Search the Community

Hey there, I'll try to make my intro a bit shorter but its still kind of long. Was put on Effexor 150 XR at age 15 due to anxiety and depression (my mother is narcissistic and I developed a lot of self hatred from it. Older brother is also bipolar and made my life hell). Took that med until I was 28 (13 years). Worked with a nurse practitioner (for psych meds specifically) who tapered me off over the course of 2.5 months (waaaay too fast) by taking the little beads out of the capsules. My meds pooped out and I didnt feel I needed them anymore. Did great for 3 months, then my anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks, followed by depression. Insomnia due to anxiety, no appetite, emotional shutdown. Was put back on 75 mg and then raised to 150mg again, but since I had seen how vibrant I was without these drugs, I hated being on them. After moving across the country I asked my new doctor to move me down to 75 mg. I felt less flat but the anxiety was bad. Moved back up to 112.5 mg, but felt "meh" about everything. Tried Pristiq 25 mg for 2 weeks and was moved to 50 mg. 5 weeks in I had a horrible reaction-- anxiety, depersonalization, sweating, diarrhea. I didnt feel real. I told my doctor to lower me. Tried 25mg for 6 weeks. Still had diarrhea and apathy at 25mg. Was moved to Zoloft 25 mg for 3 weeks. I told my doctor I wanted to stay at 25 mg zoloft because I didnt want to become an over-medicated zombie. She said 25 mg wasnt a high enough dose to treat me, and I trusted her more than myself so I increased. After 3 weeks was moved to 50 mg. After 3 days on 50 mg I started being really spacey, dizzy, feeling like I was in a dream. Had insomnia. I would feel better every day as the med wore off closer to my dosing time. Felt like I wasnt real and didnt care about anything. My doctor said to wait until 5 weeks to see if my symptoms improved. I said no and told her to lower me to 25 mg. Stomach was still so bad after the debacle with the Pristiq that I had dropped 17 lbs at this point and needed an endoscopy and a colonoscopy, where they found nothing was wrong. 1 week after reducing to 25 mg Zoloft my stomach started improving. It wasnt a slow taper, she just had me half my tablet. I've been on Zoloft (Sertraline) 25 mg for 18 days as of writing this. Throughout my journey I've been moved up and down doses of Effexor every 2-3 months, I got to experience effexor withdrawal and new side effects from the pristiq at the same time, and I got to experience pristiq withdrawal and zoloft side effects at the same time. I'm currently having headaches, dizziness, apathy, and some sexual issues. Stomach is better but not 100% yet. Have pressure in my head a lot of the time. It feels like my head has cotton in it. I'm in therapy finally dealing with my abandonment issues from my mother's narcissism. This whole thing has been a huge lesson in trusting myself. A big part of me is scared that I've ***** up my brain, and that the apathy wont ever go away. I feel like I've made a big mistake. My partner has said that over the past few weeks I seem more myself, but I don't see it at all. I've begun doing some more things I enjoy, but a lot of the time I'm not enjoying them very deeply. A lot of the time I just want to be left alone. I guess I just want some support, since I'm so scared. How did I even get here? I just wanted to be happy. tldr: couldnt handle 50mg Zoloft, currently on 25mg for 18 days. Brain is effectively a scrambled egg. Timeline: Effexor 150mg XR 13 years, came off over 2 months, 3 months off. "Relapse" and put back on 75 mg, then 50. Lowered back down to 75 for 2 months, then raised to 112.5 for 2 months. Pristiq 25mg for 2 weeks, then 50 mg for 5 weeks. Back to 25 mg for 6 weeks. Zoloft 25 mg for 3 weeks, then 50 mg for 5 weeks, now back to 25 mg for 18 days.

Hi everyone, I was recommended this website after asking for advice on reddit. I've been on citalopram variously doses for 11 years now tbh when I first started taking them If I knew the effects of coming off them was so bad I probably wouldn't have bothered. I attempted to come off them cold turkey in 2016 after my depression felt like it was under control now. Literally knew nothing about withdrawal and thought I may experience a few side effects for a few weeks and be fine... Doh! Initially had around 2 months of feeling euphoric and so happy and was like why was I on this drug for so long, then I crashed and became irritable, miserable, depressed, unmotivated and was told I needed my meds that's why so went back on them. Decided to come off them again recently, I halved my tablet to 5mg for 4 weeks then stopped thinking I was tapering off not actually understanding or knowing what tapering off meant until now! First 3 weeks I was okay no side effects. Then I got vertigo/dizziness which lasted around a week, I'm in week 5 and feel so odd, I've got really bad fatigue, low energy, struggling to sleep at night, feel sort of detached from myself and the world like I'm lost. No concentration, no motivation and time seems to just be disappearing on me a whole day will go by and feels like I've been up for an hour or two and done nothing. I'm irritable and teary, cry at anything. My brain just feels so dead. This is awful! After doing proper research not just what the docs tell you about 3 weeks you'll be fine etc but this can last for months even years? Why is this? Why is it so hard to come off these drugs and why are the withdrawal effects so adverse yet no doctor seems to know or warn you about this and tell you you're just having a relapse. I know I'm not depressed. But if I have to experience these effects and more to come no doubt for how long?? I will probably start to feel like I am again. Any advice on what more to expect or possibly how long this will take until I feel normal? Any advice on just dealing with fatigue and no motivation and all the other symptoms? I feel like this is a serious issue that more people should be made aware of before they're given these meds so easily.

Hey my name is Hammad I'm from Pakistan and im new to this community, I've read the rules and i find this community quite help ful , because all of this information is not given by our health professionals for some reason so most of us come to the internet to investigate. This discussion website is a very good way to share , get advice and get to know alot of stuff that we wouldn't know otherwise from somewhere else .

Hi Im new here, I took Wellbutrin for 6 months and I have severe symptoms that got worse over time which can't be explained by any doctor. Extreme fatigue, high bp, extreme dizziness and a feeling of being drunk, muscle twitches, nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, appetite loss, derealization and more. Got to the ER twice, did all the bloodwork, got checked by internists, did an EEG and even a MRT. They said I have GAD and its kinda true?but only since like 3-4 months around that time when I stopped. I took 300 then 150 (which didn't affect me that bad) for a couple of weeks and then went to zero. I told my psychiatrist and he said it isn't possible cause none of his patients in 20 years had wd cause if Wellbutrin for that long. Its been 15 weeks and Im anxious about taking it again cause here in austria we don't have the SR or IR versions - just the 150 and 300 XL (!). So I cant take like 75mg and try if it works .. either 150mg or none .. cause as far as I know you shouldn't cut the extended release tablets ... I really need advice ...

Good afternoon everyone! Well let me just start off with a little bit of my history and why I was initially prescribed these medications. Well im 35 now in my younger days around 15-21 I started experimenting heavy with marijuana and a few other light substances but not at all often, well me being a shy kid I don't know why but my heavy marijuana abuse really changed my personality I pretty much craved it like a person would crave a hard narcotic, in this process I became introverted awkward very unkept very hyper aroused. and I did tons of very very weird things under the influence! and of course I became that kid and young adult that was considered icky weird and sometimes scary on some of the embarrassing things I done which i totally understand. So after I became THC free I was still known as that awkward weird unclean guy and suffered a lot of teasing bullying because of it which made me very paranoid anxious socially scared to do anything. My family still bullies me to this day I lost all my friends and most close family members because of my actions as a young adult. and when I look back on the hurt and shame and embarrassment it makes me extremely sad angry anxious and depressed and up to this point these medications were given to me by many different psychiatrist to cure those symptoms. So fast forward 10 years later the Zyprexa Tripled my weight made me chronically fatigued and properly lots of other things I have not discovered yet, and as far as the Anafranil my psychiatrist who recently moved on to another practice agreed that I do not have OCD and she has no idea why it was prescribed in the first place and we discussed ending its use. So here is my theory on why I suffer from depression, anxiety, PTSD social phobias and why I was misdiagnosed over 15 years ago, I think i look back on my past actions that were very bad and extremely weird and I get very sad about the teasing in high school the bullying from family members the way my family pretty much disowned me because of my history of showing some signs of mental issues, also i think about the countless humiliating situations I have been apart of either by my actions or awkward things I would say but this is when I was very younger and using very heavy Marijuana once I stopped using I could see my actions and situations and get very hurt and traumatized by them. So as I sit here at 35 I can man up better and look at that past hurt and digest it better and accept it better which I think someone should have told me many years ago that I decided to use THC and it affected me different than many other users and i did some very embarrassing questionable things. So as of today I have stopped taking Zyprexa 5mg also Anafranil 25mg I always took my meds not as prescribed in my late 20's to the present, I would skip a dose for a day or two then take my dosage when I felt sad anxious or had trouble sleeping. I did a harsh taper of the zyprexa last month completely not by the book i would just take half a pill. but today I am 3 weeks in of no Zyprexa and I have terrible fatigue lethargy body aches I sleep all day constantly, I did experience flu-like symptoms a week ago which scared me because of COVID-19 outbreak then I realized this was a symptom of the withdrawal which has gone away. right now it's the tiredness, body aches, and the fatigue to the point I can barely get out of bed to do anything normal, how long will this last and what can I do to help ease this process along with any supplements or vitamins should I be taking ? Thank you for any words of advice and encouragement!

I was referred here by my therapist after voicing concerns when my general physician put my on venflaxine, the generic for effexor, about a month ago because of my anxiety. Due to my history with SSRIs (below), she wanted to put me on something different, and put me on this SNRI, and the effect was almost immediate. I am on cloud nine every day, have become more extroverted, more confident, happy about everything, full of love and excitement for the world. Honestly its was wonderful, it was like a weight was lifted from me, and suddenly I was free of the anxiety and depression that had been weighing me down for years. I am 21 years old, and I have been dealing with terrible mental health symptoms since I was 14, so having this relief felt like Heaven. But it isn't real. Its unsustainable. And I understand now that coming down from cloud nine is going to feel like Hell. I am on 37.5 mg two times a day, and one day I missed a dose, as happens sometimes, and everything became dark. There was no happiness in anything. Everything was terrible. The weirdest was that was like someone had stuffed cotton balls in my head, even for three days after I continued doses as normal. I was cautious starting this antidepressent, because I have had a bad history with them, and I hate the idea of becoming dependent on a drug. In the fall of 2017 a psychiatrist (who I no longer see after it was revealed he liked to experiment on his patients) started me on lexapro, and after about a month of really bad symptoms he weaned me off and got me on paroxitene. I never finished my perscription, and must have just quit taking them (don't really remember), but I remember having terrible paranoia/anxiety/weight gain while taking the drug. Now with venflaxine, I don't know why I started, but I want off before its too late. I am terrified. I am terrified of throwing myself back into the anxiety and depression that has plagued me for years, but I know I deserve to get better without this drug making me high. I am terrified of the withdrawal effects, because after missing a dose I am thrown off and basically out of commission (paranoid, cotton ball in head feeling, nothing seems to make sense) for days, and I am currently in school studying engineering, which requires I be on top of things every day. I don't know what to do, or how to escape this drug. I need advice. I am scared, because this drug has shifted my entire reality, and I know that shifting things back is going to be horrible. I need advice. How do I get myself off this drug, without completely sabotaging my life, before it is too late?

i am currently two weeks into withdrawing from Venlafaxine 225 mg ER and i am in excruciating pain. i am on prozac for the aid but it barely helps. I feel trapped by this, I can't work and my psych refuses to write a note excusing me due to this so i have lost my job. I am constantly out of it now and forget where i am frequently. I have horrible light sensitivity and can't stop sweating. I was a drug addict for several years and have gone through severe withdrawals from narcotics in rehab and this is very similar if not worse. My brain doesn't feel like mmine and I don't feel supported by the doctor who i should be able to trust. feeling very lost right now and need suggestions

Here I am, lost and Confused as usual... I was mean to the one I love and scared him away to sleep on the couch... how many more times will he be able to take my emotions? Luckily, we don't have a kid - but we do have a kitty. I am in love with my little family and the world is so harsh... I am not from here. I am from another province full of energy pillpoppers and alcoholism and cold-hearted humans. This province was opportunity to escape, and I needed it. Sometimes I get scared that I cannot escape my problems again and I want the pain to go away. I want to start over... all the time. I was too old to be adopted, but accepted into a family still. I was given a voice, but I used it to disagree. Surely I am an adult, and I should be treated like one. It is always money and no one else wants to be wrong when I'm around. I am kind. I am honest. I am an animal lover. I don't do drugs that aren't prescribed and I don't hurt anyone if I can help it. Why am I the easiest one to blame? I can take abuse, but never the emotional kind... please don't raise your voice or yell. My new mom was so quick to put me on drugs to mold me into her perfect doctor. Surely I gained weight when I moved out, because I stopped having constant meals and money was a problem. It was the first time I stopped consistently taking my drugs. No one ever told me how to take them properly, and I've yet to take them at the same time until recently. I'm unsure what to do with my iron pills, but they seem to be the only ones helping. Maybe there is a reason I bought Omega 3 Fish oils and vitamins. I am a pale-skin colour-sensitive woman with major PTSD from childhood trauma... I finally removed my mother from my life - but the other snakes slowly replace her. I was never checked up on as a child, I never knew what normal was. I was never anorexic but I don't remember eating because my mother told me we were both picky. I have terrible teeth, and I'm overweight. I cut all my hair off because I make impulsive decisions... but it's growing back healthier! Just not fast enough. I've lost another job. This is the first one that got rid of me. I called in sick in my probationary period, because I was withdrawing.... And I have no help.... I don't want to go to the doctor anymore. I was free of pills and almost maybe doing okay but Effexor found its way??? And I've never felt the pain of trying to quit until now.. Hot and colds and puking all over the floor... financial issues are a big thing and my man cannot do it alone but I have no money and we are slowly diminishing. I don't want to eat when there is food, just so it'll last a bit longer... I need help but everyone is so damn quick to put the pills back in my mouth and make sure they're swallowed. I am probably a hereditary bipolar... if I would have been helped I might have done better. I started smoking a bit more pot and it gave me the confidence I needed to do research and learn... sometimes I try too hard to put together pieces of puzzles I don't understand and I start to sound crazy to anyone looking to listen or judge... I'm on my period and I'm practically anemic, so the withdraws are definitely just the cherry on top aren't they? I do my best late at night... I forgot to take a pill to wean myself off of and it was so bad. The last few days I took 3 then took the risk of 2 but managed to take 1 and live... maybe I can handle the pains if I sleep more. I don't feel like I have a reason to live, so maybe sleeping will help me catch up. I'm hungry.... I didn't think I'd write this much... or anything at all. I am thankful for this forum... thankful so many can submit stories to compare. I was an ugly child, but I was somewhat smarter than most when it came to random things. I think the fact there were too many people in the room made it harder to learn. It's hard to be a tomboy and a partial nerd when the boys want to touch you. When did becoming promiscuous get so easy? If I could take it all back, I would have stayed smart... but there were too many distractions. I think the drugs helped me even hear better and that made them so easy to take. Maybe the absence of them will influence a loss in this extra 40 pounds I carry. Maybe all of my problems were unknown withdraws from each and every new miracle drug. I smoke my weed to help me remember... I know some may disagree - but I am already damaged and I only reap the benefits. The ability to feel hunger... I only feel it when I'm starving and it's too late. Where do I go from here? I've been checked into the psychward as an adolescent many moons ago... I'm in my 20s and I don't want to be stuck there, and without my little kitty. He purrs when I cry, and makes everything okay. I even considered joining the army because I didn't mind dying, but I could never survive the time away. I think I will be okay in time... I hope it doesn't get too hard. I haven't taken any specific pill consistently, so I'm unsure of what to compare - and the doctor doesn't even know what she's giving me anymore. Oh. You're hurting? There's a drug for that. Let me write you something. Sorry for the rant. Thanks for listening... Good vibes only, please. I used to be so quick to judge and assume people want to yell DEPRESSED because it's trendy... when the 20 something years of pain is something I'd never wish on my worst enemy... I know the difference now, and all I want to do is help people. My problem is all I do is help everyone else and I'm left to pick up my own pieces that I didn't know were missing in the process.

Here I am, lost and Confused as usual... I was mean to the one I love and scared him away to sleep on the couch... how many more times will he be able to take my emotions? Luckily, we don't have a kid - but we do have a kitty. I am in love with my little family and the world is so harsh... I am not from here. I am from another province full of energy pillpoppers and alcoholism and cold-hearted humans. This province was opportunity to escape, and I needed it. Sometimes I get scared that I cannot escape my problems again and I want the pain to go away. I want to start over... all the time. I was too old to be adopted, but accepted into a family still. I was given a voice, but I used it to disagree. Surely I am an adult, and I should be treated like one. It is always money and no one else wants to be wrong when I'm around. I am kind. I am honest. I am an animal lover. I don't do drugs that aren't prescribed and I don't hurt anyone if I can help it. Why am I the easiest one to blame? I can take abuse, but never the emotional kind... please don't raise your voice or yell. My new mom was so quick to put me on drugs to mold me into her perfect doctor. Surely I gained weight when I moved out, because I stopped having constant meals and money was a problem. It was the first time I stopped consistently taking my drugs. No one ever told me how to take them properly, and I've yet to take them at the same time until recently. I'm unsure what to do with my iron pills, but they seem to be the only ones helping. Maybe there is a reason I bought Omega 3 Fish oils and vitamins. I am a pale-skin colour-sensitive woman with major PTSD from childhood trauma... I finally removed my mother from my life - but the other snakes slowly replace her. I was never checked up on as a child, I never knew what normal was. I was never anorexic but I don't remember eating because my mother told me we were both picky. I have terrible teeth, and I'm overweight. I cut all my hair off because I make impulsive decisions... but it's growing back healthier! Just not fast enough. I've lost another job. This is the first one that got rid of me. I called in sick in my probationary period, because I was withdrawing.... And I have no help.... I don't want to go to the doctor anymore. I was free of pills and almost maybe doing okay but Effexor found its way??? And I've never felt the pain of trying to quit until now.. Hot and colds and puking all over the floor... financial issues are a big thing and my man cannot do it alone but I have no money and we are slowly diminishing. I don't want to eat when there is food, just so it'll last a bit longer... I need help but everyone is so damn quick to put the pills back in my mouth and make sure they're swallowed. I am probably a hereditary bipolar... if I would have been helped I might have done better. I started smoking a bit more pot and it gave me the confidence I needed to do research and learn... sometimes I try too hard to put together pieces of puzzles I don't understand and I start to sound crazy to anyone looking to listen or judge... I'm on my period and I'm practically anemic, so the withdraws are definitely just the cherry on top aren't they? I do my best late at night... I forgot to take a pill to wean myself off of and it was so bad. The last few days I took 3 then took the risk of 2 but managed to take 1 and live... maybe I can handle the pains if I sleep more. I don't feel like I have a reason to live, so maybe sleeping will help me catch up. I'm hungry.... I didn't think I'd write this much... or anything at all. I am thankful for this forum... thankful so many can submit stories to compare. I was an ugly child, but I was somewhat smarter than most when it came to random things. I think the fact there were too many people in the room made it harder to learn. It's hard to be a tomboy and a partial nerd when the boys want to touch you. When did becoming promiscuous get so easy? If I could take it all back, I would have stayed smart... but there were too many distractions. I think the drugs helped me even hear better and that made them so easy to take. Maybe the absence of them will influence a loss in this extra 40 pounds I carry. Maybe all of my problems were unknown withdraws from each and every new miracle drug. I smoke my weed to help me remember... I know some may disagree - but I am already damaged and I only reap the benefits. The ability to feel hunger... I only feel it when I'm starving and it's too late. Where do I go from here? I've been checked into the psychward as an adolescent many moons ago... I'm in my 20s and I don't want to be stuck there, and without my little kitty. He purrs when I cry, and makes everything okay. I even considered joining the army because I didn't mind dying, but I could never survive the time away. I think I will be okay in time... I hope it doesn't get too hard. I haven't taken any specific pill consistently, so I'm unsure of what to compare - and the doctor doesn't even know what she's giving me anymore. Oh. You're hurting? There's a drug for that. Let me write you something. Sorry for the rant. Thanks for listening... Good vibes only, please. I used to be so quick to judge and assume people want to yell DEPRESSED because it's trendy... when the 20 something years of pain is something I'd never wish on my worst enemy... I know the difference now, and all I want to do is help people. My problem is all I do is help everyone else and I'm left to pick up my own pieces that I didn't know were missing in the process.

I've never posted here before, but I'm pretty sure I've read through threads in the past. I was told by someone this may be a good place to get answers that I'm looking for. So I started taking 50 mg of Zoloft about 5 weeks ago for OCD. I had it a lot worse when I was younger and then around my senior year of high school it came back (the same thing happened to my father and it went away around after he graduated college). I'm now 21 and figured it was time to give SSRIs another shot even though I had bad experiences in the past. I wanted to be optimistic. Long story short after my 5th dose all hell broke loose, I started thinking completely irrationally, I had panic as if I was drowning or being attacked by a wild animal, except I was freaking out about ridiculous topics. I felt super unnatural and like the wires in my brain were being pulled apart. I decided to just stop cold turkey, and needless to say it has not been too pleasant. I continued to have stomach problems and where as I would have one or two panic attacks a year, I feel FAR more susceptible to them now. My doctors seems skeptical that Zoloft could still be having an effect on me, but all I can say is that I wasn't like this before I tried it. Is it really possible to have such a bad reaction on such a few doses? And can it really take some time to recover? I feel better than I did a month ago, but still not all the way yet. Any advice would be wonderful.

Hello All, This is my first post here. Firstly, thank you so much for the existence of this forum and support available which is severely lacking in mainstream health care services. I am currently trying to taper from Escitalopram / Lexapro as I feel that SSRI medications do not help me and cause additional problems to my existing anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia. In October 2014, I reduced my medication from 10mg to 5mg of Escitalopram / Lexapro as a result of not being able to get to my GP as a result of the severity of my agoraphobia and not being able to get a GP to do a home visit. I had limited medication remaining so figured the best course of action was to take some rather than be left with none. I have continued at 5mg since and my GP advises the usual method of tapering, which I consider to be far too rapid. I have requested liquid Escitalopram / Lexapro, which my GP advises is not necessary. I disagree as I have experienced prolonged withdrawal in the past (see my signature for details) I am willing to make my own liquid as per instructions here. My main concerns are, that since I reduced from 10mg - 5mg (50% decrease out of necessity not choice) I have been suffering from many side effects including severe fatigue, dizziness, mild depersonalisation and derealisation, lack of motivation, nightmares, insomnia, hypersomnia, anxiety, agitation, irritation, quick temper, feelings of hopelessness, skin rash, now subsided which I believed to be Keratosis Pilaris, confused thinking and speech and overall difficulty in functioning. I am usually a vibrant and positive person with lots of energy and creative thinking. I am finding it really distressing to wake up every day feeling the way that I do and wanted advice on whether my experience is normal and how to manage / overcome my symptoms naturally. I want me back and I am prepared to struggle and experience hardship on the road to get there as long as my struggles are in the right direction towards recovery. I would also be grateful for advice on whether to continue on 5mg or whether I have jeopardized my withdrawal by tapering by 50% initially? Should I reinstate my original dose of 10mg and taper by 10% to give me the best chance of successful withdrawal or continue as I am on 5mg? I appreciate that everyone here has their own struggles to battle, so all replies and advice / tips would be very gratefully received and welcomed. Thank you so much in advance. Wishing everyone here good health and success in their efforts. Tilly x

Hi, I'm a 22yo autistic woman with PTSD and possible bipolar disorder. I was put on Lamotrigine 100mg in 2014 in response to a "hypomanic" episode (unclear whether this was correctly diagnosed) whilst taking Venlafaxine and Mirtazapine (for severe depression). The psychiatrist I saw recently was concerned that Lamotrigine was causing cognitive side effects such as inability to remember words and told me to withdraw it by 50mg per week (i.e. take 50mg for a week, and then reduce to nothing). I reduced to 50mg on one Monday, had symptoms such as nausea, instability, dizziness, vomiting and mood swings which were pretty much as expected. The next Monday those symptoms had pretty much gone so I went ahead with reducing to 0mg as planned. Since then (5 days) I've been having more of the same, plus some escalations in my autism manifestation (shut downs/dissociation and sensory processing difficulties in particular) which is fairly standard when I'm ill or under stress. Basically I've now done online research, which I didn't do initially because reading online tends to be unnecessarily scary re discontinuation symptoms. However I'm feeling pretty grim and having now read stuff I'm thinking this was done way too quickly and I shouldn't have trusted the psychiatrist when he said to reduce by 50% a week (life lesson not to trust doctors I guess..). But now I've been off it for 5 days, I guess there's very little left in my system? So I'm not sure if I should reintroduce 25mg and then come off it more slowly or if at this point I'm better to just "grin and bear it". The discontinuation symptoms are getting better rather than worse, so perhaps the latter is the better option? I don't want to confuse my nervous system even more by coming off it then going back on it and then coming off it again..

Hi everybody! First post here. I have been on Pristiq for about 4 years. At first it was 50mg per day then a little less than 2 years ago I was increased to 100mg a day. (in there somewhere I was on klonopin for less than a year at the same time. quit that mess cold turkey with some pretty brutal withdrawals) 3-4 months ago I tapered myself down to 50mg a day. Last week my doctor advised me that I could start to ween off completely by taking half a pill every other day. This morning should have been my half a pill day but I didn't feel horrible and I am very excited to be off this medication so I didn't take it. I've got a tiny bit of dizziness but only when I'm moving around. No bad brain zaps yet. I am weepy though. Crying over weird things, remembering things from the past and crying over them, etc. I don't feel nearly as bad as I did when I stopped the klonopin so now I'm wondering- do I just not take anymore and let my body ride it out? Or am I kidding myself and by this time tomorrow I will be a complete mess of a human if I don't take my half a pill because my body hasnt caught up? Sorry if none of this makes sense. Thanks in advance for any insights.