Pristiq And Zoloft
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can pristiq and zoloft be taken together?

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Hello!
I know this is an old thread but I am finding little to no other threads regarding this med combo.
My doctor has had me on Pristiq now for two months and my depression has subsided somewhat. I was in Effexor but after complaining about all of the side effects, my doctor recommended we give the Pristiq a try.
I also suffer from extreme OCD and obsessive thoughts which Pristiq has done nothing for. With having success with Zoloft in the past we both agreed to give it a try while keeping in mind the risk if SS. Today was my first dose of 25 mg with the Zoloft and I don’t feel anything but these meds do take a few weeks to kick in. So here’s to hoping everything works out :)

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I was in a severely bad way, now, mid-30's: Depression, GAD, and ADD/ADHD. Suffered my whole life from symptoms of ALL, obv, only slowly up til my 30s finally getting what I HOPE/ THINK are "all" the proper diagnoses. Now, I, TOO, WANT TO KNOW IF THERE COULD BE BENEFITS TO TAKING PRISTIQ TOGETHER WITH ZOLOFT (never tried it). When I was reeeeally low, Doc put me on the 50mg Pristiq, and I since I was so thrilled I found a noticeable enough increase in mood once being put on it, I convinced Doc to go to 100, although studies we'd both read-- and then my own experience, sadly-- showed little/ no efficacy difference, so I've been asking him to go back down to 50mg. Why take extra? Overall, though, I was pretty thrilled that it worked at all! So I'm on other things for the other disorders, including Benzos, which at first got RID of my desire to drink (I'm not an alchie, but I pretty much self-medicated, disastrously, through later teens and lots through 20's, having the UNDIAGNOSED ANXIETY DISORDER (DAMN DOCS NEVER CAUGHT THAT!!?!? I'm so ANGRY I feel I "lost" part of the "best times" of my life to drinking too much, then, because I didn't know I was actually SELF-MEDICATING.) Anyway, FINALLY got the GAD diagnosis and discovered the UTTER MAGIC of Benzos, to combat "that feeling" of sick, kind of I guess, anger and restlessness, deep in my gut, is I guess is the way I'd describe it. ANYTHING to make that feeling go away! So, Instead of taking a drink (or 8) to make that feeling go away; it's almost unbearable, I'd take my Alprazolam, as needed, and the feeling would dissipate. It no longer works so great, and I'm drinking nightly again, esp. for loneliness and feelings of desperation. I NEED either a more EFFECTIVE ANTIDEPRESSANT and/ or ANOTHER ONE to take in tandem. Reading that Zoloft helps with the drinking, AND the depression, but not wanting to give up the Pristiq, which works for me, I want to see how things might go with BOTH!
Day 1: Already, I feel the first, low dose of Zoloft working, killing the desire to drink. Doc said ditch the Lithium cold, so I did. Contraindication warning for Seratonin Syndrome, but I'm already on other stuff that has that, and never had that problem. Just wanted to let everyone know. Only day 1, and, despite Seratonin Syndrome risk (I'll take my chances even if it takes me to the edge of Death, to feel somewhat "normal" and functional!!), this is working GREAT!!!!! GO FOR IT, if you are not at risk/ have low risk for SS! :)

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Since they both have effects on Serotonin levels in the brain, using them together does increase the risk of someone developing Serotonin Syndrome, which can be very dangerous.

Learn more Pristiq details here.

Learn more Zoloft details here.

So, if they are taken together, then the dosage must be taken under careful consideration by their doctor and they should be monitored closely to watch for any danger signs.

Are you on both of these medications?

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