Newbie help/med history/question

[ErikaR1]

Hi ... it's Erika here. I have a question and probably will think of more as I write. Here's my med history ... it was too long to put in my signature. I'll have to think of a way to tone it down for that.

Paxil 20mg ??? 2001 until 2003 for anxiety. I'm really not sure how long I was on it. I weaned pretty fast ... wasn't fun.

Zoloft 25mg somewhere in 2004-2005 for depression related to post-op pain (or so I thought). Again, I'm not sure how long I was on. I can't remember how I weaned. Clueless really. That's scary.

Zoloft 25mg for 1 week then 50mg - started Nov 14th '09 for some serious anxiety.

Ativan 1mg - Nov 14th '09 ... weaned once I got my biopsy results. I think I was on the 1mg 3 times a day for about 2 weeks and then weaned off over 2 weeks I'd say.

Sometime between January '10 and February '10 I weaned off Zoloft because of severe diarrhea and thought I was doing well. I did it pretty fast apparently.

Anxiety (or Zoloft withdrawal came on) returned big time at the end of Feb '10 and I started Paxil 5mg on March 4th 2010. Stayed on that for one week and then went to 10mg

June 26th started alternating 5mg with 10mg every third day (didn't know any better)

July 13th 2010 dropped to 7.5mg

August 9th 2010 dropped to 5mg (oops!)

August 30th 2010 back up to 7.5mg due to GI troubles and other w/d symptoms

My abdominal pain and cramps is a lot less just going back up to 7.5mg for three days. The diarrhea has slowed down a bit (not as often it seems and not as urgent - yeah!), but I actually feel more anxious and am quite moody. My patience is quite thin with my little girl and that's not normal for me.

I guess my question is from all of your experiences, do you guys think I should try to stabilize on the 7.5mg or since I dropped so fast, go back up to 10mg and just start over weaning when I stabilize?

I'm determined to get off of this drug, but I want to do it wisely now and not put my body and mind (not to mention my family) through such turmoil.

If you think I should try to stay on 7.5mg, how long to stay there before going to 10mg if I think it's needed?

With the 7.5 mg drop I had the angries, throat lump, weird eye sensations and jaw pain. At least that's what I can think of.

When I dropped to 5mg, within 4 days I was feeling really bad. VERY moody ... hard to hold it all together - just didn't feel right. Then I got constipated once and then the blowouts came and haven't stopped.

Any thoughts? I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this and respond.

Edited to add: My doctor thought I could try 5 HTP (read up on it here now) and I did go up to 100mg 3 x day when I dropped to 5mg. It seemed to make me very tired. However, 100mg at night does seem to help me sleep. I don't know if that played into my diarrhea as well. I'm also on a multivitamin, fish oil, ashugahnda (sp?), theanine, ginger, tumeric, vitamin D, and muscadine ... which is some antioxidant that comes from grapes. I think that's everything. I find the ginger and tumeric combo works wonders for my chronic neck pain. (Controlling the anxiety helps too. )

Take care,
Erika

[imokay]

Welcome to PP!!
What is the last dose that you felt okay on? Was it 7.5 or was it 10? If you felt good at 7.5 then stick with that until you stabilize. The lower the dose you can stabilize on the better. If you need to go back to 10 then that is okay too. The important thing here is that you get stable and we will help you from here.

[ErikaR1]

I thought I was okay on 7.5mg but now I wonder. I just talked to my husband because of my current angries as I call them and he said I was like that on 7.5mg. I'm kind of thinking about going back to 10mg and starting over. I really don't want to do that but I must admit I felt a heck of a lot better on 10mg than I did 7.5. I also forgot to add in there that while in the midst of the 10 to 7.5 drop I also quit caffeine. I had a few rough days from that I thought but now I'm not too sure about anything. (I do have 1-2 cups of green or white tea a day so I'm not absolutely off caffeine but I'm off coffee and chocolate for now.)

I'm highly motivated to be well ... am getting CBT, self help books, minimizing contacts with people that are toxic (mostly in my family sadly), exercising, eating right, relaxation, etc. I think I just went too quickly. My body seems to be very sensitive to all drugs so it only makes sense that it's really sensitive to this one.

I'm going to wait and see maybe another day or two on how I feel and not make a rash decision. I jumped to 5mg right when I thought I was feeling a bit better from the 7.5mg drop. I want to be done but I can't handle feeling like crap when I do it. I can handle some discomfort ... got some every day anyway, but I'm usually good about dealing with it. I just don't want to be an impatient, angry mommy and wife. It makes me sad. And then the stupid health anxieties start in.

By the way ... my long history story is somewhere further down on the general discussion board.

You all are awesome. Thanks!

Erika

[imokay]

Then you should go back up to 10 and go from there =)

[Songbird]

The same thing happened to me when I tried to get off Paxil (back in 2006 I think it was), I think I went to 7.5mg then 6.6mg then 5mg. I got extremely irritable and snapped at my husband and kids and then felt terribly guilty.

I would say go back up to 10mg, wait several weeks until you feel stable and ready to try again. Then you can try again with smaller drops, no more than 10% is recommended, so your first drop would be to 9mg. It is easiest to do this if you can get liquid Paxil, but if you are unable to get it, it can be done using a digital jeweller's scale.

[ErikaR1]

Hi ... thanks for the responses. I think I will go back to 10mg, stabilize, and then start over with the liquid. I wish I would have just pushed for this in the first place. Oh well. Onward and upward ... then downward again. Ha!

Take care,
Erika

[TryingtoGetWell]

Originally Posted by ErikaR1

My doctor thought I could try 5 HTP (read up on it here now) and I did go up to 100mg 3 x day when I dropped to 5mg. It seemed to make me very tired. However, 100mg at night does seem to help me sleep. I don't know if that played into my diarrhea as well.

Too tired to be thinking too clearly at the moment, but I happened to notice this and am a bit concerned.

It's generally advised that a person not take tryptophan or 5 htp when taking an SSRI due to the risk of serotonin syndrome (dangerously high serotonin levels).

I realize your doctor was probably hoping it would compensate for the decreased level of circulating serotonin when you dropped dose, but SSRIs recirculate serotonin, and adding more can be risky. And 100 mg. three times a day is a very large amount! Many doctors even feel that 100 mg./day is too much (and certainly can cause side effects like tiredness and nausea) - even when one is not on an SSRI.

Please take care, especially if you updose.

[ErikaR1]

Thank you, TryingtoGetWell. I was a bit concerned about the 5HTP as well and have weaned off of that. I will talk to him tomorrow about perhaps taking only 50mg/day at night or something when I start to wean again after stabilizing. It does help me sleep good.

I've read some research that 5 HTP may help with sleep apnea. I have it but do not fit the profile at all. I am not overweight ... fit and muscular to some extent. It runs bad in my family and all but my Grandma and my Dad in recent years (big neck and only slightly overweight) don't meet the typical profile. My uncle is the fittest of us all and requires Bipap and just not cpap. There's some weird neurological component combined with big tonsillar pillars in the family. Anyway, I wear a mouthpiece to help me sleep and don't require cpap at this point. The 5 HTP seems to help me relax at night and then sleep longer stretches. It would be nice to take it again in the future but at a smaller dose.

I also went ahead and updosed back to 10mg just now. I must admit I'm a little upset in just swallowing that pill, but I really need to feel better. I'm not quitting ... just going to do a redo I guess and do it smarter.

I went to my martial arts last night and then for a walk on the beach. I live near where hurricane Earl is going to be coming near. The beach was really neat with the bigger than normal waves. I'll have to add beach walking to my arsenal of relaxing things to do. I just don't like it when it's very hot outside. My martial arts helps me soooo much too. My instructor is very, very helpful to me right now as well. I always feel better after that no matter what's going on in my life.

Take care,
Erika

[TryingtoGetWell]

Originally Posted by ErikaR1

I also went ahead and updosed back to 10mg just now. I must admit I'm a little upset in just swallowing that pill, but I really need to feel better. I'm not quitting ... just going to do a redo I guess and do it smarter.

Don't be upset about updosing! I only wish I had found this site sooner and known I should do that! I think my life would have been very different if I had done a very slow taper.

And walking on the beach is sublimely relaxing! (I'm also on the coast - but on the other side of the country.)

I love breathing the ocean air too!

[ErikaR1]

Yes ... I am thankful I found this site now instead of much later. I'm sorry you have had such a rough time of it. I just hope my bowels calm down soon. I'm trying to accentuate the positive ... the actual stomach/bowel cramps, pain, and bloating have markedly improved since Monday when I went back to 7.5mg from 5mg. I doesn't help that I have some health anxiety I'm also trying to deal with ... my Dad's had colon cancer. When my mind is messed up it seems not to matter that I've got no other risk factors and this type of thing (prolonged diarrhea) has happened to me several times during my adult life. I think a few of times has been when I was either going on or off a SSRI but didn't realize the potential correlation. One time for sure I know if was because of Zoloft. That one makes me poop while on it. I've lost some weight too. I'm telling myself again and again that no matter what that scale shows me tomorrow at the doctor's that I will not freak. I will deep breathe and think of something nice. That's the plan.

So you like walking on the beach too? Is really is nice.

I really know now that a slow taper is the way to go. At least I'll be tapering from 10mg and not higher. I at least knew enough when I asked (silly me ) for the stupid drug, that I went for a low dose. They tried to tell me that was hardly a theraputic dosage from my 'problems' but I insisted on trying that. Their response was that this was such a baby dose and at least it allows for lots of increases if needed. (I like all the smilies.)

Take care,
Erika

[Songbird]

Have you tried melatonin for sleep? It is a safer option than 5HTP. Mixing 5HTP with SSRIs is risky.

[ErikaR1]

Nope ... haven't tried melatonin. I'll have to add it to my list of things to ask him about today. Thanks!

Erika