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Why: what to do now? paroxetine tapering


Why

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Hi all. I discovered this site after several seqrch in google,  and lurked for a while. 

Here my story (summarized),  and please forgive me grammar error because english is not my main language. 

 

I'm 25 yo male from Italy. 

I have taken various psych drugs and switched doctors with the only achievement  of ruining the best years of my life. 

I was put on AD at the age of 11, because it seems i had sleep problems and was lethargic during the day,  and my parents had this brilliant idea to contact a psychiatrist that gave me nopron.  The problem didnt go away then he (or another one) gave me Zoloft.

i remember very well when i went to the study and even all my elementary school friends name 

i also remember for few next week after i started taking zoloft i felt more energy and managed to stay awake during day. 

Then the hell began.  My memory just got wrecked and i have this big black hole in my mind for the successive years.  

I only remember episodes of my life (mostly not very pleasant),  and the suffering i experienced. 

I started having depression,  anxiety,  mood swings and more else,  all things i had not pre-drugs. 

My parents also sent me to several psychiatrists  everywhere in Italy,  but things only got worse for me. 

I was told i was very smart by every teacher at the schools,  but then i started to be so anxious to frequent school and meet others i started to stay home.  

Some episode of bullying at age of 12 also played an huge role in this. 

Eventually at superior schools i have lost 4 years because too many absences and they couldn't validate my attend even my ratings weren't so bad. 

Eventually i managed to give final exams (with 4 years of late)  by myself without frequenting. 

 

Meanwhile my life had been a constant pain. 

 

 Me and my parents then (i forgot to mention  my mother has a life long hidtory of polipharmacy) came out with this idea of me staying with more people "like me"  would help me "socializing".  So i accepted to give a try.  I entered by my own and i found to be prisone by one of these private structures wich are actually an asylum.

   i coulnd't wash myself alone,  i was deprived of my belongings and documents,  phone,  and mind (i was drugged hard this time)  ,  self esteem and every resemblance of humanity,  after 1 month and half God suggested my parents it wasn't a great idea to keep me there. 

They weren't aware what was happening  or how i was being treated,  and all phone calls were under their survellaince,  so i couln't full blame them,  but still it was the most horrible  experience of my life. 

 

Btw i then lost another 2 year,  and then it was when i decided to give the school exams by myself (sorry,  i'm messing up dates and events,  my memory is really destroyed) 

 

But i have also decided to end with these poisons wich only made me an empty shell. 

Last doctor had given me lithium  lamotrigine and paroxetine  (here sold under the name of Sereupin). 

I fast tapered both lithium and lamotrigine,  and i felt better without particular symptoms. 

 

Meanwhile i signed myself  to University (this in 2015), in Biology related course of study. (with 4 years late) 

The year went very well for the first months,  i tied with very nice people,  and i gave 4-5 exams with max or almost rating. 

I was doing during paroxetine tapering  starting. 

Then i fell because my anxiety became unbarable,  and then this year i haven't come back to University. 

I have lost all my contacts with the only friends of my life,  and my mother started to obsess me every day to go back to pills. 

But i know I CANT and WONT back to what have done me all of this.  Because i was never truly myself under pills,  my memory disappeared (i have now almost forgotten what i have studied last year) ,  mood swings,  tremors,  loss of interest toward life,  cognitive  problems. 

I just can't bear all of this anymore. 

I want to be myself and have a life. 

 

Still i have withdrawal  issues. 

I have tapered for more than year now. 

I started at 20 mg paroxetine,  now i'm at 4.x mg. 

I think i have did it too fast because it'l hase been almost 2 months now since last cut,  and i'm having severe anhedonia/DP (not depression) ,  and it doesn't "stabilize". 

I don't  leave home since 7 months or so.  My father finally believed me that are these drugs wich ruined me (and my mother),  and is helping me with all,  but isn't a very pleasant situation. 

Since i have already lost this accademic year,  and i think i can bear the symptoms,  i already  did another reduction starting from today. 

It's a 10 % cut (of 4.x mg). 

I just want all of this to end so i can resume my studies asap. 

 

I know i'm a bit impatient,  but time is running away for me,  and i can't lose it anymore. 

 

Also sorry for confused writing /typos,  i'm in bed and not sleeping tonight

 

Thank you all for support you give in this community

 

Edited by scallywag
tags

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Why -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA)
 
I'm sorry you've had such a hard time with these medications; many of us do.
 
Question for you: Would you write again with more detail about how you've decreased from 20 mg to 4 mg?  Specifically

  • How much did you decrease the dose?
  • How frequently did you decrease?

 If you see this message before your next dose, please think about returning to 4 mg. We don't advise reducing dose while your symptoms are varying and/or severe. Right now it may be best to maintain your dose at 4 mg for at least 2-3 months, probably longer. The brain and the rest of the CNS (central nervous system) do best on stability.
3KIS: Keep it slow. Keep it simple. Keep it stable.

Another link that might help explain how reducing dose affects symptoms:
Youtube video, 4 minutes: Healing from antidepressants

The symptoms you list, anhedonia and depersonalization, are among the many symptoms that people experience when tapering or discontinuing medications such as paroxetine.
What is withdrawal syndrome
Important topics about symptoms including sleep problems
Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list

I'm glad you've seen our topic about tapering by 10%. To make it easy to find again, I'll post links to it and other relevant topics:
Tapering -- what you need to know
Why taper by 10% of my dosage?
Tips for tapering off Paxil (paroxetine)


This is YOUR introduction topic -- the place for you to ask questions, record symptoms, share your progress, and connect with other members of the SA community.

I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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Hi, tank you for support and helpful links.

I must apologize for a wrong info.

Actually when i wrote that post i was taking 1.7 mg not 4. I don't know where the 4 mg comes from, so sorry.

 

Also i don't remember exactly each reduction i made.

At first i was very impatient to get rif of this drug, so i must have done some huge cut wich hit me months later.

 

I have forgot to say in the introduction, i was taking some other ad before paroxetine, and then i met this psicologist (yes, not even psychiatrist) wich told me to cold turkey all meds.

I felt good at first, then after 2/3 months i started to couldn't wake - up the morning and to have sever anxiety.

 

It seems it works this way for me : after a huge cut /CT symptoms appears after 2/3 months.

 

It can be the case this time as well : i made some huge reduction at first, then symptoms hit me after that much of time, and then i started to mantain dose and taper.

I cannot tell how it went exactly, i didn't write a diary because i couldn't know at that time this would be so difficult and long lasting.

 

Btw i'm now at 1.4 mg. Since i have not severe anxiety or unbearable symptoms (i can stand this DP if i know it will go away eventually), i felt a could push another bit.

 

I know from 1.7 to 1.4 it is more than 15 % cut, but i find difficult to make exact cuttings because i use an "accuracy scale" bought for 30 € on Amazon and wich seems only reliable to certains measurings.

I don't know how to explain better.

Btw i was at 30 mg of tablet wich are 1.7 mg of paroxetine, and now i am at 25 mg wich are 1.4.

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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To make it more clear: until some days ago i was at 1.7 mg (i was for 2 months).

Main symptoms during last period were and are : severe DP (detachement of body and feeling like being on "auto-pilot" and i could not make anything by my will) , cannot sleep the night but the morning, agoraphobia (although this could be cause i don't leave home for sever months so far), cannot make physical exercise even for 2-3 minutes, rage.

The most debilitating is the DP because i CANT make any decision or take any activity, i simply cannot, it is like my will is paralyzed and when i sit in front of pc i cannot move away.

Now have been 4 days since i down-cut to 1.4 mg, no changing so far (i know is too early).

 

Despite what i have written is a long list, i felt a could push another bit, i may back to previous dose if things become too bad

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Because you are having symptoms, you should stay at the same dose or possibly increase back to the previous dose. It may take many weeks for your symptoms to settle down after so many large dose reductions.

 

Wait for your symptoms to settle down, then wait another 2 weeks before reducing dose again.

 

When was the last time you took the full tablet, 20 mg of paroxetine?

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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Last time i took 20 mg it was 1 years and 6 months ago.

The problem i stayed at previous dose (1.7) for 2 months and symptoms didn't go away.

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Going from 20 mg to 1.7 mg in 18 months is *mathematically* the same as reducing by 12.8% per month.  Unfortunately you made some big reductions at the start which destabilized you. You have recovered yet from those major changes. The best way to deal with that is stay at your current dose for much longer than 2 months to let your CNS (central nervous system) catch up.
 
When a person starts any of these medications, our CNS makes changes to neurotransmitter cells in the brain and elsewhere. When we stop the medication or reduce dose, our CNS has to undo the original changes to make up for the lower dose. You can read other explanations of this at these links.
One theory of anti-depressant withdrawal syndrome
How your brain responds to psychiatric drugs - aka "Brain remodeling"
Youtube video, 4 minutes: Healing from antidepressants

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

Link to comment
  • 7 months later...

I'm very confused by reading my own topic, since on january i was taking 1.4 mg, but i thought i was already taking 0.8.

 

Anyway it seems after the last post i made again the same mistake of not having patience, and i jumped to 0.4 mg in few weeks, thinking to speeding up the healing.

 

of course it was not the case and instead i crashed and became bedridden for months.

 

I also developed from that lats cut  eye floaters, head pressure, tinnitus, sever anxiety , DP DR, Anger, delayed sleep cycle etc.

 

After 4-5 months tinnitus, delayed sleep and head pressure went away, while depression anxiety and other things came and went in waves and i still have many eye floaters and blurred vision

In the last 2 months i almost stabilized, with most of the symptoms lowered in intensity and i even had some small, little and precious moments where depression disappeared and i could find pleasure in living. This had never happened before, both in wd or under pills.

 

since i was feeling better enough, i decided to do a little dosage cut (from 0.4 to 0.38).

Even this little cut lead to a new rise of anxiety, difficulty sleeping and rage.

I also have rage and anxiety when hearing some sounds

 

I think it's not possible to do a littler cut, since i'm already using the liquid form and a pipette to measure dosages.

 

So what i have to do is endure these symptoms and wait for them to diminish

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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Double post

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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Hi WHY, just stops by to congratulate you for the huge achievement getting down to 0.38 mg! It must be the most challenging journey like we all know so well. Your strength and determination getting your life back is very inspiring! Lower doses can be tricky sometime for some of us, just be more careful. You can do it and think of the near future when you are free from these most dangerous poisons and start living life!

 

lex

Drug free Sep. 23 2017

2009 Mar.: lexapro 10mg for headache for 2 weeks.

2009-2012: on and off 1/4 to 1/3 of 10mg

2012 June--2013 Jan,: 1/4-1/3 of 10mg generic, bad jaw pain

2013 Jan-Mar: 10 mg generic. severe jaw and head pain;

2013 Mar--Aug. started tapering (liquid ever since) from 10 to 5 (one step) then gradually down to 2.25 mg by July. first ever panic attack, severe head/jaw pain

2013 Aug.: back to 2.75 mg; Nov: back to Brand Lex. 2.75mg -- 3mg,

2014 June: stopped PPI, head pressure/numbness. up-dosed 4.5mg, severe reaction mental symptoms added on

2014 Aug--2015 Aug: Micro taper down to 3.2mg, .025mg (<1%) cut holding 2-3 weeks.

2015 Aug 15th, Accidental one dose of 4.2mg. worsening brain non-functional, swollen head, body, coma like, DR

2016 Feb., started dosing 10am through 11 pm everyday 2/13--3.2mg, 3/15-- 2.9mg, 4/19-- 2.6mg, 6/26--2.2mg, 7/22 --1.9mg, 8/16--1.8mg,8/31--1.7m g, 9/13--1.6mg, 9/27--1.5mg, 10/8--1.4mg, 10/14--1.3mg, 11/1--1.2mg, 11/29--1.1mg, 12/12--1mg, 12/22--0.9mg

2017: 1/7--0.8mg, 1/15--0.7mg, 1/17--0.6mg, 1/20--0.52, 1/21--0.4mg, 1/22--0.26, 1/23--0.2, 2/13--0.13mg, 2/20--0.06mg, 3/18--0.13mg, 6/1--0.12mg, 7/6--0.1mg, 7/14--0.08mg, 8/17--0.04mg, 8/20--0.03mg, 8/28--0.02mg, 9/6--0.0205mg, 9/8--0.02mg, 9/17--0.015mg, 9/20--0.01mg, 9/21--0.0048mg, 9/22--0.0001mg,

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If you are still wondering about what to do with the survey would you be so kind so as to complete it?

What do you think about the survey? Your voice would be valuable.

Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen

We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. 

URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting  for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing.

http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651   

Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos.

Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you

Recovering paxil addict

None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. 

This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! 

  "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped."  Dr Mosher. Me too! 

Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015

I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015

Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017

 

 

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  • Moderator Emeritus
On 23/08/2017 at 6:38 AM, Why said:

I think it's not possible to do a littler cut, since i'm already using the liquid form and a pipette to measure dosages.

 

You could possibly dilute your dose.  Are you making your own or are you using a prescribed liquid?

 

how-to-make-a-liquid-from-tablets-or-capsules

 

serial-dilution

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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4 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

 

You could possibly dilute your dose.  Are you making your own or are you using a prescribed liquid?

 

how-to-make-a-liquid-from-tablets-or-capsules

 

serial-dilution

I forgot i can dilutetoo, right.

If i find the symptoms too heavy i'll consider that too.

I'm now using the liquid form wich is available here.

i switched to it for the tapering purpose

 

5 hours ago, nz11 said:

If you are still wondering about what to do with the survey would you be so kind so as to complete it?

What do you think about the survey? Your voice would be valuable.

 

I already sendt the survey.

 

Honestly i am very pesimistic about the outcome, since little will change, and even if the damage of psycho drugs will be recognized, big pharma will simply produce new molecules and pretend they are safer 

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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I had a very bad day three days ago.

 

I woke up and exited and took a lot of sunshine and made some exercises.

The same day i also went to the birthday party of my uncle : i felt horrible and almost got a panic attack. i resisted until the end and i had suicidary thoughts that night and the morning after.

 

 

But since then i got 2 days where i'm feeling almost normal (a bit too "active" maybe) where i can even feel the little joys of small things. it is wonderful, i think that day where i pushed myself to limit with sunshine and exercises and exposure to anxiety healed me a bit 

 

i don't know how much this will last, but at least tgese moments remember me that life is not only pain and sepression but joy too! at least there is an hope!

 

 

i just wanted to share tgese feelings with you all. 

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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These days the muscle fatigue is much stronger than normal, maybe because i traveled to town where i will study and i'm walking a bit and moving with car too.

 

My muscle are almost collapsing, at the end of the day i struggle to put one step after other.

Thanks to God i'm doing all things , but now i will need to study as well.

 

 

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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On 8/25/2017 at 0:14 AM, Why said:

I already sendt the survey.

 

Honestly i am very pesimistic about the outcome, since little will change, and even if the damage of psycho drugs will be recognized, big pharma will simply produce new molecules and pretend they are safer 

thanks for doing the survey.

yes sadly you are right but its at least giving us a way of bringing this harm to someones attention and who knows maybe this time something happens....hey we gotta try.

 

Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen

We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. 

URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting  for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing.

http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651   

Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos.

Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you

Recovering paxil addict

None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. 

This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! 

  "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped."  Dr Mosher. Me too! 

Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015

I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015

Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017

 

 

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  • ChessieCat changed the title to Why: what to do now? paroxetine tapering
  • 2 weeks later...

I am just back from a little walk with the bike.

 

Nothing too long but now i feel better, less anxious maybe.

 

 

These days i feel completely flat from the emotional side, i feel nothing  except something empathy fot some people, but no pleasure or joy.

In spite of this i'm managing to get things done.

 

I have already took a small english test (just a very very basic one) and passed it 

 

I had anxiety but thanks to God it was easy and my mind was clear enough that day to pass it.

 

I have done a small further cut as in signature and i hope it will not impact me too much.

 

Overall things are going better. can't say well because the road is long, i have a lot of bad symptoms still, especially cognitive impairment , dr/dp , apathy, fatigue etc.

 

but at least i'm managing to go ahead.

 

I pray God that he will at least show me a brighter future

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

yesterday i had an horrible spike of symptoms : depression, fatigue, BAD DP DR,  brain fog so heavy that i could barely talk and was forgetting what i was doing every second , and huge amount of rage. Lied half of the day on bed .

Today i feel much better. Brain fog has lifted a lot, have less fatigue and feel better overall.

I have taken 2 mg of magnesium citrate for 2 days prior to yesterday , so idk if that could be the cause.

 

I have also made another cut (to 0.36 to 0.35 ml) but i think it's too soon to feel the effects, but who knows?

 

 

 

I have edited the signature with last cut. Also fixed because instead of the mg i had written the ml. Each ml contains 2 mg so i am taking 0.70 mg now

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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  • 4 years later...

Need fast help guys. i feelso bad cause cariprazine,i need tostop it , but here in italy it only comes in capsule form (Reagila). how to taper the capsule? can i just open it up and mix with water or that would alter absorption?

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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Taper Reagila ( cariprazine) capsules

 

Please need fast answer

 

Edited by ChessieCat
added Intro topic title before merging with intro topic

I'm sorry, didn't write a proper diary and my memory is very bad, can't remember exactly all dosages . Here is a short summary

Drugged since i was 11 yo.

Prescribed several SSRI, neuroleptics, mood stabilizers, benzos.Last prescription was lithium, lamotrigine , 20 mg paroxetine, rivotril

Tapered fast lithium and lamotrigine with little to no symptoms 3 years ago.Since then i'm tapering paroxetine and going through withdrawal syndrome. My tapering was not   stable and that's probably the cause of a lot of acute symptoms i had .

Currently at 0.8 mg of paroxetine

Trying now a micro-taper of 0.02 cuts

15/07/2017 tapered to 0.74  (having waves and windows. Cognitive impairment, akathisia, apathy, anxiety, vision problems, depression, paranoia, obsessive toughts, extreme fatigue,  and some more: all comes in waves except vision problems wich are persistent)

08/09/2017 0.72 mg 28/09/2017 0.70 mg

 

 

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Please update your drug signature so that we can see what drugs and doses you have been on during the last 4.5 years.

 

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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  • Moderator Emeritus

From https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/EPAR/reagila#overview-section

 

Under the heading How is Reaglia used:

 

"Reagila is available as capsules (1.5, 3, 4.5 and 6 mg) to be taken by mouth."

 

Search results in the Introduction forum to find other members taking the same drug.  There might be information in those topics about how the members are tapering the drug:

 

Vraylar is another brand name for cariprazine.

 

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/search/?q=cariprazine

 

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/search/?q=Vraylar

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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  • Moderator Emeritus

I will ask the other mods if they know how to get non standard doses.

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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  • Moderator

You should be able to open the capsules and make reductions by weighing the powder or my making a suspension with the powder. Cariprazine  is not soluble in water so you would have to work with a suspension media such as ora-plus.

20 years on Paxil starting at 20mg and working up to 40mg. Sept 2011 started 10% every 6 weeks taper (2.5% every week for 4 weeks then hold for 2 additional weeks), currently at 7.9mg. Oct 2011 CTed 15oz vodka a night, to only drinking 2 beers most nights, totally sober Feb 2013.

Since I wrote this I have continued to decrease my dose by 10% every 6 weeks (2.5% every week for 4 weeks and then hold for an additional 2 weeks). I added in an extra 6 week hold when I hit 10mg to let things settle out even more. When I hit 3mgpw it became hard to split the drop into 4 parts so I switched to dropping 1mgpw (pill weight) every week for 3 weeks and then holding for another 3 weeks.  The 3 + 3 schedule turned out to be too harsh so I cut back to dropping 1mgpw every 4 weeks which is working better.

Final Dose 0.016mg.     Current dose 0.000mg 04-15-2017

 

"It's also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can loose all hope if you can't laugh at yourself and at life in general."  Stephen Hawking

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