monpar: Introduction and seeking help and advice for possibly withdrawal

[monpar]

Hi, I’m new here and this is my first post after going through hellish symptoms. 
 

This is my medication history:

 

Prozac - 2016 (sorry don’t remember dosage or exact time) 
Lexapro - 2017 (sorry don’t remember dosage or exact time)
Pristiq - 50 mg daily -2019
Pristiq - 100 mg daily -early 2020
Pristiq - 125 mg daily + Mirtazapine- 30 mg daily - August 2020

Recent history: 
Mirtazapine - 45 mg daily -increased in late Feb 2022
Pristiq - weaned off in clinic over a period of 2 weeks late Feb to early Mar 2022
Cymbalta - 30 mg daily for three days then 60 mg daily for three days In early Mar 2022
- discontinued after telling psychiatrist about it making me feel like I’m on speed 

-1 mg of lorazepam few times a day while at clinic

-1.25 mg of diazepam twice while at clinic 

Current:
Mirtazapine -45 mg daily
Reinstatement of Pristiq- 50 mg daily 

 

I’ve been feeling off since having covid in January 2022. Brain fog, fatigue and mental health deterioration didn’t subside a month after the illness. 
 

I have diagnosed depression and anxiety. My psychiatrist, whom I’ve been seeing as an outpatient on and off for the last two/three years has kept increasing my dose of pristiq and then added Mirtazapine when I’ve been in a difficult mental health spell. 
 

recently because I reacted so badly to cymbalta (felt like being on speed), I advocated strongly to get discharged after being at clinic for 2 weeks (was volunteer patient at mental health private clinic), and I told psychiatrist I’m stopping cymbalta. She told me to go off it cold turkey as I was only on it for 6 days. 
 

Since I’ve been back home, from Friday 11 March, my mental health has been on a steady and horrific decline. I have had terrible anxiety, constant weight and knot in my chest, can’t follow conversations, heart rate was 120 bpm at rest on cymbalta, hasn’t declined since I got off from it. 
 

Every day feels like an eternity. My partner, bless his soul is an amazing support but is reaching the point where my anxiety is so bad, nothing is helping, and he has to return to work tomorrow. 
 

I’ve already taken a month+3 weeks off from work this year due to first covid, then this. I’m supposed to return to work next week and I’m barely holding on to staying sane. 

I got desperate yesterday and went to a random gp to represcribe me with 50 mg of pristiq and he added 20 mg propranolol (beta blocker) for me to take for accelerated heart rate. 
 

I’m in an emergency department at the moment because I didn’t know how else to get help. I was getting so desperate and sick of being in this constant state of 100% stress. 
 

I purposefully didn’t get a prescription for anything else from the psychiatrist except for the Mirtazapine because I so strongly want to come off medication. 
 

I’m so scared right now. Is this what withdrawal is like? How long do I have to give the reinstatement of pristiq to work? Should I go on other meds? This feels like hell. Heart racing, I can’t sleep properly at night, feels like I'm wading through water 

 

please, I’m desperate. I’ve searched this forum thoroughly and have reached a point where I need specific advice. Please help me 

[monpar]

I’ve also been advised by emergency department to go back to the mental health clinic I was at. I really don’t want to. That psychiatrist is so drug heavy, I’m scared to death of being medicated beyond comprehension. Also I was getting triggered by patients there with a lot worse symptoms than me, they only had visiting hours for 2 hours a day and I wasn’t allowed to go out at all, even though I wasn’t suicidal when I voluntarily admitted myself there. But I don’t think at such short notice, I can get a bed at a different hospital and I also don’t know if being at a hospital would even help me

[Frogie]

@monpar

 

Welcome to SA. We are a volunteer site with members such as yourself tapering off antipsychotic drugs, or have tapered off of them and are in the healing stages.

 

This is your introduction page where you will receive information, ask questions and meet members going through what you are. We ask that each member only have one introduction page so we can keep everything in one place, so please do not start another page😊

 

First, can you please create a signature page. Thanks so much.

 

Instructions:  Withdrawal History Signature

 

From the sound of it, you have been put on and off a lot of medications in a short period of time. That destabilizes your CNS (central nervous system) and creates a lot of the symptoms you are experiencing.

 

Dr. Joseph Glenmullen's withdrawal symptom checklist

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms

 

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

Brain Remodelling

 

It looks like you were put back on a pretty heavy dosage of Pristiq. Unfortunately, most dr's don't know much about these medications and once you are on, they will think you'll need on them the rest of your life. I'm going to provide you with some links about the medications you are on currently, and what you have been on.

 

 

Tips for tapering off mirtazapine (Remeron)

 

 

Tips for tapering off desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)

 

Tips for tapering off duloxetine (Cymbalta)

 

At this point, I would stay on the Mirtazapine and a smaller dose of the Pristiq. I would try 1 mg to start off with. Wait about 4-7 days for it to reach stability. If you need to updose a little we can do that, but you are on a really high dose for just going back on at this time. Please don't take anymore Lorazepam or Diazepam since you only took a few doses.

 

How do you talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal?

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

The slowness of slow tapers

 

I wouldn't go back to the hospital or the facility unless you think it is a real emergency. All they will want to do is switch medications or add new one's and your CNS will be even more destabilized.

 

We don't suggest a lot of supplements on here because a lot of members are too sensitive to them. But we do suggest 2. You may want to try one in a small amount, wait a few days before trying the other.

 

Magnesium

Omega-3 Fish Oil

 

Please reach out to us with any questions you may have.

 

 

[monpar]

Hi, thanks for your response. Unfortunately, the only doses of pristiq in Australia I can find subsidised by Medicare is 50 mg or 100 mg. 
 

I used to break a 50 mg into half to take 100 mg+half of 50 mg (so 25 mg) daily before and that didn’t give me many adverse effects. 
 

At the moment I didn’t want to mess with the make of the medication and went on the lowest dosage I could find subsidised by Medicare, i.e., 50 mg. Been on this dose now for 2 days. 
 

I’ve been at the emergency department since yesterday, not sure if that’s making me feel a bit more capable but I’m feeling a little better and just really want to go home. 
 

I’ve tried calling around to a bunch of clinics for a different psychiatric opinion than the person who brought me to this state in the first place.  No one in Melbourne seems to be taking new patients and there is a minimum one month wait to see anyone. 

I’ve gone to see two different Gps over the last week. Other than get me a prescription for pristiq, they haven’t been of any use. 
 

I’m contemplating going back to the private clinic, only so my poor boyfriend doesn’t have to keep dealing with my sad state while he’s working and going through his own mental health challenges. 
 

spoke to my psychiatrist briefly today. Her response was that she’ll see how I do till Friday. She strongly believes me going back on pristiq is ‘useless’ while I feel like it’s the only thing that’s offered some relief over the last week. 
 

I’m doing a little better today. Other than awful tiredness, I’m not actively anxious to the point of seeing no respite.

 

I’ll see how I go over the next few days. Will keep this thread posted 

 

 

[monpar]

An update:

 

my withdrawal was so bad I went to a different gp today, someone whose clinic came highly recommended by multiple people around my neighbourhood. I was despairing of what else to do. GP wanted me to go higher on pristiq from the 50 mg I was on.

 

I strongly didn’t want to. I never want to go through this hell again. I mentioned to GP potentially using Prozac as a bridging drug. She wasn’t super keen on it but the only options left to me seemed like take an SSRI to calm myself down to stable levels, or increase the pristiq back. For some reason, instead of Prozac, GP gave me Zoloft, which I personally don’t know enough to argue about it. She also said to stop the pristiq 50 mg and to immediately go to the Zoloft. 
 

I took 25 mg of Zoloft today about 4 hours ago. Immediately felt a calming effect on my awful anxiety/withdrawal symptoms. Don’t know how much of that was placebo but it definitely has been working past few hours. 

 

I have a supply of some Valium which I’ll strongly try not to use. I haven’t taken my pristiq today. Been an hour since it was 24 hours ago that I last took pristiq. Can already feel a bit of headache coming on. I have no idea how the rest of the day/week/weeks is going to go. I just think pristiq is a hellish drug that I don’t want to touch with a 10 foot pole ever again. I’m done with SNRIs. 
 

GP also wants me to come off mirtazapine at some point once I’m more stable. I’ll see how I go on combination of Zoloft 25 mg + 45 mg mirtazapine for now. 
 

will be documenting my journey here. Wish me luck everyone! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[monpar]

Today’s update: 

 

Started feeling a headache yesterday after an hour of stopping Pristiq 50 mg. It was like a dull ache that continued throughout the night. Having paracetamol masked the ache but I could feel the sensation was there still under the mask, if that makes any sense? 
 

have been routinely waking up at 6 am everyday over the last week or so, with a sharp spike in anxiety. It was more manageable today somehow. 
 

have been very sleepy today, don’t really know why. None of my routine has changed from the last few days. Took 25 mg of Zoloft in the morning but the drowsiness was there even before I took the Zoloft today. 
 

have been feeling excessively drowsy over the last week or so, on and off. Comes in waves. Trying not to give in to it. Quit caffeine over the last week. Could be that causing the drowsiness. 
 

mood today is ok. Very neutral. Feels a little blunted compared to the awful anxiety a few days ago but honestly, I’ll take it. 
 

still on 25 mg of Zoloft in the morning and 45 mg of mirtazapine at night. 
 

forgot to include supplements and other medication I’m taking not related to mental health:

-ozempic injections 0.25 ml per week to help with weight loss (mirtazapine +lockdown and the pandemic made me gain 15 kg over last 2 years, not good). Ozempic seems to be helping keeping me from overeating or feeling too hungry 

 

-omega 3 supplement (been taking this for general brain health for years)

 

-mega b supplement 

-have a daily probiotic I bought recently, took it a few days but keep forgetting to take it further. Will try to keep it simple for now and not load up too much on supplements, given all the medication changes and shock to my system 

still feeling overall not super well. Could be all the shock to CNS, or continuing fatigue from having had omicron in January, when all my mental health downfalls started in the first place and led to the **** situation I’ve faced over the last few weeks. 
 

taking it one day at a time. Going for at least a few daily walks, some intermittent running (using an app called none2run, which alternates between running and walking over a span of 25 minutes), reaching out to existing friends to catch up with them, and reaching out to community groups to make new friends in the area so my partner can catch a break. 
 

Taking it one day at a time, one moment at a time. Currently on medical leave from work. Was lucky enough to get paid leave for last month. This month will definitely be unpaid. Trying to stick to a budget to not dip too much of my savings. 

thanks for reading!