Return to Paxil

[adtruckey]

I have had an awful experience trying to get off Paxil. I have been on the drug for 8 years for severe depression. My husband and I are considering having another child so I wanted to get off of it. When I had my daughter, it was unknown the effects the drug had on babies. Thank God she is fine.

I taped off over 3 months from 30mg. Two weeks ago I took my last pill and that is when the hell started. I was having a lot of rage as I tapered off, put no depression or anxiety. The past 3 days have been hell. I decided last night to start back up at 10mg because I felt I would go crazy. I took a second dose tonight, but took 20mg. I am desperate for this drug to start working again. I don't think I can make it through may more days feeling like this.

I was just hoping to get person experience on how long it took for others to start feeling better after restarting Paxil. I was told 2-3 doses? I want this to be true but wanted confirmation.

Thank you soooooo much. I am up at 2am feeling helpless!

[eileen]

Welcome to Paxil Progress! Weaning off 30 mg over three months is far too fast as you've found out. It is now recommended that one wean only ten percent of your dose. I haven't had the experience of going back on but it know from reading this forum, that it takes longer than two to three days before it works again. I think it will take at least two weeks before you will feel the full impact of it. Hang in there and there will be more people who are more knowledgeable than me that will post for you.
Eileen

[LCrawford67]

Welcome, Adtruckey!

Yes, you tapered way too fast, but what's done is done. You did the right thing by going back up to the lowest dose possible. Now, you just have to be patient and wait for it to kick in.

For some, it just takes a few days; for others, a few weeks. Remember, these drugs don't work like an asprin, it didn't work immediately when you first started taking it, it won't work that way now.

But, don't despair! Just do deep breathing exercises, rest when you can, get out for a walk; do whatever you have to do to keep your mind off of it, until it kicks in.

We're here to help in any way we can!

[texgirl]

To what the others have said, I'd also recommend holding at 10 mg instead of 20 until the drug has time to kick in. 10 mg may be all you need to stabilize and will be that much easier to taper off of when you feel ready to try again. If you don't feel relief from 10 mg in a few weeks, you can always go back up to 20, but many find after a too-quick taper that a lower dose is sufficient to keep the w/d sfx at bay.

[scotty]

A 3 month wean from 30mg is way to fast for anyone to handle! If getting off paxil is the goal, then doing a much slower wean(10%) is going to make things MUCH easier.
As for the pregnancy complications...while the risks are low, in my opinion, those risks are there with all of the ssri's. Paxil just got caught first.

[adtruckey]

Thank you everyone who replied. I woke up after only sleeping collectively around 5 hours and feel worse than I did last night. I am ready after 3 days to admit myself into the hospital. I feel like I am going crazy and can't find relief! I have a 2 1/2 year old and I am not going to be able to be like this for long. I there anything I can do to quicken the effects and get some relief?

[scotty]

Restarting takes time. You are not starting from baseline brain chemistry! When you started paxil it tooks weeks for it to "work"...it may take that length of time again on a restart.
Don't take this experience as "I can never get off this drug"!! You had a horrible weaning schedule, which caused this. It doesn't have to be like this.

[hoshi]

I have been in the hosp. It does not help. You go from being on 1-3 drugs, to being on 5-8 drugs. I have seen folks down 2 or three medicine cups of the pills. $1000 a day to go into the hosp. It is covered by insurance. But no therapy at all. They just put you and other patients in a room with crayons and call that group therapy. It is too painful to say to anymore.