Drug interraction between Methadone and Paxil

[Plumpkin]

I have been on Methadone maintenance for almost 3 years and have abstained from all other drugs and alcohol.  I have been experiencing feelings of depression and feeling overwhelmed and would like to try an anti-depressent.  I took Paxil, briefly while in College.  I had a good result and remember no sexual side effect.  Is there a negative reaction when Methadon and Paxil are mixed?  Will it show up on a drug screen?  If Paxil isn't an anti-depressent I want to consider, is there another one that I should discuss with my physician?

[AmberHunter]

i worked on one of the phase three clinical drug trials on paxil (paroxetine) back in 91... the drug was shown to be effective and safe. what wasn't known at that time by us researchers was that SSRI's have there own set of withdrawls symptoms (discontinuation syndrome) and can be very difficult to come off of. paxil appears to be the worst to come off of so if i were you (which i am not!) i would look into taking another SSRI or another class of AD. i switched from paxil to prozac b/c i had planned to discontinue the prozac which would be easier than discontinuing the paxil b/c prozac has a longer half life... so anyhow...

good luck with whatever choices you make and i am sure the doc will pop in here and answer your question as to whether it is contraindicated while on methadone!!

peace,

amber