missed dose effexor XR 150mg withdrawal

I went to my psychiatrist today and told him of my episode of missing effexor dose and he said that it was from the effexor, I was just 7 hours late and wound up in ER from symtoms (symptoms) listed in my first post.  So he wants me to switch to pristiq, which I have never taken.  I am supposed to start taking pristiq 50mg. along with effexor xr 75mg for a week and then effexor xr 37.5mg along with the pristiq for a week, and then just pristiq.  I am afraid, seeing how just being off effexor for 7 hrs. put me in E.R.  The Doctor said pristiq won't do that if I miss or am late on a dose.  He better be right.

[Hensley258]

Your doctor is counting on the fact that Pristiq has a longer half life than Effexor XR.

Being that Effexor XR is an Extendedd release formula it is kind of strange that you had such a reaction to just one missed dosage.

Used to take 300Mgs of Effexor a day and missed a dose here and there and never had a problem.

[whodunnit]

Hi again,

This is slightly different than your first post where you said you missed the dose for 5 meds, not just FX. Right? After 20 years on FX to have such a reaction is highly doubtful. I would though question what medicinal benefit you may have been getting from FX after so long on it.

After 7 hours I cannot see this happening and think your doc simply has a motive to move you to Pristiq. I haven't taken that yet so can't comment on it.

There's no way he could pick, of 5 missed meds, which one caused what you describe. No way.

If you don't want to change, tell him so. If you agree to a change then it is your decision you know. He only recommends, being the meds expert as he is.