pws: advice

I took an accelerated approach to weaning myself off. First, I cut from 20mg to 10 mg. Two weeks later, went down to 5 mg. Two weeks later went to2.5 mg. When I ran out of pills, that was it. Let me tell you that I felt horrible. Nausea, dizzy, sweats, shocks. All the symptoms described. After about a month and a half, the nausea went away. I'm back to my grumpy self but feeling better. No more shocks and spins either. Try lots of water, sweat it out. When you're feeling sick try a cold, sweet drink. Maybe only a placebo but seemed to work

Thank you for your Web site. I decided to quit taking my 20-mg/day Paxil dosage after two years of being on the drug. My husband and I had been discussing pregnancy, and it had been so long since I'd had counseling for depression, I thought it was time to get back to a drug-free life.

I quit cold-turkey nine days ago. The symptoms were exactly as they'd been described on your Web site -- nausea, dizziness, "brain sloshing" -- and vivid, epic dreams. I warned my co-workers that any sudden illness was brought on by my withdrawal from prescription medication and that I'd be fine after two weeks or so.

I still get daily headaches, the dull, pounding, pressurized skull kind. I hear odd sloshy noises in my head, but can mostly tune them out now. But last night I felt a sense of clarity I hadn't felt in years, even before being on Paxil. My brain felt clean, fresh, as if someone had dusted it off or rubbed off the tarnish. Conversations with my husband became interactions, not altercations, and I felt like I could actually comprehend the things he said to me, not just react to them.

There is a light. Many advised going off the drug slowly, and I won't go against their advice, but my experience was quick, dirty and worth it. I hope others feel that sense of return to consciousness once this extremely strong, brain-numbing drug is out of their systems.

Anti-depressants are not evil, but they are so new, and so misused. With hope, the future will bring greater knowledge about the awful circumstances that cause us to require "synapse lubricators" so that we may feel relief from anxiety, fear and sadness.

Hello ... I would like to relate to you how I successfully withdrew, cold turkey, from a 40m per day dose of Paxil, that I had been taking for 6 years. It was, as many people on this site have related, a living hell, in every sense of the word. I am a 42 year old single mother of four children, ages 14, 12, 8 & 7, and I am also a breast cancer survivor. I couldn't take 2 weeks off of work, or send my kids off to camp while I went through the withdrawal, but I knew that going cold turkey was the ONLY way for me ... to just DO IT and get it over with, not draw it out into this big, long process. I had EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS listed on the "symptoms" part of this site. The night terrors/insomnia were the absolute worst ... to be so exhausted that all you want to do is sleep ... finally I would drift off, only to be awakened moments later with a feeling of sheer terror, with vivid, frightening images so real that I think I was actually hallucinating. But somehow I got through. I slept with the light on, took Valerian ( I was coming cold turkey off Ativan & Neurontin, too) Root to help me sleep, and tried as much as I could to pamper myself. I am a classical musician, so I tried to immerse myself as much as possible in the music I loved. I took 4 showers a day to deal with the unbelievable sweating, and just walked around VERY slowly are carefully to deal with the vertigo. And I lay in bed as much as I could, reminding myself that for every day I could just hang in there and not go back on the Paxil, I was one day closer to having the drug OUT of my system. A few close friends that knew what I was going through came over and helped out with the kids a little (hint: Paxil withdrawal & 6 year olds having tantrums do not mix real well, it kind of had the effect of nails being raked across my brain). My Mom came over -- I handed her a printed-out list of all the withdrawal symptoms, she read them, and promptly did some of my dishes and laundry. My hint to other Moms, especially single Moms, who are quitting Paxil cold turkey. Forget about cooking fancy dishes for a few weeks. Buy paper cups, paper plates, paper bowls & plastic silverware, stock up on the Fruit Loops, Cocoa puffs, bread, peanut butter & milk, and don't worry, your kids will survive without their broccoli while you are experiencing the worst of your withdrawal. They might even enjoy themselves and wish Mommy would let them eat Pop-tarts for dinner ALL the time (-: And let me tell you, those %$#@*%* electric shocks. I really could have done without those, thank you very much. Well, I could go on and on, but let me suffice it to say that I am now doing quite well. It has been four weeks since my last Paxil tablet, and I no longer fall asleep before the children at night. I have my old energy back, as well as a some of my old anxieties, but am in general feeling wonderful. I used to drink 6 - 8 cups of coffee a day just to stay awake ...the paxil made me so drowsy! ... I now have only one cup of caffeinated coffee in the morning, something I thought I could NEVER manage to do!! I am drinking green tea (both hot and iced!), eating better, doing slow meditative breathing exercises, and making sure I take a walk every day. When I originally went on Paxil, I gained 40 lb., and couldn't lose it, no matter WHAT I did. Since going off the Paxil, I have lost 10 lb. without even trying. My entire system seems to be functioning much better. Well, life is not all a bowl of cherries, of course, but at least now I feel like I have a chance of trying to get through it without being hopelessly addicted to a drug that, YES, did help me immensely at one point in time, but was no longer needed. This Paxil site helped immensely as I was going through the worst of things. Just to know that I wasn't alone, and wasn't losing my mind, was such a blessings. When I first saw the complete list of withdrawal symptoms, I cried tears of joy, to simply know that what I was experiencing was NOT all in my head, and that there was light at the end of the tunnel. So there is my story. I hope that some part of it will help someone, somewhere, who is trying to get off of Paxil cold turkey. Hang in there. It gets better. I'm doing well, and I am PAXIL-FREE!!!!

...Actually, my first few weeks off of Paxil weren't problematic. My sex drive came back and the sluggish haze went away. I did experience some dizziness, but only if I moved my eyes really fast. But finally, after about two months off of Paxil, my body hit the wall. Throbbing headaches, frequent palpitations and tingling sensations, difficulty concentrating, and anxiety and irritability worse than before I started Paxil. I've been going through this for about a week now and it's what brought me to your site. It's as if my body finally figured out I was no longer feeding it Paxil. But after reading the stories here, I'm not going back. I'm slowly starting to get better day by day with the help of exercise, breathing exercises and meditation, and supplements of herbal Kava Kava. The feelings of de-realization are still annoying, but I'm slowly losing the weight that I gained while on Paxil. The panic attacks have yet to return, and with a new outlook on things, I'm hopeful they won't.... Feel free to post this.Darren. Foster City, CA

Hello, I started on Paxil in March of 1999 after a severe mental and physical breakdown. After about 5 months of being on 20mg a day, I decide I was feeling fine and that I was going to wean myself off in a period of 2 weeks. About 3-4 days after I stopped taking Paxil, the severe symptoms began-- extreme dizziness, extreme nausea, headaches, crying, sweating, depression, electric shock feelings all through my body, and that very annoying "swish-swish" in my head as I would move my eyes around (would occur with eyes open OR shut). I, with the advice of my doctor, went back on Paxil. The symptoms were terrible and 5 months was not enough.

"I feel it is so important to share my victory with everyone. I too felt as though I was a prisoner to this drug. Several attempts to wean myself were unsuccessful. To make matters worse, every time I spoke with my doctor or his nurse, they would say "oh really, we just have not heard of anyone having so much difficulty getting off of this drug." Truly, I thought I was going insane. It was so eye-opening to learn that I was not nuts and that many people have gone through the horrible side effects. Well, it took 9 long months, but I was determined. The slow progression was the success story. I went from 20 mg to 15 mg switching dsg. every other day for 3 months. Then 15mg to 10mg switching dsg. every other day for 3 months. Then finally 10mg to 5 mg switching dsg. every other day for 3 months. When I got down to five mg. I maintained that for about 3 weeks. Went to 5 mg. every other day for 2 weeks. Finally stopped. I held onto that bottle for one month before I had the guts to flush the Paxil I had left. Even after being off. I have challenges, but I am not going back on. I will find something else. You see, I have Multiple Sclerosis. The chances of me needing to be on an antidepressant are great. However, I don't ever want to go through this type of torment again. Good luck to everyone. God Bless."

"I had recently come off paxil, September 15,2000, to be exact. Prior attempts had not gone well, so before I came off it this time, I cut down my dose very gradually, after discussing it with my doctor. I took my regular dosage of 1 pill per day. I then cut it in half and took only a 1/2 pill a day for about 3 weeks. I then took only 1/4 pill a day for several weeks and then on September 15 I stopped taking them all together. On the 17 September, I felt the dizzy spells again, and thought I should take a 1/4 pill, but decided to to let it go, and see how I felt. I now realize that was the best thing. It has been almost 3 weeks now, and the dizzy spells come and go, but are few and far between, and they don't last for very long even when I do get them. I am very pleased that I am finally off them and thought I should share my experience with you, so that you could share it with your readers and that perhaps someone else may have success in the same way. I think that by coming down in my dosage as gradually as I did, it helped my body adjust to the fact that it was no longer getting any. It was far easier this time, that's for sure."

"I know (don't ask how) that the way to get off Any substance, if hospitalization isn't indicated, is to tough it out. Eventually, you get through it. With that knowledge in mind, I steeled myself for a battle, and a battle it was. Three days of feeling worse than seasick, with auditory hallucinations, and vision disturbances: whenever I turned my head left or right, there was a smeared afterimage like the one you get when you pan a camera real fast. I would lose my balance getting up to cross the living room. Daring the subway was difficult: I had to hold my head straight and keep my eyes forward like the guard at Buckingham Palace. The nausea was constant. Another thing---my emotions came back with a roar, good and bad. My libido, ten months dormant, came back to life in two days (that helped ;-). I went on crying jags. I felt suicidal on day four, and wondered why this was the toughest thing I'd ever had to kick. But . . . I noticed that it was ever so slightly better on day five. Then maybe two per cent better on day seven. I'm stubborn, and I really hate to be under anything's thumb, so I was grimly determined to get through. I had moral support from a couple of friends who'd gone through the process, one who had had it much worse. And I realized that anything that kicked me in the head this hard had to be a damned dangerous drug and not one I was willing to go back to. If I did, I knew I would lose all the ground in detoxing that I'd so painfully achieved. It's now three months later, and I am free of it. Not even the auditory buzzes in the night any more. And I tell everyone I know who's taking an antidepressant what happened to me, and urge them to not stay on it any longer than they flat have to, and not go on it unless they are truly clinically depressed."

"Just wanted to let you know how helpful your site has been. I have been Paxil-free for one month and I feel so much better now. I have been switching doctors/shrinks as I changed health care and I was sick of all the double talk I was hearing. My current shrink told me he would not prescribe me anymore Paxil until I was completely a non-drinker. Since that was never going to happen (I don't drink a lot but I do like to go out to bars on weekends, apparently that was unacceptable) I decided to see what would happen if I cut down on drinking and got off the Paxil. I had no idea what those "zaps" were and they were so scary, I thought I had something wrong with my brain. I had them all the time, several a minute and sometimes one every couple seconds. My shrink thought I was more nuts than usual, he had no idea what I was talking about. Fortunately they are very rare now, but unfortunately the dizziness is still a problem after a month. The one advantage to taking the Paxil in !
the first place is that my claustrophobia is so much better, because when I was on the Paxil I rode in a lot of elevators, planes, etc with very little anxiety, and I became used to these activities, so even now I rarely have a panic attack in a claustrophobic situation.
Anyway, this site is very helpful and reassuring. For people trying to quit, let me say this: if your doctor/shrink is not helping you with the withdrawal process, go to someone else who understands and will help. This is serious business."

"Hi, My wife found this web site for me. I have been weaning of of Paxil now for 5 weeks. I am currently not taking any at all. I started out cold turkey but ended up in the ER. I was so out of control and felt like just ending it all. The doctor in the ER looked Paxil up in the PDR (the big book that list the drugs and side effects). He told me I could not be going thru withdrawl because there was not anything mentioned in the book about it being addictive. He then had the hospital shrink come down to talk to me, all he would say is "maybe you just need to be taking it". I was put on it for stress at work by a regular doctor, not a phyciatrist and since I not longer had the stress at my job I wanted off of it. I ended up going to a mental health center, they are the ones that helped wean me off. The funny thing is the shrink I saw there said he had never met anyone with my withdrawl symptoms. The scratching noise in my head was awful. I described it to them as it sou!
nded like someone was sanding in my head. I have had the strange dreams, night sweats, shocking sensations in my mouth, tounge, and hands, twitching, depression (my wife can not talk to me with out it ending up in an arguement) and most of the others listed. I was on paxil since June of 2001. I never dreamed it would be so hard to get off of. The medical profession needs to be warning people about what is going to happen when they try to quit taking it. I am doing better, still have the tingeling, but not as often, the scratching noise is still very prominent, especially if I am walking fast or making sudden movements. All I can say to everyone is HANG IN THERE. IT WILL GET BETTER!"

"After quitting Paxil 9days ago, I have been experiencing withdrawl too. I was told to treat it like the flu, so I have found that thera-flu works well."