newbie here:

[bac511]

Hello all. I began taking 10mg of paxil about 5 years ago after my second bout of horrible insomnia. I was encouraged by my counselor to try paxil after members of my family had success with it. Wow, it was amazing. I was like a whole new person: sleeping, not obsessive, relaxed. After the birth of my daughter 4 years ago, I upped to 20mg due to some bad post-partum. About 2 years, I upped again to 30mg because I could feel myself slipping back into my anxiety and depression.

I have felt pretty good over the past 2 years until about a year ago when I started experiencing horrible dreams and night sweats. I would wake up soaked to the bone. Then about 6 months after a pretty difficult divorce and death of a close family member, I realized I could not cry. My emotions were there, but I just couldn't express them or release them. I needed to cry again. Does that make sense?

So last month, I went back to my shrink and asked him if I could taper back to 20mg. He had no hesitation in writing me a new script, and never once mentioning withdrawl.

So here I am, about 3 weeks into my 20mg, and I have the zaps, the pins and needles, the exhaustion, the weird out of body sensations. All typical from what I have read here. I wish I would have tapered slowly now, but both my shrink and my family doc said I should be fine. I am fine, just annoyed by these symptoms. I am sleeping ok still, and I cried and cried and cried last night for the first time in months. That felt good.

I am glad to be here. I am not sure where my journey with paxil is going to take me. I never want to return to that horrible place of anxiety and insomnia that I struggled with in my early 20s...but I also don't want to be trapped into taking a drug that isn't good for me.

I'll keep reading your tips and advise, and I am glad to have found a place of understanding. (wow, crying again...ok this is getting kinda funny.)

Luck and peace to you all,
Beth

[roxygirl]

Welcome! You will find wonderful support here! Best of Luck to you.

[Homerbcool]

Welcome to PaxilProgress...

Seeing as your are 3 weeks down to 20 mg, it might be best to see if you do stablize and then redcue the amount by 10% of dose...stay at the reduced dose for at least 4 weeks if not longer....

In order to live life with out meds and still ward off the anxiety etc...coping skills are needed...remember this, Paxhell only stopped the feeling not the issues...so when you are of paxil lifes stressors will still be there, but changing how you re-act and deal with them will make all the difference in the world...

There is no magic pill or easy path to deal with life...but learning how to cope with lifes crap is what has got me this far....

[Jax]

I understand what you mean about not being able to cry! I was crying yesterday for the first time in weeks! I am still on my stuff...not tapering yet due to a need for a little more time to stabalize before I get off...but from what I know of Paxil, having read here and a mom getting off it, stick with where you are for a bit. Once your symptoms lessen, then you can start to taper again, slowly! This is a great site...the people here are supportive and know more about what is going on that Drs do, since they are living through it, which most Drs haven't. *shakes head at silly Drs who think they know everything*

[lola76]

The crying thing I can totally relate. I felt as if I did not have a heart. What other considered to be a sad situation made not difference to me. Than once I started weaning, OMG, did the flood gates open. I still get crying spells from time to time, like right now that I am experincing horrible w/d. Many of the members here say that it does get better with time.

[imokay]

First of all welcome to PP pull up a nice comfy couch and have some coffee...decaf of course. Homie did you bring the donuts?
this forum has been a real life saver for me and many other people and we will be more than happy to help you in anyway we can.

[Samalabear]

Originally Posted by bac511

I have felt pretty good over the past 2 years until about a year ago when I started experiencing horrible dreams and night sweats. I would wake up soaked to the bone. Then about 6 months after a pretty difficult divorce and death of a close family member, I realized I could not cry. My emotions were there, but I just couldn't express them or release them. I needed to cry again. Does that make sense?

This is exactly what happened to me in year 3 of Paxil use. I never went above 20 mg. either, but regular Paxil had been switched to Paxil CR and when that was recalled to generic Paroxtine. BTW, this also happened to my dad, who was on the same regimen as me -- different docs. He actually dove out of bed during one of these nightmares and banged his head on a metal door stop. Based on his experience I started sleeping in the middle of my bed -- queen-size -- to hopefully keep myself from striking a night table or something. Night sweats, just like you. Dreams got to a point where I didn't know what was real and what wasn't and I was exhausted all the time, having manic episodes, as well, and was also craving and drinking beer, another rare side effect of Paxil.

This is poop-out. I never did stabilize and, as you can see, I ended up CT off this stuff -- WHICH YOU SHOULD NEVER DO EVEN IN POOP-OUT.

It's great you found this site because I didn't have any idea that all this was linked to Paxil until I came here. Within two weeks of getting off Paxil the nightmares calmed down and the night sweats ended. Sadly that was the calm before the storm.

[Katesmom]

Originally Posted by bac511

Hello all. I began taking 10mg of paxil about 5 years ago after my second bout of horrible insomnia. I was encouraged by my counselor to try paxil after members of my family had success with it. Wow, it was amazing. I was like a whole new person: sleeping, not obsessive, relaxed. After the birth of my daughter 4 years ago, I upped to 20mg due to some bad post-partum. About 2 years, I upped again to 30mg because I could feel myself slipping back into my anxiety and depression.

I have felt pretty good over the past 2 years until about a year ago when I started experiencing horrible dreams and night sweats. I would wake up soaked to the bone. Then about 6 months after a pretty difficult divorce and death of a close family member, I realized I could not cry. My emotions were there, but I just couldn't express them or release them. I needed to cry again. Does that make sense?

So last month, I went back to my shrink and asked him if I could taper back to 20mg. He had no hesitation in writing me a new script, and never once mentioning withdrawl.

So here I am, about 3 weeks into my 20mg, and I have the zaps, the pins and needles, the exhaustion, the weird out of body sensations. All typical from what I have read here. I wish I would have tapered slowly now, but both my shrink and my family doc said I should be fine. I am fine, just annoyed by these symptoms. I am sleeping ok still, and I cried and cried and cried last night for the first time in months. That felt good.

I am glad to be here. I am not sure where my journey with paxil is going to take me. I never want to return to that horrible place of anxiety and insomnia that I struggled with in my early 20s...but I also don't want to be trapped into taking a drug that isn't good for me.

I'll keep reading your tips and advise, and I am glad to have found a place of understanding. (wow, crying again...ok this is getting kinda funny.)

Luck and peace to you all,
Beth

Welcome, Beth!

I fear that your tapering process will be far more complicated than you or your doctor anticipate. Based on what you say in the above, I strongly suspect that you have begun the early stages of poop out on this medication. The fact that you have begun having breakthrough emotional symptoms, like anxiety, while having typical long term use symptoms like the dreams and nightsweats, strongly suggests that this drug is unlikely to work for you at lower doses.

This makes it much more important to make tiny drops with each taper. You will have to wait and see whether or not you will actually stabilize during the taper.

I would highly recommend going back up to thirty for a week or so and then using liquid paxil to taper no more than 10% of current dose every 3-6 weeks. Throw out the calendar and taper by how you feel, not a date certain.