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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
withdrawal from paxil for anxiety panic disorder
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD) , bipolar disorder , dementia , electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) , learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) , panic , personality disorders, phobias , post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , schizophrenia , stress , transitions, and work problems.
withdrawal from paxil for anxiety panic disorder
by laulenaboo, Aug 28, 2004 12:00AM
Ok, Well I started taking Paxil CR 12.5mg in 2002... for what the doctor called an "anxiety/panic disorder" due to a chemical imbalance. Slowly, he increased dose to 25mg and I was on that steady for about 6 months to a year even a while after I was all better...then he began taking me off decreasing the amount to 12.5mg again. I kept weening myself off of it till I got to once a week then I just quit. I have been completely off of it for about two weeks now. Well...lately wierd things have been happening such as... I forget alot of things...very often. My eyes do this wierd thing where they jigger jagger like and my head feels tingly when it does this..It is very hard to explain. I mess up my speech ALOT... like if I wanted to say cat I might say splat or something wierd. I just started college. I graduated high school with a 3.0. It is not like me to mess up my sentences or speech.. and double check things. It is almost like I feel slow. Then I get fustrated. I get headaches.. I never used to get headaches... I have also gained a good bit of weight. Well, what concerns me, Is this normal? If this is normal will it pass? If it will pass how long? If this isn't normal does that mean I have to take the medicine ALL OVER AGAIN :( ? or is my brain forever damaged for having used this medical drug? Help... I am a little freaked out...
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Aug 30, 2004 12:00AM
, Aug 30, 2004 12:00AM
There is no permanent damage, so don't worry about that. Some people get very anxious about being off the medications since you relied on it for so long, and starting school can cause new anxieties. It sounds more like that than medication withdrawal which would have come sooner. Nevertheless, sometimes odd things like this happen, but shouldn't last more than another week if it is medication.
http://www.medhelp.org/perl6/MentalHealth/messages/C32713-10.html