Delayed withdrawal?

[Jenny123]

I started on Paxil last December, due to an extreme acute depression following the break-up of a 10+ year relationshop. I'm pretty responsive to drugs, and stayed at 10 mg, which seemed to alleviate most of the symptoms and allow me to focus on the issues that were causing the depression to begin with.

About three weeks ago, I dropped down to 5 mgs with the intention, of stopping entirely this week. I had no symptoms at all, save for a few very brief (less than 5 minutes) bouts of morning melancholia. None of the paxil flu symptoms or zaps or waves that I'd read about.

Well for the past couple of days I've had mood swings out the wazoo. Part of this was triggered by some interactions with my ex (we're still working out some legal & financial stuff, and it's proving more difficult than anticipated). But the anger I'm feeling toward him has been spreading throughout the rest of my life. It feels like my emotions are covered with grease & are on a very slick surface. Any impetus and they go skittering out of control. I've also had trouble sleeping & have had a low-grade headache for a couple of

Most of the stuff I've read indicates that Paxil withdrawal symptoms appear within 3 to 7 days of stopping. I'm sure that varies from person to person, but it took about 3 weeks to hit me. Has anyone else had this type of thing so long after dropping dosage?

Oh, and I still want to get off the Paxil. More than ever, actually. I don't regret going onto it, because the depression was completely debilitating, but I don't want to stick to anything that can have this much power over me.

[Delynbetter]

Yes, it can take that long for the symptoms to show up. I also believe that the extra stress you are going through right now is triggering a lot of the symptoms. I only got the "flu" while I was going cold turkey.

I hope life can calm down for you soon. These situations can screw up anyone, AD's or not. Good luck!

[poppy]

Hi jenny123

After being on Seroxat for 6.5 years I weaned myself off it over a period of 9 months last year. I had no withdrawal symptoms until about 8 weeks later then ZAP! they all came at once and completely floored me. My GP recommended I went back on 20mg a day (original dose) and then I not only suffered the withdrawal but the side effects of taking it again too for about three to four weeks.

I changed my GP and the new one recommended coming off Seroxat by changing to Prozac after two weeks of taking Seroxat every other day. I've been on Prozac for 6 weeks now and still having withdrawal effects from seroxat and/or side effects of Prozac. I'm on beta blockers for the physical symptoms of anxiety and Stugeron for the dizziness. Nothing in the last 6 weeks has been as bad as the delayed withdrawal symptoms I had when I weaned myself off Seroxat.

So it just shows that it affects everyone differently and at different times. Here's hoping we're all free of SSRIs soon.

Good Luck

Poppy

[I-H8-Paxil]

A legal battle with a spouse can make anyone depressed. Don't let the pusher/doctors tell you that you need drugs for something that is supposed to be depressing.

[scotty]

It's actually common for symptoms of withdrawal to not show up for 2-4 weeks. The anger is also another common symptom. The emotional situation sure isn't helping. You might want to consider staying at that 5mg level until the situation calms down with the ex. Weaning has to be slow. The lower the dose the slower the wean should be. You might want to consider getting liquid paxil so that future weans could be a mg at a time.

[Katesmom]

The anger and the feeling that you cannot control it is both common and very scary. It took me several weeks to see this withdrawal symptom crop up, and a few weeks later, it subsided. I have found that there seems to be a waxing and waning of symptoms. Some are repeaters and some are brand new. I just keep reminding myself when I'm suffering that soon enough this symptom will be gone. You just have to be patient and bide your time.

[Jenny123]

Thank you all so very, very much for your responses. I actually had specifically picked this time because it seemed like it would be relatively stress-free. The situation with my ex was kind of a surprise (though it shouldn't have been unanticipated). I have an emergency appointment with my psychopharmacologist this afternoon. I like her a lot, and she listens. I feel much better just hearing that others have gone through this. It definitely does wax and wane. I'm hoping it won't run more than a couple of weeks, because it really kinda sucks.

[rc1904]

It sounds like you've tapered slowly--I think you only get the paxil flu if you taper too fast or go cold turkey. The one thing I wanted to encourage you about, however, is that even though you are extra emotional, it is good you are quitting paxil. Paxil would just cause you to cover up all these feelings and you would just end up dealing with it all eventually anyway. Some of us have had to process through negative emotions that happened long ago but were suppressed by paxil. I think I'd rather just feel lousy when something bad happens and then get on with life.