Long term Paxil use

I have been on Paxil for over 10 years and have been thinking about getting off of it.  What are the side effects of being on Paxil for such a long time?  After reading some of the side effects of trying to get off Paxil, I am wondering if I should continue to take it for the rest of my life.  Has anyone out there been on Paxil for as long as I have?  

[LLFgirl]

I took Paxil for 4 years and expreienced headaches, drowsiness, heat rash, and some itching. I now take Lexapro instead and still have similar symptoms.

[Hensley258]

Ten years is a long time on the same antidepressant medication. This is actually a good thing because it shows that your body is not building resistance to the drug.

As of now there are no scientific studies that indicate SSRI medication as having any long term adverse effects on health. (There could be problems, but nothing is proven)

If you wish to get off Paxil there are a couple very key things you must understand first:
(1.) Even with a very slow tapering of the medication, you will get several week or even months of withdrawl (withdrawal) symptoms. These symptoms can vary between mild to very severe.

(2.) If you stop taking your medication there is a very good chance that the symptoms of your Depression will return. Unfortunatly Depression almost never just goes away. The medication only controls it. This can often be very deciving because many times our medication does such a good just at controling our symptoms of depression that we think, "hey i'm better now and I can stop my meds." It can be a rude awakining to stop our meds and find that our depression was only hibernating with the use of our medication.

If you do stop, just do it slow. VERY SLOW.