Stopping Paxil

[jen09]

I'm 17 years old and I've been on 20mg of Paxil since last March. My doctor diagnosed me with having Generalized Anxiety Disorder, so he decided to put me on Paxil. I've gotten better over the months that I have been taking Paxil, so like 5 days ago I just suddenly decided to stop taking the paxil without telling my doctor. I began to experience  flu-like symptons like nausea, brain zaps or shocks, sweating, and fatigue. I'm so confused, I don't want to be on Paxil, but I feel like I have to be on it to feel better. I took paxil today, and I feel so much better. I just don't want to be on paxil my whole life, and how am I suppose to stop paxil without it making me so sick?

[ruby441]

I was on paxil about 10 years ago & when I gained a lot of weight & started having withdrawal effect before 24 hrs. was up my MD put me on another drug & mistakenly told me to just stop the paxil, not good. I had the same withdrawal effects you had. It felt like my head was short-circuiting & I was crying, felt physically awful, it was horrible. I went back to the MD & was told to taper the drug down over a period of weeks, in the end it took me appox. 2 months to comfortably to get off of it. Go back to your MD & come up with a reasonable plan to come off of the drug. There are better drugs out there for anxiety & depression that don't have the same negative effects as paxil.

ruby441

[mindy1956]

I was on paxil 20mg for about 5 yrs & you do have to wean yourself very slowly to avoid too many side effects. After reading the horror stories on the internet I was petrified of stopping it but knew I had to.  I am so surprised @how well I did. Sometimes it helps to take benedryl to help the effects(diphenhydramine in generic-much cheaper).  When symptoms start to ease ,cut down some more until you feel good enough to quit completely. Good Luck!  I'm also hoping to lose weight now!

[jill6]

Hi - I also took Paxil a few years back - I agree you should taper but my psych just told me to stop  since I wasn't on a high dose - the "brain zaps" were horrible as well as the other w/d symptoms - I had 6 young kids at home and it was pretty bad - and my psych didn't warn me of the w/d's - anyway - it didn't take too long until I felt better (about 2 weeks) but at the time it seemed like forever - in hindsight I think my doctor was wrong for not tapering me - and I no longer see him b/c of it.  I didn't have a choice about stopping b/c I was pregnant and my ob didn't want me to take it - can you speak with your parents about what is going on?

[dove3053]

I thought I heard some where that paxil and other medicines like it were not recommended for teenagers or young adults.  Am I wrong?

Dove

[KKWilli]

I took Paxil for a about 18 months to get me through a very rough divorce.  It did help alot.  Took the edge off for me.  I was on a very low dose, only 20 mg., but still had to taper very slowly.  Talk to your doctor.  I cut my pills & took 3/4 for about a week, then 1/2 for about a week, then 1/4 for about a week, then 1/4 about every other day for a week, and then stopped.  Everyone is different, though, and your doc may have a different plan for you.  He/she may want to put you on a different med if you're still having anxiety.  There's no shame in taking medicine if you still need it.  

[themrs]

ok. I did the same thing with my antidepressant. I thought I was okay so I stopped taking it. A couple of weeks later, I started feeling worse than ever. I didnt tell my doctor that I stopped taking it until I felt horrible. After talking to him, he said that if I wanted to stop, I should have talked to him because they would lower my doses then eventually take me off of them. But to stop taking them immediatley is a horrible idea in my opinion.

[lovebuckets10]

i found a web site
http://www.namiscc.org/News/2002/Summer/PaxilWithdrawal.htm

i dont know much about it, never took it before but i am sure you will find more post, its slow tonight.

[avisg]

jen,
plz talk this over with your doctor tell him you want to try to see how your anxiety is without it .You have to taper off of paxil,what you were feeling was withdrawal. talk to your doctor.
avis