now im a burden. yay

[SareBare]

i was reading these posts and feeling fine then i just had a sudden wave of bad anxiety real freak out
so i tried to think sensible and thought i need to get out of the house.
so i drove myself down the street got quite a few beeps i think cause i kept forgetting my blinker and was not exactly concentrating but i needed to be not alone
so i went to my friends and as soon as i walked in the door she was like oh you look terrrible again. you are becoming a burden to people. you need to get help. you need to talk to a counsellor. you cant keep telling your friends your problems then we feel crap.
so now even my friends wont help me. and i feel like crap.
i was just looking for someone to talk to and just distract me from feeling anxious.
what am i ment to do

[SareBare]

i just dont understand whats going on. 2 hours ago i was reading these posts giving people advice etc and feeling fine.
i am just trying to take deep breaths or whatever it is they tell you to do and some of the bach flowers emergency essences

[SareBare]

should i just take a little bit more of paxil right now will that help.
im not sure why nothing is working

[ray34iyf]

Are you withdrawing? How large was your last drop?

This stuff comes and goes in waves unfortunately. Just last weekend I was starting to feel ok and then the anxiety hit hard again this week.

Just got to ride it out... and don't you worry. Your friend is ignorant. People who haven't gone through this drug induced hell have no grasp of what it can do to people.

[carolyn]

Hang in there, Sarah, it will pass. Deep breaths: cool air in, warm air out. Breathe with your belly and think of light entering your body as you breathe.

It will pass. You're doing great.

[SareBare]

i had no choice but to get onto the phone to a counsellor. no one was available.
anyways she has suggested neurolinguistic programing?? and emotional freedom technique its very expensive and i need to look into it so does anyone know much about it. i will have to look it up

[Si in Wales]

Hi SB

I had a few sessions of NLP. Please don't rule it out on the basis of this, but I found it expensive and didn't really see what the difference was from other calming techniques like CBT and the work of people like Claire Weekes.

Just my opinion though.


Si


P.S It is difficult for people to understand how people in our situation feel. Your friend seems a bit "harsh" though - maybe you could give her some more information at a good time for her. Never forget that there's people on here who understand though!

[luc]

Only people that have experienced the same can understand it all. That's why PP has helped so many throughout withdrawal. All that we come through is beyond "an average person". No matter how good friends and how good families are, Paxil experience is something out of this world to them, and for that matter for us too, if you know what I mean. But it gets better. And at some point, what you feel right now, will be just a bad dream from the past.

[nickels]

How are you feeling now Sarah?

Can you reduce the size of your drops? 7.5 to 5 is a bit larger than we recommend here and that can be contributing to your out of the blue anxiety. It seems like you are tapering a bit too fast, you might want to stabilize at this dose before moving down again.

Also, just for future reference, taking a little bit more paxil won't help if you need immediate relief...stick to the dose you are at and don't go up and down, even if its only once in a while it can have negative effects.

At times of high anxiety, I find breathing exercises to be helpful to reduce the tension in my body...from there I try meditation (for me thats prayer) to try to calm my racing mind. Or, it seems like distraction works well for you...when you don't have someone else to converse with, you might want to try some kind of game (crossword puzzles, sudoku, etc) to break the initial anxiety cycle.

[Norma]

Originally Posted by SareBare

so i went to my friends and as soon as i walked in the door she was like oh you look terrrible again. you are becoming a burden to people. you need to get help. you need to talk to a counsellor. you cant keep telling your friends your problems then we feel crap.

Personally, I think this was rather cold and not very friend-like. One of the best parts of having a true friend is to be able to tell them your problems, and maybe get some advice, or at least a little sympathy.

On the positive side, you can always come in here. I know its not the same as being together with other people, but on this site you will get plenty of understanding.

If you would like, send me an pm. I would like to have someone to chat with that understands withdrawal.

Norma

[Songbird]

I think it is because you did too big of a drop. Give yourself plenty of extra time to stabilise before dropping again, and next time do a much smaller drop, no more than 10%. Also, there are quite a few of us here who had a bad time around 5mg, so it may be that you're another who is sensitive around this dose range.

Do you have the Claire Weekes recordings? I can email them to you if you would like. Another thing I have found very useful is the 'Just Relax' Ashtanga yoga DVD, it is very calming, especially if you do it every day, over a week or two the relaxation effect builds up. Also have a look at the SET ('Simple Energy Techniques') website, it is kind of like EFT, but has simple exercises that you can easily do yourself.

I'm sorry about your friend. You can always come here, nobody here would say you're a burden, we all understand what you're going through.

[marie6749]

Hi Sarah,

Please know you are going to be fine. You must go back to the last dose where you were stable and do smaller drops. Then you will be at least able to cope better. Sometimes people can let us down, but don't worry about it. Be careful who you talk to as well, because most people don't understand Paxil withdrawal. You will need a good two or three weeks to stabilize on the higher dosage of Paxil but I know you will feel much better when you taper correctly.

Hang in there, we have all been there.

[AussieGirl]

Hi Sarah

How are you feeling now. I truly think if you go back to 10mgs and re-stablise then taper just 10% with a good month between drops you will be feeling much better and able to cope with tapering.

Hang in there. This too will pass. xoxo

[melvoin]

Yeah, I had the same thing happen to me. I was suddenly a "burden" to the very friends who encouraged me to give up the drugs to begin with. I'm pretty much all alone now.

[AussieGirl]

Hi Sarah: Just wondering how your going at the moment ???

Thinking of you Hugs Michaela xo

[scotslass]

Originally Posted by luc

Only people that have experienced the same can understand it all. That's why PP has helped so many throughout withdrawal. All that we come through is beyond "an average person". No matter how good friends and how good families are, Paxil experience is something out of this world to them, and for that matter for us too, if you know what I mean. But it gets better. And at some point, what you feel right now, will be just a bad dream from the past.

This pretty much sums it up,it really is very difficult for others to truly understand what we are going through.Although your friend was very insensitive Sarah,she probably has no real idea what hell withdrawal is.I had also been doing fine for the last couple of weeks and yesterday I had a really bad day for no apparent reason.Today is not starting out too great either but I know it will pass.Things will get better honey,you did have a big drop though and if you dont improve soon you may want to up-dose a little and stay there until you feel ready to drop again.
We are always here for you Sarah,you are never a burden to us darlin'
Love and hugs to you sweetie xxxxxx

[pboy]

Luc summed it up perfectly.

No one else understands how horrible WD and all its symptoms are, sadly. I end up telling my friend about it, sometimes I feel so awful I just can't help but speak about it, and I can tell that he gets sick of hearing it.
Now I try to keep my thoughts and feelings private apart from on here, and if I see my friend I try to focus on something not to do with me at all, such as watching TV.

I hope you feel better soon, talk to people on here when you're feeling bad or go for a long brisk walk. Even if I still feel 'bad' I always feel a little better once I get home when I do that.

[carolyn]

This is a top reason that I think therapy is so key during withdrawal. No one else can really understand what we go through, so our friends and family tend to get burned out and frustrated. But of course we need someone to talk to about it!

[pboy]

Just out of interest carolyn, what was your experience with a therapist? I can't imagine any therapist would treat WD seriously since much of the medical profession don't believe WD exists.

[carolyn]

I did six months of weekly cognitive behavioral therapy and now go in twice a year or so for a check up.

Most of my CBT was not done while I was in withdrawal, but instead while I was in poop-out from my original dose. I doubled my dose from 10mg to 20mg when the Paxil stopped working and then started CBT. I was having debilitating health anxiety at the time, in addition to near-daily panic attacks, and the therapy was incredibly beneficial for me.

I'm not sure how useful "normal" talk therapy would be for someone going through withdrawal, but in my experience, CBT therapy was extremely helpful. Remember that their profession is to help people who are having crazy amounts of anxiety.