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Hello nicolas, 47yo, French and seeking a way to stop meds. I have been on paxil for 22years with some change during this time with effexor but always came back to paxil. in 99 my doc gave me médications for Light anxiety….. well now that i feel that paxil poop out i switched for lexapro but alter 9 months Still having symptoms tinitus, anxiety, insomnia, headach, neck pain and all. could it be withdrawal of paxil even if i stopped it for lexapro ? I bélieve i am underdosing lexapro compare to paxil but does time will make symptoms go away? thanks for reading

I am a bit hasty in putting that xanax is 'done' since I have one more day on my taper but hey... who's counting?! ME! I am beyond excited that I will have a small break in drawing up liquid poison and putting it in my body 4 times a day to ward off the horrible WD sxs. But feeling empowered and wanting to work towards health I started looking today for help with paxil WD and found this forum! I am a 68 yo female, married, 2 adult kids, 2 grandkids, 4 rescued doggies, cats TNC. Retired nurse. A lot of physical pain from multiple ortho surgeries including scoliosis surgery with fusion from T2 thru L5 at the age of 45. So pain has been around a while. My drug use started with paxil Rx'd 25+ years ago for mild mood swings pre-menopausal. And I never asked about stopping nor did any of my Drs ever mention it so in my ignorance I popped the pills into my present mess of a situation. I have a very hyper metabolism and after my first surgery knew I could take enough narcotics to drug an elephant and as a small lady, not be sedated at all. Comments were made by medical people... "what do you take at home??" and "why are you awake?". It was embarrassing. Eighteen years ago I broke the fusion, undiagnosed for a long time, and was sent to a pain clinic. Rapidly I was up dosed to 80 mg methadone/day and 30 mg morphine prn. Five years later lyrica was added. Two years ago I was scheduled for another surgery and didn't want to go into it on all those drugs. I did a rapid (no medical support) detox off methadone. As bad as it was, it was a piece of cake compared to things to come. Next, post surgery, I got off lyrica. That was brutal but a few months later, feeling like wonder woman, I stopped my paxil CT. For the first 2-3 weeks I was OK. Brain zaps, crying jags (that I liked since being numb for so long sucked!) and mood swings but I was good. When the downward spiral started I had no idea it was WD related. I had worked in critical care and never really gave things like ADs any thought. Nausea, vertigo, insomnia, increasing migraines, weakness, fatigue, fluctuating BP, fluctuating heart rate from 38-140s, fainting, increased pain, panic, depression, shortness of breath... I lost 25+ lbs and it was not pretty. When I finally found info about WD from ADs I went immediately back on paxil. I was a mess and my Dr was clueless. But by then I was also on xanax. When the paxil got into my system and the sxs faded away I had a pancreas that no longer worked and a physical addiction to xanax, much to my shock. Four days after stopping the xanax CT I was going down the tubes once again and found benzo buddies and went back on xanax to taper. I started my liquid taper of the xanax in early June and will take the last micro doses tomorrow! When I was on daily methadone for 15 years I had no side effects from anything. Of course I was just swallowing pills and getting no pain relief but sheer terror that perhaps there was some gigantic agony beneath the narcotics kept me returning to the pain clinic. I had the morphine as needed and it did work because I seldom took it. But I knew I did not need the daily methadone. Oddly enough, when I got off that med I suddenly started having side effects from lyrica that I had been taking for 10 years. Plus a new and severe, totally disabling pain. I finally got off lyrica (anyone wanting a hint on that, let me know because an odd trick that I tried worked there that hasn't been successful for any other WD, dog gone it!) and thought I was doing OK. So after stopping a statin I went for the paxil which is where I started this discussion. I am certain that my benzo WD would not have been nearly as hard had I not been through the other stuff, especially the months of paxil WD torment. Poor brain! I do plan to take a break and allow myself to heal before I start the paxil WD but I am anxious to get information and have a plan. For the xanax WD I used a 1:1 alcohol/water taper. It was easy, I didn't have to discard any pills and the mix would last for days and even weeks without a problem. I used 1/2 of the recommended amount of alcohol to make the mix and then diluted the individual doses again with more water so the alcohol was never a problem. I chose to stay on xanax rather than switch to valium for a couple of reasons so I dosed 4 times a day. I would like to know if anyone has ideas about how long to heal between WDs? I still have so much physical pain and do take morphine as needed (never 2 days in a row) if there is a family event. Since detoxing off methadone all narcotics give me a migraine so it's a trade off but I don't want to miss everything with my family and the migraine is hours later so I can plan my pain. Maybe a rationalization? Of course when I do take morphine the benzo WD sxs subside. But on a regular day I am struggling with waves of anorexia, a lot of pain, fatigue, migraines, skin burning, insomnia (I have an Rx for ambien, also on my hit list), some anxiety, mood swings... the stuff everyone mentions. I managed the severity of the sxs but I am far from healed. The thread here about waves and windows was exactly as I feel! When I am bad I think I have always been bad and will always be bad. When I am in a window I think I am "cured" and will never take another pain med and can go all day and do everything. Then zap- I'm down again. Toss in the crazy pancreas mess and I can feel defeated at times. So that's my story. Since I know healing can take months and years from benzos, how quickly do I think about stressing my body to taper paxil? And should I do a liquid taper or buy a scale? I feel like my control has been very concise and accurate with xanax and shaving bits off a pill seems less so. It isn't an issue for me to discard parts of a paxil dose. The increased awareness of narcotics in general is a good thing, but the downside- I read so many sad stories of people on BB who had been given benzos for years and were suddenly cut off by the same Dr who no longer wanted to Rx a controlled substance and had no idea about WD. I feared my Dr doing that and hoarded my pills to get through the taper. That won't be a problem with paxil since big pharma and mainstream medicine have a cash cow in SSRIs and in my lifetime that won't change. Thank you ahead of time to anyone who can offer some advice. I look forward to reading and planning and hopefully being support for others on the same journey!

Hi there:) I was a member of paxilprogress since 2004 and then the site was shut down...I was on paxil for 8.5 years starting in 2001...after a horrible withdrawal ..at 11 months off i went back on paxil again for a few years then did a successful 4 year taper with compounded pills.. i have now been paxil free since June 1, 2014..paxil progress members will know who i am:) Michele aka MapleLeafGirl Admin note: MapleLeafGirl's Introductions topic: ☼ Mapleleafgirl off Paxil

Hi Everyone! I have been frequently visiting this site for a couple of months now, and I finally have some downtime to make a formal introduction. I am also a group member of the facebook group "Paxil Withdrawal." I frequent there as well to read on other stories and advice. Although I do not like to scroll on my phone on social media a lot, it often causes me to have a wave. I started on Zoloft 50mg in 2012. I went to my primary physician and told them I was feeling low and down in the dumps. They referred me to see a psychiatrist, that psychiatrist prescribed me Zoloft, and Voila, I get sucked in to the whole mess. At the time, looking at it now, it was situational depression. I was living with my parents, who were always fighting about money problems, and anything and everything. We got kicked out a house we were living in. Growing up I was neglected. I grew up pretty fast, not really knowing what parental love was. They were there for me financially all the time, but emotionally not so much. Till this day they would not really know of any changes in my life unless I told them. They would never ask. I had gotten into a bad car accident a couple of months prior, and needed help financially and emotionally. But neither of them would of given it since they were always fighting. What I probably needed was a therapist, somebody to talk to other than my close friends. But the pill was offered first, and I took it. So from 2012 to 2013, Zoloft was working well for me. I had a different relationship with my parents that got better, I exercised a lot, and got healthy and lean. So the situation I was in was really good along with the medication. Every time I went to visit my psychiatrist for a check up, it was real short, and I was told to stay on the Zoloft, and that was that. In 2014 I started Law School. Stress went up a lot, since I was working full time and going to school at night. Dr upped my Zoloft to 100mg. After 1 year of law school and working at the same time, I decided I did not want to do law school anymore. Felt like it was not for me and too much stress since I did not have anyone supporting me at home (my parents). I quit, but quitting meant that I would have to pay that 1 year loan back, so that added some financial stress. Around 2015, I had a panic attack after going to the gym and going to work. What I thought then was that the Zoloft stopped working. My Dr. told it probably pooped out. So we switched to Lexapro, it worked for a couple of months, then it stopped, switched to Prozac, that cause real bad start up effects. Dr. then tried to augment with an anti psychotic. That made me be in a different state of conscious. So that did not work for me. We eventually went back on the Zoloft at a high dose 200mg. Worked kind of, but all the horrible side effects made me depressed, weight gain, sexual dysfunction, etc. In 2019 we switched to Lexapro, it worked for a couple of months, but it stopped, now I am on Paxil. We started on 60mg of Paxil. But those horrible side effects still persisted. My new Psychiatrist wanted to augment with other meds, but for some divine reason I knew that no matter what medication or combination of medication I would be put on, would be a vicious cycle. I decided to taper with the guidance of my Dr. I now have a talk therapist that I started going to for about 2 years now. Therapy has been a huge help and difference. I started tapering back in Dec 2019. I am currently on 45mg of Paxil and just holding there for a while. My last decrease was about 2 weeks ago. Im in this wave pattern right now. Its harsh, but I know it will subside based on all the stories I have read hear and on the FB group. During all those changes in meds years prior I wish I had my therapist to begin with. I think I would of been fine just talking about my problems. During those med changes were also life changing things happening to me, with the added past trauma of neglect, and emotional inept parents. I think most would agree all I needed was someone to talk to professionally. But I am here now to gain insight and knowledge from you all in getting through this taper /withdrawal process. I look here everyday during my break at work. I like to see the aspirations, quotes, encouragement, it helps, thank you. I would like to hear more on why when I work out (HIIT Workout) that I am getting anxious after? I see there is a discussion on that, which I will look at soon. I use to love pushing my body in workouts, but now I am too scared because I might panic during a workout, even though I know its just my nervous system healing in the process. One of the main reason why I decided to start withdrawing is the weight gain. I eat clean, workout regularly, but seem to stay looking like a blimp. In the beginning I did lose weight, but I assume that was because I was on a low dose, and the medication has not really effect my nervous system yet. Whatever the scientific reason, I decided enough. Hope to hear more from the group and learn on this journey. It's tough right now because of this wave I am in, but I hold hope for myself and all of us. I really want to kick this thing in the ass and get on with my life!

I’m slowly tapering off Paxil. Does anyone have experience with antidepressants and marijuana? I’m thinking of trying a full spectrum CBD oil. I’m also wondering what the effects would be if I tried marijuana brownies. I have no experience with this, and don’t even know what I can get here in Florida.

Due to a stressful job and mild anxiety issues, I was prescribed 20mg paxil in March 2018 by a doctor. I continued on this dose until January 2019, when I decided to go off this drug. I dropped the dose to 10mg for 2 weeks, then took this dose every second day for another 2 days. I was able to get by for 4 months drug free until I started a new job and was experiencing bad insomnia. At the time, I thought it was just my anxiety and the doctor recommended I go back on 20mg paxil. I took this dose for 4 weeks and felt better (sleeping improved dramatically). After 4 weeks, I felt I didn't need the drug, so I dropped to 10mg and took that for 1 week, then CT altogether. 4 weeks off the drug had passed and I was feeling okay, until intense anxiety and insomnia hit me. I had to go back on 20mg paxil and stayed on this dose for 5 months until March 2020, where I dropped the dose to 10mg for a month, then 5 mg for the next month. I alternated the 5mg for every second day for another week then stopped altogether. At this time, I had also stopped taking the contraceptive pill (which I believed increased my mild anxiety and stress issues). I lasted drug free for 3.5 months and was feeling well (despite waves of manageable anxiety and insomnia, whilst working a full time job). 3 weeks ago, I felt overwhelming anxiety and hardly slept for 3 nights straight. Due to work pressures, I decided to go back on the 20mg dosage and took this for a week (felt very drugged out, and drousy). I was having too many side effects so my doctor recommended I drop to 10mg and take for another couple weeks. I did this, and the side effects lessened however, I was still experiencing memory and concentration issues. I decided to drop down to 5mg after a week, and am currently on this dose and feeling better (its been 2.5 weeks on meds and anxiety and sleep improved). This time going back on the full 20mg dose has brought on alot more side effects. I am hoping I can stay on 5mg paxil for 6 months, then very slowly taper. I want to be off this drug for good but struggle with full time work commitment and the WD anxiety and insomnia. Can anyone recommend how I can taper off 5mg successfully?

hello! im so happy to have found this site. I guess i will introduce myself i have been on Paxil for about 4 to 5 years now, taking a pretty low dose of 20 mg. I tried quitting about a year ago, my doctor was supportive but gave me no information about withdrawal and such. After two days with 10 mg I immediately went back. i thought it was my anxiety, not withdrawal. I am now quitting again. I reduced my dose to 10 mg and i have been on this for about 4 days. I am already getting bad symptoms. feeling depressed, tired, crying for no reason, emotional, intrusive thoughts, and anxiety. But honestly I am so determined to quit this time because I want to live a drug free life. I have been praying a lot as a coping method which helps. Here are a list of supplements i've been taking that help make my symptoms less severe (not saying you should do what i say at all, this is just what helped me. i'm not a doctor) : Magnesium, Niacinamide, D3, Iodine, Ashwaganda, and herbal teas. Thank you for having me in this beautiful community, I hope to contribute to in some way. peace will come starting dose: Paxil 20 mg current: paxil 10 mg