40 mg of Paxil for 2.5 months - please help

[RobertKas]

Hi Great People,
2.5 month ago my doc put me on 40mg of Paxil (I was just bit frastrated in work) and I dont want to take this pill anymore.  Can you please suggest a safest taper from 40 mg of Paxil being on it for 2.5 months.
All I know it cant be c/t.
Thanks very much,
Robert

[Paxiled]

bastet -- we were put on ssris because they're very good for anxiety.  Benzos are all short term, even the so-called long term one, klonopin, so you're okay for a few moments or so and then you're anxious again.  With the ssris, that doesn't happen, and you can go down on the benzos.  In other words, different drugs work differently for different people.  For me, benzos have never helped much, tricyclics and ssris have.  That's your answer.  And as for tapering, the problem is, you have to taper according to you, not some other fictional person.  If you have a hack psychiatrist or doctor who doesn't believe in withdrawal or hasn't kept up, you're screwed, which is what happened to me despite tapering.

To Paxiluser-- That's a common side effect of Paxil.  I had it too, got aggressive and angry.  Not quite as impulsively as you, but I got it.  But to tell you the truth, it didn't feel that bad after years of panic attacks, and wasn't the reason I went off it -- I didn't even know the Paxil was causing it until I had to research the drug after I went off it and it killed me.  

[bastet56]

You have to wean yourself slowly off of all these meds . No matter what you do you will still go through from several day to several weeks of withdrawl while your system readjusts to not having the meds. It's best to get a drs advise for dosage decreases - if you can't go to your dr find on that will help you. I don't understand why your drs put you on SSRI's to begin with if you have no other symptoms other than anxiety. There are other drugs for anxiety (which carry their own risks).

[Paxil_User5]

Please help:
I have been suffering from anxiety disorder since I was 25.  It reached a point where I would not go to any social gathering as it triggers this massive heart beat, sweating and shaking.  My throat used to get dry and could not talk.  any public gathering including parties, meetings and public speaking was getting too much for me.  I was very shy person and comfortably happy around certain people only

I am sure you know all these symptoms.  I consulted with my doctor at the age of 37 as this was affecting me at my work and socially.

He prescribed me Paxil 40mg.  I was able to reduce it to 20 within the first 6 months.  I really liked it initially as it really helped me a lot as I came out of my shell.  I became very social person and all these issues that I had disappeared.  I even enjoyed the prolonged sexual arousal that it created.

Here is my problem... I am 42 years old and have been taking paxil 20mg for 5 years.  it has definately changed my behaviour.  my wife had enough of this and I need to get a solution.  The change that is happening to me is that for a couple of days, I seem very happy and live is great.  few days later i get irritated by a very simple wrong doing of a person and I get fixated to that thought and get angry very easily.  During this period I just avoid certain people and get angry with a prolonged negetive thoughts of what someone has done or said to me.

I once tried to stop it my gave a miserable few days to my wife and got back on it.

I really would like to stop taking this drug and at the same time do not want to go back again to my shell of anxiety.

Please help me...

[Paxiled]

It wasn't the taper, it was the psychiatrist.  He didn't respond at all when I started going nuts, it didn't happen at first, at first it was just some physiological stuff, but when I went nuts he just recommended two completely different drugs.  I had to learn what was happening on the internet, and by the time I got the courage up to pay for a shrink out of my own pocket too much time had passed for her to know what to do.  That's still the case three years later.  What he should have done, it's right on the website of the company by FDA order, was put me back on Paxil and taper more slowly, but he was a hack.  You have to be careful with these guys -- most are just dull, dull, dull witted.

[RobertKas]

Just cut my dose again :-)  04/28/09 from 37.5 to 32.5 mg of Paxil... so far after 2 days increased anxiety (a lot); no other symptoms.
will keep you guys posted

ps. Paxiled, you suggested 6 weeks taper plan as well; can you please tell me how did you taper  your Paxil that caused such a severe long lasting symptoms?

[RobertKas]

Hey Ryan,
Need your help again please.
Will do next cut pretty soon and will let you know how am I doing.
Ryan, on one of you previous post re Paxil you mentioned to Paxiled that Paxil can trigger mania or biopolar disorder.... it means that if you never exp. mania or bi. disorder Paxil could actually trigger it and it will be permanent?
How about other SSRI (ex. Luvox) which i took for 3 months?
Kindly advise,
Robert

[RobertKas]

You are very right Paxile, I should never be put on Paxil at first place, especially on 40mg.  I started tapering last week and cut my dose by 2.5 mg and on 04/28 and i debating if I should cut again 2.5 mg or go to 5 mg cut... i am just affraid reading all these horror stories about people cutting to fast and then struggling for years.
Please let me know Paxiled what should I do?
Thanks,
Robert

[Paxiled]

It could be.  I was just saying a low dose also produces anxiety in many people.  These are weird meds.  I just upped my dosage of Lexapro, and got real hyper.  These drugs are just nuts.  Of course, so am I.  

Are you tapering down?  With all my panic attacks, they never put me on more than 30mg of Paxil, and I worked up to that.  It helped, but in your case you should never have been put on it.  

[RobertKas]

I was reading that high dose of Paxil induces anxiety; if this is a case, that's what i am experiencing.

[Paxiled]

Can be at any dose of any medication.  People respond differently.

[RobertKas]

Hey Great People,
Long story short (i know too much to read)... I was put right on 40 mg of Paxil 3 months ago and started to notice sever anxiety... is this one of the side effect of Paxil at this dose?
Please advise,
Robert

[Paxiled]

It's not the drug that's evil, Paxil has also helped a lot of people.  It's the system that's evil, the conspiracy of silence between psychiatrists, the medical profession, and the pharmaceutical companies.  If we were aware what to expect when we take these, and if we knew which were last resort medications and which were first resort, it would be better, but the profit motive and willful ignorance get in the way.  Ryan called it with you right away -- you were never a candidate for this drug, and certainly not at that dose to start with.  Now your job is to hang tough, and get through it.  For me, I didn't know Paxil had caused obsessive thinking, but everyone who knew me did.  And after being on it for a few years, I couldn't sleep anymore because I couldn't stop thinking.  They weren't bad or frightening thoughts, they just came at the wrong time.  It was only after I had to figure what happened to me after I went off the drug that I researched it thoroughly and discovered more about it.  That's partly my fault, I should have known better, but i didn't, and neither did my psychiatrists over the years, which is where the evil is.

[RobertKas]

Thanks man.
I was actually debating why Iately I have so many intrussive thoughts which are more and more intense.  even I asked my doc. who told me I can be developing an OCD.  but you mentioned that it one of the side effects of Paxil... I really need to taper this evil drug asap.
Robert

[Paxiled]

Don't obsess.  Easy to say, hard to do.  Paxil causes obsessive thinking, one of its common side effects.  But it really just makes it worse.  Keep on doing what you think is best for you, don't worry about what happened to others.  Good to know, bad to worry.

[RobertKas]

Thank again for you full explanation on withdrawal process.
I believe reason I was hit hard was I cut my dose from 40 mg to 20 mg and it was a big drop.  I am back now on 40 mg and once stabilized I will go much slower.
Indeed Paxiled, i am kind of obsessing about it because so many horroor stories on diff. forums and just being affraid, what if.
Best,
Robert

[Paxiled]

Don't know about video guy's plan.  I go by the original taper suggested by Dr. Healy (don't know first name or if that's the right spelling) who was the English psychiatrist who first went public with this in 1996 and was the one who did the discovery in the lawsuits against GlaxoSmithKline.  Also a book by Joseph Glenmullen, you can find it on Amazon, where he gives a detailed explanation of tapering.  And yes, you can go back up in dosage.  The recommendations I've seen is to go back to the last dosage at which you had no withdrawal symptoms, then taper more slowly from there.  It says this right on the GlaxoSmithKline website and the website of every ssri, because the FDA required them to say it.  

Remember, I originally recommended a six week taper to start, with the above recommendation if you ran into trouble.  Even my quack psychiatrist used the recommended six week taper, not such a fast one.  It's just exercising caution.  Though I didn't think you'd have that big a problem.  I think, and I know this is going to sound bad but don't take it that way, that you've been obsessing on this for so long that it's making it worse.  Try, and I know this is hard, to just accept what's happening and move through it.  Remember, mine was so bad in large part because I didn't know what was happening -- my shrink never told me about withdrawal and I didn't know, and when it started, he still said nothing.  It was weeks before I had the courage to go on the internet and find out what was happening to me.  You know, so you should be able to use that to your advantage.  Most of the people with the worst withdrawals on the websites you looked at did not know they were in withdrawal because they were never told, like me.

[RobertKas]

Hey Guys,
As for this taper plan presented by videoguy, can you please tel me in more details.
Can you really play around with paxil like that; once you take a full dose, then after few days 10 mg less and then again full dose... does it not confuse your brain chemistry even more. but let assume it will work for me like this.
my step after 2 weeks would be:
m; 30 t; 20; w;30 t; 30 f; 30 s; 20 and sunday 30?
is this how it works?
thank you for answering,
robert

[RobertKas]

Tay, can you please tell me how much of your full dose of Paxil was and how did you taper and for how long?
thanks,
Robert

[RobertKas]

Many thanks on your post and all your suggestions.  I will certain try fish oil and will more slowly once stabilized.  Reason i am feeling so bad right now is i drop from 40 mg to 20 mg in one day (my doc advise)... it's 50% drop on paxil.  Do you think it is still possible to fully stabilize again w/o any symptoms and start my taper more slowly.
If so, i am even going to drop only 5 mg every 2 weeks to be on the safe side.  You are right, i was only on it for 3 months but probably i will be one suffering greatly... but I will have to do it.
Will check also site you mentioned QuitPaxil.
How can i even trust a doctors right now?  I am just affraid to find another idiot who will have no idea how to wean someone off paxil.
Many thanks again to you,
Robert

[Paxiled]

Next step -- taper more slowly.  If it takes you longer, so be it.  You're obviously and unfortunately one of the many who get a bad withdrawal from Paxil.  It's very common, and if you want to get off it you're going to go through some discomfort.  I'm sorry for that.  But still, you've only been on it a short time, so I still think you'll get through it.  And sorry for the idiot who put you on it, especially such a high dose.  One supplement that seems to help with some of the physical stuff is fish oil, especially if you're having he head zaps.  So go from 40 to 30 and wait a bit, then down, slowly.  Find a psychiatrist who knows how to do this and will monitor you as you do it.  It will probably have to be one who doesn't work with health plans, they don't know much, so it will be costly.  But you are the only you out there, nobody on this website can tell you what you're going through.  They'll try, but they just can't.  Go on the QuitPaxil site and look at the success stories -- I think that's the one.  They'll tell you how they did it.  Might help.

[Taybey]

I have been on and off it for the past 4 years.  I was taking paxil mainly for social anxiety disorder i hate to leave the house but when i take that im fine.  so right now im taking 10 mgs every two days eventually ill be off it.  then if i need it i just go back on it.  not a problem for me.  :)

[RobertKas]

Hi Video,
Reason for me asking these things online is that doctors are clueless about this type of med.
I wil give you an example.
I was bit frustrated in work (NOTHING else) and was prescribed Klonopin and 40 mg of Paxil on start (malpractice).
I went to another doc. who told me to stop taking paxil and I will feel bit discomfort for a week or two.  BS.
Went to 3rd doc and he told me to take 20 mg instead of 40 then 10 for a week and I wil be free of it.  I did it... I took 20 mg instead of 40 mg for 3 days and it was a pure hell for me.. now it's almost 2 weeks since I went back on 40 mg I cant stabilize at all....
inner shaking, fear, pannic, anxiety and strange thoughts.
I am not really sure if i understand your example ... how about next step?
Kindly advise,
Robert

[videoshopguy]

First of all you shouldn't be asking this online.

Anyway this is my personal opinion on tapering off paxil.

You should taper off klonopin first.

You do not switch from paxil controlled release to the ordinary paxil tab. its not necessary to do that. I see that you are 40mg so first start of by tapering off slowly. Ill give u an example.

Monday = 40mg

Tuesday = 30mg

Wednesday = 40mg

Thursday = 40mg

Friday = 40mg

Saturday = 30mg

Sunday = 40mg

repeat this for a minimum of 2 weeks(if u feel okay after 2 weeks then go ahead and reduce further otherwise continue)

[RobertKas]

Paxiled, when i went to my doc that's exactly what he told me... OCD.
how he can even tell you about OCD not having proper tests done.
I took it for 4 months w/o any effects... either positive or negative.
I really think is not wortht to take it.