Hi! I am switching from Paxil to Pristiq. Has anyone here done the same?

Hi
I was on Paxil for many years, 30 mg was my max dose. I then changed to Pristiq and I am currently on 100mg. In my opinion and having a lot of experience switching to different meds and you having been on a high dose of Paxil, I would advise slowly going down over a period of months to let your brain get used to being on the lower doses and to let the new dose stabilize. No Doctor that I have ever encountered GP or Psychiatrist here in Canada where I live seem to understand this. It is your body and your brain and some of us are more sensitive to these types of meds and need more time to adjust and switch. The person who helped me was actually my pharmacist, and I had minimal problems reducing my Paxil ( which is said to be one of the hardest to get off of) and switch to the new med. Hope this helps.

I would suggest going down to 20 or even 10 over several weeks before adding the Pristiq and I would start at 25 of Pristiq not 50 he's being a little bit aggressive and too quick you need to go really slow with the Paxil

Hey mikki,

I weaned off Cymbalta and started Pristiq a couple months ago. You are taking the correct approach, weaning off the one whole starting the other. You may still get some nausea and headache from the Pristiq. It went away for me in the first two weeks and never was really that bad. I take the Pristiq in the morning with food to prevent the nausea.

I have had good results with the Pristiq. Are you one who suffers from anxiety as well as depression? How long were you on Paxil and why did you decide to switch, just curious?

I switched from the Cymbalta because it made me sleep too much. I wish you the very best of luck and keep us posted how you do,

Laurie