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Mental Health Getting off Pristiq (desfenlafaxine.)

A

AnythingEverything

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Oct 17, 2014
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Ugh. It's one of the most awful drugs I've had to get off in awhile :(. Currently on 200mg a day for severe depression and bulimia (also have anxiety and borderline personality disorder in addition to being an addict.).

It really has stopped working very well and I have a script to start zyban again (bupropion, also prescribed as Wellbutrin in some countries but not here) to quit smoking as it's the only thing that has worked for me in the past and I like the anti depressant and other effects. In Australia you can only get it on pbs for three months out of every twelve but I now have a private script allowing me to get it for as long as I like although it will be $160 a month, that's what I spend a week on smokes (2-3 packs a day and I HATE it but can't quit any other way.). I quit 15 years ago when I fell pregnant and didn't look back until 12 months ago and now it's out of control.

So anyway, any tips for helping the withdrawal?! I'm trying to go slow but I need to get down to 50mg a day to start the zyban and Everytime I've tried it's been impossible and I've always gone back up:(. Any tips to help the nausea, sweats, head zaps, anxiety, vertigo, feeling faint, headaches and all the other awful discontinuation symptoms?? I'm desperate. I find it not dissimilar to benzo withdrawals.

Thanks!
 
maybe supplementing with nicotine

I found the e-cig to cut my smoking down by ten cigs from about 19 per day

not quite sure if that's relevant lol
 
Thanks. But I already smoke three packs a day! That's the reason I'm getting off the pristiq to get on zyban. I do own some e cigs:)
 
Dang, that's about 30 grams of tobacco, or over and ounce, per day! Plus paper! Might want to really think about your long-term health here. I don't even have the time in a day to smoke 60 cigarettes. Maybe ask about Remeron? What have you been on?
 
That's about 75 tailor makes a day. I hate it and that's the whole reason I'm starting on zyban (bupropion, sold as Wellbutrin in other countries) and needing to get off the pristiq before I start.

I quit smoking 15 years ago and didn't look back until 10-12 months ago and in true addict style, it's now out of control. Before this I was a successful and very fit personal trainer and now I'm just tired all the time and feel like crap! Now my family hate it. I smoke from 7am-2am and I have a large family and run a business so smoking has taken over. Big time! Smoking has become a replacement for oxy, heroin, benzos, psych drugs, and a 20 year long eating disorder so it's a biggie for me. Need to deal with my shit!

I've tried the lozenges, sublingual strips, gum, e cigs and zyban and zyban was the only way I managed to quit (short of being pregnant and I'm not willing to have another child just to quit smoking , we are content with our five!). I can't do the patches as I run a pool and am in and out of the water all day.

I know zyban works for me and even though it's going to cost me $160 a month, it's worth it for my health (and I spend that a week on smokes.)
 
"oxy, heroin, benzos, psych drugs," holy crap and all this stuff combined comes to the little harmless tobacco ))))))))))
are you sure its not just a habbit than physical thing..like really replacement for oxy? Maybe its like more of a ritual heh..a totem cig?little brakes,little things
PS
I dont know I dont smoke,sorry im not making sense:D
 
It obviously doesn't compare to oxy or any of those drugs, I'm on Suboxone and a benzo taper plus anti depressant and a beta blocker. I'm doing well compared to the last couple of years.

What I mean is, I feel like it's all I have left, I've had an eating disorder for twenty years and this is the first time I seem to be able to control it, even a little. It's definitely a habit and it's more the having something to do and being scared of not having some kind of addiction that I'm scared of rather than the physical addiction (which is obviously an issue too.)

Last year I was on a few hundred mg of oxy, the same of benzos, pristiq, codeine, some heroin, lyrica, serequol, zyprexa, noten, some weed, a lot of alcohol, shit, other stuff I can't even remember (hence my username) and I was a raging bulimic but I didn't smoke!

Now, I'm on 28mg suboxone, down to just 20mg of Valium and still weaning, propanolol when needed and the pristiq which I am trying to get off. That's it. But I smoke like a chimney. It's like the last thing I have left is what I meant. I don't really know how to live without an addiction as I've lived like this in one way or another since I was 14.
 
"Last year I was on a few hundred mg of oxy, the same of benzos, pristiq, codeine, some heroin, lyrica, serequol, zyprexa, noten, some weed, a lot of alcohol, shit, other stuff I can't even remember (hence my username) and I was a raging bulimic but I didn't smoke! "
Hhholy shit! Thats alot of shit! Damn,woman! Ive heard that women are more prone to addictions,but you doing good actually,compared to the last year,to kick all this stuff in just a year span is amazing ,keep doing what you are doing,you will be there! And smoking ,you can deal with that ,maybe not now,but im sure cut it by third,skip some each day,but temptation to all our habits are really there only when we are doing nothing,thinking about them,so if you skip some cigs daily,find self an occupation ,it can be anything,maybe something relaxing or creative,walking,singing,drawing,planing perfect vacation... Got that from video about kids,sitting infront of candyfloss,ordered to not eat it :D
 
Lol. I've seen something similar to that video with children.
Thanks for encouragement and advice. The thing is I'm crazy busy, 60 hours a week work, 5 kids, one day off out of seven which I am always running around crazy catching up on all the things I can't do while at work (bills,school things, shopping etc.) and I still have time for addictions. They really do run my life despite it being such a full life.

You're right though, I do need to do more for me and also use my imagination for positive things instead of destructive obsessions.

Thanks /)
 
Unfortunately with the half life of pristiq, 50mg is the lowest you can taper to, there's not much of a compromise with those pills...

And then, due to the extended release formula you can't cut them up or crush them to lower the dose.. And taking them every second or third day doesn't work either :(

I went cold turkey off pristiq after 6 months or so of being on it, got the exact symptoms you have described, they passed after a horrible fortnight or so..

According to all the information I could find online, you're best to switch over to prozac, effexor or lexapro as a bridging dose and then taper from there and then switch onto the zyban..

Man, I wish I could take Zyban again, the things it did for my sex life... But, it made me manic
 
Thanks for the reply. I got down to 50 then went off and had the most horrible weekend ever. I could not even walk and could not stop crying or throwing up. So I'm back onto 100mg every two days. I asked my dr about a bridging one and he said there was notbing, grrR! Thanks for that info, I will mention it to him.
 
I was going to say that Lexapro is a good one. But have read the article above, so I´m not sure.
Lexapro helps in the beginning and added to a benzo and/or something that will make you sleep better.
 
Update. I've been COMPLETLEY off the anti depressants for several months now, I tapered at my own pace, just cutting right down and going as many days as I could without until the symptoms became unbearable and I would then take a smaller and smaller amount each time and one day I just never had to take one again. Im glad I didn't have to do it on someone else's time line because this worked well for me. Off everything now except q stupid large dose of subs and a small amount of diazepam.
 
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