The dreaded nite time for a person in paxcil HELL

[Kilpleztim]

Nite time is a horrble time of the day for me. Its supposed to be when I get my rest and sleep but for me I constantly worry about getting my rest especially with me being in a state of withdrawal.
I have been tapering for weeks and have come to the point where I realized I was tapering way to fast for my brain to handle. So I upped my dose of paxcil from 5mg to 10mg this morning. I did notice within 1-2 hours I was calm enough to take a little nap. However I didn't take my meds yesturday because I had begun a few days ago skipping every other day to take my
5mg paxcil.
My question is should I take another 10mg tonight to help me stabilize or is that too much in one day for only have been taking 5mg for the last few weeks?
At this point I am feeling super anxious about not sleeping tonight, I can't go another nite on just 2-4 hours sleep. I tried the last hour or so trying to go to sleep and woke up 3 times feeling all full of anxiety to the max.
Im phobic as hell too about taking pills. Im in hell.

[Kilpleztim]

Im wigging out about sleeping, and to top it off I have my very insensitive girl friend yelling at me to take sleeping pills or seroquel . I wish I could take stuff like that. I have tried to explain it to her 1000 times already , those kinda of things do not work on me. I don't fall asleep when they kick in but instead they make me like Im high on drugs or having a bad trip on LSD .
Mind you this person had to detox off Xanax, while I held her hand and told her everyday she'd be ok 1000 times a day. Think she can do the same for me, Hell F N no.

[Kilpleztim]

Does anyone else have sleeping issues like this? I feel utterly alone and have no one to talk to about this. Just have my constant racing thoughts about being up all nite again .

[TryingtoGetWell]

Originally Posted by Kilpleztim

...So I upped my dose of paxcil from 5mg to 10mg this morning. I did notice within 1-2 hours I was calm enough to take a little nap. However I didn't take my meds yesturday because I had begun a few days ago skipping every other day to take my 5mg paxcil...

I didn't realize in your first thread that you had been skipping doses in recent days.

Paxil is designed to be taken daily and it's important to take the same dose each day (preferably at about the same time each day) until one is stabilized sufficiently for a drop in dose, and then the new slightly lower dose should be taken consistently in dose daily for at least 3-6 weeks again until ready for the next drop. Etc.

Don't worry about those few alternating days dosing - a short time like that won't affect you for long, but you're probably feeling the effects of that a bit on top of your too-large drops in your taper.

I don't know the answer to your question and hope others who know more about that will post soon, but I think if you took 10 this morning and are trying to stay at 10/day, you should wait til the same time tomorrow morning (which isn't that far off now!) and then take 10 mg.

Sleep issues are common withdrawal symptoms and many of us who didn't know about slow tapering have gone many days with literally no sleep. It's miserable, I know - but it won't harm you, and a consistent dosing schedule is important. Frequent changes "confuse" the brain.

Try not to get alarmed about lack of sleep. Try to distract yourself if you can (watch sitcoms on TV or something maybe - if that doesn't disturb anyone else) and accept that for a little while your body will function on less sleep, and that what you're experiencing right now is from a bad taper schedule that is being replaced by one your body will more readily accept. You need to give it a little time.

I don't know what to suggest about your girlfriend. Most people don't understand about withdrawal from these meds, but having been through a much-too-fast taper (virtual cold-turkey) off an unusually high dose of xanax, I don't know how she can forget how hellish withdrawal can be.

Maybe it's a reminder of something she can't deal with thinking about? Just a thought. But you're right that sleeping pills rarely work in withdrawal - the cause of your insomnia is withdrawal and other meds very rarely cover that. And as you mentioned, the body is often so hypersensitive that other meds frequently just add problems, rather than helping. You don't need that!

Believe me, almost everyone here who didn't do a very slow taper (most of us didn't know, and some of us were too long off the med to reinstate and taper slowly) has had the sleeping issues and understands.

Hopefully you'll be sleeping better soon as your body adjusts to consistent daily dosing (and then very, very slow tapering in tiny amounts).

Please try not to worry about this interim phase. Focus on how you're working to make things better now.

[julieannboo]

never skip a day - you must take paxil every day around the same time.

[Kilpleztim]

ya, I realize now what a bad mistake I was making by skipping doses and prior to tapering I could take my paxcil day, night and all dif times. Now Im trying to take it right away when I get up everyday.
Getting over the sleep issues is the hardest for me I think. Before this started happening I wasn't right without 7-8 hours of sleep. These days Im happy if I sleep 2 hours straight and thats just insane to me.

[Kilpleztim]

I got a whole 2 hrs sleep, REALLY. 2 HOURS!!! Im in HELL...

[IMISSME]

Originally Posted by Kilpleztim

I got a whole 2 hrs sleep, REALLY. 2 HOURS!!! Im in HELL...

I had the exact same experiences concerning sleep. 2 to 4 hours a night, it's crazy making. I too could not take any meds to help with sleep. They had the exact opposite effect. My sister kept telling me to take Xanax. She said take two. I took a half and was crawling the walls. I don't know why these meds have the opposite effect while in withdrawal.

[Kilpleztim]

I want to sleep more so bad, its just right now when I wake up I'm awake after that. My eye lids are so heavy, they almost burn when I close me eyes. Please god if your real, please I beg you to help me...

[Hardway]

I went thru the exact same thing, man. It is hell. Its a temporary one, though. Keep listening to every one's advice on here. Consistent and gradual. I got off waaaay too fast and paid for it. This time I'm going to take the slow taper and get off right.

[Kilpleztim]

The nausea vomiting dry heaving are horrible , Just had a fun time with that right now. I can barley think too. Just trying to pass the time till 9am so I can take 10mg paxcil . Hopefully it'll calm my body down a little. It seemed to do that to me yesturday. About 2 hrs after i took it I was able to take a 2 hr nap.
Heart palpatations were hitting me so bad last nite broke down and took an extra 5mg paxcil. Now I dont know if I should take 10mg or 15mg @ 9am. Lemme know what you all think. ty

[Bilo76]

Try to calm your mind more. There is nothing now that you can do. We all been through this and its hell. But that little sleep cant hurt you. And it WILL pass. Have faith in that.

[LCrawford67]

20 to 10 mgs is still a 50% drop. Why not just go back up to your original dose, get stable, and taper the right way later? There's no sense in suffering this much.

[Kilpleztim]

Originally Posted by LCrawford67

20 to 10 mgs is still a 50% drop. Why not just go back up to your original dose, get stable, and taper the right way later? There's no sense in suffering this much.

How do I get back to 20mg? Do I just do it and bite the bullet per say and eat 20mg? I took 10mg at 9 am. I just want to feel somewhat normal again asap. I can't live much longer on two 2 hour naps a day.
I just went for a walk with my dogs at the park. They loved it, while I looked like some out of place guy at the park with 2 little dogs.
My emotions are off the hook, my mind is a blur and my body is super tierd from the lack of getting a full nightly recharge.

[Backtopaxil]

Originally Posted by Kilpleztim

How do I get back to 20mg? Do I just do it and bite the bullet per say and eat 20mg? I took 10mg at 9 am. I just want to feel somewhat normal again asap. I can't live much longer on two 2 hour naps a day.
I just went for a walk with my dogs at the park. They loved it, while I looked like some out of place guy at the park with 2 little dogs.
My emotions are off the hook, my mind is a blur and my body is super tierd from the lack of getting a full nightly recharge.

try to see if you stabilize 10mg. Leave it alone for a few days until your body adjusts. Each different dosage creates instability until you adjust. As far as sleep, you could try some natural sleep product like Sleep Sound or melatonin. If not call your doctor and take trazodone 25mg or a tranquilizer for a few days until you calm down. Lorazepam or Xanax at nigth, even 0.25 mg will do the trick.

[LCrawford67]

Originally Posted by Kilpleztim

How do I get back to 20mg? Do I just do it and bite the bullet per say and eat 20mg? I took 10mg at 9 am. I just want to feel somewhat normal again asap. I can't live much longer on two 2 hour naps a day.
I just went for a walk with my dogs at the park. They loved it, while I looked like some out of place guy at the park with 2 little dogs.
My emotions are off the hook, my mind is a blur and my body is super tierd from the lack of getting a full nightly recharge.

Originally Posted by Backtopaxil

try to see if you stabilize 10mg. Leave it alone for a few days until your body adjusts. Each different dosage creates instability until you adjust. As far as sleep, you could try some natural sleep product like Sleep Sound or melatonin. If not call your doctor and take trazodone 25mg or a tranquilizer for a few days until you calm down. Lorazepam or Xanax at nigth, even 0.25 mg will do the trick.

George is right...wait to see if you stabilize on 10 mgs. Unfortunately, it's going to take a couple weeks or more to make that determination. It's just going to take patience because you've been up and down in dose, skipped doses, etc.

The ultimate would be to stabilize at the lowest dose possible, so you have less to taper from. But sometimes, you have to end up going back to your original dose and start all over and again, 10 mgs is still 50% of your starting dose, which is a huge reduction. However, there are people who can do that and you may be one of them. Time will tell.

I'm personally not a big fan of adding another drug in to the mix, even for a short time. A short time can turn in to a longer time and with benzos, that's a whole 'nother can of worms you'd have to deal with. Not everyone is able to just use them sparingly and for only a few days, so I'm more of a "stick to the hair of the dog that bit you" kinda person.

[Kilpleztim]

ty all for your support this morning. I was a mess after just getting 2 hrs sleep. I will keep at the 10mg dose of paxcil so I can stabilize and then in a few weeks move forward again at a much reduced pace for sure.
Luckily I feel the same way about adding anything new into my system, plus the pure fear of becoming addicted to anything else keeps me grounded.
I was able to sleep another 2 & 1/2 hors this mornig so that helped alot too. Im just going to try to enjoy the rest of the day and attempt to put tonights fear of sleep behind me for a few hours.