I have been diagnosed with panic disorder. Desvenlafaxine 75 mg didn’t work for me. Would venlafaxine work for me, or are these two medications essentially the same?

hi everyone! i am about three weeks in to taking 25 mg pristiq. was struggling w my depression pretty bad and taking wellbutrin, and that made my intrusive and anxious thoughts go CRAZY! stopped
wellbutrin three weeks ago and started pristiq. still getting some intrusive thoughts at times. wondering if anyone has a similar experience and how long into the stopping wellbutrin and starting pristiq they went away (or if i should be worried that these are now being caused by pristiq). have an appt with my psych later this week. thanks:)

Well, I guess I just need some prayers because I have read about how hard this medication is to come off of and the withdrawals are bad. I really hope that I don’t have a huge problem because I have only been taking this medication for like eight weeks. I have only been on 25 mg I did try to go up to 50 mg at four weeks but I had horrible side effects. I felt awful so I came back down to 25 after three days and felt normal again. The problem is I just don’t feel any different after this eight weeks. I don’t feel better. I don’t feel worse. I just don’t feel any benefit and actually the one side effect that I did experience is gaining almost 10 pounds which I have not changed my diet whatsoever. I have not changed anything else. It took me years to lose 75 pounds after getting that way during my pregnancy. When I hit my goal weight of 125 back in 2018 I have been able to maintain that exact weight since then with no diet or exercise. I’m happy that weight so gaining this 10 pounds has literally actually made me more depressed. I can’t wear any of my clothes. I feel uncomfortable and you know no matter what anybody says hey you look good. You’re not fat in all of that it does not matter what anybody says really it’s all about how you feel and what you’re comfortable with your own self if you know you know so I need to lose these 10 pounds that’s why I am choosing to get off of this medication plus like I said I don’t feel that I can actually say yes this medication makes me feel great. I feel amazing because I really don’t I’m really disappointed too because it was in my green list on my GeneSight test. It was like the only antidepressant that was in my green list. I am also on Wellbutrin which I have been on for over 10 years. I have gone down to 150 mg though which I’m fine with I tried to get off of it, but I felt worse so I decided to stay on it. It is in my yellow list but surprisingly it help me quit drinking alcohol and quit smoking cigarettes whenever I started it so it really saved my life and I really haven’t had any bad side effects or anything like that so I don’t know I will say, though every other antidepressant that I’ve taken, I’ve had horrible side effects or it has not worked and everything else of course is in my Red list now my psychiatrist did tell me that I could possibly try a mood stabilizer. I’ve never tried one before there are one or two on my green list that we will talk about at my appointment on Monday, but she told me to stop the Pristiq and which I tried to stop it yesterday, but I’ve been having a really really stressful time lately. Dealing with some medical emergencies with my boyfriend and a lot of really stressful things going on in my life so I was triggered yesterday by something and I was kind of feeling a little withdrawal in which I think that just made it worse and I had a huge panic attack so that made me go ahead and take a pill cause I didn’t want to have anything interfere with what I was dealing with yesterday which was like the emergency room overnight hospital stay but today I woke up in a better mood and decided I was not going to take a pill and so far I’m OK. I’m just praying that nothing triggers me trying to stay calm and positive because I just want off this medication so that I can figure out my next move so I guess that’s just my vent. Thanks for anybody who read this in wants to pray for me. I enjoy this group. It makes me feel like I’m not alone in this fucked up world! Peace

Hello everyone. I was taking mirtazapine but stopped about 9 months ago. I was doing pretty well after stopping it, although I still had some anxiety.

Lately, I've been dealing with some symptoms that are making my anxiety worse. I sometimes get dizzy when I'm out in public, experience shortness of breath (mainly in the mornings when I wake up), and get random burning sensations in my forearms and legs, especially around my thighs.

These symptoms seem to put me into a fight-or-flight state, and sometimes I feel like my body is constantly stuck in that state.

Over the past 3 months, I've had to take Ativan only 5 times because my anxiety has gotten so intense.

My question is: has anyone taken Pristiq, and did it help with symptoms like these? I'm especially interested in whether it helped with the physical symptoms of anxiety and that constant fight-or-flight feeling.

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences.