[sunburnt22]

My pdoc gave me samples of 50 mg Pristiq. But I don't want to try to it. All ADs either haven't worked for me or they've worked temporarily and withdrawal has been hell. Since (as I understand) you can't cut Pristiq tablets because they're time-released, I'm afraid to even start it. It seems impossible to taper off it if needed. Am I being high-maintenance?

[tryp]

Hey,

Well, since you say that other ADs haven't worked for you, that makes me think that maybe you should give Pristiq a try - I mean, if you're running out of drugs to try, do you really want to pass up on one that might really help you?

About tapering off - I've never done it, but I know Pristiq is closely related to Effexor, and while that has a reputation for being hell to get off of, people manage to do it. For one thing, I hear that people have success with crossing over to prozac, then getting off of that.

Why don't you call your pdoc and ask about getting off? If you see that pdoc has a plan for it, it might put your mind at ease.

[BackAtTheLab]

I cut mine in half... I know that probably makes them ineffective, but I thought it would allow my body to adjust to the new chemical for a few days before I move up.
We'll see...

[Vapourware]

OP: You can get off Pristiq, there are some brutal side effects because of its short half-life but before thinking that it won't work for you, why not try to think that it might work and not think about discontinuation just yet?

Guest: My sexual functioning came back in a few days after I'd gone completely off Pristiq.

[MarkP]

terca, on 30 November 2009 - 03:03 PM, said:

to the Above writer; HOW ARE YOU HALVING 50MG OF PRISTIQ since it's a whole pill without lines so the drug isn't equally distributed to split?

If you cut the time release pill in half, the actual drug itself is very uniformly distributed throughout a pill. No extended release/continuous release pill has the 'lines' for splitting -- the 'lines' are an indication of whether or not the pill is safe to split.

The 'danger' of taking a time release pill that's split, is that essentially, its going to dose-dump and you're not going to gain the benefit of the relatively uniform dose that the time-release mechamism of the pill provides.

A desvenlafaxine taper could be accomplished by crushing the desvenlafaxine pills, and then taking a titrated portion of the crushed mixture (usually dissolved/emulsfied/suspended in some sort of solvent or emulsion/suspension) at fairly regular intervals throughout the day. But the more frequent dosing would be required, whereas, as Pristiq exists right now, its a once-a-day pill.