Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Antidepressant info for Slymac

Hello!
Ok, I've also tried to get off anti-depressants lately so I'll try and give you some advice and hopefully it'll help you. I was on Paxil for depression, but noticed that it had a definate positive effect on my IBS; however, I had a lot of nasty side effects so once the depression was under control I decided to start weaning off it.
Let me just say, my stomach problems did get worse once I started coming off the anti-depressants. At the time however, I wasn't following Heather's diet or taking a fiber supplement or anything like that...I was being "bad" because the anti-depressant seemed to calm the tummy down so much that I could eat anything (and did!).
My best advice is to go realllll slow. A lot of doctors will tell you this isn't necessary and that you can half the dosage or go every other day, but for a lot of people this doesn't work. I had a doctor who was very familiar with anti-depressant withdrawal and he was the one who told me to go really slow. From the higher dosage I was able to cut more fast (example: I was on 60mg, and I went from 60 to 50 to 40 etc), but once I got down to 20 I had to go slower. My advice is to follow your body. When I went from 10mg to 5mg I was in complete upheaval, so I realized I needed to go slower. You're not alone, many people have trouble from what I've read, and some even need to go 1mg a time at the end by either finding a liquid version (if it's available for your drug) or just shaving portions of the pills! A pain yes, but worth it for your body.
As for the stomach problems, I'm still in a tizzy since trying to go off it (and still at 5mg) which is what led me to this page. So, I'm trying Heather's diet and alternative therapies (peppermint, fennel, etc) and hoping to get my tummy stabilized so it won't need the anti-depressants.
Other than that, my best advice is just to follow your body, if you feel that you're going too fast, you probably are, increase a little and go slower. You can do it!
Good luck and keep us posted,
Kelly

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