You might benefit from a short-term prescription of a medication like diazepam or clonazepam. The advantages are that one of those medications would probably help with your anxiety much sooner than the Pristiq, and as the Pristiq started to work you could taper off those medicines. In general, studies that look at the use of a benzodiazepine as a short term adjunct to an antidepressant find that the results are good. However I can't answer the specific question about the benefits and risks of such an approach for you particularly. Benzodiazepines are excellent short term medications for many people, but some people can have bad reactions to them ( for instance, they may lead to a relapse of alcohol or drug use, they may cause excessive sedation and may increase the risk of driving accidents).
Thanks Doc, I will discuss this with my GP. Thank you for your time!