[PleaseHelp]

I am wondering if anyone is on Paxil or any other SSRIs. I have been on Paxil for almost 9 years, it is not working any more. My pdoc has me weaning off Paxil and using Prozac to counter the side effects. I'm scared.

[jbug]

I've been on a lot of SSRI's. It's been my experience that they work really good for awhile then they don't work as good so I have to switch to a different one and then the cycle starts again.

Jan

[PleaseHelp]

I've been on Paxil for so long. Now I just want off the Paxil and to stay off SSRIs. No more for me. It is going to take me 4 years to get off this nasty drug. I'm not doing this again.

[Corine]

Originally Posted by PleaseHelp

I am wondering if anyone is on Paxil or any other SSRIs. I have been on Paxil for almost 9 years, it is not working any more. My pdoc has me weaning off Paxil and using Prozac to counter the side effects. I'm scared.

Hi I'm new here.. and I know how hard it is to get off a med. I was on effexor xr and i'm feeling all kinds of side effect from it. And my Doctor also put me on Prozac for the same reasons..
hang in there we will make it through this..
Corine

[Beholden]

HI,

I've been on Zoloft, Lexapro, Cymbalta, and Effexor XL and now Pexeva.

The first 3 pooped out after a while, though Zoloft worked the longest, about 5 years. The Effexor was not the right drug for me at all and now the Pexeva is working fine for me.

It is a very similar drug to Paxil, just the competitors brand, manufactured by a different drug company than Paxil, but according to my psychiatrist it doesn't have the same sort of side effects as Paxil. It doesn't cause the weight gain, nor is it as hard to titer off of, if I needed to stop taking it. I have no intentions of coming off this drug since it workd to stabilize my depression. I'm not trying to promote Pexeva, just trying to tell you some drugs work some stop and each person is different. I still have problems with motivation, but he says I have to force myself to do something each day. When I do, I feel good. What I need is to find a job, then a few of my stresses will change.

I went off the Effexor very slowly, much slower than my family doctor told me to because I was afraid of the side effects. But the drug itself had so many side effects to me that it was good to be getting off of it. I didn't have bad withdrawal side effects - head aches and after I was off, I relapsed because I wasn't on any other anitdepressant. That was my choice, not my doctor's. Looking back, it wasn't a good choice, especially since i did it in February - probably the worst time of the year. (I wasn't making real good choices at the time I guess???). Plus I had extra stress a work.

My reason for going off the Effexor was to see what it felt like to be "normal". Or whatever normal for me was. The effexor side effects were like I had too much caffine, and my family practice doc finally sent me to see a psy doc because he said he didn't know what else to Rx, that if increasing the Effoxor didn't work it was beyond his expertise. I'm so grateful he did that because the psy doc knows his stuff. He explained to me that Effexor's second ingredient is the only part that gets increased, the first part is effective or therapeutic at 50mg and the other part is like caffine and it caused me anxiety and heart palps, things I really didn't need!

I hope you don't worry too much about switching medicines, it takes a few before you get it right sometimes. We both know they can poop out though.

Where did you hear it will take 10 years to get off Paxil? I know nothing about Paxil except my best friend takes it for panic attacts and her doctor says it is the perfect drug for her in how it works from the very begining. She has taken it for over ten years and she has been lucky it is still working fine. Keep us posted on how you are doing. Hang in there!

[PleaseHelp]

I didn't say it would take 10 years to get off of Paxil. I've BEEN on Paxil almost 10 years. I believe that the meds just cover up the symptoms, they don't help with the problem. For the underlying problem I need therapy. Which I do attend and I plan to get to the bottom of my anxiety problems.

I do not plan on taking another med to replace the Paxil. And once I'm off the Paxil I will start to wean off the Klonopin. I will keep you posted.

I am feeling better today, just very tired!

[Beholden]

Sorry I misread your begining statement. You are right about the medicine just covers some of the symptoms I think. My doc once said the medicine he started me on for anxiety would "take the edge off", not make the problem go away. Funny, I notice you are located in ND, I grew up there! Married a Flyboy! I don't miss the winters, although we have had our share of what they call bad weather here in Ohio.

Hope you have a good day again tomorrow.

[PleaseHelp]

I am just very very tired! That is one thing I can't seem to get enough of is sleep. I was put on Paxil for anxiety. All this time masking the real reason for my stress and anxiety - PTSD. So now I'm working on my PTSD issues in therapy. I don't know what else to say tonight. So I'll just stop. Oh I did cut back on one dose of Klonopin today and did fine.

[seeker1950]

Hi, Pleasehelp...That's a very cute puppy in your avatar pic!

I just spent two years weaining off Paxil. I was on Prozac prior to that. All totalled I was on these two for 17 years, Paxil for about 7 years. I started cutting the 40 mg. Paxil in half, down to 20 mg. for about a whole year. Then for 6 months down to 10 mg. The last 6 months were down to 5 mg., then I cut the pills as small as I could for about a month. I possibly could have done this more quickly, but each time I tried reducing more than the above mentioned amounts, I became quite ill...dizzy and anxious. I finally went off totally this past Christmas '08 break from teaching, which was two weeks, in which I was in pretty bad shape, irrational and anxious. But I'm off completely now, for over a month, and I'm glad I did it.

I was on Paxil for depression, anxiety and obsessive thinking. With each decrease, especially toward the end of the weaning, I experienced much of this, but I weathered it, and it did pass. Without Paxil now, I'm actually pretty "normal" and able to work thru any unpleasantness.

The Paxil had actually stopped working for me also, for several years, though I continued to take it. The only effect it was having on me was to make me apathetic and complacent.

I applaud your desire and efforts to get off the drug.
Patty

[PleaseHelp]

Seeker1950,

Thank you. The puppy's name is Turbo. He's 7 months old. I got him to help me with my anxiety. He does help. He seems to notice when I am anxious and finds ways to distract me. So far he's been my best therapy, next to my actual therapist.

I have 40 mg of Paxil so I have been cutting them into 4ths. I will keep you posted.

[ECHOES]

Good luck with your tapering off. I agree with you about them covering up the symptoms; I think they blunt the emotions which is okay if you need that to function but they never suggest one tries to see if they can reduce of stop the meds so they can then deal with the underlying reasons.

I was on different meds for 10+ years and stopped several years ago. I like this, it works for me.