Hi, I'm Izthewhiz

I’m 26 and have been on antidepressants since I was 13. I was on Prozac first and stopped 40 mg abruptly when I was 18. I initially felt fine, but a few months later developed pretty debilitating anxiety/restlessness. I eventually started Pristiq in 2019. I was on 75 mg Pristiq for years and have gradually gotten down to 25 mg. Unfortunately, Pristiq no longer seems to agree with my body. I feel very activated after taking it and have experienced racing heart, tremors, nausea, and panic-like episodes. Interestingly, I often feel calmer when the medication is wearing off, although I do start getting withdrawal symptoms like head pressure/irritability when I miss doses. My psychiatrist recommended 25 mg every other day, then every 2–3 days before stopping, but because Pristiq has such a short half-life, I’m concerned about repeatedly going from 25 mg to almost nothing rather than steadily lowering my daily dose. I found a compounding pharmacy that says they can make 20, 15, 10 and 5 mg doses, and potentially smaller doses as I taper. They would use regular desvenlafaxine and formulate it into a modified/slow-release capsule using excipients such as hypromellose. My goal is a very gradual hyperbolic taper, especially at the end. I would rather eventually go into tiny doses/fractions of a milligram than make a large final jump if my body needs that. Has anyone here tapered Pristiq this way? Specifically, has anyone used compounded modified-release desvenlafaxine capsules rather than the manufactured ER tablets? How low were you able to go, how long did you hold each dose, and did the compounded formulation feel different from regular Pristiq ER?