Posted by Reggie BoStar on September 9, 2009, at 0:11:37
In reply to Perceptions: effexor and pristiq, posted by West on September 5, 2009, at 11:35:36
Hi West,
I can add to what Phillipa and Zana have suggested - Effexor gave me a ton of undesirable side effects compared to Pristiq. I can't remember if this was also noted in the thread, but Pristiq is actually a "metabolite" of Effexor. The intent was to reduce side-effects by chemically processing Effexor the way the body does, at least initially, to isolate the active ingredient.Per what Phillipa said about looking in the archives, look for the thread I started about a week ago on this very topic.
I had recently been switched from Pristiq to Effexor. I'm in the Medicare "Donut Hole" for prescription coverage. Since Pristiq has no generic yet I could not get coverage for it and was being treated with samples. When the supply of Pristiq samples ran low, my pdoc switched me to a generic of Effexor that's covered by my Medicare supplemental insurance.
Anyway, in the other thread I had been on Effexor only a few days and was already reporting problems. A few days after my last post I called my pdoc and said I was going back on the remainder of my Pristiq samples and dumping the Effexor. The latter was totally exhausting me and making me sleep 15-20 hours per day. I was worried about getting into a semi-comatose state that only ECT could snap me out of. That happened to me in 2005.
Two days after switching back to Pristiq, the side effects had pretty much vanished. Both of these drugs have a short half-life compared to other SSRIs and SNRIs so any change is felt within days.
So that's my take. Effexor puts me in a very place where I'd rather not stay, at risk of needing ECT to get out of it. Pristiq does nothing like that.
What about depression? That's what both of these drugs are supposed to treat in me. Effexor obviously made things much worse for me. No arguments there.
Pristiq doesn't help all that much, unfortunately. Some months ago I had to go without it for 3-4 days because of a screwup with the samples. I started to feel depressed again - not nearly as bad as taking Effexor did, but noticeable. Resuming the Pristiq on the 5th day reversed that trend slightly.
It just doesn't do anything beyond making me slightly less miserable. Every little bit helps I supposed but I'll clearly need a lot more than Pristiq to turn things around. I have other meds with side effects that I have to juggle too.
It's a mess. All those meds, and now Pristiq, can do nothing beyond maintaining a state of mind that's not quite as morose as suicidal.
The real danger here is that this morose feeling is close to being worse than a hangover. If that happens, I'll start drinking - being drunk would feel just fine and being hung over would be an improvement too. And if THAT happens, the transition to suicidal will be right around the corner.
Well, look on the less dark side: the short half-lives of Pristiq and Effexor mean that if you have to make a change, it won't take long to complete the withdrawal process. I no longer tolerate anything that makes me feel worse. At the first sign of trouble, I call the pdoc and make a change. These drugs at least make that an easy thing to do.
Oops. That was a tad long, wasn't it?
Good luck with Pristiq vs. Effexor, whichever way (or neither) your own battles go.
Later,
Reggie BoStar
poster:Reggie BoStar
thread:915804
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090902/msgs/916153.html