GreenCup Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 I've been actively tapering klonopin for over a year now. I have been taking benzodiazepines for the last 26 years...yeah. About five years ago, I tried zoloft. It was amazing, and it helped my anxiety a lot. It helped it so much, that I realized how little tranquilizers were doing for me. Well, I switched because of side effect and for the last year I have been taking Pristiq, with pretty good effects. Last week, I took some migraine medication, called maxalt, and basically caused a mild seretonin syndrome. I stopped the pristiq for a day and my seretonin syndrome symptoms went away, but a whole new bunch of stuff started, which I realized was pristiq withdrawal. I didn't really want to come off the pristiq until I was done getting off the klonopin, but this is how it is going down now. So I've been breaking my pristiq pill up with a pill cutter into fourths, and I now take 1/4th a pill 3X a day. I feel better when I have just taken a dosage and dizziness, nausea, and a loss of balance are my biggest symptoms to date of pristiq withdrawal. I'm really only five days in, so I'm not sure how much worse this may get. Klonopin 26 years. 2.5mg/day most years. Down to .25mg/day and holding in Nov 2016. add Zoloft 50mg/day 2013 switch to Wellbutrin 100mg/day 2015 switch to Pristiq 50mg/day Jan 2016 Nov. 8 - cut to 37.5 mg split pill up into 4ths, taking three doses spread out in the day, morning, noon and night. Was tapering klonopin, now holding that, and tapering pristiq. Dec 5 25mg Pristiq, holding klonopin @ .25mg/day for duration of P-taper Dec 31 cut to 12.5mg Pristiq - just in the morning. Almost done with Pristiq!!! /holding k @ .25mg/day taken at night. Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus scallywag Posted November 12, 2016 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted November 12, 2016 GreenCup -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA) Thank you for posting an intro and for creating a signature. Have you included in your signature all medications you take for any reason -- prescription, over-the-counter, and/or street drugs? In your signature you say that you were taking 50 mg/day. If you are now taking ¾ of that, your current dose is 37.5 mg not 0.375 mg. Would you edit the minor typo in your signature? On what day (date) did you miss the dose that set off or worsened withdrawal symptoms? It will help us guide you to the best information or to make better suggestions for you to consider if you keep a log of your symptoms and doses. At this link is a post that details a useful format for such a log: Take notes of doses and symptoms The information in these topics are relevant to your situation:Before you begin tapering -- what you need to knowWhy taper by 10% of my dosage?Tips for tapering off Pristiq (desvenlafaxine) You've discovered that you are highly sensitive to missing a dose, which isn't surprising for someone who is tapering another neuro-psycho-active med such as Klonopin.Please don't taper the Klonopin and Pristiq simultaneously. That way dragons lie. I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us. This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to 0.0 mg Aug. 12; details here scallywag's IntroductionOnline spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet Link to comment
nz11 Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Greencup are you able to do an update...its been quite some time. Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing. http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651 Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you Recovering paxil addict None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped." Dr Mosher. Me too! Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015 I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015 Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017 Link to comment
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