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Hi everyone, I want to introduce myself. This forum helped me start tapering off of paxil a year ago and I never officially joined until now. Now that I am close to the finish mark, things have gotten harder. It is a long story, so I post a summary first and then a longer version. What I am looking for: sympathy, tips on dealing with current WD symptoms, advice, etc. My history (summary): May 2017-April 2018: 30 mg paxil April-September 2018: 15 mg paxil Sept-Nov 2018: 20 mg paxil November 2019: switch to 20mg paroxetine (bad reaction to change) December 2019-July 2021: 20mg Paxil again June 2021-August 2021: slow transition from 20mg brand paxil to 20mg paroxetine. Went well this time.(motivation was price of drug) July 2021: discussed with doc that parox has made me feel stupid/less sharp. I have always been considered a smart individual, and my work is very intellectual. He said parox does indeed cause cognitive decline over extended use period. So I started tapering off 20mg paroxetine at approx. -10% a month. Had to combine with suspension which is only sold as brand Paxil. (Doc supported this plan). July 2021: doc suggested cannabis for insomnia and that has been wonderful. This was because I often found myself needing 0.25mg alprazolam to sleep and he said cannabis was better. May 2022: reached 10mg paroxetine (from 20mg July 2021). No bad feelings other than noticing increased overall anxiety. Convinced myself I do want to take meds but not paroxetine. July 2022: Doc suggested change to 10 mg Trintellix. Suggested plan was: week 1: 10mg parox and 5mg trintellix; week 2: 10 mg parox and 10mg trintellix; week 3: 5 mg parox and 10mg trintellix (I disobeyed and went to 7.5mg instead and felt fine); week 4: 2.5mg parox and 10mg trintellix (I disobeyed and went to 5mg of paroxetine and all hell broke loose). Three days into the change from 7.5->5mg paroxetine I started feeling terrible withdrawal. August 2022: currently taking 10mg trintellix in the morning and 5 mg paroxetine in the evening and afraid to reduce further. Have been needing 0.25 mg alprazolam to sleep because I am afraid of using prescribed cannabis, which is what I normally use for sleeping. August 2022: 10mg trintellix and 5 mg paroxetine. Alprazolam 0.25mg or cannabis for sleep. Having WD from parox in spite of trintellix. Since 3rd day of going 7.5mg->5mg of parox I have felt crippling headache that did not subside even with 600 mg ibuprofen. This came along with a very stiff neck seemingly out of the blue. I decided it must've been my yoga headstand. But I also felt a bit off - weird racing thoughts, did not feel like myself. Had to take alprazolam 0.25 mg to sleep. The next day I felt extremely nauseous and dizzy along with the stiff neck, ocular pain, and a paradoxical feeling of both light and heavy head, if that makes sense. These symptoms persisted into the next day, which is where I am now. What I've been trying from reading here: took 2x 120mg magnesium capsules this morning and 2xvegan omega3 capsules. I felt some relief from ocular and neck pain. Also have been using heat pads and sniffing my lavender/eucalyptus oil blend for relief. Tums helped with nausea yesterday. Any tips are welcome. Thank you PS: I also take between 5-20mg of dextroamphetamine for adhd daily. This started late in life on July 2020 and has proved essential to my surviving in capitalism as a late diagnosed woman with adhd. Long version: Prescribed brand Paxil for generalyzed anxiety disorder: 10 mg for a week, 20mg second week, 30 mg third week. Adjusted well and main side effects were: constipation, weight gain, increased motion sickness. These seemed worth it compared to my anxiety. Took that from may 2017 to around march 2019, when, aided by prescribing doctor, decided to try to stop gradually. He recommended reduce in half (15 mg) in one go and report back. I did and stayed there for about 5 weeks. I felt physical symptoms such as diarrhea, ocular pain, headaches, general photophobia. Doc said these were normal and would subside and indeed they did after about 5 weeks. At that point doc said to cut in half again (7.5 mg). After a couple of days I felt all the previous symptoms in huge intensity but also despair, dread, bouts of crying, and generally a feeling of losing myself. Doc told me to up it back to 15 mg and stay there, which I did. A few months later I was having trouble sleeping and drinking myself to sleep so I asked for advice and he upped the dose to 20mg, where I stayed until July 2021. In November 2020 I tried switching from paxil to paroxetine and had huge withdrawal symptoms (same dose). Switched back to paxil. July 2021, switched gradually from paxil to paroxetine because it is cheaper. That worked fine. I also then started tapering off from 20mg to 10mg (achieved May 2022, no withdrawal). July 2022, doc suggests transition to trintellix with following plan: week In July 2020 I started seeing a new psychiatrist and long story short he said paroxetine was notoriously difficult to get off of and that we could switch to trintellix if I wanted to continue medication or use fluoxetine as a bridge. In July 2021, aided by websites like this one, I told him I would start a slow tappering off to help me decide and he supported did. I did about -10% a month, including paxil suspension Last week July 2022: started 5 mg Trintellix. A week later 10 mg Trintellix. A week later went from 10 to 7.5 mg of paroxetine. Felt ok. A week later went from 7.5 to 5 mg of paroxetine. On the third day felt crippling headache that did not subside even with 600 mg ibuprofen. This came along with a very stiff neck seemingly out of the blue. I decided it must've been my yoga headstand. But I also felt a bit off - weird racing thoughts, did not feel like myself. Had to take alprazolam 0.25 mg to sleep. The next day I felt extremely nauseous and dizzy along with the stiff neck, ocular pain, and a paradoxical feeling of both light and heavy head, if that makes sense. These symptoms persisted into the next day, which is where I am now. Any advice/tips/stories/support is welcome. Thank you

LocoLarry Hope im doing this right. Just wanted some info on what to do if a person has just up & stopped taking 100mg of Zoloft after 7 years of continuous use. Would like to learn if people have had similar side effects like uncontrollable crying spells etc.

Hi, I found this forum when I was looking for information on tapering off of Effexor. I've been on Effexor about six or seven years and stopped taking it after a brief taper three weeks ago. I first started taking antidepressants after the birth of my son sixteen years ago. After a prolonged labor, C-Section, and spinal tap that went too high, I was intubated and sustained a throat injury. I could not lie down because that would cause me to cough. I can remember trying to sleep with a cough drop in my mouth to keep me from coughing. I basically didn't sleep for about three months and sank into a depression. Prozac was a wonder drug and gave me an amazing amount of energy. Eventually the drug stopped working, and I tried Celexa which didn't work before trying Effexor. On Effexor, I was pretty happy. I felt like I developed strong coping skills including exercise, and mindfulness. I started to train to be a life coach, and I was pretty much on top of the world and believed that if we try hard enough and have good enough coping skills we can manage our emotions. My psychiatrist started being pulled away into management duties, and the office cancelled several of my appointments. Finally, he was pulled into management full, time. I also became really annoyed with the clinic, and their, "it can take seven to ten days to authorize a refill" policy. Once I went an entire weekend without Effexor and became severely debilitated, and I was thinking that I would prefer not to have to deal with that. I mentioned this to my GP, who supported my desire to get off, and wrote me a six week taping prescription which I started August 15th. Taping from 150 milligrams August 15th: 75 milligrams for two weeks Sept. 1: 27.5 milligrams for two weeks The last two weeks I was supposed to go every other day at 37.5, but I had read that would just put me on a roller coaster, so I just decided to stop. I can see that this may not have been a good choice. I think tapering all the way to 27.5 milligrams was not too bad. I experienced some dizziness and crankiness but it was manageable. Here's how it's been since then: Week one and two: The worst symptom was the feeling that my brain was sloshing around in my head with every step I took. For about three days, I was filled with rage. I wanted to get away from my husband and two teenagers because I was so irritable. I thought about going to a hotel or flying to NYC to see a friend, but I didn't do any of that. I have also had chills and nausea and hot flashes. If I had been expected to perform anything at a high level, it would have been nearly impossible. Three weeks in to this, I find that I am having crying spells. I have never had crying spells, and I have never felt as off-balance as I do now. I'm trying to figure out what my next step should be. Should I stick it out since I'm almost a month in, or do I go back on Effexor? I just finished Theresa Borchard's book, and I found it quite disturbing. She describes trying all the alternative therapies and ultimately finding a traditional drug cocktail that works. It's a great book, but I wonder if I have a brain like hers, or if I can get through the withdrawal to be the person I thought I could be, or if my serotonin is now so depleted I'll have to stay on these drugs for life.