[retro_chic]

For those of you who do, have you experienced excessive tiredness? By excessive I mean feeling tired after have 8+ hours sleep and just doing everyday activities (nothing strenuous). I am just trying to figure out if it is the meds causing this or the depression. Or maybe something else entirely?

I am taking 150mg at the moment - recently increased from 100mg. I was feeling tired prior to this recent increase. Thoughts? Obviously I need to bring this up with my Pdoc but I am not seeing her for another few weeks.

[doogie]

Yes, I recently stopped using pristiq because it just quit working and I was tired all the time.

[Odee]

I took Effexor for awhile. Pristiq is a metabolite of Effexor's primary compound. The stuff made me feel caffeinated, dehydrated, and gave me heart palpitations. So for me, I guess you can say it was activating. Ultimately it didn't help but it may be because I needed a mood stabilizer the whole time.

I don't know about Pristiq dosages compared to effexor dosages, but with effexor the higher the dose the more activating it is. On the lower end of the scale it only hits serotonin, higher on the scale and it's an SNRI. At the highest dosage it might have a small dopamine effect.

[Ike McCaslin]

I could not take Pristiq. It made me extremely nauseated.

[retro_chic]

Thanks everyone!

Doogie and Ike - how did you find coming off Pristiq? I am just curious since the lowest dose is 50mg so I just wonder how one copes going from 50mg to nothing. If this trial of 150mg doesn't do anything for me I will most likely be changing meds.

[Ike McCaslin]

I wasn't on it long enough to have to taper off.

[sylvie-rose]

Omg yesssss. The side effects (and withdrawals when I accidentally skipped a dose) were not as bad as effexor, but they are still pretty annoying. I seem to have a more stable mood at 200, and can kind of tolerate the side effects. (Side effects I get include fatigue, drowsiness, a mild feeling of malaise/weakness, the feeling that I can't quite get enough oxygen [which makes me yawn and sigh a lot], and dizziness/light-headedness/faintness here and there.)

It seems, for me, only 50mg can cause a massive change either way though:
Once when my dose was reduced to 150 to reduce the side effects, my depression got worse, and my mood was generally more unstable.
Whenever my dose has been upped to 250, however, the side effects have been much worse, especially the fatigue, drowsiness, and breathlessness. The 250 jump has been tried 3 times now (currently am on another prescription to take 250) and it's been the same every time!

(Also, despite this, it's the only anti-D that has worked for me, so it looks like I need to stick with it, gah!)

[Sisyphe]

I have been taking Pristiq for about a month and a half at 50mg. I have mild depression, most likely dysthymia, and anxiety. Honestly, I'm not sure if it has been helping much. Probably a little. I have always had a lot of tiredness, so not sure if Pristiq is contributing either way in that sense. I was on Welbutrin before but it made me feel way over caffeinated and anxious. If the Pristiq doesn't start having a more significant effect soon, I will ask my Dr. to try another med. I too am concerned about withdrawl since I have heard many horror stories about Pristiq/Effexor.

I have heard that dysthymia doesn't respond as well to medication compared to major depression. I am in therapy as well but gosh it's expensive. I wish I could find a med that would just take the edge off a bit more. I know that meds alone probably aren't the answer...

Coming back to the tiredness, I would highly recommend exercise. And not just walking, but good cardio exercise like running or biking. It can be so so hard to drag yourself outside or to the gym or wherever... but for me it's really the only thing that will make me feel better sometimes. It's really good for anxiety and anger issues too.

Best of luck.

[ellipsisdream]

Pristiq worked really well for me, until it "pooped out" on me.