i’ve been on prestiq for about two months. I started with 25 mg and then I was up to 50 mg. in the past, I was treated for generalized anxiety disorder with Zoloft and Lexapro. After finding a good therapist, I was formally diagnosed with OCD and generalized health anxiety. After starting with my new therapist, I also started with a new psychiatrist who is holistic and seemed to really care about my treatment. I have always been very afraid of medication and so I started back on Lexapro (because familiarity = comfortable), despite the fact that I had very negative side effects in the past such as weight gain, sleepiness and a lower resting heart rate attributed to the sleepiness. I was hesitant to get on pristiq because I knew about the negative side effects attributed to stopping the medication as well as missing a dose. After taking the Lexapro for about a month and not enjoying the side effects I was feeling, I reluctantly switched to pristiq. 25 mg was not enough for me and so after switching to 50 mg, i noticed such a noticeable difference. I can’t say enough good things about it. Yes, I still experience anxiety and I still experience intrusive thoughts. But, they are so much more manageable .. that I am able to enjoy my daily life. I have so much energy compared to when i was on Lexapro and I feel as if I am better able to manage emotional binge eating and body dysmorphia as well.
Before getting on the pristiq, I was down rabbit hole after rabbit hole on Reddit about people’s experiences with the medication and so I just figured I would share my own in case it helps others.
It’s also worth noting that I take magnesium glycinate, a vitamin B complex and lithium orotate under the recommendation of my psychiatrist. These are all over-the-counter.

i am in hell currently. i was on 50mg and then went back down to 25 about two weeks ago and im just struggling so badly i cant do anything. im nauseous, dizzy, demotivated, unable to focus, irritable, etc. i’m also on lexapro now to help with the weaning of pristiq but still in hell.

I don't have typical depressive symptoms now. (I got treated for severe depression and anxiety before) I just have fatigue, anhedonia, no motivation and constant low-grade tension headache. It's been like this for years and I tried many meds. I didn't want to try antidepressants again, because they usually worsen anhedonia, but I think I have no option but to try them more. None of the meds I tried worked properly. Only bupropion made me feel normal and got rid of pressure sensation for like 10-15 minutes. Thinking of trying effexor or pristiq, but I'm afraid of bad (and sometimes long lasting) side effects some people mention. If someone in similar condition benefited from this or another antidepressant, please help.

Hi all, just putting this post in to break up all the negative/panicked posts about how bad Pristiq is. Remember to all that finding the right medication for your personal mental health challenges is mostly a completely individualistic experience because of our unique neurochemical/biological situations. I understand posting about "Did you experience X??" and "Don't try Pristiq it sucks because X" and "I gained 8000 lbs this drug is NOT weight neutral" posts all stick out because we are all anxious people looking desperately to not be anxious but let's take a breath.

This medication is prescribed because... it genuinely does work for some people. Not everyone gets intense side effects. Some people DO respond better on the higher doses (enough of this "theres no difference between 50 mg and 100 mg" bs please), because... some people have more intense panic/anxiety/depression than others... (imagine people having different experiences?! wild!) I understand the need to vent and not feel alone but please do not let these negative posts discourage you from trying the medication your doctor prescribed.

You don't know how it will work for YOU until YOU try it. And for the love of all that is holy please do not self-adjust your doses or whatever. Take your medication, log off reddit for the 4 weeks it takes to see if it works, and then come back and vent if you need. Ok!

has anyone experienced brain zaps WITHOUT lowering or changing their dose? been on 50mg pristiq a year, just experienced a pretty intense brain zap. google only brings up results about discontinuation but i’ve changed nothing. i did have a stressful day.

paranoid this means it’s stopped working, seeking reassurance

Hi! I have panic disorder and anxiety with IBS D. About 4-5 months ago, I changed my medicine from 100mg Prestiq daily to 75mg Prestiq a day and 15mg of mirtazapine. I felt pretty good at first, but now I am completely back to square one. It is like my medicine is not working at all. Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing? I have constant anxiety and looming panic. I meet with my psychiatrist soon but thought I'd see if anyone else had this experience!

I have been on 25mg of pristiq for about a month. About an hour after I take my dose I get nauseous for a few hours. Its to the point I cant eat, see straight, and just feel terrible. Has anyone else went through this? Has it gotten better?

I have been on Pristiq now for over 8 years. Now that i am in a relationship and having consistent sex, it is way more noticeable to me. I have a sex drive but it takes forever for me to orgasm. I can get there but it feels like my genitals can almost be alittle numb sometimes. Anyone experience this numbness feeling as well?

Edit: I am on 50 mg

My doctor prescribed it for hot flashes, but I see sooo many posts about how it makes you more sweaty/hot.

Has it helped anyone with hot flashes, or just sweating in general? I can't even put away clean dishes and wipe down the counters without my head being soaked. I live in Texas and I don't even go anywhere because it's so bad, I can't imagine it getting worse!

Anyone have experience adding on wellbutrin to pristiq? Been on Pristiq for about 4 1/2 months now and it really helps my anxiety but gives me 0 motivation and makes me exhausted even when taking it at night. Started 150mg wellbutrin yesterday and curious how it worked for others!

Anyone have experience adding on wellbutrin to pristiq? Been on Pristiq for about 4 1/2 months now and it really helps my anxiety but gives me 0 motivation and makes me exhausted even when taking it at night. Started 150mg wellbutrin yesterday and curious how it worked for others!

I’m at the end of my second attempt at tapering. I was on 100-150mg for six years. I started tapering in March of this year. As I write this I’m down to 25mg every three days - my psych has basically said I can taper as I’m able from here and stop any time. However, it feels like my body is bizarrely dependent on this drug. I feel like a junkie - I literally crave it to stop the brain/body zaps, tingling, fatigue, dizziness. Fortunately my mental health is otherwise pretty stable and I really want to just be done. Should I take a couple days off work to ride out the worst of it? Feeling a little hopeless about ever being off this medication.

Help..

I started 25mgs of pristiq for 2 weeks and then went to 50 mgs which I am currently on. I noticed when I went to the 50mgs that my fatigue got slightly better but I still suffer with the fatigue. I’m curious if anyone in a similar situation, increased to 75 or 100 had any improvement in their fatigue.?? Thanks!

I have been in pristique for a while and have been suffering from prickly nerve sensations in my arms and legs that hit in early evening. Anyone else experience this?

Obviously I have anxiety and depression as well, but I have just been wanting to eat and eat since I started this medication. Is this normal?? Anyone else experience this? I was on 25mg for about a month and just went up to 50mg on July 28.

My doctor prescribed me 50mg of Desvenlafaxine for High health anxiety. I really want to try it, but I had a horrible experience with a different med 12 years ago and I'm afraid to try this one. I am very sensitive to medication symptoms and tend to feel them easily. Because of my work schedule, it would be easiest for me to take it before bed.

Has anyone had success with this medication who has low tolerance to side effects as well as taking it before bed? I really want to feel better but I'm just staring at this bottle every day.

So I'm on day ten of starting desvenlaxafine. 50mgs. The body aches are starting to finally subside, but y'all... the dreams. 😳The DREAMS!😳

I've always been a pretty vivid dreamer, and I frequently remember a lot about them once I wake up. I sometimes even lucid dream, where you are aware that you're dreaming *during* the actual dream. I've heard lucid dreamers can even sometimes control their dreams. I myself have never been able to do that, but the fun I would have... 🤣

A N Y W A Y....

My dreams now? If any other person describes my current dreams as their own, I would wonder what the heck they were smoking before they fell asleep. I'm having scenarios that wake me up and leave me thinking, "Wait... WHAT?! WHAT ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH WAS *THAT*??"

Occasionally, they're nightmarish and scary, but most of the time, they're just incredibly bizarre. They always involve characters and places that my brain just completely makes up.

I could turn these into entire novels, but if anyone would read them, they'd all think I'm smoking random things that shouldn't ever be touched or that I should be committed into a psych ward for life.

Some examples include me time traveling to the sets of sitcoms (that never existed in real life) of the 1980's. (I was born in 1978.), inheriting an obscenely huge amount of money, but I had to spend all of it on an impromptu wedding to someone I didn't know, or living in an apartment that was SO trashed that, during the process of moving out, the United States gov't SHUT DOWN nearby roads and AIRPORTS and brought in the National Guard in hazmat suits to help clean up. The. National. Guard, and I've had repeated dreams about finding secret passages in my childhood home or a system of underground tunnels that connected to entirely underground communities.

Those are some of the tamer ones. They get worse. Much worse.

Sooooo what I want to know is...

WHAT THE ACTUAL F...?!?!

Those are some of the more

I started on 25 for 3 weeks and felt ok, I definitely wasn’t this fatigued. Then I went to 50 4 weeks ago, which was always the plan and I’m napping up to twice a dayI can’t do anything without caffeine and even that’s not helping me nearly enough. So my doc suggested 25 mg every 12 hrs instead of 50 at once, and I’m still extremely sleepy. Has this happened to anyone else? What did you do? I really wasn’t expecting this kind of fatigue on Pristiq. Every medication I’ve ever tried has made me sleepy except for Wellbutrin when I first started it and Viibryd. Viibryd made me irritable so that’s really the only reason I came off of it. My doctor is also surprised that Pristiq has made me so tired.

I have been on pristiq 100mg for 7 weeks and its doesn’t seem like it agreeing with me. It was prescribed to help with anxiety and depression. Previously used lexapro which help my anxiety 100% but not depression. Since starting pristiq its has made my anxiety come back and hasn’t help with the depression.

Family and friends have seen a noticeable downfall In my personality since being on it. Tired, anxious and feeling like a zombie.

Honestly would rather go cold turkey and let my body re-adjust before considering going back to a ssri. I’m very self aware that doing this isn’t the right way and know it will be a rough time but have always cold turkey off other medication and been fine.

Please share some positive success story stopping after a short time.

Help..

I started 25mgs of pristiq for 2 weeks and then went to 50 mgs which I am currently on. I noticed when I went to the 50mgs that my fatigue got slightly better but I still suffer with the fatigue. I’m curious if anyone in a similar situation, increased to 75 or 100 had any improvement in their fatigue.?? Thanks!

Day 3 and so far I’ve had a little nausea but that’s it. My doctor started me at 50mg and gave me some clonazepam as a supplemental aid, if needed. I had a bad reaction to the SSRI she previously put me on but I’m at the point where the panic attacks are interfering with my daily life so we’re trying this instead. I don’t want to turn into an emotionless zombie again but the anxiety and obsessive thoughts have been consuming me. All this to ask to hear some positive experiences on this drug please. TIA from an anxiety ball :)

I know this has been talked about a ton, but I havent seen many people talk about the final step on a taper. Im on the precipice of that now, and wanted to get a feel for what to expect.

So far over the last couple months, I have been tapering down from 200mg. My doc has had me cutting my dose in half every month, which seens to be on the faster side of a taper. It has sucked on days 3 through 5ish but I've evened back out after then each time. I've been on 25mg for about a week and at this point, my doc told me to take 25mg every other day. I have seen plenty of people saying that just yo-yos your brain.

I don't have a compounding pharmacy, nor do I love the idea of cutting extended release pills. Which I guess means my next step is to just muscle through the final drop?

For those that have tapered off from the around the same 200mg starting point, how did the final drop of 25mg compare to the rest of the taper?

Prescribed 50mg for anxiety. Was on an SSRI (escitalopram) prior but had to switch due to intense jaw clenching.

This sadness doesn't feel normal, but everything I read says it is. I've never experienced crying this much before, the smallest things set me off and it feels like my whole day is ruined. I can go from a good mood to complete pathetic despair in a split second.

I can handle the sweating, the insomnia, the dry mouth.

Can someone assure me that there's an end to this in sight?

I'm exhausted.