Cold Turkey horror story

I started taking Paxil 20mg about 3 years ago, following a divorce and while I was in a stress filled job. The doctor who perscribed it was a General Practicioner, and did not warn me of the dangers of ceasing dosages cold turkey. I took Paxil for 2 years faithfully, but there came a time in my life where I was in a much better job, my life was proceeding well, and I had put my failed marriage behind me. So, without the advice of a doctor, I simply quit Paxil.

Thus began my decent into hell. I had the zaps, severe depression, muscular twitching, horrible insomnia, vertigo, panic attacks, headaches and bowel disturbances. I was out of work for 2 weeks straight, and then on and off work for a month afterward. Only after intensive research did I discover that it was Paxil withdrawls........I entered a ER for treatment 6 different times when symptoms were at their worst. Fortunately my workplace was unusually understanding, and I retained my job.

But after a time, the symptoms subsided. You WILL survive this. But whatever you do, taper off, the symptoms of withdrawl by going cold turkey can be nothing less than catastrophic.

Good luck.........

Hi Chris

Are you acctually off the drug now? I only managed 4 days without it and that was only because I couldnt get a script at the time, it was acctually what made me decided to come off it. I thought if something can affect you so bad it surely cant be good for you. I have been put on the liquid form and have reduced my intake to 10mg from 20mg, next week I have to go back to get another script and then should be taking it every other day. It still hasnt been easy this way and I wonder if Im just a coward or whether I should just come off. What got me is that it says in the leaflet that this drug isnt addictive, but surely something that is so hard to come off must be. Isnt there anything we can do about that leaflet? Hugs xx

Just a heads-up about alternating doses--Many will tell you that taking doses every other day or every third day is the best way to accentuate the withdrawal. If you think about it, you are continually subjecting your brain to adjusting to a different dose. Paxil/Seroxat has a 21-hr half life--it's very short. That is the very reason it is so difficult to quit. Dr. Peter Breggin, a US authority of SSRIs, suggests a decrease of no more than 10% of the current dose. That gets progressively more difficult the lower the dose goes. That is why the liquid is much easier to deal with than the tablets and cutting them up. If you lower your dose by 1 mg and stay at that dose, daily, for at least 2 weeks, then your brain can adjust to that new amount, stabilize, and then you can progress to another 1 mg drop. I'm not sayin that many doctors won't tell you to alternate, but from experience, it's not always the easiest approach.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

I agree with NM on this. Skipping doses is only creating a yoyo effect with your brain. One day you will have the medication and be "up" then slowly your body get's used to being without the drug and starts the withdrawal cycle, then you take the drug again and start that process all over again. The best way is to taper slowly. Like the good doctor said, by 10% only. So decrease, level yourself off at that dose and then decrease again, and so forth. this has proven to be the best sucess for most people trying to get off the drug.

In regards to the leaflets that claim Paxil is a non-addictive drug, people have been working and striving to get this lables changed. Many law suits have been filed. It is a slow process, but eventually we may see a difference. But for now we have to keep informing eachother, friends, family and most importantly our doctors!
When I was at the end of my battle with paxil withdrawal, I went to see my primary doctor for suggestions etc... He did not want to believe that the drug had these problems and did not want to research it either, claiming that I was still depressed and just didn't want to admit it to myself! I tried to explain that I was not alone and I had done much research about this problem and the pharmacutical company that put it out... But was faced with a blank look by the doctor, a prescription for anti-ceaser medication for the "zaps" that he claimed I did not suffer from, but yet tried to prescribe a drug to me for something that in his mind did not exist (I threw the prescription away), and an attitude that he knew it all and I was just a problem...he would not reserach. Then I decided to speak with his administrator about his reluctance to research the symptoms and his attitude problem for over an hour (the whole time the administrator trying to get me off the phone)... I then printed out almost a booklet of information I had found on the internet and personally delivered it to my doctor!
Since I have found a new primary care doctor and we get along just fine! Don't know if the other doctor has seen the light yet, but all too soon he will, once he has more and more patients with the same problems I explained!

Doctors do not know everything! And pharmacutical companies are out to make money! Trust your body, not leaflet's! Life is too short!

My Best,
Dianna

I'm in pretty much the same situation right now. I've been out of work for the past two weeks due to paxil withdrawal-just completely unable to function. How much and how did you explain it to your supervisor? My supervisor has a general idea of the problem. (Explained that I'm having withdrawal symptoms from a rx that was prescribed for anxiety). The only problem is that I feel like such an idiot when I keep calling in-it seems like there's no way anyone could understand w/out having been there. Guess I'm just wondering if you felt the same way, and how you dealt w/ it? Thanks so much for any input!

hiya chris, i was on them for two years and stopped suddenly. i know exactly where ure coming from, i had all yr symptoms plus diarrhoea, dizziness, vertigo,feeling out of body !, poor balance, feeling yr feet werent touching the ground! etccccccc lol...im back on efflexor as i cant tak eit any more, ive been like **** for 10 months..

all the best

paul

hiya chris, i was on them for two years and stopped suddenly. i know exactly where ure coming from, i had all yr symptoms plus diarrhoea, dizziness, vertigo,feeling out of body !, poor balance, feeling yr feet werent touching the ground! etccccccc lol...im back on efflexor as i cant tak eit any more, ive been like **** for 10 months..

all the best

paul