# Coming off seroxat - "discontinuation syndrome"



## 16012 (Apr 8, 2006)

I am soon to stop taking seroxat (aka paxil) as apart from turning my brain to mush, and disconnecting all sensory connections to you-know-where, it hasnt done anything positive to my innards. I had 2 months on 20mg, adn 2 on 30mg.Im looking for personal testimony (not links to med pages) from people who have stopped seroxat. Ive kept back abot 10 x 20mg & 10 x 30mg tabs to taper down the dose over a period of a couple of weeks.Can anyone describe their personal experiences of stopping, their dosage protocol, did you feel bad? and any other helpful info would be welcomed.And, most importantly







how soon does the sensory software repair itself ????!!!


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## 17176 (Mar 31, 2005)

Hello and welcome


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## 16012 (Apr 8, 2006)

BumpI wanted to do a "Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau" style pronounciation - "beump" ? or, "boomp" ; "boump" ; "beamp" ?Anyhow, the point is that I still need input, guidance & help with respect to quitting Seroxat (Paxil; paroxetine) (30mg), without getting withdrawal, cold turkey, or, as the doctors prefer it, "discontinuation syndrome". Someone out there must have some pertinent info - ? please ?


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## Talissa (Apr 10, 2004)

Hey Sun, This might help~"How should I taper off and how long should I take to taper off?Work closely with a doctor. Donâ€™t go off medication without medical supervision. The best way to minimize withdrawal side effects is to wean off the medication. *By reducing the dosage in small increments, your serotonergic system can gradually take over it's own natural serotonin producing activity and slowly adapt to living without the drug. This process may take up to a year or longer.* Some doctors are halving the dose every week or two. We do not recommend to taper off that fast. Nor do we recommend to skip daily doses. Taper gradually with an absolute maximum of 5% per week. When it gets down to the smallest dose, (10mg capsule), you can try "The Orange Juice Bit", "Cutting Tablets" or "Oral Suspensions-Liquid Preparations":"Orange Juice Bit" pour a glass of orange juice pull apart the capsule and stir into the orange juice drink 9/10 of it and repeat this every day until the 7th day the next week drink 8/10 of it until the 14th day, then 7/10 until the 21th day, 6/10 until the 28th day, and so on... repeat the "orange juice bit" several weeks until you've totally come off your (SSRI) antidepressant...Never ever use Grapefruit Juice. Grapefruit juice is an inhibitor of the cytochrome P-450 enzymes. These enzymes are known to metabolize (break down) (SSRI) antidepressants in the liver. Drinking grapefruit juice whilst you are taking an (SSRI) antidepressant can create a serious toxic reaction, because the chemical ingredient will build to toxic levels in the bloodstream! For more information click here. "Cutting Tablets"If you don't take capsules but tablets, you can try to chip smaller doses off the tablets. Unfortunately this is a very uneasy task. You could order a pill cutter or pill splitter at your local pharmacist to facilitate this procedure. Pill-cutters aren't that expensive. "Oral Suspensions-Liquid Preparations"A much better way to wean off when it gets down to the smallest dose is simply to turn to your doctor who can provide you a liquid preparation (oral suspension-10 mg./5 ml.) of Paxil, Prozac or Zoloft and possibly more liquid versions of other SSRI's. Most people don't know about it, or don't consider it because it's supposedly for kids. It's very easy to use and more reliable then chopping up tablets. Ask your doctor for it !Take notice that even this process of slowly tapering off could be too fast for you to avoid withdrawal reactions or other serotonin related side-effects. This will be different for every individual. "http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/taper.htm


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## Talissa (Apr 10, 2004)

Also, this site is entirely dedicated to helping with paxil withdrawal~http://www.quitpaxil.org/


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## 16012 (Apr 8, 2006)

Thanks for the link, Talissa. Useful, and helpful, but not personal. As I said in my first post, the most valuable info would be personal testimony from people who had been through the quitting process themselves. I have now been on seroxat for 3 months; 2 months on 20mg/d, & the last month+ on 30mg/d. The effects are certainly cumulative. I feel much more woozy now than previously; others have referred to "brain fog", and I can concur. Sexually - well, I feel like I have regressed to one of those simple organisms that reproduces by binary fission. In the spirit of scientific research, I have forced myself to look at naughty pictures on the interwebnettything - but with no response. (Why is there no fetish site for those of us who get turned on by binary fision?)Meanwhile, I am approx 2 weeks away from quitting/tapering off. And I will report (like it or not) on the rate of recovery of re-sensitization of the Naughty Bits. (Naturally, if they recover rapidly, I might be otherwise preoccupied...)


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## terrig (Jul 20, 2000)

I was on Paxil for my IBS for about 6 years. It helped totally, but a few months ago, I realized that my life had pretty much gone out of control due to the loss of emotions/feelings I had on the Paxil, so I decided to go off of it. I asked my doc and he said that since it wasn't for anxiety/depression use, I should be able to stop it cold turkey. My last day of Paxil was on 4/12/06, which was a Wednesday.Thursday & Friday weren't too bad as the drug was probably still in my system. Saturday night I had a breakdown of some kind - 12:30 in the morning hubby went to get me dramamine due to dizziness and he called friends to come stay with me because he was afraid to leave me alone, I was that bad. Finally, the crying stopped around 3:30 and I went to bed. Sunday (Easter) I was shaky, dizzy and still crying a bit, but nothing compared to Saturday. Every day that week got a little bit better, and today, about 2 weeks later, I feel like a new person. I have lost 7 pounds so far, emotions are back, I have tons of energy and I am sleeping better than I have since I began treatment. The same day I stopped the Paxil, I started Zelnorm, and so far, so good with that.I have no experience with the tapering - I did it cold turkey. Since then, people have told me I shouldn't have done that since I had such a terrible few days, so check with your doc.The symptoms I experienced were pretty bad - brain "zaps", terrible migrane, uncontrollable crying for no reason, dizziness, etc., but it only lasted for a few days, and I had a lot of support, so I made it. Good luck with this time.Terri


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## 16012 (Apr 8, 2006)

Thanks, terri. Quitting sounds daunting, but doable.Im finding that even after 3months + that the side effects keep accumulating. My short term memeory has deteriorated. I had a phone converstation with my dad one night that I couldnt remember the following day, and many other similar occurences. I cant wait to stop this wretched drug. It has reduced my anger, but only at the cost of slicing my personality in half (and thats the verdict of my wife).


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## 16012 (Apr 8, 2006)

Ive decided to start stopping the seroxat immediately. Ive had 6 weeks on 20mg & 6 weeks on 30mg, and have seen no improvement in my gut symptoms (briefly, I have low gut motility - well, maybe. No doctor is quite sure, but Ive just had my intitial chat with my _fourth_ consultant, and he seems better than the others, and wants to test me for some weird & wonderful rare stuff, so fingers crossed).So, today 20mg, and in a few days, reduce it again. Lets see if this minimises the quitting problems.


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## joy81499 (Nov 11, 2004)

I'm wondering how Sun is faring. Thanks for your input terrig --- I decided early last week to give up on Paxil as well.I've been taking 20 mg/day since June. It has greatly reduced my IBS-D by calming my anxieties but the side effects have been too much for me. Like others, the insomnia has been overwhelming - it might be okay for those who don't have a set schedule of work responsibilities, but for me --- I'm late nearly every day as I simply can't get out of bed (and anymore, don't really care if I'm late or not). Even more disturbing is that my short term memory is getting worse by the day and I am so forgetful of words that sometimes I feel that it's difficult to carry on a decent conversation. I used to have an enormous vocabulary and now find I am using the words "thingy" and "whatcha-ma-callit" far too often. The sexual side effects are pretty lousy too.I almost forgot to mention that I gained 15 lbs. since June and I was already overweight to begin with. I went from 20 to 10 mg/day for 3-4 days and didn't feel any worse, so the last few days I've been taking 10 mg every other day. I took 10 mg yesterday and am seriously considering not taking another dose. I have felt a little headachey today and yesterday and just a tad lightheaded - maybe it's the Paxil, maybe I'm just sleepy. I wonder how long it will take to lose the feelings of insomnia, mental dullness, and lack of libido?


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## terrig (Jul 20, 2000)

Joy:Honestly, those 3 things you mentioned came back to me pretty quickly - within a week of being off of the Paxil.I am still having a number of problems with managing my emotions. I have not had any for so long (6 years), that now when they come, they overwhelm me. I am quick to get very angry & quick to cry, but I am hoping that I will be able to get this under control.Good luck to you with this decision. I have to say that my IBS has come back full force in the month or so that I have been off of the Paxil, and I am not sure what route to take now, but I just feel so much better mentally without the Paxil that I can't imagine going back on.Terri


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## 16923 (Mar 25, 2006)

Hi all, this is a bit of a scroller sorry!!Gosh it's been quite a long time since I last visited! I thought I would check in as I've just recently stopped Paroxetine (Aropax or Paxetine in my neck of the woods).I started on the tablets about 3 years ago, after a major bout of depression. I also suffered IBS-D for around 10 years and got to the point where I thought enough is enough.For the past 3 years I've had almost no IBS problems at all, and my health and wellbeing improved tenfold apart from the normal side effects including complete loss of libido, weight gain and irregular sleeping patterns. (Mostly sleeping all day during the weekends!!)So I spoke to my doctor 2 weeks ago, and asked about changing the medication as I was keen to have my libido back and stop any more weight gain. I only gained 20kgs in 3 years, but going from a size 8 to size 12/14 Australian that's quite a difference.So it's been exactly 2 weeks since I quit the Paroxetine. I've tried weaning off it before several times unsuccessfully - I always went back to the full dose. This time my doctor prescribed Edronax (Reboxetine I think?) as an alternative. I changed over the day I went to see the doctor. 5 nights later I was still doing ok, but had started to get the 'head zaps' or electric shock sensations in my head along with a swooshing sound when I looked around. By the first Saturday I had completely hit rock bottom, and very suddenly. I woke up during the night and started having very depressive thoughts, and was quietly crying. Not anything hysterical at all, just a quiet sob. I thought hmmm, ok I can deal with this.The day got progressively worse. I began feeling very angry for no reason, and when friends popped round that afternoon I excused myself to the bedroom as I just couldn't be bothered. I could hear my hubbie and our friends laughing in the lounge room and I felt very annoyed, and got rather angry at their 'rudeness' for being so loud when i wasn't feeling 100%. I soon became so wound up that I just burst into tears. This happened quite a few times during the afternoon. That night my hubbie was supposed to go out, and I insisted that he go even though he offered to stay and keep an eye on me. As soon as the door closed and I was alone I fell into uncontrolled hysterical sobs, and felt like I was so alone and unwanted. 5 minutes later hubbie was back as he had forgotten his wallet, and found me cowering on the floor next to the bed. Needless to say he didn't end up going out again and spent the night trying to comfort me. Sunday was just as bad, hysterical crying; fits of anger; more head zaps... by Monday I felt a little bit better, so went to work. I was quite irritated during the day but managed to get on with things. I think the distraction helped!Over the next few days I managed to get through the working day ok but come the evening I couldn't sleep which made me angry again and I would end up crying my eyes out. Poor hubbie just didn't know what to do, he would try to comfort me as best he could but I just felt so worthless and helpless. By this point I decided that I would concentrate on getting over the Paroxetine and stopped taking the Edronax. I haven't touched it since and to be honest, I don't really think the Edronax did much!By Thursday last week I couldn't handle work so went home early, and took Friday off also. Being alone on Friday actually wasn't too bad, although I spent most of the day in bed as I couldn't think of any good reason to actually get up. I ran out of a few essentials in the house but just couldn't force myself to go outside to the shop to get supplies. I tried to do the washing but ended up just feeling so irritated and annoyed that I just went back to bed again. Over the weekend just gone I've seen a big improvement though, hubbie went out Saturday and Sunday (with my blessing!)and the time alone at home really did me good. I finally felt a sense of calm yesterday afternoon, as I watched a wildlife doco on tv (one of my favourites). I managed to have a reasonable dinner last night (my appetite was zilch over the past 2 weeks) and my energy and drive are returning to normal.I think it will take some time to feel really myself again after this shocking withdrawal I've just gone through. Going cold turkey was the only option for me and I'm really thankfull that I have such a loving husband. I was a little rude towards a friend though who called asking if I wanted a visitor, cutting her off saying NO, no visitors!! and almost hanging up but she understands now why that happened.All I can really say to those who want to quit Paroxetine is be aware of what MAY happen, of course not everyone will experience severe withdrawal but I think it's best to be prepared for the worse case scenario. Ensure you have your support network ready, and remember you WILL get better. At my worst I didn't think that was possible and that I would be stuck in that black hole forever but I wasn't. And you won't be either.Good luck, and if I can help with any questions please feel free to ask. I know my situation sounds scary, and it can be - but I wanted to be honest with what happened to me.Love and hugs


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## 16923 (Mar 25, 2006)

Oh! How could I have forgotten! In the past 3 days the IBS-D has returned with a vegence! I haven't eaten much at all in the past 2 weeks so it's not horrendous, but it's IBS all the same. I don't know if it will stay or if it's just because my body has been under so much stress in the last couple of weeks but I'll take each day as it comes!


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## 19671 (Jun 16, 2006)

To: AussieKiwi Check out a natural product called Florostor, made by Biocodex. It may help you a lot!


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