balletomane Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Hey everyone- I had to stop Pristiq last Wednesday because it was giving me migraines. I was on the lowest dose, so all I had to do was stop taking it. I have had horrible withdrawal from it for 9 days.. my legs and arms are so wobbly and weak that I fuckin look like Bambi when I try to walk, I have no endurance. Going downstairs to get something and coming back up means half an hour on the couch because I just have no energy. My muscle tone is so bad that I couldn't even have a BM because my muscles are so weak all over my body. I'm also having huge anxiety, and my short term memory is absolutely shot. Words are coming out slurred/backwards and sometimes I can't even put a sentence together. I was on Pristiq for 6 weeks, and like I said, have been completely screwed for the last 9 days. I am so upset by this...I don't know when I'm going to feel normal again. My Cipralex was upped from 20mg to 30mg yesterday by my pdoc and he said that should ease the withdrawal but obviously I've only taken one dose and that's not enough to even touch my symptoms. How long can this go on? I have never felt like such an invalid before. -A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artemisia Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 I really would've expected the other antidepressant to take care of the serotonin discontinuation issue from Pristiq. I know that the FDA allows opening up the capsules of Effexor XR* (for people who find swallowing pills difficult). I don't know if the same is true for Pristiq (Effexor's active ingredient). Dividing up the granules is kind of crude and inexact, but it helped me. (I was on 150 mg of Effexor XR. I didn't have discontinuation symptoms till I went from the lowest available dose down to nothing.) *In general, you don't want to tamper with extended release formulations of meds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletomane Posted December 17, 2011 Author Share Posted December 17, 2011 I'm confused...did I tamperwith an extended release, or would tampering refer to splitting the granules? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troop111 Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I don't know if Pristiq is time-released or not, but I know about Effexor time-released capsules. You can pull apart the capsule, and as long as the pellets inside aren't chewed or crushed or anything, they can be swallowed in like applesauce and still have the time-released action. I had a pharmacist tell me this, because I'm withdrawing from it currently. I'm at 37.5 mg effexor, I split the granules of each 75mg capsule for two days worth. The WD is horrible. It's been almost a month since your last post. Any progress? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vapourware Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Pristiq is one solid tablet. There's no counting granules like with Effexor. Coming off Pristiq is a bitch, but those sort of side effects described in the OP would, IMO, require medical attention of some sort. If a medication makes someone so physically weak that their functioning is impaired, something is pretty wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cattitude Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Despite my sig, I'm not a world expert at ad withdrawal. But I would have suggested to the OP that they don't stop the pills cold turkey (no matter how low the dose) but instead take them every second day, then every third day etc. and not stop taking them until they're at a point where they can go at least 5 days with no more wd symptoms. This is what my pdoc told me to do years ago when I was going off of nortriptyline. Tricyclic I know, but the same protocol worked for me when tapering off of SSRI's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimpmaster Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 If its a tablet then you can use a pill cutter. You pharmacist should be able to sell you one pretty cheaply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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