BE CAREFUL GETTING OFF PAXIL!!!

My husband is a sweet and loving man and has never in any way raised his hand to anyone, until he quit taking Paxil. He was placed on Paxil for depression that was caused by years of cocaine use when he was younger (He has not used in over 7 years). We ran out of $ and he had to go two weeks without his Paxil. For the first couple of days he was fine. Then he became more and more depressed. Finally, he started to become violent. He became so violent at one point, the cops had to be called. Immediately he was placed back on the Paxil and within 24 hours of returning to the Paxil, he was fine and will have to deal with the mental repercussions of his actions during that period of time, as will I. He did not show this violent behavior prior to starting the Paxil, but now that his mind was used to it, he was incapable of controlling his rage without it. This may not count as a side effect, but it definitely was not expected. I urge all of you to be very careful when withdrawing from this drug. Paxil has helped my husband, but the results of his breif withdrawl has shown that he can never stop taking it again.

[JulieG]

A lot of us experienced horrible rage during cold turkey withdrawal. I threw things, screamed, just acted awful. I don't know that your husband HAS to stay on Paxil for life. I'm not a doctor. What I do know is that Paxil withdrawal cold turkey is very dangerous.