# Cymbalta Vs Effexor/Pristiq - What did/nt work for you?



## A Sense of Purpose (May 8, 2011)

I am in the situation of deciding which one of these drugs may benefit and would like to know how these medications were tolerated by individuals that have tried both. Im aware that they are tolerated differently to people.

I guess you could call it a cost/benefit analysis? 

Cheers


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

I only tried Cymbalta out of the 3. It did nothing positive nor negative at 60mg.


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

Pristiq is meant to be better than both effexor and cymbalta because its newer
in saying that i have not tried it nor have i been given the option to try it and cymbalta is not available here but my friend in australia is on it and its bad for your liver apparently well it CAN be that is. They are all SNRI's so they all pose the same side effects and withdrawals but withdrawals are not as bad from cymbalta as they are on effexor or on pristiq which contains venlafaxine like effexor XR and IR do



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desvenlafaxine said:


> Pristiq has also been implicated with higher rates of discontinuation syndrome than are seen with other SSRI and SNRI antidepressant medications due to its relatively short half-life. Discontinuation syndrome side effects can be so severe as to be described as "intolerable" by former users, with some individuals unable to cease use due to extremely long-term withdrawal symptoms following cessation of use.Discontinuation symptoms can include dizziness, nausea, headache, irritability, insomnia, anxiety, fatigue, diarrhea, abnormal dreams, hyperhydrosis and paresthesia (described as "electric shock" sensations).


So basically they all have the same risk for discontinuation but pristiq has a higher tolerance and nausea is believed to be one of the worst side effects, plus there are long lasting withdrawal effects the same as there are with effexor but it would appear that pristiq has more of a tendency to create tolerance quicker than its other counterparts 
it depends on what you can afford really, its different over in new zealand because the SNRI medication effexor is funded while pristiq is not so we would be paying 140.00 each month for it.

if money is not an option i would try effexor, it works on more than just major depression like pristiq and does not have the liver damaging effects as bad as the cymbalta do, also sexual side effects can and may occur but to a lesser extent than with SSRI medications


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## A Sense of Purpose (May 8, 2011)

Oh thanks! lots of useful info there, as i am less likely to stop drinking, perhaps effexor is the best bet. Do they make small doses of effexor for when people want to stop taking it? Im quite sensitive to medications so i see myself being smashed in the withdrawal department if i was to stop.


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