How can I avoid paxil withdrawal symptoms...particularly the nausea>?!
Question: I am desperately trying to stop taking Paxil (aka Paroxetine) and every few days, I start becoming nauseated and need to take a small dose to get over the nausea. I feel as if I will never be able to stop taking it because of the withdrawal effects. I've been on something since 1997, and went through this withdrawal once before when I switched to another antidepressant in 2002. I now have 4 small children and cannot simply take time off to get through these horrible symptoms. I just don't know what to do. All I know is that I will be ok without them. Please help with any advice! Thank you :)
Answers: I am desperately trying to stop taking Paxil (aka Paroxetine) and every few days, I start becoming nauseated and need to take a small dose to get over the nausea. I feel as if I will never be able to stop taking it because of the withdrawal effects. I've been on something since 1997, and went through this withdrawal once before when I switched to another antidepressant in 2002. I now have 4 small children and cannot simply take time off to get through these horrible symptoms. I just don't know what to do. All I know is that I will be ok without them. Please help with any advice! Thank you :)
The same thing happened to me when I went off paxil. I felt like a drug addict. Ask your doctor to give you some prozac. It is supposed to help ease the withdraw from the paxil. Then when you're all off of the paxil for a while (like a couple of months), then you can wean off of the prozac. Prozac is relatively easy to wean off of because it has such a long half-life (it takes longer to get out of your system once you stop taking it, so it's a very gradual withdraw. Prozac is so much easier to stop taking.
This will probably take you longer than you want it to, but you will feel much better and be able to deal with your four kids better.
When I went off of paxil I actually had a hallucination of this huge spider on the bed - it was very scary. Plus I became suicidal and couldn't sleep for days, not to mention being sick as a dog.
Good luck!
Oh and if you ever go back on meds, effexor is also terrible to go off of, so I wouldn't take that if I were you.
Also google paxil withdraw and you will be amazed at how many people go through this with paxil.
Oh and for the person who said to just "choose to be happy," that may be true for some people, but for others there is an actual chemical imbalance in the brain that won't allow them to make that "choice." I've been depressed since kindergarten. I started taking meds at age 20. I've tried and tried to go without meds for the last 17 years, but I end up suicidal without them. Everyone is different so please be careful about judging people who are unable to pull themselves up by the bootstraps.
You'll find a lot of info at the Quit Paxil site.
http://www.quitpaxil.info/
A lot of people take Dramamine or eat ginger to combat the nausea.
You might want to get a copy of the book The Antidepressant Solution: A Step-by-Step Guide to Safely Overcoming Antidepressant Withdrawal, Dependence, and "Addiction"
http://www.prozacbacklash.com/antidepres...
Don't skip days! The goal is to steadily decrease the dose, not jump up and down with it.
You doctor should give you a schedule for coming off the medication. If not, try to go as long as you can without then take a small dose (smallest dose possible) to get over the withdrawl. Next time, go one day longer than the last, regardless of the withdrawl.
You need to go off it slowly. Cut your normal dose in half. And stay at that level for at least a week then cut back to half of that (even if you means you are taking the pills every other day) and stay there for a while. Depending on what your dose was - keep doing that or when I get down to 20 mg every other day I go to 20 mg every 3 days and then off.
i just quit cold turkey.. but i wasnt on it very long..
i quit when i realized my shrink just wanted my money.. and had no intentions of curing a well paying patient.
happiness is a perspective not a set of circumstances.. i reject the money motivated health professionals as bottom feeding scum. Passing out their prescriptions to get kickbacks from the pharmecutical companys. Keeping you hooked so they can draw a steady paycheck.
health insurance companys exist and profit by denying you health care. When you do have a valid claim the treatment is always the least possible.. at the highest possible cost.. The whole system is a scam.
choose to be happy.. instead of choosing to be scammed and robbed.
if you find yourself feeling down.. do something new or different.. grab the kids and go for a walk on a beach or in the park.. or go to a zoo or museum.. .. or go to the library.. dont waste your time feeling down.. do something to change it. watch a happy movie.. make a feast.. anything helps CHOOSE to be happy..
dont trust some quack that just wants your money to make you happy.. even that charletan realizes only you can make that choice yourself. But they wont tell you that.. cus they want your money.
nice to hear your tossing the drugs..
go slow.. and be aware of the risks of quitting that drug.
Because of Paxil's short half-life, the drug should not be tapered on a 'miss-a-day' basis. Glenmullen states (p.97) in his book on antidepressant withdrawal, 'The Antidepressant Solution':
"Q. Can antidepressants be taken every other day as part of tapering off them?
A. None of the short acting antidepressants should be taken every other day as a way of tapering them. Because of their short half-lives, the every other day schedule can result in roller coaster levels of the drugs and roller coaster levels of withdrawal symptoms. This is true for Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa (citalopram), Lexapro, Luvox, Effexor, Cymbalta, Serzone, Remeron, and Wellbutrin. Since Prozac is long-acting, it is the one antidepressant that can be taken every other day as part of tapering the drug. Because of Prozac's long half-life, patients on every other day schedules typically do not notice the difference between the days when they take the dose and the days when they do not. Because Prozac lingers so long in the body, the fluctuation in the level of the drug are typically not great enough to produce withdrawal symptoms. For most patients, taking 20mg of Prozac every other day is equivalent to taking 10mg a day. Occasionally patients taking Prozac every other day will notice the difference and then one can return to daily dosing. But with all the other antidepressants, every other day dosing should be avoided"
As someone else has suggested, reading this book may help substantially. That way you have particular facts available to you about withdrawal and withdrawal symptoms. The preface, opening chapter, and list of withdrawal symptoms are available on-line (link below).
Paxil is available as a liquid in some countries e.g. USA. This means you can switch from the pill to the liquid, stabilise, then reduce milligram by mg, or fraction of a mg as required.
The paradox with antidepressant withdrawal is that it is often 'the faster the worse', 'the slower the better'... you may actually find you function better whilst on a slower taper and therefore retain a greater quality of life, and an ability to live your life, during the process.
There can be problems with the Paxil-Prozac switch, there is the possibility of a known agitation reaction. It may work, it may not - one group which has amassed thousands of individual reports and experiences on Paxil withdrawal, report it only worked for two of their members. You may find the reams of Paxil withdrawal information they have at their fingertips to be of assistance (link below).