Posted by Reggie BoStar on December 29, 2008, at 2:05:52
In reply to Scared to start Pristiq, does anyone here take it?, posted by Roslynn on December 7, 2008, at 17:21:58
Hey Roslynn,
I started Pristiq right about the time you posted your first message. The only thing I've felt so far has been an increase in depression after about the first week. I think that was primarily because my daily intake of Cymbalta was reduced by half at the same time. The theory was that reducing the Cymbalta and adding the Pristiq would do a better job than taking Cymbalta alone.
The original dose of Cymbalta was 60mg/day. Now I take 30mg Cymbalta and 50mg Pristiq. This sort of change was tried in the past with other meds whenever I complained about Cymbalta. In those cases I also noticed an increase in depression after one week of reduced Cymbalta intake and the addition of the other med.
I actually never complained directly about Cymbalta. I just told my pdoc that my depression was returning in force and I had no sex drive whatsoever - not even an interest in the opposite sex. I also take 400mg Wellbutrin and 2400mg Neurontin every day. Could they be contributing to the problem? No, everything he ever tried was just another SSRI or SNRI, so of course nothing happened. Why should it?
Now that I've found these posts, I've been seeing here (and in a few other places) that Pristiq is taking as long as 6 weeks to kick in. But is this any different than any other SSRI or SNRI? Pdocs who describe SSRIs and SNRIs are always saying vague things like "it could take up to a month or even longer for the effects to be felt." In other words, they don't know really how long it will take for a drug to kick in, assuming it does at all.
If Pristiq is an SNRI like Cymbalta and Effexor, why should it act any differently? I asked my pdoc and therapist about this and they said the goal was to reduce the side effects. What about the fact that the intended effects either don't have any staying power or don't work at all? What good is only reducing side effects if nothing is done about the lack of intended effects?
Pristiq is just another retread of an old idea that hasn't worked out. I see my pdoc on the 16th of this month for a "followup", which will actually be a request to try something new for a change - not ECT, not SSRIs, not SNRIs, none of which worked.
Something NEW !!! START OVER !!!
poster:Reggie BoStar
thread:867327
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20081223/msgs/871252.html