Want to come off Paxil...

Hello,

I began taking Paxil about 5 months ago to combat my depression and mild anxiety. It has worked a lot and I have definitely noticed a positive increase in my mood. But I do not want to stay medicated forever and I have been thinking that it may be best to come off this drug. I have done some research on the withdrawal symptoms of Paxil and, on one end of the spectrum, it seems things could be painful and tedious. But, on the other side, there are many people who don't seem to have too much trouble cutting themselves off cold turkey.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has a personal experience with this antidepressant, and if so, how was it? How do you think I should proceed about, either weening myself off, or going cold turkey? Also, is there anything I should pay attention to? My depression started during the fall of '08, so it has definitely not been a life long thing. I am confident things would be better, than before, if I stopped taking Paxil, but I'm not sure at all.

I know these are questions for my doctor, and I will ask him, but I have always received good advice from LWS/CD.

Thanks a lot

Ween yourself off, if you go cold turkey, it ain't pretty, trust me.

Start by cutting the tablets in half and take half a tablet every day for a week or two, then take a half tablet every other day for a week or two, then from there just take a half tablet 2 times in a week, then stop.

There's one simple answer to your quetion:

If you want to get off of the anti-depressant, do it under physician supervision and according to her instructions.

I don't know about you, but if I accidentally forget to take it for a day, I feel like shit the next. But yes, Kal El is right in that you will get off an anti-depressant by being stepped off of it gradually rather than going cold turkey.

Stopping anti-depressants suddenly can lead to several bad bad consequences.

I stopped prozac suddenly and quickly felt like committing suicide.

You don't want that feeling, trust me. Ask the doc who prescribed it to you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kal El

Ween yourself off, if you go cold turkey, it ain't pretty, trust me.

Start by cutting the tablets in half and take half a tablet every day for a week or two, then take a half tablet every other day for a week or two, then from there just take a half tablet 2 times in a week, then stop.

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Doctor will basically either tell you the same thing, or around the same thing fyi.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kal El

Doctor will basically either tell you the same thing, or around the same thing fyi.

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Or No.

Paxil and Prozac are some of the worst drugs you can be prescribed. But follow Kal's advice unless you really wish you didn't just go cold turkey, it's not like Nicotine or Heroin, where cold turkey is generally the best, this shit you actually need to ween yourself off.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vengeful Scars

Or No.

Paxil and Prozac are some of the worst drugs you can be prescribed. But follow Kal's advice unless you really wish you didn't just go cold turkey, it's not like Nicotine or Heroin, where cold turkey is generally the best, this shit you actually need to ween yourself off.

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I meant as far as weening off medication. They'll basically say start by taking half a dose for a few weeks, etc.

Unfortunately, prozac comes in both capsule and tablet form. so if you take the tablet form of Prozac, you can take half of a tablet, it it's a capsule, you can't cut a capsule in half, so in that case you'll have to go to a doctor and have him/her write a prescription for the lower strengths of the medication.

I don't know, it is all personal. I dropped off Paxil cold turkey and did alright. I've done the same with all kinds of different anti-depressant, anti-anxieties, and ADHD medications. There were some withdrawal symptoms, but I just willed through, and through force of will I've come to a place where I can manage my manic-depression just fine without any medication at all. (I still have problems with the ADHD and OCD sometimes, but that is neither here nor there)

That said though, it just depends and there is no way to know. Because there is no way to know and because weening is safest medically, I think weening is probably best.

I haven't had that drug, I can't really offer any advice, but a kind word won't hurt. Im on mirtazapine, its shite, all it does is sedate me at night and give me a hard time getting up in the morning. You really need to ask your doctor, like the others said.

You will need some heroic steel will to do what Mr. E is talking about, keep in mind. It's not impossible for some people, but it's a difficult way to go about it.

I was on mood stabilizers, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, anti-psychotics and I stopped cold turkey one day and didn't have a problem. I wasn't on paxil (to be honest never heard of it until now), but I was on all sorts of other stuff. It really depends on the individual.

SSRIs are notorious for the negative effects sudden withdrawal has. Your brain has gotten used to higher levels of serotonin being around, so it's natural for it to manifest a sudden reduction as a strong negative emotion. Mr. E is definitely an exception, not the rule. Not only is this the general rule, but wikipedia reliably informs me (lol): "Many psychoactive medications can cause withdrawal symptoms upon discontinuation from administration. Evidence has shown that paroxetine has among the highest incidence rates and severity of withdrawal syndrome of any medication of its class."
If you're on an SSRI (!) that is recognised as one of the worst of it's class in that respect, then yes, please ween yourself off under the supervision of a medical professional.