uusoae: deciding what to do

[uusoae]

Hi, SA. Long time lurker jumping in. As it says in signature, I'm still at a very high dose of prisitq and a more reasonable one of seroquel. I don't want to be, but there you go. I don't know if or when I'll get off them, because I'm 21 and juggling studying full time with having a messy head. But I thought I would say hi, because there's no harm in it. 

[Fresh]

Hi uusoae , welcome.  Glad you decided to introduce yourself .

 

I'm in Sydney too , also tapering pristiq.  If and when you're ready to start tapering , you'll get all the help you need here.

We have lots of useful information for tapering pristiq on the thread in the Tapering section.

 

What seems to happen is that after a few years ( or 5 , or 10 )  , the meds. "poop out" or stop working , and most doctors tend to increase doses and add more meds at that point.  I see from your signature that's already happened to you . . . double the pristiq , add seroquel  , increase the pristiq some more.

 

So having the whole of your life ahead of you , you'd be better to abandon the meds, before they abandon you.

 

Anyhow , good to have you on board ,  best wishes ,  Fresh

 

If you click FOLLOW at the top right , you'll receive an email each time someone posts.

[ChessieCat]

Hi uusoae,

 

Welcome from another Pristiq taperer, also in the Sydney area, so G'day Mate.  This site is full of really good information and the members are very supportive and the volunteer staff are very knowledgeable.  It's really great that you have found SA and you are welcome to ask any questions you have here in your Intro/Update thread and also to use it to journal your progress.

 

The best way to search this site is to use a search engine and type in survivingantidepressants.org + the topic you are looking for.  Eg survivingantidepressants.org poop out

 

It's a good idea to learn coping techniques.  Here are a few links you might want to check out:

 

Audio:  How to Recover from Anxiety - Dr Claire Weekes
 

Resources:  Centre for Clinical Interventions (PDF modules that you can work through, eg:  Depression, Distress Intolerance, Health Anxiety, Low Self-Esteem, Panic Attacks, Perfectionism, Procrastination, Social Anxiety, Worrying)

 

Audio:  First Aid for Panic (4 minutes)
 

CBT Course:  An Introductory Self-Help Course in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

 

Anyway, I am pleased you finally got around to joining up and introducing yourself.  It's nice to meet you.

[uusoae]

Hi all, back again. 

 

Since making this topic I've what's probably been the best year of my life since childhood. My mood got to a really good place and I was able to (successfully) study full-time and pick up a part time job (which unfortunately ended as we were culled in the new financial year - that's govt work I guess), and I now live in the most beautiful suburb in Sydney with my best friend. All these things considered, I've decided that it's time to go off the pristiq.

 

I saw my gp today so I'm going to get a blood test for thyroid, liver and kidney function as well as iron levels (have been deficient in the past) and when I bought up going off medication the first thing she said was to go slow! So it looks like she'll be supportive and said I obviously know my stuff. The plan will be to do the 10% taper starting when uni ends (my last day is the 23rd of November) and try to do all my tapering in uni holidays so I have the greatest chance of undisrupted semesters. I was gonna go the pill cutting route for now and then when I get to lower doses (the 50mg range, say) switch to either compounded capsules or velafaxine to taper slower. 

 

Wrt tapering - I've read all the important articles on the site and lurked a good number of threads so I feel pretty ready to go for it.

 

Lastly, an introduction of me: I'm studying to be a primary school teacher, I love reading and writing, I'm passionate about alternative education (Montessori, Reggio Emilia, democratic), I recently bought a loom and wove my first scarf, and I'm planning to start a little container garden on our balcony. I love mysteries and feminism. It's nice to meet you all.

[uusoae]

So since the 2nd of december I've been taking roughly 137.5 mg of pristiq by cutting my 50 mg tablet and taking as close to 3/4 as I can get (it tends to crumble into several fragments). No changes at all yet. 

[scallywag]

No changes after 5 days is good news. Hope your CNS continues to respond well, i.e. not at all, to the dose decrease.

[uusoae]

No changes after 5 days is good news. Hope your CNS continues to respond well, i.e. not at all, to the dose decrease.

 

thanks, scallywag. I think I have pretty good chances of things going ok - planning on doing 10%/month, and I also have the advantage of being in a really good place where I can focus on tapering (as opposed to a lot of members who are tapering with intolerable side effects).

[uusoae]

Still no changes so i will drop down to 125mg in the new year. My reduction as well as this one is actually by less than 10% so i feel comfortable dropping after a month rather than the recommended 6 weeks. I also recently got confirmation that i have a job that week start in mid January so we'll see how it goes.

[uusoae]

Now at 125mg with no noticible changes.

[scallywag]

Great news, uusoae. Thanks for posting. Wishing you the best of luck with your new job.

[uusoae]

I've been feeling sh*tty/low for the last few days, which is either from dropping pristiq, or from my girlfriend and housemate both going back to work and resulting loneliness. Maybe both, we shall see. Staying at 125mg and starting work next week.

[KarenB]

Good idea to hold until things stabilise a bit, esp with work starting soon.  Hormones and periods can also interfere with w/d.  I find day 14 slightly more problematic, and also when I have PMS .  Noticing patterns can help you get through things, cause then you know it'll be easing again soon.

[uusoae]

A bit of a tricky update to make:

 

On monday (30/1) my girlfriend of a year and half broke up with me. Obviously I'm still young and we hadn't been together long in the grand scheme of things but it was still hard. With this in mind, I've stayed at 125mg rather than dropping to 112.5mg in february as I first planned.

 

I've had a tough couple of weeks flat out at my new job; at first I was told that only the first week was 35 hours (3-10pm every evening) but that extended to the first two weeks after training ("consolidation"). My new office is an half an hour away without traffic, so that's taken getting used to. The job itself is ok; I was initially very unsure of myself as a lot of the people in my training group are rehires and already knew the content, so I felt like I was performing below everyone else, learning slowly and asking more (and sillier) questions than the others. However, the other day my team leader recognised me by nominating me for an R&R award and said I was very good at my job, so I feel a lot better about that. My first pay day was the other day, so that was good too.

 

The only symptom/side effect to report so far took me a while to figure out: in the second week of January I started getting this awful gnawing stomach pain, which after a few days I realised was hunger! I stopped feeling physical hunger in 2014 when I started pristiq, and have adapted since then to using other cues to know when I'm hungry - namely feeling empty and feeling lightheaded, plus getting into a better routine. After I realised it was hunger, I tried eating to make it go away, but that only worked to a limited extent - like my body was also getting used to this new, weird feeling, and also like it was getting payback for 3 years without it. That settled down, luckily, so now my stomach only feels hungry when I need to eat.

[KarenB]

Sorry to hear of your break-up Uusoae, and on top of all the other stuff too.  You've done well to get yourself through all that.  Good decision to hold till things are a bit more settled.  Deciding to hold has probably also made it easier for you to adjust to your hunger signals without extra complications.  How's the hormones? 

[uusoae]

On wednesday (15/2) I made the drop to 112.5mg, just so I have a little while to stabilise before uni starts on the 27th. A few days later the gnawing hunger was back (worst when I wake up), along with increased libido - two things suppressed by pristiq. Still, it's good to see things following a pattern; I don't want to refer to them as symptoms because they're more like my body readjusting. I've been feeling pretty run down from working late and I've been sleeping late too, but that should improve when my hours change when uni starts. Plus, the money is nice. The thing I need to start thinking about now is how to continue dropping below 100mg - I haven't had any negative side effects from cutting the tablets, so I don't thing I'll go the compounding route for now - maybe a jewelry scale? We'll see.

[uusoae]

Since the 10th of April I've been at 100mg, with no noticeable difference. Things have been a bit chaotic in my home situation but I've been fine overall. Medically, I'm currently looking into diagnosis for a connective tissue disorder. I went to see my GP but she was booked out, so I saw a other who was nice but recommended alternating 100mg and 50mg doses as my next drop, and then seemed incredulous when I said that would be terrible - apparently she's had "several" patients do it with exactly the same medication!! She then gave me a script for 100s; on reflection I should have gotten one for 50x2, but oh well.

 

I've also decided to start seeing a psychologist if I can, as the main thing I struggle with in my life is finding motivation. I saw a rheumatologist recently, who then referred me to a physio and a geneticist - scary, but at least I'm being taken seriously, rather than being brushed off as a hypochondriac as many others with the condition I suspect I have are. Will update as needed.

[uusoae]

Hello, it's been a while. I should start by saying my girlfriend and I got back together at the end of February and celebrated our 2 year anniversary in September. Life has been busy and I put tapering on the backburner for a while and held at 100mg. On 3/10/17 (October), I dropped to 87.5 mg (1 + 3/4), then again on 17/10 to 75 mg (1 + 1/2) and today 14/11 to 62.5 mg (1 + 1/4). I've had no noticeable symptoms or changes in mood. Hopefully this summer I will either get compounded capsules to go below 50mg, or cross-taper to Effexor.

[uusoae]

This past week I went down to 50mg!! The most recent part of my taper, from 100mg to 50mg, has been smooth and with no noticeable changes. I think this has partially to do with the fact that below 100mg pristiq is only an SSRI, and doesn't impact N reuptake. I found the most benefit from pristiq above 100mg and SSRIs do nothing for me, so it's clear that norepinephrine is an important part of my brain balance. For now I'm going to hold at 50mg and decide what to do next in the new year.