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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by AdamCanada on July 19, 2007, at 22:27:36
Prior to taking paxil 10mg my clinical depression (caused by accutane) was extremely severe to the point where every moment was excrutiatingly painful to be alive.
After a month of being on it paxil allowed me to at least live my life. A boring life where I dont have much interest in anything but at least I am not in constant pain and I am able to get out of bed and have some motivation.
Over a dozen of other meds have failed or made me worse.
I remember a few years back I tried to get off paxil to see how I would be like and perhaps try something else that could be better...
Instead of taking paxil 10mg I began to take 8mg of paxil eaxch evening. While initually I think i felt better I eventually began to feel HORRIBLE about 1-2 weeks later.
Is that paxil withdrawl? is that normal? Are you suppossed to feel more depressed than ever if you try to go off paxil? Or is it more likely it was just the underlying strong depression returning due to taking less paxil?
Please share your experiences with pqaxil withdrawl or any insight of advice into my situation.
I would love to try something like Taineptine (spelling?) but Paxil limits what I can take.I am just so sick and tired of always feeling like CRAP and I need a serious change.
Posted by Phillipa on July 19, 2007, at 22:34:43
In reply to How bad is paxil withdrawl? Is this it? Pls share, posted by AdamCanada on July 19, 2007, at 22:27:36
Well l0mg of paxil and xanax were all I could take per my doctor as he said the paxil was too stimulating for me he even put me on 25mg of lopressor three weeks prior to the start of paxil. I was sick as a dog and so tired for three months then I felt better. Back to work and stayed on it two years. My Son didn't believe in meds and was coming to live with us so I decided to get off it. At first I just stopped it and got the zaps . So each day I bit off a little less and soon I was off it. Love Phillipa ps sounds like your depression was worse than mine as that is when my thyroid went to why I then was put on a ad. Prior to that just xanax and beer at night
Posted by cactus on July 20, 2007, at 1:19:46
In reply to How bad is paxil withdrawl? Is this it? Pls share, posted by AdamCanada on July 19, 2007, at 22:27:36
Paxil and effexor are the 2 leading offenders of AD withdrawal if you suffer from discontinuation syndrome, not everyone does but if you do it's not nice. I only lasted 3 days on paxil and went beserk so I didn't have to withdraw from it, but I did from 10 months of effexor and it wasn't nice. Just taper slowly if that's what your doctor has recommended you do and look into the prozac cross taper. I wish I had know about this, it apparently lessens the blow considerably and makes it much easier to get off short acting SSRI/SNRI's like paxil and effexor. Good luck.
Posted by Shaner on July 20, 2007, at 12:49:56
In reply to Re: How bad is paxil withdrawl? Is this it? Pls share » AdamCanada, posted by cactus on July 20, 2007, at 1:19:46
I've stopped paxil a couple times without much trouble. I think the first time I felt really grumpy. The 2nd time I did it more slowly and I actually felt quite good, almost hyper once I completely stopped. Everybody's different
Posted by linkadge on July 22, 2007, at 14:40:20
In reply to Re: How bad is paxil withdrawl? Is this it? Pls share, posted by Shaner on July 20, 2007, at 12:49:56
Different people have different responces. If you decide to discontinue paxil you may want to switch to a SSRI with longer half life for a few weeks.
My withdrawl from SSRI's was essantially that my mood got worse than before I started. It stayed worse for a few months, then slowly started to get better over the course of a few years.
There are a lot of people who cannot quit paxil on account of the sevarity of the withdrawl symptoms, including a persistant dyphoric mood that often resembles a return of depression.
There are usually differences though between the kind of low mood that SSRI withdrawl may give, and ones original symptoms.
The fact that I had brand new symptoms of depression that I never had prior to SSRI's, ie severe social withdrawl, severe cognative impairment, problems with walking and ballance, problems speaking, word finding difficulty, etc led me to believe that what I was going through was more than just my original symptoms.
I chose to wait it out instead of going back on the drug. I felt that if I returned to the drug that I would probably never get off and would be on it for life.
Things are still not the same a few years afterwards, but I am coping, I guess.
Linkadge
Posted by belljar on July 24, 2007, at 15:54:13
In reply to Re: How bad is paxil withdrawl? Is this it? Pls share, posted by linkadge on July 22, 2007, at 14:40:20
Hi Shaner
I am also in the process of coming off Paxil. This is my third time coming off (and hopefully the last time...) The first time I lasted 2 years. The second I lasted 9 months/ This time I will find something different. Perhaps it's the mind set that makes the withdrawl easier. The first two times I experienced:
hallucinations (visual and auditory),
"spins", "elastic bands shooting inside my head and eyes",
horrid SADNESS for no reason (that's the only time I ever feel depressed)
crying
cold, shivers
FEAR of everything, especially people
loss of appetite (I like this one, though)The first time I quit cold turkey DON'T DO IT !
The second time I took wellbutrin to get through it, but it gave me "stupid brain" and I had to get off of it to keep my job.This time I am weaning very slowly perhaps unecessarily so - I am down to 5 mg every 2 days. IT has been 6 weeks or so and the "elastic bands" have stopped. I still feel SO SAD and am always worried that something is wrong - I'm reading a lot of other people's postings and constantly telling myself that it's the paxil... and so far it's been quite manageable. I have upped my magnesium intake, and have changed my diet to contain a ton of veggies / fruit and started drinking 8oz of aloevera juice a day. It tastes really YUKKY. Who knows if any of it has any connection, but I do feel very stable.
Read postings by Linkadge - his suggestions are really good. I'm now investigating naturopathic ideas that he put forth.The best thing is that the paxil side effects are fading (anger / agression / binge eating) and so I'm focussing on those positives as well.
Be careful if you are coming off - make sure that you have a strong support system and a definate plan as to what you will do once the paxil is over - otherwise you could end up running back to the paxil like I did. Kinda makes all of the withdrawl hell not worth it.
Good luck.
Belljar
Posted by linkadge on July 24, 2007, at 16:49:35
In reply to Re: How bad is paxil withdrawl? Is this it? Pls share, posted by belljar on July 24, 2007, at 15:54:13
For celexa, I used sandpaper to shave down a progressivly smaller series of half pills.
Ie I took half pills, (5mg), and made a series of 40 or 50 progessivly smaller pills.
It took the day, but then I just took the next one in the line for the next month or so.
Linkadge
Posted by brooke484 on July 24, 2007, at 20:47:06
In reply to How bad is paxil withdrawl? Is this it? Pls share, posted by AdamCanada on July 19, 2007, at 22:27:36
I know I keep repeating myself, but if you switch to 20 mgs of prozac when you get to 10 or 5 mgs, you should be fine. Prozac has a very long half life compared to paxil. As soon as I made the switch all of the withdrawal symptoms went away (even those brain zaps) and I was fine. Talk to your doctor about that.
brooke
Posted by Phillipa on July 24, 2007, at 21:14:39
In reply to Re: How bad is paxil withdrawl? Is this it? Pls share, posted by brooke484 on July 24, 2007, at 20:47:06
How come I never have these problems going off an ad and paxil was for two years off in about two weeks of smaller bites. If I have all these withdrawal problems I probably wouldn't take any antidessants as when I come off I feel better. Strange??? Love Phillipa
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