this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2024
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SNRI withdrawal is fucked up. My heart feels like it's jumping in my throat and ticking erratically and my body feels tingly and wrong af.
Don't accidentally (or intentionally) cold-turkey antidepressants; No Bueno!
You have my commiserations, I was okay when I went off escitalopram, fluoxetine and sertraline but desvenlafaxine (Pristiq) was FUCKED - there was no tapering available and I have never felt so out of control of my body. I swear it felt like I was a robot undergoing a botched factory reset
Wait wot? I'm on Pristiq and I didn't know there wasn't an option to taper ๐ญ I was literally going to talk to my doc about coming off them so therapy is a bit more effective (i believe it is masking my emotions and feelings, makes them easier to ignore, but harder to identify and deal with effectively).
If there's no taper available, I think I should do it soon, before I start study or work again if that's the case. I'm on the 100mg dose too, good lord.
You described it well! I describe it to my partner as being full of electricity, I get all tingly, slow to react, brain fog and zaps. Weird aches and shooting pains. And this heart thing that happens. Good grief!! Thank you for this! I had no idea!
Oh I should've clarified I meant tapering from the lowest dose tablet. Basically you can't cut Pristiq tablets in half as it'll disable the extended release mechanism, which means the half-tablet will now enter your bloodstream more rapidly than intended which has its own side effects.
So you don't need to go from 100 to 0 in one hit, but it's still 100 -> 50 -> 0 with no in between. The 50 -> 0 is a fuck so I strongly recommend doing it before you have other commitments. I did it in the middle of a major work fuckup and IT WAS REALLY NOT GOOD, I mean bursting into tears spontaneously and shaking and brain zaps every few minutes and feeling like arse squared. In hindsight I should've taken medical leave
Good luck - I know exactly what you mean about the masking, anti depressants certainly are useful for some stability but they really can be difficult to work with in addressing the deeper stuff for real. I'm on adhd meds now and they have been much better for me, but the burnout when they wear off in the morning is rough and I still distinctly feel like I'm on something rather than being myself, and I don't know if I want to be like this forever....
Phew thats a relief, not so awful as my initial assumption! I know not to halve the tablets but I didnt know why, so yeah I'll defo get my doc involved.
Pwoah! That time at work must have sucked major balls, holy shit. I don't think I would have survived. Your willpower is amazing!
I don't want to be on meds for the rest of my life, if I can help it. I'll try and get it out of the way before I do anything else for sure. I wasnt great this weekend, I won't be great coming off haha. I appreciate you taking the time to help me with this, you've given me confidence and reassurance. Thank you! ๐
You got this! I had to stick it out at work because of my visa situation, it was a matter of survival. It did break something in me though (I chalk that up to being socially isolated and having an unsupportive work environment, not necessarily the meds themselves). Knowing what I do now I'd be more careful around commitments when tapering off psych meds.
When coming off Pristiq my GP had me do 2 days cold turkey before getting onto Prozac (fluoxetine) to tide me over until I could see a psychiatrist. So at least it wasn't days and days of agony.
Oh you poor thing. Yeah I have enough trouble when I miss an SSRI. Be gentle with yourself
Thank you for this, I'm trying. Cried a lot, laughed too which turned into more crying lol.
Brains, man, so complex