Ashton1226: Symptoms

[Ashton1226]

Hey there, 

I’m 25 (F) been on antidepressants since 2016 and have been on Desvenlafaxine ER succinate 50mg for a few months then 25 mg for 2-3 years and stopped the first week of April after tapering for 2 weeks. I felt good and clear at first and now I have been anxious and feeling  weird and am pretty sure I am having withdrawls or PAWS. Has anyone else experienced this from this medication? 

[Altostrata]

Welcome, @Ashton1226

 

What are your current symptoms that you attribute to withdrawal?

 

If you search for "Cymbalta" or "duloxetine" in the Introductions forum, you will see Introduction topics from our members who have tapered or come off your drug. There's also a Facebook group, Cymbalta Hurts Worse, with 32,600 members.

 

Also see 

 

 

[Ashton1226]

I actually was taking Desvenlafaxine (generic prestiq) not cymbalta, I know they’re easy to get confused. and heat intolerance, mood swings, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, racing heart, headaches, tense muscles and feeling detached. 

[ChessieCat]

Hi Ashton and welcome to SA,

 

Unfortunately it would appear that Alto might have got mixed up.  The site is very busy and it has happened to me occasionally when responding to members.

 

If you have only been off desvenlafaxine for ~2 months then it might be possible for you to reinstate a very small dose to help with the withdrawal symptoms.  Please note that I said "very small dose".  It is better to start with a small amount and increase by small increments than to risk taking too much.  This is because there is no way to know how much adaptation the brain has made during the time you have been off the drug.

 

I will give you some information to read and please let us know if you would like to try reinstatement and we can suggest a dose for you to try.

 

Do you still have some tablets left?  You will need to be able to accurately measure your dose.  Or the other option is to change to Effexor/venlafaxine (this is a related drug - see Post #1 in the tips topic) which has forms of the drug which are easier to get the dose you need.  I will give you the information about it so you can do your own research.

 

Dr Joseph Glenmullen's WD Symptoms Checklist

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms

 

This topic explains how to get non standard doses - please read Post #1 of these topics:

 

Tips for tapering off desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)

 

Tips for tapering off venlafaxine (Effexor)

 

[Ashton1226]

Yes that’s okay! I do have tablets left but I was on lowest dose of 25 mg and have made some progress since stopping. They told me they don’t have a smaller dose or liquid so my Dr has just recommended Prozac to help taper off. What are your thoughts on that? 

[ChessieCat]

I have already provided the following which gives information about how to get small doses of a drug.  I tapered Pristiq by getting my tablets compounded.  Another member cut up her tablets and weighed them to taper.  Towards the end I used the contents of a capsule to make a liquid and managed to get my dose as low as 0.0025mg.  You cannot make liquid from a whole tablet or tablet pieces because it stays lumpy.  The tablet needs to be crushed to a very fine powder.  Please read the first post of each topic:

 

20 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

This topic explains how to get non standard doses - please read Post #1 of these topics:

 

Tips for tapering off desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)

 

Tips for tapering off venlafaxine (Effexor)

 

Prozac bridging / switching / cross taper may or may not work.  Pristiq is an SNRI where as Prozac is an SSRI.  See Post #1 of this topic:

 

the-prozac-switch-or-bridging-with-fluoxetine

[Altostrata]

Sorry, I misread. 

 

Withdrawal symptoms from desvenlafaxine are common, too, @Ashton1226 It's difficult to taper because it does not come in strengths lower than 25mg. Have you ever taken venlafaxine (Effexor)? If you did, what effect did it have on you?

 

To help us out, follow these instructions Please summarize your drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.

[Ashton1226]

Can the Extended Release be compounded? I have been trying Prozac 10 mg for a couple days and it’s helped some. 

[ChessieCat]

13 minutes ago, Ashton1226 said:

Can the Extended Release be compounded?

 

If you are referring to desvenlafaxine / Pristiq, then yes, they can be compounded BUT you need to divide your dose and take it twice a day.  I also found that I could use the powder from inside the compounded capsules to make a liquid when my dose got very low.; you cannot make a liquid from the tablets (unless they are crushed to very fine powder).  That is how I tapered off Pristiq.  There is a lot of information about it in this topic:

 

Tips for tapering off desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)

 

If you are referring to venlafaxine / Effexor, see post #1 of this topic about how to get non standard doses:

 

Tips for tapering off venlafaxine (Effexor)

 

Post #1 of this topic explains how to get non standard doses of Prozac:

 

Tips for tapering off fluoxetine (Prozac)

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by ChessieCat

[Ashton1226]

Yes I am referring to the Desvenlafaxine but it says not to cut the tablet and I guess I’m just confused how it’s done bc I asked a pharmacy and they told me 25 mg was the lowest which is what I was on. 

[Altostrata]

Sorry, no more discussion until you follow these instructions Please summarize your drug and withdrawal history in your signature  We need this information to answer your questions.

[Ashton1226]

Okay done. 

[ChessieCat]

58 minutes ago, Ashton1226 said:

Yes I am referring to the Desvenlafaxine but it says not to cut the tablet and I guess I’m just confused how it’s done

 

The information about this was provided previously:

 

On 6/11/2022 at 1:25 PM, ChessieCat said:

This topic explains how to get non standard doses - please read Post #1 of these topics:

 

Tips for tapering off desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)

 

[Altostrata]

What effects are you feeling from 10mg Prozac?

[Ashton1226]

I feel a little more energy and not as anxious but before I started taking it I was having bad thoughts and they aren’t getting much better. 

[Altostrata]

How has it affected your sleep? It will take 2 weeks for fluoxetine's effect to build.

[Ashton1226]

I was just told that if it was for withdrawal it would only take a few days to feel better. Or maybe I misunderstood because I want to be able to taper off everything. 

[Altostrata]

Most likely, you were misinformed. The reason this site exists is because doctors know so little about withdrawal.

[Ashton1226]

Yes truly they do. 

[Ashton1226]

Should it be helping a lot by a week in? I feel some improvement but not enough. 

[ChessieCat]

Prozac has a very long half life and it can take 2 weeks for it to build up in the body and a bit longer it to register in the brain.

 

See the following:

  

On 7/3/2011 at 4:11 AM, Altostrata said:

Prozac has the longest half-life of any SSRI. After you take it for a few days, half-life is about 16 days. Fluoxetine itself has a half-life of 2-4 days, but as it is processed, your body creates an active antidepressant metabolite, norfluoxetine, which has a half-life of 7-15 days. So Prozac keeps on extending its half-life as it is metabolized.

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoxetine , fluoxetine and norfluoxetine inhibit each other's metabolism, extending the half-life of the drug. Because the half-lives are so long, the full effect of Prozac on the brain may not be felt for several weeks.

fluoxetine (1-6 days) ---> norfluoxetine (up to 16 days) ---> other metabolites

 

[Altostrata]

@Ashton1226 how has your symptom pattern changed?

[Ashton1226]

I still wake up anxious but it gets better throughout the day. I am not loving the way the Prozac is making me feel. Sort of numb and emotionless. I forgot to mention I was feeling anxious before stopping my prestiq but I had Covid in January. I just don’t know if it stopped working all of a sudden and this is just baseline anxiety? But I never felt like this prior to antidepressants which I’m pretty sure I never even needed.

[Ashton1226]

Could it be that I was having withdrawals because it stopped working ?

[Altostrata]

No, "numb" is a very common effect of antidepressants. Prozac increases in effect over a couple of weeks. 10mg may be too much for you, you may not need 10mg, you may wish to take 5mg instead of 10mg.

[Ashton1226]

What are your thoughts on me having anxiousness before stopping prestiq ?

[Altostrata]

I have no idea why you might have been anxious in 2018. It might have been an adverse effect of Pristiq or something else.

[Ashton1226]

Prozac Bridge

 

I just tried Prozac for a week to bridge off of prestiq but stopped due to bad side effects. Can I feel numb emotionally from that? 

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by ChessieCat
added topic title before merging with intro topic

[ChessieCat]

Yes that can happen and is not uncommon.

[Ashton1226]

Does it last long? I only took for 7 days.

[ChessieCat]

Nobody can predict how long it will take to recover.  When it comes to taking and go off psychiatric drugs, we are all an experiment where N=1.  There may be some similarities with other people, but there are usually a lot of differences too, so it is not like comparing apples with apples.

 

You might have only taken the Prozac for 7 days, however you have a history of taking and going off other psychiatric drugs.  The effect is cumulative.  We have SA members who have gone on/off drugs and up/down in dose multiple times with no issues and then one day they do the same thing but it doesn't work the same way as it did before.

 

And you also did an (almost) cold turkey back in April which isn't very long ago.

 

Recovery happens in a "windows and waves" pattern.

 

the-windows-and-waves-pattern-of-stabilization

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

The following is from:  What is Happening in Your Brain

 

On 12/27/2015 at 6:37 AM, Altostrata said:

Basically- you have a building where the MAJOR steel structures are [...] to be rebuilt at different times - ALL while people are coming and going in the building and attempting to work.

It would be like if the World Trade Center Towers hadn't completely fallen - but had crumbled inside in different places.. Imagine if you were [...] to rebuild the tower - WHILE people were coming and going and [...] to work in the building!  You'd have to set up a temporary elevator - but when you needed to fix part of that area, you'd have to tear down that elevator and set up a temporary elevator somewhere else. And so on. You'd have to build, work around, then tear down, then build again, then work around, then build... ALL while people are coming and going, ALL while the furniture is being replaced, ALL while the walls are getting repainted... ALL while [...] is going on INSIDE the building. No doubt it would be chaotic. That is EXACTLY what is happening with windows and waves.  The windows are where the body has "got it right" for a day or so - but then the building shifts and the brain works on something else - and it's chaos again while another temporary pathway is set up to reroute function until repairs are made. 

 

 

[Altostrata]

How did you do the Prozac bridge? What effect did Prozac have on you?

[Ashton1226]

It’s been almost a week still feel emotionless and have been having bad thoughts. 

[Ashton1226]

I wasn’t feeling great before starting Prozac and but after taking it I feel worse. I just wonder if anyone else has experienced this while in wd trying to bridge and it backfires severely or is this just depression? I don’t feel super depressed though. 

[Altostrata]

On 6/20/2022 at 4:15 PM, Altostrata said:

No, "numb" is a very common effect of antidepressants. Prozac increases in effect over a couple of weeks. 10mg may be too much for you, you may not need 10mg, you may wish to take 5mg instead of 10mg.

 

[Ashton1226]

So I basically cold turkeyed my prestiq 25 mg in April. The past few weeks or so  I’ve been so exausted and when I sleep I sleep HARD. Some days I wake up feeling decent but Every single day I have the same thoughts such as “I’m never going to be the same again” or “what’s the point in life” and today has been awful and with feeling exausted I can barely keep my eyes open and I’ve been having scary and bad thoughts. I literally am terrified that I’m going to lose control and think about hurting myself. Does anyone have advice or going through anything similar. I feel so alone even though my family is supportive they don’t understand.