Mattie: tapering off Pristiq

[Mattie]

Hi ,

 

I was on Prozac 10 mg for about 25 years for mild anxiety.

 

In 2018 decided to get off. My dr prescribed the liquid version and I titrated down 1/5 of a mg every 2 to 4 weeks. When I got down to 4.25 mg all hell broke loose, I got severely depressed and tired and drained but didn’t know about or understand withdrawals and what was happening to me .

 

So I went to dr and he put me back on original dose of 10mg which made things worse after 5 days being on it he then switched me to trintellix which I took for 1 week with no relief .

 

I was so depressed that I ended up in pysc ward for 2 weeks at which they took me off of trintellix and put me back on Prozac 10mg and 2 days later upped it to 20mg. Now I was not only severely depressed but felt extremely over medicated and tired and drained so they added ability 2mg to my Prozac. By this time I couldn’t function so they lowered my Prozac back to 10 and released me.

 

After approximately 3weeks being on Prozac and ability I wasn’t any better and was extremely dizzy so my pysc took me off of ability and added 75 mg Wellbutrin which made me physically I’ll after 2 weeks I was switched to 25 mg pamelor with 10 mg Prozac. I stayed on that for 3 months but felt like a zombie so I was taken off of pamelor and stayed on Prozac 10mg for 8 weeks but couldn’t function so I was put on 20mg Prozac for another 8 weeks and couldn’t function.

 

I was then put on 30mg Prozac and was a zombie. I switched pysc and I am now on pristiq (originally 25 mg) was too strong. I told my dr NO MORE! I want off of medications! So she tapered me from 25mg to 20 mg which I was pressured to taper down again after 4 months to now 18 mg which I have been on for 3 months.

 

I am extremely horribly depressed and tired and drained and can’t function all day but miraculously it lifts around 4pm every evening, does anyone experience this phenomenon, I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t get these windows every evening , it’s been 2 years since I stabilized, will I ever? Need encouragement please 😞

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by ChessieCat
added spacing

[Mattie]

I’m wondering why I experience such debilitating symptoms (depression, despair, extreme exhaustion) all day long but the evening hrs it all lifts only to start all over the following day 

 

[Altostrata]

Welcome, @Mattie

 

This is a site for going off psychiatric drugs. Are you taking any psychiatric drugs? Have you recently stopped taking any psychiatric drugs?

[Mattie]

I’m currently trying to taper off pristiq 

[manymoretodays]

Hi Mattie, and welcome aboard,

It appears that you started 2 Introduction topics, which I have now merged together.

This will now be your topic, your spot to interact with us, and ask questions specific to your case.

 

Please see:  How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature

Post # 1 ^, will explain how to do this.  And it is different from the confidential information that you put into your profile initially, as it will, once done, appear below all your posts as a quick reference tool for us.  If you can get your drug history organized from your post of last Tuesday, and from what had put into your profile information,  and then type it into the Signature, make sure you SAVE when done, that will be helpful.  Thank you.  Here, I extracted most of what you need to know below:

 

As the signature is limited to 12 lines, we expect you to condense your drug history. The last few years usually will do.

 

FOR READABILITY, SHORT LINES ARE BEST.

• A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs
• Include ALL drugs, doses, and dates (starting and stopping)
• Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years
• Use actual dates or approximate dates (e.g. mid-June 2018) rather than relative time frames (e.g. 3 months ago)
• Spell out months (e.g. "January" or "Jan" as 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as 9 Jan 2016 or 1 Sept 2016)
• Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses

 

Example:

2001–2002 paroxetine 
2003  citalopram 
2004  paroxetine
2008  paroxetine slow taper down to 2016 Aug off paroxetine
2016  citalopram May 20mg  Oct slow taper down
2018  citalopram 13 Feb 4.6mg 15 Mar 4.4mg 29 Apr 4.2mg

 

If you edit your signature, the new one replaces any prior signature. It will appear in your signature under all your posts, even your old posts. If you want to save the information in the old signature, copy it and save it in a file on your computer or in a post in your Introductions topic.

 

(As of 12/31/13: Signatures are limited to 12 lines of text.)

How to add or edit your signature

1. Click on this link to open the correct page in User Settings:
   Create Your Signature in "Account Settings". 
   2017-June 12 update: link works on desktop, tablet and mobile phone versions
    
2. Enter your signature in the space provided.
3. When you are done, Click on the big black Save button at the bottom.

 

20 hours ago, Mattie said:

I’m wondering why I experience such debilitating symptoms (depression, despair, extreme exhaustion) all day long but the evening hrs it all lifts only to start all over the following day 

 

Now that I've got your initial posts combined, from your narrative of last Tuesday........I can see why you are experiencing what you are now.  You've had a ton of drug changes after a likely too rapid taper from Prozac, and now........your poor nervous system is struggling, very much so to get some equilibrium/balance back.

 

I'm going to close this post now, and compose my next reply with some good information for you to begin to look at now.  It sounds like you may have read some here already......but this will get it all in one place for your reference.

 

This is your introduction/journal page where you have now introduced yourself to the community, you can ask questions here regarding your tapering, give updates, and just keep a record of your journey.  You might bookmark this page/topic now for your own ease of access.

Welcome aboard.

[manymoretodays]

And oh man, so sorry for all the rock and rolling that you have been through to date.  Possibly 4 years or so now.  You've had a real merry go round of drugs tried and then being taken off them to try another.......and I know.......not a fun experience at all.

 

We go with a harm reduction strategy for tapering here and generally recommended that a person taper by no more than 10% of their current dose, with at least a four week hold in-between decreases.  The 10% taper recommendation is a harm reduction approach to going off psychiatric drugs.

*Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

On 9/13/2022 at 7:09 PM, Mattie said:

So I went to dr and he put me back on original dose of 10mg which made things worse after 5 days being on it he then switched me to trintellix which I took for 1 week with no relief .

 

I was so depressed that I ended up in pysc ward for 2 weeks at which they took me off of trintellix and put me back on Prozac 10mg and 2 days later upped it to 20mg. Now I was not only severely depressed but felt extremely over medicated and tired and drained so they added ability 2mg to my Prozac. By this time I couldn’t function so they lowered my Prozac back to 10 and released me.

 

After approximately 3weeks being on Prozac and ability I wasn’t any better and was extremely dizzy so my pysc took me off of ability and added 75 mg Wellbutrin which made me physically I’ll after 2 weeks I was switched to 25 mg pamelor with 10 mg Prozac. I stayed on that for 3 months but felt like a zombie so I was taken off of pamelor and stayed on Prozac 10mg for 8 weeks but couldn’t function so I was put on 20mg Prozac for another 8 weeks and couldn’t function.

 

I was then put on 30mg Prozac and was a zombie. I switched pysc and I am now on pristiq (originally 25 mg) was too strong. I told my dr NO MORE! I want off of medications! So she tapered me from 25mg to 20 mg which I was pressured to taper down again after 4 months to now 18 mg which I have been on for 3 months.

 

It will be nice, when you get all this into a Signature format, so we have some idea of the dates when all this was going on.  It does look like you tried a reinstatement of Prozac way back when, likely too high of a dose though unfortunately.........and then......on to a whirlwind of drug merry go rounds.

 

Right now, sit tight or HOLD with that 18 mg of Pristiq while we get to know you and more familiar with your details prior to making any suggests.  Okay?

 

And so I don't know.......sounds like you've got WD(withdrawal) symptoms going on and have not found the Pristiq to be of much help.  Here's some basics around WD:

 

Brain Remodelling

What is withdrawal syndrome.

 

Dr.Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list.

 

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

When we take medications, the CNS (central nervous system) responds by making changes over the months and years we take the drug(s). When the medication is discontinued, the CNS has to undo all the changes it made.  The CNS likes stability. Rebuilding the neurotransmitter production and reactivating the receptor and transporter cells takes time -- during that rebuilding process symptoms occur.

 

Here's our topic on Pristiq too, and tapering it:

Tips for tapering off Pristiq(desvenlafaxine)

Tell us a little more too, about how you have been managing your Pristiq taper practically.  It can be a bit trickier to get non-standard doses of for tapering.

 

I am happy to read you are getting a nice reprieve of symptoms in the evening now.  That's good.

 

Okay, welcome again.  Prioritize that Signature please, as it is so helpful for us.  We can help if problems understanding what to do with that......just ask, okay.  Right here, on your page.

 

Love, peace, healing, and growth,

manymoretodays(mmt)

 

 

[Altostrata]

@Mattie how are you tapering Pristiq?

[Mattie]

Original dose 25mg started jan1,2022, dropped to 20mg Feb 16,2022 -June 10,2022,dropped to 18mg June 11,2022 till present 

[ChessieCat]

Q:  How are you getting your doses?

 

Q:  How many times a day do you take a dose?

[ChessieCat]

Please create your drug signature.  This is different from the information that you provided when you joined SA.  The drug signature will appear below every post and means that we won't have to read back through your topic to get the information.

 

Please follow these instructions.  We need details for the last 2 years:  drug name, dose and the date you changed the dose; and summary of anything older than 2 years.  If you stopped a drug please include the date the last dose you took of that drug.  Thank you.

 

Instructions:  Withdrawal History Signature
Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

[Mattie]

11 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

Q:  How are you getting your doses?

 

Q:  How many times a day do you take a dose?

Compounding pharmacy, once daily 

[Mattie]

Compounding pharmacy, once daily 

[ChessieCat]

Once the tablet is crushed it is no longer slow release over 24 hours.

 

The pharmacist might add a slow release formula, but it still will not cover the 24 hour period.

 

For compounded Pristiq you need to split your dose and take it twice a day otherwise you might experience interdose withdrawal.

 

I am speaking from experience.  My capsules had slow release formula and I was only taking my dose once a day until I got to 10mg and by that time I realised that I should be taking it twice a day.  Once I did that I found that it did make a different to how I felt each morning until the new dose started to kick in.  In Australia we cannot get 25mg, so I had been taking all capsules from <50mg which was about half of my taper when I could have been feeling a bit better.

[Mattie]

Do I need a scale to split dose and how many hours apart do I take it, and if I took my full dose last night can I start my half dose this morning or wait till tonight?

[manymoretodays]

Hi Mattie,

Thank you for getting at the signature, and unbelievable that you remembered all those changes.  That's awesome.

I kept a copy of your original signature and then went in and just delineated and bolded the years, also added some further spacing so it is all a bit clearer to view now.

 

Is Pristiq then your only medication/drug right now? 

Was the psych ward stay back in 2020 after the Trintillex was added to Prozac?

 

Again, many thanks for your signature.  Good job!

 

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by manymoretodays

[manymoretodays]

4 hours ago, Mattie said:

Do I need a scale to split dose and how many hours apart do I take it, and if I took my full dose last night can I start my half dose this morning or wait till tonight?

 

You may be able to get your compounder to adjust the doses for you.  So you have a 9 mg dose for the am and a 9 mg dose for the PM.

For right now, I'd stay put, until ChessieCat or Alto can weigh in.  I don't know as much about Pristiq and what the compounder can do for you.  We often suggest too, that you do slowly move into the split dose........moving it one hour at a time......so that you would keep 9 mg at your usual time of night while moving the other 9 mg by an hour at a time until it's 12 hours apart from that.

 

  

19 hours ago, Mattie said:

Compounding pharmacy, once daily 

 

I do see this above and then your mention of taking a nighttime dose.

What time are you presently taking the 18 mg of compounded Pristiq?

 

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by manymoretodays

[Mattie]

I take my dose at 7:30 pm

[Altostrata]

@Mattie you need to arrange split doses with the compounding pharmacy or your prescriber, so you'd be taking 9mg compounded Pristiq twice a day.

[Mattie]

Thank you, I’ll try to convince my Pychitrist, she originally wanted me to quit cold turkey and doesn’t understand the process, when I told her I wanted to go down 1 mg she told me no because she didn’t want me to become physiologically dependent, I’ve gone down 7mg in 7 months and that was way too fast and I’m paying for it now 

[ChessieCat]

 

6 hours ago, Mattie said:

she didn’t want me to become physiologically dependent

 

It can take as little as 4 weeks to the brain to fully adapt to getting a psychiatric drug.

[Mattie]

@Altostratahow would I take my split dose? Every 12 hrs or work my way to 12 hrs ex: first dose 7:30 pm second dose 8:30 pm, first dose 7:30 pm second dose 9:30 pm etc until I reach 12 hrs apart?

[ChessieCat]

Because you are currently taking it at night you could try bringing 1/2 of the dose forward by 1 hour each day until the two doses are 12 hours apart.

[Mattie]

I’ve contacted my pharmacy and they said they could do the two 9mg capsules for me to take twice daily now I have to contact my Pychitrist tomorrow, thank you all for the info, also is it normal to feel lightheaded and loopy all the time especially when my anxiety kicks in?

[Mattie]

@chessieCat, when you say move one dose forward, do you mean ex: my usual dose is 7:30 pm so I would take a dose at 6:30 pm and 2nd dose at 7:30pm? Or my usual dose at 7:30 pm and my 2nd dose at 8:30pm? Thanks 

[manymoretodays]

9 hours ago, Mattie said:

@chessieCat, when you say move one dose forward, do you mean ex: my usual dose is 7:30 pm so I would take a dose at 6:30 pm and 2nd dose at 7:30pm? Or my usual dose at 7:30 pm and my 2nd dose at 8:30pm? Thanks

 

Hi Mattie,

Yes.  The first option, first day.......9 mg at 6:30 pm and 9 mg at 7:30 pm.

Then on the second night you'd be taking a dose of 9 mg at 5:30pm, and your 2nd dose of 9 mg, at the usual 7:30pm.

3rd night first dose at 4:30, second at usual 7:30.

Keep moving the first dose forward an hour, until you have it spaced 12 hours from your 7:30 pm dose.  So eventually, you'll be taking 9 mg at 7:30 am and pm.

 

20 hours ago, Mattie said:

I’ve contacted my pharmacy and they said they could do the two 9mg capsules for me to take twice daily now I have to contact my Pychitrist tomorrow, thank you all for the info, also is it normal to feel lightheaded and loopy all the time especially when my anxiety kicks in?

 

Does your psychiatrist have to write for the split doses Mattie, or can the compounder just do the 18 mg/day that IS prescribed into 2 compounded doses of 9 mg ?  Just wondering.

 

And I think so, fears/anxiety can make it really hard to think straight and function.  Have we given you, pointed you towards non-drug coping helps with anxiety yet?  If not, I'll try to get you linked up to some good coping stuff when I can get back.......unless anyone beats me to it.  So much on my own plate so to speak today.......hoping to carve some moderation time out soon for myself.

 

Good job Mattie.  Your trooping right along now. 

L, P, H, and G,

mmt

Edited September 20, 2022 by manymoretodays

[Mattie]

manymoredays , thanks and yes I had to have my psychiatrist approval for the script (waiting on approval)also has anyone heard of a vitamin supplements regimen especially formulated to help get off antidepressants? Not sure if I can say the company name on here so I won’t, but I just got them in and took first dose today,my concern is the amino acid supplement has l tryptophan in it and I always read not to take with antidepressants but the support team member of the company assured me it was ok . Any thoughts?

 

 

 

[ChessieCat]

If SA knew of any supplements which would help us to get off psychiatric drugs we would be shouting it from the rooftops and this site would not be needed.

 

I think you might be talking about one of the ones mentioned here:

 

dont-waste-your-money-on-truehope-the-road-back-point-of-return-label-me-sane-hardy-nutritionals

 

When trying anything new SA suggests only trying one thing at a time (ie not a complex) and start with a small amount to see how you react.  And only make one change at a time, so you would not make a dose change of your AD and try a new supplement.

 

The only supplements which SA does recommend are magnesium and omega 3.

 

the-rule-of-3kis-keep-it-simple-keep-it-slow-keep-it-stable

 

important-topics-about-tests-supplements-treatments-diet

 

[ChessieCat]

Magnesium

Omega-3 Fish Oil

[Mattie]

You hit the nail on the head and that’s what supplements I bought and took today and I felt horrible all day and more depressed, and didn’t get a tiny window yet, I’ve been extremely sleepy all late afternoon and very nervous. They have you take 2 multi and 4 aminos and that’s just to start 

[ChessieCat]

There are many existing topics on SA.  I suggest in future that you do a search before trying anything new.

 

B vitamins can be activating, especially B6.

 

b-vitamins-or-b-vitamin-complex

[ChessieCat]

Q:  Where did you get them from?  If it is one of the ones mentioned, please post about your experience in that topic so that other members can be more informed.  Thank you.

[ChessieCat]

Or if it is a different company, please post and state which one it is.

[Mattie]

It’s the company that was mentioned, I’ll have to familiarize myself with all the info on SA , could have saved me some money cause they are expensive. Oh well live and learn, if something seems too good to be true…..

[Mattie]

I’m in a panic!! I accidentally doubled my dose last night!! Will this hurt me and set me back? How could I have been so careless ugggh!!😭

[Mattie]

When you take so many antidepressants in a short period of time as I have, are the withdrawals from the current medication you are tapering off of or all the antidepressants you’ve taken in the last couple years?

[Mattie]

Sorry for all the questions but I feel you good people are all I have to hold on to my sanity, I forgot to mention I tried HRT for 19 days and I think it was making me feel worse so I got off of them, could that short duration on them be also why my withdrawals are so bad? I’m 101 days and can’t seem to stabilize even a bit. My last drop I would have bad days and a bit better days but this go around I feel no relief until around 7pm , I’m only existing