Re: Recovery from protracted withdrawal symptoms from Paxil

[Guest guest]

I started taking Paxil when I was 23 years old, and have been on it for the majority of the past 10 years.Dosage for past few years has been 10 mg.I did what I thought was a slow taper in Oct/Nov, and went through some emotional withdrawal symptoms.

Hi Amisha,

Are you still at 10mg now? Or do you mean you tapered off completely from Paxil in Oct/Nov? I'm not to clear, I apologise. What are you calling a slow taper please, can you give more details on this? Thanks

[Guest guest]

I started taking Paxil when I was 23 years old, and have been on it for the majority of the past 10 years.Dosage for past few years has been 10 mg.I did what I thought was a slow taper in Oct/Nov, and went through some emotional withdrawal symptoms.

Hi Amisha,

Are you still at 10mg now? Or do you mean you tapered off completely from Paxil in Oct/Nov? I'm not to clear, I apologise. What are you calling a slow taper please, can you give more details on this? Thanks

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thank you for the quick response. I am completely off the medicine now, since December timeframe.

To be honest, I can't entirely remember the exact taper schedule. I remember thinking I had to take it slow, as I had been through this once before many years before where I had had electrical zaps - thought I was dying, and went back on the medicine... This time, I don't remember experiencing anything physical during the taper, just more of the emotional stuff - bouts of crying a few times, and two times i remember having moments of rage... I think I did the taper over the course of 2-3 months, but i don't remember to be sure. I know this sounds bad that I don't remember... my memory has not been great lately and i think i had too many things going on

at the time... Looking back, I really should have been more organized and taken notes, etc.

It wasn't until this past week that my mind has started to clear more, and I did an internet search and realized these sensations that have been frustrating me could be paxil withdrawal related. I went to a doctor a couple months ago, and he just looked at me like i was crazy when i asked him about the tingling sensations... He did find I was low in iron/vitamin d, but did not think these things were related.

Grateful for any input you can provide, thank you.

amisha

I started taking Paxil when I was 23 years old, and have been on it for the majority of the past 10 years.Dosage for past few years has been 10 mg.I did what I thought was a slow taper in Oct/Nov, and went through some emotional withdrawal symptoms.

Hi Amisha,

Are you still at 10mg now? Or do you mean you tapered off completely from Paxil in Oct/Nov? I'm not to clear, I apologise.

What are you calling a slow taper please, can you give more details on this?

Thanks

[Guest guest]

Amisha,

I withdrew from Paxil 3 years ago, tapering off 40 mg over 6 months. I had been

on SSRIs for 16 years, and Paxil for 9 of that. I thought at the time that I

tapered slowly, but now in reading and hearing from experts like , it

was faster than recommended. [EDITED by due to withdrawal

recommendation that differs from advice here on this list. General guidelines

to follow.] I thought I was doing okay for about 6 months post zero, but then

things got real miserable for me, and I had very high anxiety and deep

depression for another several months. Also had bad digestion problems, nausea,

diarrhea and fatigue, as my body awoke from its neurotransmitters asleep for all

those years.

Your symptoms could very well be withdrawal. The symptoms can really vary for us

all. Your doctor is very likely not educated about withdrawal off these powerful

meds; most doctors don't know anything and what they do know is from the drug

reps. It is maddening when they don't believe you are having symptoms form w/d

and look at you like you're crazy, isn't it? My doctor did that, too.

If you had tried to withdraw off Paxil in previous years, your brain is now even

more perturbed than before, and is confused about what it's supposed to do. When

my w/d symptoms got real bad, I was very tempted to go back on meds, but people

who knew better than me strongly urged me to stay the course, and stay off the

drugs. I did. And I am so glad. Today, I don't have any real w/d symptoms. Every

day the depression and anxiety lifts a bit more. And every few months I still

get a few head zaps, but they are basically not bothersome. I can really feel my

head and body healing.

Hope that's helpful.

Deb

On Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 9:51 PM, amisha patel <lovecareandguidance@...

> wrote:

>

>

> Hi ,

>

> Thank you for the quick response. I am completely off the medicine now,

> since December timeframe.

>

> To be honest, I can't entirely remember the exact taper schedule. I

> remember thinking I had to take it slow, as I had been through this once

> before many years before where I had had electrical zaps - thought I was

> dying, and went back on the medicine... This time, I don't remember

> experiencing anything physical during the taper, just more of the emotional

> stuff - bouts of crying a few times, and two times i remember having moments

> of rage... I think I did the taper over the course of 2-3 months, but i

> don't remember to be sure. I know this sounds bad that I don't remember...

> my memory has not been great lately and i think i had too many things going

> on

> at the time... Looking back, I really should have been more organized

> and taken notes, etc.

> It wasn't until this past week that my mind has started to clear more, and

> I did an internet search and realized these sensations that have

> been frustrating me could be paxil withdrawal related. I went to a doctor a

> couple months ago, and he just looked at me like i was crazy when i asked

> him about the tingling sensations... He did find I was low in iron/vitamin

> d, but did not think these things were related.

>

> Grateful for any input you can provide, thank you.

>

> amisha

>