Paroxetine

[TheGruffalosbitch]

I thought I would share my experience to maybe help others and get help myself.

12 yrs ago I was put on Paroxetine for panic attacks. Big massive cry in the corner, dont go out of the house kind of panic attacks. At my worse I was on 60mg. Over the past 11 years I have been ok. For the first 5 yrs I would still get some attacks but CBT really helped with them. For the past 5 yrs I have been great. Except when I was pregnant (twice) when the panic attacks and generally anxiety seemed to rear its ugly head, maybe due to the hormones Im not sure. At one point I had to be hospitalised (in a maternity ward) because the anxiety made me throw up everything that went in my stomach so i had to go on a drip.

Once babies were born I seemed to go back to normal. Sorry if this is TMI but one of the major side effects of Paroxetine is loss of libido and inability to achieve orgasm. So this year I decided I was sick of feeling like my lower regions were not connected to the rest of my body and that maybe it was time to come off of Paroxetine.

Now its an amazing drug in treating anxiety and depression, But wow the withdrawal is awful, It has actually been compared to coming off heroin. So I came down from 30mg-20mg pretty easily and felt quite smug with myself so after a month I dropped down to 10mg and have been like this for 2 weeks and my smugness has gone!

I feel awful, all the withdrawal symptoms are the same symptoms that caused me to take the drug in the 1st place. So now Im battling trying to work out if its the withdrawal or the panic attacks coming back.

So I went to see the doc, told him I had, had a rough 2 weeks and he told me to keep at ithe 10mg and then I will go down to 5mg then off. That sent me into a complete melt down, cant stop shaking etc... I have spoken to him on the phone and we have decided that I should stop the Paroxetine take some diazipan to help me for the next few days and the go on to fluozitine as it has less side effects and the withdrawal symptoms are less "Im going crazy" like.

has anyone been through anything similar?

Hi Yes I have with Sertraline, and yes the reason I hated being on sertraline was the effect on my libido/ability to orgasm, and Paroxatine can be really horrible to come off as well. You are going way too fast which is why you are feeling so bad, the withdrawals can mimic the original depression/anxiety which is a head fuck. You need to see if you can get liquid paroxetine (are you in the UK?) and taper off it slowly. If you are on facebook I am in a really nice supportive closed /private group of people tapering AD's and particularly Paroxetine, also there is survivingantidepressants.org/ which has lots of useful info. If you look into my profile I have a blog/facebook page all about this subject. If you are interested in the FB group PM me and we can sort out an invite.

A guideline I have followed in tapering is not to reduce by more than 10% of your previous dose, so on that basis your reductions are pretty huge.

Oh yes and I switched to liquid fluoxetine to taper so that might be a good plan, stabilize yourself on the fluoxetine and make sure you are feeling well on that before starting a taper.

thanks strawberry, I agree Its a complete head fuck! Going to pm u know with my fb details

strawberry17 ive just read your blog and cried my eyes out! Im so sorry you went through this, Im sorry Im going through this, Im thankful Im not going crazy and that your an inspiration for doing this.

The doctor said I cant take my first fluoxetine till tomorrow night. Took paroxetine last night and has given me some diazipan to get me through the 1st few days. Which me luck!

I was lucky I was able to make the switch to fluoxetine ok, hopefully it will work out for you too. If not, don't despair, because Paroxetine is available in liquid form as well so you can always taper off that, just be prepared that because you've been on it a number of years (like I was) it may take some time, the good news is that for me, my libido etc came back very quickly into the taper and I've heard it has for others.

Can I just ask why docs make us come off AD or meds if they are doing the job they are supposed to do I.E make us well??

yommymommy, In my case its not the gps decision, its mine. I think he would be happy to keep me on them for the rest of my life (im 29). But for some stupid reason I want to come off of them. I have been fighting my inner demons all week and has taken all my will power not to go to the medicine cabinet and open a pack of 30mg I have stashed at the back

Well I admire your courage for taking them in the first place and now for trying to come off!

Wishing you all the good luck in the world x x

My understanding when I first started them years ago, was that you took them for a year to 18 months after you start feeling well, and then come off them, but somehow it never seems to work out like that.

I was 17 when I went on them. I was desperate and willing to try anything. The gp assured me they were not "addicitve" the would dependent was never used.

They do create dependency. Some people get off them easily, many many people struggle. I have sent you a friend request (hope I got the right person!)

accepted strawberry17

I was on seroxat from 19 until I was 30.

I came off it twice in that time,the first time wasn't too bad but the second and last time it took 6 months to taper using liquid seroxat and Valium for the final few weeks of reduction to nothing.

Side effects were horrendous -brain zaps,anxiety,feelings of losing my mind,insomnia etc.

As a drug for depression linked with anxiety it really helped me but it also started off my drinking.Seroxat does lower your inhibitions and I ended up a alcoholic.

Best of luck to you,I've been free of seroxat for 6 years and alcohol free for 6 mths.

Strawberrys blog is great.

And agree totally with this: My understanding when I first started them years ago, was that you took them for a year to 18 months after you start feeling well, and then come off them, but somehow it never seems to work out like that.

I have never been able to completely work out exactly what has been relapse and what has been side effects or withdrawal with me- but the one thing im really clear on is that drs generally have no idea how slowly you need to reduce ads. Absolutely no clue.

Alcohol use has been connected with SSRI use, it can create a craving apparently, for a few people. Well done Annie for beating it, must have been tough in the extreme. Sadly I do know a few people personally who have given up all hope of ever coming off seroxat/Paroxetine, but I also know many people who have and are coming off it very slowly. Damn it I just know a lot of people on and coming off AD's through my blog and facebook page so I know it can be done sucessfully, but doctors are generally crap at knowing how to do it.