Weaning of 10mg of paxil

[Jamie1995x]

Hi, so I have been on about 10MG of paxil for around a year now and I want to get completely off it. I went to the doctor 2 days ago and they suggested that I should just go "cold turkey" because I'm on such a "low" dose however I'm not sure if this is a good idea as I herd you should never go cold turkey even on low dose. For Now I have broken the 10mg of paxil in half and been taking 5MG for the last 3 days (no withdrawals yet) and I plan to continue to take 5mg for another 4 days and then next week i'll take 2.5 mg for 7 days and then go off it completely. Is this a good idea? thanks

[Holding_onto_faith]

Hi! I was trying to come off of Paxil two years ago for a few months. The effects were so bad: dizzy, nauseous, vertigo, anxiety, etc. When I got down to 5 mg it was unbearable, so my doctor actually put me on Prozac to wean me off since it has a much longer half life. That only took 2 weeks and I was fine during that process! Good luck!

[Paxiled]

If 10mg is working for you, it's not a low dose -- it's your dose.  Which means you're metabolizing the drug and therefore, given this is the most difficult of them all to stop taking, your decision to ignore your doctor was a good one, in my opinion.  The speed at which you taper off is determined by how you feel -- if you start getting withdrawal symptoms that are too strong for comfort, then you slow down the taper.  You go as slowly as you need to.  And remember, not everyone gets withdrawal -- you might get none at all.  As for your doctor, he's violating the basic rule of do no harm.  I wouldn't use this doctor for your mental health medication needs anymore.

[michigan07]

I would like to add what you already know and that is cold turkey and low dose is a matter of opinion. Yes 10 mg is "low" but our bodies all react differently. A good doctor should work with what you are comfortable doing. After all, we know our bodies better than anyone.

[michigan07]

I would advise your doctor of what your plan is but at the end of the day we all do what we believe is best for ourselves, which you already began to do. I would let him/her know your plan but I wouldn't worry.