Same here Seph,,I take wellbutrin and lamictal and feel great. My Psych NP also added a 50mg dose of Zoloft and this is the best I've felt in years. And great as not in manic,,but just normal I guess, if there is such a thing!
so she prescribed me 50 mg pristiq and 25 mg lamictal. she told me if i was in fact bi polar that the pristiq would make me go totally manic.
just 3 days in and i am totally manic. totally completely it is scary. unless i am doing something at all times i am losing it.
my body is 10 steps behind my brain.
nightmare....so hey way up there never ever take pristiq ever if you are bi polar.
Should I take pristiq & lamtical together or each one at different times of the day?
I would suggest talking to your doc and asking for a change in meds or see if there is another drug that you can take in addition to combat the mood problems. I take 100mg of Pristiq and 2 mg of Abilify. I didn't have the anger issue with the Pristiq, but I needed the Abilify to increase the effectiveness of the Pristiq because it just wasn't enough to pull me through my depression.
So, First: Talk to your doctor.
I am a 52 year old female. Post menopause and on hormones. Just hot my thyroid levels at a good level. I switched from pristiq to cymbalta back in November. I am tired ALL the time. More than when my thyroid was out of whack. Could the cymbalta be causing this and if so, what if I took it at night?
I have been having urinary problems the past 3 months. I took 5 different antibiotics for UTI's, i've had a transvaginal ultrasound, pelvic exam, and everything said I was fine. I have been feeling better, but every now and then, I have this tingling feeling in my groin area, and it is very uncomfortable and will last for days, then go away.
I am kind of the exception because I am medication resistant and my depression and anxiety is a tough nut to crack. I am currently on a Pristiq, Lamictal and Lithium combination and it seems to be working ok, but the add on of the Lamictal and lithium is only in it's second week so I should know more later on it's effectivness.
Are you disagnosed as Bi-polar 1? I am diagnosed as Bi-polar (NOS) Not Otherwise specified.
Effexor and Pristiq are 99% the same drug in terms of active chemical. Pristiq being Desvenlafaxine and Effexor being Venlafaxine. In fact if you look at the molecular chart for the two drugs they even bind the same.
Funny thing is you know why Weith pharm released Pristiq? (a drug much like Effexor) Because the 7 year patent on Effexor was close to an end and Weith didn't want to lose market share. In comes Pristiq (Name brand only for another 7 years)
It's all about the money.
Equivalencies are generalizations, and you are an individual. Besides, Pristiq is a different class of drug than Lexapro. Lexapro is an ssri while Pristiq is an snri. And if it were me, which it isn't, I'd start at a low dosage and work my way up on any medication so I could see how bad the side effects were and the lowest dosage at which it works is.
I will only add one thing to Ryan's otherwise very good post. People do have different reactions to different drugs, even to Celexa and Lexapro or Pristiq and Effexor. While it's true the companies are trying to keep a patented product in their lineup, Lexapro seems to have fewer side effects than Celexa, but many people do find one or the other works better. Same probably with Pristiq and Effexor. But to prescribe both at once is insane.
I called the pdoc back and he's having me take a 75 effexor xr and my pristiq 50---I guess a ween off of it, no more brain zaps for now, I dont know what will happen after I stop taking effexor all together, we shall see in a few weeks.
As for the comment above, I too have seen people have to pay out of pocket for perscriptions and its usually elderly and people like me, who had been laid off and take medications and are put into a situation of having to pay out of pocket, what to do?
There are many other mood stabilizers such as lithium, Depakoate and Lamictal and Lamictal generally has less of these side effects (for general information on mood disorders google "Depression Central"). However, if your psychiatrist believes you require an antipsychotic, Abilify is generally the most tolerated out of what is available now though if you read through my posts you will see in the coming years there may be more options that are easier to tolerate.
I have been on 200 mg Zoloft, 200 mg lamictal, wellbutrin and 3 mg Xanax daily for 3 years. before welbutrin I was on abilify and it worked very well but it was unaffordable so doc changed it to welbutrin , which I never thought worked.
I started feeling down and anxious and asked the dr to change me back to abilify since I had new ins that will cover it . Instead she weaned me off the Zoloft in only 9 days with instructions to start pristiq 50 mg daily after the nine days.
I really dont feel depressed at all,I feel ok when i had my clonazepan dosage,but what if I become an addict, how can I start taking pristiq and not being scared? Like I said above , i feel more anxious and panic than depressed. So Pristiq will work with my anxiety? What about Clonazepan withdrawals?
m actually not really seeing him anymore, after a second opinion confirmed he was mis-managing my thryoid disease and making me sicker.. he also prescribed this pristiq for thyroid disease because he believed my insomnia, stress, and high blood pressure meant I was mentally ill. Now that I've discovered the real problem - Hashimoto's thyroid disease, I'm still stuck on Pristiq. Anywho..
I will definitely check w/ the pharmacy.
I take lithium Wellbutrin pristiq and clomping. I am going through menopause. I take about 6 six 7.5 hydros a day. I have taken the meds for 20 years, but the hydros about 2 years. Lately I have become morbidly depressed, and I need to know if you guys think its the hydros. Sometimes I do take more, but never more than 10 hydros.
I have been having urinary problems the past 3 months. I took 5 different antibiotics for UTI's, i've had a transvaginal ultrasound, pelvic exam, and everything said I was fine. I have been feeling better, but every now and then, I have this tingling feeling in my groin area, and it is very uncomfortable and will last for days, then go away.
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