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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

paxil withdrawl

W

watari

Greenlighter
Joined
Jun 3, 2012
Messages
5
I've been prescribed 2mg of klonopin and 40mg of paxil since I was a teenager and have been wanting to quit. I have no insurance and my doctor is really not in favor of me quitting. I was prescribed them for social anxiety and depression, and it's been seven years and I can't remember what it was like to live without the pills... I'm pretty in-tune with my system, I quit cigarettes a few months ago, and got through a heavish drinking problem last year.

Twice previously I've tried to dose off of the klonopin and relapsed after about a month. I decided to start with the Paxil this time, I found taking it every other day was pretty bearable for a couple weeks and now I'm taking a half dose 'as needed', averaging a 20 mg dose every 3 days... I'm pretty symptomatic right now, but I'm very good at managing it (my environs could not be better or more supportive).

I'll list my symptoms that most bother me--

interrupted sleeping/insomnia
brain zaps
sensitivity to light and sound
brain farts/general confusion

I had heard of people taking l-tryptophan and melatonin, but I've had bad experiences with herbals before... I smoke a little weed if I get wound up and that helps keep me level on bad days.

I've started feeling like I'm getting symptoms of a cold, headaches, sniffles, but it seems to come and go with the other symptoms. Can the withdrawal effect my immune system, or is it psychosomatic?
 
Coming of 40 mg Paxil after 7 years would be a bitch of an SSRI discontinuation syndrome. I would suggest you dose frequently (not long intervals between dosing), while slowly lowering your overall daily dose, due to the fact that Paxil has a very short half-life. Taking an SSRI you are coming off of as needed is just a bad idea. My advice is to get back on it daily, and find a daily dose you are comfortable with (don't be afraid to go a bit higher than where you're at now), but I would split that dose either into two doses a day (every 12 hours) or even better three doses a day (every 8 hours). In this way you would get consistent relief, not up and down, and would be able to taper a bit more easily. Taper at a rate of your comfort, but not too quickly. I would probably suggest going to 10 mg three times a day, and slowly the amount, not the frequency of dosing. If you get the 40 mg tablets, it might be hard to divide them into such small pieces, but strive for approximate accuracy - it will pay off in the end. I would evaluate how you feel on the 10 mg three times a day for maybe a week, and if you feel ready to start reducing, proceed slowly. I know you are not taking near that amount now, but do not see this as failure or regression, see it as starting a sensible taper plan. You can reduce to two times a day, and adjust for total daily dose, if that is easier for you. You are probably scripted to take all 40 mg once a day, but Paxil is just not that type of SSRI, and doctors need to learn it has a very short half-life. I wish you the best. BTW, I would not even consider decreasing the Klonopin during the Paxil taper.
 
Thanks but no thanks. Tapering is a method that has been widely propagandized by Big Pharma. I wouldn't be surprised if there's no appreciable difference between quitting cold turkey and tapering down except that tapering gives you a less painful experience. Once you've got it in your head you want to squash the behavior, then squash it. Symptoms of "discontinuation syndrome" (aka what Big Pharma spent millions in lawyers fees so you wouldn't call it 'withdrawal' and make it sound like I'm a drug addict) are to be expected and, if anything, embraced as a sign that fucking with the delicate balance of the CNS is a bad idea and that I should never want to put myself in that position again.


Trust that this method is what I've found is most effective. I was just wondering if there's anything besides more pharmaceuticals to alleviate my symptoms.
 
Well, I know CT'ing can certainly be VERY unpleasant, and while I would recommend it with some drugs, I would not with SSRI's. If you carry a CT-attitude with all drugs, that is VERY dangerous. Coming off benzos, alcohol, and barbiturates, to name a few, can be lethal if done CT and if the dependence is strong enough, and it takes surprisingly little dependence to these drugs to make things very dangerous very quickly with a CT approach. I use discontinuation syndrome because that is what they call it, yes. They are wd's, but that is just not how it is termed. Does it make seem a little less threatening to patients? Yes, but we both know what we are talking about, whatever you want to call it. But, other than more drugs to help, there are a number of supplements which can be of help, esp. those dealing with serotonin production such as the precursors.
 
I'm not cold turkey, my last dose was 20mg two days ago. I may have a "cold turkey attitude" as you put it, as in I want it gone and I want it gone by putting as little of it back into my system as possible, but the stuff is still in there. It's a taper, just one that works for me and not everybody else. I plan to remain taking a half (or full) dose every couple days for the rest of the month and possibly into July.

But seriously, not cold turkey. But this is what I get for going on the Internet, armchair MDs who don't know their shit. (Or don't care, which is worse, being specific about these things is a key to success i.e. not lying to yourself about being an addict going through withdrawals, it's a subtler form denial.)

Now as for the supplements, I know l-Tryptophan is synthesized into seratonin but does anybody have any experience taking it during SSRI withdrawal? What about similar herbals (some of which are put in with tryptophan) like melatonin or valerian? What about Omega-3s, I read somewhere that SSRIs (or quitting them) can stress/damage the 5-HT receptors and that fish oil can help...
 
Taking the Paxil every couple days will only prolong the wd's or d/c syndrome, however you want to put it. It has notoriously short half-life, and it is not like Prozac, where this would be feasible due to its EXTREMELY long half-life, and that of its active metabolite. It won't make it more comfortable, nor will it make it quicker - just prolong it. The ups and downs could end up just fucking with your mood, and be very bad for you all in all. And what do you mean by these "amrchair MDs" that were a result of you going on the internet?
 
I went threw Paxil w/d before. I stopped cold turkey. Luckily I worked in a health food store and they suggested I take GABA its a 5-htp medication. It increases serotonin in your brain. It will stop w/d symptoms in a few days. You will begain to feel relief quick. It took me 3 days and I was back to normal and I slowly stopped the GABA and have not been dependent on a antidepressant since. I hope this helps.
 
I had an aunt that was hospitalized from Paxil wd. It is no joke and in a whole dif realm than other ssri wd. I tapered off Zoloft so easily I never noticed a change one bit. I decreased in percentages. I took 75% for 4 days, 50% for 5 days, 25% for 6 days, and 10% (basically a crumb) for 3 days and it was smooth a transition as ever.
 
Zoeylyn, the GABA supplement does not cross the BBB, making it useless. L-Theanine, Kava Kava, and Valerian root are much better GABA supplements/drugs that actually work.

Also, GABA is supposed to increase GABA levels in the brain, not serotonin (5-HT)... the drug that increases serotonin levels is the 5-HT precursor, 5-HTP, although L-Tryptophan is also effective, albiet not as able to cross the BBB.
 
5-HTP
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, or more correctly a neuromodulator, that is widely distributed throughout the brain and generally enhances GABA and therefore has inhibitory activity. Therefore, as a precursor to serotonin, 5-HTP can further increase the activity of GABA. Low serotonin levels are frequently an underlying component of many clinical conditions that are also related to GABA function, e.g. insomnia, depression, & anxiety.
Neurotransmitter tests show that GABA needs serotonin to function properly. Normally, GABA increases and acts through a negative feedback mechanism to reduce elevated excitatory neurotransmitters. However, this feedback mechanism requires the neuromodulating effects of serotonin. This is evident in patients with symptoms related to low GABA who have adequate GABA levels but low serotonin.

You are right! It's not 5-htp. It works with seritonin. But GABA still took away my withdrawals.
 
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