Day 1 of Paroxetine for PMDD

[Monthlymonster]

Starting this today and a bit anxious about it due to things I’ve read online about coming off it.

Anyone else on this for PMDD?

I have been on paroxetine, 60 a day, for decades. It has been incredibly helpful, and i do not regret it at all. However, i cannot ever come off it, as doing so makes me extremely mentally ill.
I am happy to answer any questions-i am surprised to see this post as i am constantly told is a legacy drug and have had a lot of difficulties getting it over the years, until i found an amazing pharmacy and gp.

In short-if it helps, it may really help, but it is highly possible that you would need to be on it forever. It adds to my life, but i cannot miss even a day.
I have had 3 children while on it(with specialist support) and am just glad something helped-no other medication helped.

As it cannot be changed, i now also take quetiapine when depression became bad again.

Good luck, i know women with pmdd and i am glad you are being taken seriously.
I see it as if was diabetic i would take insulin. If medication allows me better health then i accept it is forever. I am 50 now, been on paraxatine since late 20s.

Hi thanks so much for your reply and I am glad it’s helped you but yes what you’ve said is exactly what I was reading online and it’s really scared me. I almost called the doctor to ask for something else instead.

When it was prescribed the doctor was a bit wishy washy about whether I should only take it the two weeks before my period or all month but eventually decided on all month purely because that’s just most common for antidepressants but I think maybe doctors just aren’t too used to prescribing them for part of the month for PMDD yet. Anyway, I did wait until two weeks before my period to start it and am tempted just to take it the two weeks every month in the hope that I don’t end up stuck on it forever and that hopefully some of the side effects aren’t too bad. I’m actually more like 12 days before today as wanted to wait until I had a day off to start it.

I hope I’ve not made a big mistake but I couldn’t go on any longer as I was and I agree if I need it just like any other medication.

I’ve been on it since 2020.
Was up to 40 a day, now down to 30.
I got a bit blue for about ten days each time I cut down by 5.
Other than that, no issues with the reduction.
I’ll see how I go with another 5 reduction once Spring proper arrives. Want to see if I can go down to 20 a day. But not if it means I lose this lovely, stable, balanced mood. Spent 40 years with untreated depression, because I am a massive wuss about medication. Not going back to the bad old days, even if I am taking it as I pootle into my dotage. But my depression was long established and showed no sign signs of leaving of its own accord. If I come off it entirely in all likelihood I’ll end up back where I started, and that’s unthinkable after living so well for these last few years.

That’s really reassuring that you’ve managed to reduce but line you say there’s probably no need to come right off it if it’s working for you!

Weird side effect I’m experiencing is yawning! Constantly. I’ve looked it up and it is an uncommon side effect but it’s a complete pain so if it doesn’t stop after a few days of taking it I’ll need to stop them.

I don’t remember yawning, but I did go through a really awful bit where I felt… like a robot. Totally emotionally flat. And got terrible constipation, which my robot self observed, and said “meh, don’t care, am robot” whereas my deeply hidden human self really wanted to be able to go to the loo.

I also remember having to take the meds at night because I was a complete sleepy zombie.

The first month was tricky and I’m glad my doctor took pity on me and gave me the liquid form so I could tritiate up the dose one drop at a time. It gave me a sense of control and allowed me to get to a therapeutic dose without having to be all guns ho about going from 0-60 in one fell swoop.

In my case it was worth going through the side effects, although I had serious doubts at the time.

Another one who was on Paroxetine for years.
I doubt that you will be able to do 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off, you will probably get withdrawal problems when you stop.
I found it very helpful throughout the menopause and once through the other side I decided to come off it. Took 6 months of very gradually reducing the dose but I'm off it now and fine.

I actually ended up only taking a half dose this morning as woke up feeling bit strange!!

The withdrawal is worrying me.

What dose are you taking?

10 but just took half this morning

Just wanted to update this after a few days of being on it and so far it seems to be working!! I think this week being the week running up to my period will be the real test though. Currently still just taking half a tablet per day. May up that if required this week.

The yawning stopped, thankfully.

Another update just in case this is helpful to anyone in the future. This worked so well for me. I’m blown away that half of a tablet has completely changed things for me. Came through my period this month with more or less no issues.

Now to decide whether to just keep taking it all month or stop for a couple of weeks. Stopping is quite tempting just because then it will never be in my system too long.