Anyone on Pristiq, skip one day and have major side effects?

[Ems1981]

Holy cow!

I've been on Pristiq for about four months now. Three months on 50mg and one month on 100mg. I love it. After trying every SSRI, Wellbutrin and Cymbalta....it has been my saving grace.

Well, in my procrastinating, ADD nature, I was too lazy to drive my butt to Rite-aid (which is like less than two miles from my house) on Saturday to pick up my refill so I didn't take my pill yesterday.

I woke up this morning in a complete fog. I feel dizzy, disoriented, agitated....you name it, I'm feeling it.

This happened once before, right after I was discharged from the psych hospital. We are an active duty military family and Tricare does not approve Pristiq so I had to fight the insurance company for a few days, missed two doses, and the same thing happened. It was so bad, I had to just suck it up and pay full price for a week's worth of the medicine to give Tricare the time it needed to get it's head out of it's ass and approve the medication.

Long story short, has this happened to anyone else before?? It's hard to believe that missing only one dose can have such an effect.

I've taken my dose this morning, so I'm hoping this feeling goes away soon.

[Ems1981]

Oops. Apologies if I posted this in the wrong section. Still new and figuring things out!

[vanderk]

Yeah, probably better in this form, or the Side Effects one. And yes, Pristiq, and its predecessor Effexor, are pretty notorious for a harsh discontinuation syndrome. With Effexor, I've known folks who start feeling it after missing a dose by an hour. One of the few antidepressants that really need to be taken the same time each day, not just each day.

[Rockaphilly]

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Edited October 17, 2012 by Rockaphilly

[dancesintherain]

I've only taken it's cousin Effexor, but it was nasty when I missed a dose. Felt awful. Only good aspect was it meant I could tell and therefore remedy it (b/c it meant I'd forgotten it). I guess that doesn't work if the problem is waiting for a refill.

I don't know if you have benzo or aap access, but a benzo during the day and aap at night knocked out the nastiness until I took the new dose. Not suggesting you do that without a pdoc--just something to think about.

[Ems1981]

Yeah, today overall has pretty much been an 'off' day. Just really tired and foggy headed. Lessons learned! I'm an habitual procrastinator! lol

[Tracy]

I have been on Pristique and Wellbutrin together now for 6 years. I also take synthroid and meloxicam. If I forget a dose of the Pristique, I am completely worthless. Slurred speech, can't walk, weepy, sluggish. It's absolutely horrible!!!

[BackOnTop]

I have and it was really rough. It took days to recover. It felt like all of my emotions died and all I could do was lay on my couch and wait for it to pass. I didn't eat and felt almost zombie-like and immobile. Other people describe it as "brain zaps" which I think is pretty fitting. I don't recommend forgetting a dose. The half life is super short so the side effects are pretty harsh.