wonderful to hear.

[BlueEyes]

Hi all-
Glad to see there are people having positive experiences with Pristiq. I've been so busy with all of the good things in my life that I couldn't see before the Pristiq that I haven't had anytime to keep up with CB! Amazingly enough, my boyfriend proposed, and then we decided to elope....so in the last 3 months, I've gone from being depressed and suicidal and on the verge of losing my relationship and home to feeling amazing and getting married. In addition, my pdoc has me on "maintenance" and only seeing him quarterly. I also don't have anything to complain about to my tdoc.

I hope my experience is more the norm than a fluke....

- blue