Paxil Withdrawals

[Carly2011]

Hi everyone,

I am on prescription medication Paxil (paroxetine) and am slowly weaning myself off of it. I have been using Paxil for anxiety for about 10 years now because of my emetophobia. Before the Paxil, I barely ate anything, wouldn't go to any restaurants, etc. I had all of the classic emet symptoms. With the Paxil, I am still anxious when I feel nauseous, but I don't feel nauseous nearly as often and it's not as bad as it used to be.

I want to get off the Paxil because I hope to have children one day (I'm getting married in May, but don't want children for a couple years) and Paxil is harmful to fetuses. The doctor says I probably don't need it anymore anyway, and anything I feel when I'm coming off of it is just withdrawal.

Last year, November 2009, my doctor and I lowered my dosage from 30mg to 20mg. I felt nothing for a month, and then everything hit me one day in December. My fiance and I were driving and he was talking about a "chicken roll" and how this one restaurant made it the best. I started thinking about it and felt n*. My legs started to shake, my head started spinning, and I opened the window even though it was freezing outside. I closed my eyes to keep from seeing the restaurants, but that also made me feel s*. We got to our destination and I was so worked up at that point that I didn't even want to go shopping as planned, I just wanted to go home. The whole ride home, I was so n*- I kept telling my fiance to talk to me, get my mind off it, but I was hunched in the seat, shaking like a leaf, praying to myself and trying hard not to think of food.

After this instance, for about 3 months more, I was n* all the time. I had to keep stepping outside at work, especially at lunchtime. Trying to compose myself was not easy.

Needless to say, I'm gearing up to do this all over again after the wedding. I want to lower myself again, maybe to 15mg this time so the drop is not so significant. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to combat this?

Please and thank you.
- Carly

[crystalmom]

Paxil is safe to take while pregnant! I took it through both of pregnancies, and both of my boys were full term, perfect weight, perfect everything. I am unsure where you got that info, but my dr and my pharmasist did alot of research to check this out for me.

As for withdrawls, well, they are inevitable. However, alot of your anxiety may have to do with the regular stress of planning and finalizing a wedding! I know people who dont have anxiety that have had panic attacks during this phase!!! Try to create a calm atmosphere when you are sitting down to do wedding stuff. Maybe calm music and a cup of tea.

Hope this helps....

[Carly2011]

Thank you, and I'm so glad to hear that your boys were born perfect.

Paxil is a pregnancy category D drug, which means there is positive evidence of human fetal risk based on adverse reaction data from investigational or marketing experience or studies in humans, but potential benefits may warrant use of the drug in pregnant women despite potential risks. So, basically, if the benefits outweigh the risks, your doctor may have kept you on it.

I'm not sure if I want to take the risk; God forbid something happens... I would feel guilty for the rest of my life.

Source: http://anxiety.emedtv.com/paxil/paxi...pregnancy.html

[andee]

I took zoloft for one preg. and celexa for another. I could NOT not take it, and also did a lot of research on it. I did hear that paxil is not as safe as these. I also tried getting off one of these, and it was terrible, and I went very very slowly and gradually. If you are really having a hard time, then maybe you can switch to another safer drug... good luck.

[Fishies]

I was on Paxil and had a very difficult time with it after a few years. My body started building up a tolerance to it and I was experiencing withdrawl symptoms ALL the time. I decided to switch to another medication. My doctor told me that Paxil is an "older" medication and has a very short half life, meaning that you can feel those nasty withdrawal symptoms pretty quickly and with a great intensity. I went off of it by switching to another medication. I know that they make an extended release/time release formula you can take and perhaps it would be easier to switch to that and then come off of it....but there is no generic (I don't think) and I had a strange reaction to it so just ended up switching altogether. The episode you described sounds like a HORRID panic attack...like a kind I used to get that would just knock me off my feet instantly and I would feel horrible for days afterwards. It was a weird feeling to all of a sudden just have something click in my head (like what you were describing with the chicken roll discussion) and then feel like dying....If you don't mind being on medication, I'd just switch. But yeah, the withdrawal of Paxil is brutal.....and can last awhile Have you asked your doctor? Googled it? Maybe lots of exercise and a healthy diet mixed with natural supplements would help. Good luck