hi

i'm desperate. i've been on pristiq for 9 months and i've tried to go off twice but failed after 2 1/2 days cold turkey. i want off because i have only gotten my period once--and all tests in that regard are normal--so it must be the pristiq and i have stomach/bowel problems. i have been on ADs for over 10 years---first luvox and then pristiq. i was told i could quit cold turkey. i switched from that doc. the new doc said he didn't know much about pristiq and didn't use it---i suspect the other doc was courted by wyeth. any way, the new doc suggested tapering but said we were kinda making it up as we went along. so i skipped saturday. i felt light headed and irritable. i was gonna take the pristiq today, but then i thought, sure i could feel fine, but then feel like crap again monday. my first doc told me that if i could stand it, i would be 'detoxed'--my word--after 7 days. i am going to call and talk to my current md tomorrow. although i don't have a lot of faith in him.

please---anyone who has quit the pristiq cold---how long do these symptoms last? i know it is going to get worse before it gets better. i am at 40 hours now. i am not working--i'm off for the summer as a teacher---so i can be 'sick' this week and just lay on the couch. although that is not my first choice of a summer activity. please help me---how long do these symptoms last? won't my body readjust to being without the pristiq and even out? i feel like crap. i haven't had the brain zaps yet---looking forward to that. but i've had the lightheadedness to the point of nausea, irrational thoughts, disconnected feeling, irritibility, and crying jags. please tell me i am not crazy for doing this--that it is possible to make it through. i feel like tapering would just prolong all these symptoms and i want to get it over with. i am going to see my grandparents on july 17 and really want to be stable by then.

thanks for any help

oh, i have upped my small klonopin intake---i usually take .25 mg twice a day and i've been taking twice that--which the first doc said was okay.

help.