Paxil Withdrawal
#500 - 02/07/03 07:51 AM
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sek
Reged: 01/29/03
Posts: 63
Loc: Virginia, USA
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HanSolo, I saw in another thread that you took Paxil at one point. I am going to the doctor next week and I think I will begin to taper off of it. I'm a little nervous because I see horror stories all over the internet. Can you tell me your experience? Or has anyone else done this? Also, I forget, are you IBS-C?
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Irish parties always welcome crashers. The more the merrier. Paxil withdrawal did not go well. I'm back on them. Anxiety went through roof and would not leave the house. BTW - whereabouts in VA are you? I have relatives in Richmond, Danville, South Hill and Chase City. Han.
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Formerly HanSolo. IBS, OCD, Bipolar, PTSD times 3.
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I am currently on Paxil for anxiety and of course my stomach. I have had times where I could not afford the medicine as soon as my prescription ran out, and therefore went through a little withdrawal. I think that if you gradually come down off it, you will not have too many problems. I experienced and odd lightheadedness ( not sure if that is even a word!) , but also I could tell that not being on it I was more prone to attacks. And it did a number on my moods too. Can I ask why you are going off of it, what mg did you take, and did it help you at all?
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I did have success with it, but it makes me feel very sleepy in the mornings and evenings. When I finally get off work and have time to do something for myself, all I feel like doing is going to sleep. I also had success with Bentyl so I figure I'd rather take that daily and not be sleepy. I am taking 20 mg of Paxil.
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I have been living in Fairfax which is near Washington, but I am in the process of moving out to Warrenton which is a smaller community. I am actually an Ohio native, though.
Was your anxiety after going off Paxil worse than before you started taking it?
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Hi, i have experience with Paxil, in Ireland it is called Seroxat.Please think well with this drug,before i say anything there are many many people who have done well on this drug and i have to say it worked well with my depression that developed after the sudden death of my Mother,my DR kept me on these for five years which was too long,i made the decision to come off them for a couple of reasons and it took five attempts to wean down,it took me elevin months to wean down and even at that i suffered severe withdrawals for three months ongoing and it is only now almost one year free of this drug that i know myself again but i feel lucky that i am free.I gained 56lbs during this time but as these drugs suppress it didn't bother me.
I had all the symptoms of ibs but did not know what the problem was,i started Heather's diet of soluable food just before Christmas and i have lost 16lbs so far,it has slowed down now but i can wait,tomorrow is another day.With what i know now i would not take this drug for anything,it would make this post too long to go into what withdrawals were like,i could and would not go through that again,i don't want to upset anyone here,i can only say what it was like for me and everyone is different,take care.
Tina. 
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Excuse my ignorance, what is Paxil exactly? An anti-depressant?
I live in Oz and have not heard of it?
Kerrie
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What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
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Yes, Paxil is an anti-depressant. They also prescribe it for anxiety. I decided to go on it because the latest research has suggested that raising levels of serotonin can help IBS. My IBS has been somewhat better, but the best part is I don't freak out when I have an attack. I have been on 25mg's of PaxilCR for 5 months. I have known people who have successfully gotten off it, with no withdrawal problem. It seems to relate to how long you have been on it, the dosage, and how much you anticipate withdrawal symptoms. I hope to start weaning off it during the late spring if my IBS symptoms have not significantly improved---if they have I will stay on it.
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For anyone curious about Paxil, here is an update of my situation. I was on 20mg for about two months and had great results with my IBS-C. I decided to go off of it, though, because it made me sleepy early in the evening. My doctor had me take 10mg for five days then go off completely. I felt perfectly fine for the first three days afterwards, but then on the fourth day the withdrawal hit me. My symptoms are dizziness, nausea, sleepiness, and something Paxil-takers are apparently calling "zaps". I feel these sort of electrical pulses through my legs, especially when walking. They have me quite off balance. None of my symptoms are devastating but they are very uncomfortable and I am sick of feeling "drunk" and off balance. I am unable to exercise (walk) because of the "zaps". It's been five days now and people on Paxil message boards are claiming weeks and months of symptoms. Hopefully that will not be the case for me since I was only on it for two months but I haven't felt the symptoms let up at all in the last five days.
If I could do it over again I don't know if I would choose to take Paxil. It worked wonders on my IBS symptoms but I don't think it is worth being off-balance and nauseated for weeks. But having said that, if my IBS symptoms were unbearable and nothing else seemed to work, then I think it might be worth the withdrawal symptoms. Also, I didn't taper very much so perhaps this could have been easier.
Oh, and one other negative experience I had with Paxil...one day I didn't remember to take my pill until about 8 or 10 hours later than my usual time. I was extremely nauseous for almost a week and my doctor agreed that it was because of my late dose.
But wait, here's a positive--I did get to experience a sort of calming affect and am hoping to be able to replicate that on my own. I almost felt like I was on the outside looking in as I was in the middle of a situation that would normally stress me out, but instead I just felt like, "Oh well, it's fine. It'll all work out."
So, like Shannon114 posted earlier on this thread, I don't want to scare anyone away from Paxil, but it's definitely a decision to be taken seriously. It did help me a lot when I was on it plus some people don't experience the withdrawal. And if your IBS symptoms are really bad then you may gladly trade a few weeks of withdrawal for several months of relief from IBS. Of course shannon114 had 11 months of withdrawal...
...did this post just make it a hundred times more confusing?! Sorry!
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