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Withdraw

I have been on Paxil for 8 years. I was told that the Paxil was not working for me anymore.( I have had a very stressful 2 years and at Christmas time I noticed that I was withdrawing and not feeling well, was having some panic attacks.) So since January I have tried Effexor made things worse. Zoloft 2 different doses no luck and now Prozac 2nd increase on this drug as well. I had remained on the Paxil the entire time and was reducing it. It has been 6 days no Paxil only Prozac and some Clonazepam to help out. I have been experiencing numbness in my hands, I am nauseous, dizzy, headaches, generally feeling bad.  One day the dizziness was so bad I could not leave the house. I have very little appetite and through this entire process I just dont feel like doing anything. I have lost about 10 pounds since I have been declining and quitting the Paxil. (I gained over 40lbs while on this med). My doctor told me that the above symptoms were psychosomatic. I just want to feel better and I know that it does take time for meds to build up in your system. I was just wondering if anyone had this and how they made it through.  
Best Answer
480448 tn?1426948538
Absolutely positively agree with Paxiled.  Your doctor is recommending things that could actually be dangerous.  It isn't uncommon to introduce a new med in the same class of meds once the original one (in your case, the Paxil) has been tapered down to an extremely low dose, or, better yet, stopped all together.  You shouldn't be concurrently taking these kinds of meds together.  Also, like Paxiled said, Paxil is notoriously one of the hardest antidepressants to taper off (with Effexor coming in a close second), you REALLY need a doctor who knows his way around these meds.  From what you've said here, IMO, yours does not.  For the best outcome, you should be VERY slowly tapered off the Paxil, not willy-nilly with very little guidance from your physician.  

PLEASE seek another opinion from a psychiatrist who is familiar with these meds, especially Paxil.  I'm sorry you're going through this...and while it sounds like you're dealing with classic Paxil discontinuation syndrome, the waters have been muddied by your doc making so many rash changes so quickly, BEFORE you were off the Paxil...so really, it's impossible to say what exactly is causing all of your symptoms.  My guess would be a majority of them are the Paxil w/d symptoms, and the rest from the other meds, the up and down, your brain doesn't know if it's coming or going at this point.

Please let us know how you're doing and what you decide.
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Avatar universal
I gained about 25 1bs over a few years on Effexor, but what I dislike more is how the drug gave me something called REM Behavioral Disorder, which should not happen in young men. Effexor also makes me feel warm all the time. sweating be in winter weather, body temp up (but just feels that way, taking my temp is almost always normal.  

i went on it for depression and chronic pain Mgt, which some case  Studies claimed it was effective. However after a few years of trying it at different doses, it has not had a noticeable effect on my pain levels nor has it  decreased symptoms of depression.
The only reason I'm still on it is because it is so damn hard to get off of.    Of all the SNRI drugs,  this has the most recorded cases of with drawl and what people experience as detox. So there are two things going on: one is withdraw symptoms from the lowet dosage  as you taper down. Two is the brains struggle with the absence of the drug.
If you were one of the unfortunate few who experience  Brain scratching or water also call the brains apps in correlation with moving your head or shifting your eyes from left to right, I have great compassion for you.
My psychiatrist has taught me how to break open the  37.5 mg capsules and separate the actual tablets.
I am going down one level every two weeks. I am now at approximately 8 mg in the morning and 8 mg at night

The noise in my head, the balance issues, nausea, mood shifts, irritability, headaches, word finding difficulties, impaired short-term memory,  body sweats and vivid dreams/nightmares   are making it hard for me to do anything outside of the house. Fortunately my family and close friends know what I'm going through and support me getting off Effexor.

I am on some other drugs for anti-Migraine and depression, and Effexors presence increases the risk of Serotonin Syndrome, yet another reason to d/c it.

Glad to have found this forum.
sending empathy and courage to others in similar situations.

JB


Coming of it with another meds present
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Avatar universal
Yeah, but you've still been put on two drugs at the same time that affect serotonin for awhile, and that's dangerous.  I'm sorry, but you need another doctor.  If the Paxil was working for you why would you go through the torment of coming off of it?  Paxil is so strong it's often difficult after using it to find another med that works, and it's not easy for Paxil to work again either.  And Effexor is a stimulating anti-depressant, so if you're main problem is anxiety that can be a problem drug for many people, but to be on Effexor and Paxil at the same time is malpractice.  You definitely need a different doc, and here you are still suffering Paxil withdrawal and you and your doctor just hoping it goes away and hoping a different drug will work, which isn't guaranteed.  You're going to do what you feel is best, but I would find a good psychiatrist who knows meds well and untangle this, but that's just me.  I'd also maybe do some homework about these drugs before you just let doctors tell you what to do -- assuming the competency of physicians can lead to trouble.  But I hope it all works out well and am glad more than this didn't happen.
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Avatar universal
Hi Paxiled.
I was told to come off of Paxil so my doctor had me on my regular dose of Paxil and added Effexor, that made tjings worse so I was changed to Paxil and Zoloft that seemed a little better and the doctor upped the Zoloft does and reduced the Paxil dose. Well after several weeks I was still feeling bad so the meds were changed from Zoloft to Prozac with  Paxil. Last weekend 7 days ago I quit Paxil all together and am on 40mg of Prozac which was an increase in the original does of 20mg, I still have the same symptoms even this moment I am so nauseous. I understand about the doctor comment and agree. He told me that is why he hates Paxil. Thank you for you comment.
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Avatar universal
I'm confused -- are you saying that you're on Effexor and Zoloft and Paxil at the same time?  Or Prozac and Paxil at the same time?  You can't do that unless you've tapered down slowly off the Paxil -- you can't take two drugs that target serotonin at the same time if you're still at a medicinal dose of the first one.  With Paxil, it's one of the most difficult medications to stop taking, and it needs to be done on a slow taper that suits you, not some generalized schedule.  All of your symptoms are classic Paxil withdrawal symptoms, or would be if not for the confusion of taking more than one drug that targets the same stuff at the same time.  Because you've been on Paxil a long time, it will take a long time to stop taking it.  Your doctor who said this is psychosomatic, I'm sorry to say, is completely incompetent, so the first thing you need to do is find a psychiatrist who is well versed in how to go on and go off these meds -- it's tricky, and most just don't know their stuff very well, and primary docs are usually the worst at it.  You can't quit it abruptly and switch to another medication because of two reasons:  it won't do anything about your withdrawal symptoms, and you won't know which symptoms are withdrawal and which are side effects of the new med.  Best practice is to taper off the drug completely, and then try a new med if that's your choice.  Generally, if the withdrawal is taking some time and you're not getting better, the only real treatment is to stick it out and hope it goes away, which could happen quickly or not at all, or go back on the drug at the last dose at which you felt fine and taper off more slowly.  But you need a doctor who understands this and will be in it with you, and right now you don't seem to based on what you've said.  Which is odd, because the difficulty with Paxil has been known for years, so to say it's psychosomatic is just beyond comprehension.  Is there more to this story?  
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Avatar universal
You poor thing.. I would not wish this onto anyone. I'm having the same exact withdrawls from Paxil right now. They put me on it about four months ago, then changed it to Amitriptalyne a week ago. They told me to ween myself off of Paxil, which I did. However, I guess it didn't work. I stopped Amitriptalyne two days after use, because I thought that it was side effects from that. For almost a week now, I have felt SO dizzy, blurred vision, shaky, tired, and like my senses were being overloaded. Yesterday, I posted about it and someone said that it was exact Paxil withdrawl STILL right now. :( I hope someone would tell me how long this will last.
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