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Greenacre1 Successful withdrawal of Paxil after twelve years

Greenacre1
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Greenacre1 Newbie

Greenacre1

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In short I guess..I was on paxil progress and they HELPED me! Glad I found this site. And maybe to be of some hope for others. I had major anxiety, depression and PTSD. Was put on paxil until I finally hit the "poop out" stage after twelve years. Was also on Klonopin and Xanax. It took me ten months to withdrawal after several failed attempts. Have been off ALL meds for over five years and I have never felt so great! ALOT of exercise and diet make a world of difference. Experienced, brain zaps, blurred vision, major hearing enhancements, cold sweats, constant anxiety, fear and suicide. Running thoughts, always in my head and worrying. I wanted to die... Now just perm. tinnitus. I have learned to ignore the hissing. (quite is not your friend) I now meditate every morning and do tapping. YOU CAN OVER COME!!! YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE YOU WILL. God will guide you or whatever higher power you look to. Little did I know God saved me. This event in my life almost ripped apart my family. It took it's toll. Somehow, someway I made it out of the darkness and YOU CAN to! 

 

Thanks,

Mario.

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brassmonkey Contributor

brassmonkey

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Hi Mario-- welcome to the group.  It is always exciting to have someone join who has made it out the other side and is loving life.  People are going to have a lot of questions, I hope you will share further details of your success with us.

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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Altostrata Grand Master

Altostrata

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Hi, Mario. How did you go off Paxil? Did you have any withdrawal symptoms?

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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Greenacre1 Newbie

Greenacre1

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Thanks Brassmonkey! I will try and be as helpful as possible. Hi there Altostrata. I VERY slowly weened off of Paxil over a period of almost a year. I used liquid Paxil. It works the best. I went down in doses of .5mg or even 1mg-4mg every 3-5 weeks. I was at 60 mg on my highest does of Paxil. And yes I had major withdrawal symptoms. Brain zaps, blurred vision, major hearing enhancements, cold sweats, constant anxiety. Almost like living outside of my body. My wife took care of me. The withdrawal affects only lasted about 3-4 weeks though. My wife took care of me. God bless her! Please try and be with someone or always talk with someone when withdrawing. I made it through and to a brighter side of life!! I worked out during my withdrawal. I think it helped. Now I meditate and work out and try to eat right when I can. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Mario 

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Mort81 Newbie

Mort81

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Wonderful Story Mario ! The micro taper worked really well it seemed.  Like amazingly well.  I wish I had the knowledge to do that , might have saved a ton of horrible days .  How did you know how to taper like that ? So the horrible Withdrawal symptoms were happening after cuts ? or they just happened after you hit zero for about 4 weeks ?

Was on 30mg (Lexapro) for 7-8yrs20mg for 3 months (This was my choice my Doc wanted me to drop much faster)15 mg 2week10mg 2 weeks 5 mg 1 week0 since August 24th . PPI Dexlant  30 mg taper has begun. Cutting 20% currently.  using zantac as needed.  Benzo is currently 0.10mg 

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Greenacre1 Newbie

Greenacre1

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Hi Mort81,

At first I tries to cold turkey!!! INSANE!! Then I started doing some research and found about the micro taper with liquid paxil. I cannot remember when my withdrawal symptoms came. Sorry. It's like I had my memory flashed. Very grey area. Little memories came back every so often...

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Mort81 Newbie

Mort81

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Thanks for response ya CT is rough . I didnt CT but pretty close .  Just followed my doctors intsuctions . Its okay you dont need to remember this crap anwyay . So glad you healed and moved on ! This story is much needed for us around here 

Was on 30mg (Lexapro) for 7-8yrs20mg for 3 months (This was my choice my Doc wanted me to drop much faster)15 mg 2week10mg 2 weeks 5 mg 1 week0 since August 24th . PPI Dexlant  30 mg taper has begun. Cutting 20% currently.  using zantac as needed.  Benzo is currently 0.10mg 

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FightingForHope Newbie

FightingForHope

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Mario, that's so great to hear, my meds experience has been similar to yours, but I am still in recovery, 3 months fully off paxil after a 9 month or so taper. I now wish I had gone much slower, but I am inspired by the success stories like yours! Congrats and thanks for sharing your success!

About 20 year history on and off SSRIs, beginning with Prozac 20mg (?)

then Lexapro (from which I unwittingly did a traumatic and disastrous cold turkey)

then last 14 years on Paxil 20mg, then 10mg, with unsuccessful attempts at cessation

Finally successfully tapered from 20mg to 0 over the last year. Last dose was on 12/11/2015.

I was also prescribed Clonazepam concomitantly for anxiety, to take as needed. I took about 0.125mg to 0.5mg, 0 to twice weekly (?). Stopped taking altogether beginning April 2016.

Overall my recollection of this timeline is scattered - lots of life and doctor changes, moves, poor record keeping on my part, and my memory has not been the best lately, but I am noticing improvements.

Also took antihistamines and decongestants for years for chronic allergies, all of which I also stopped Dec 2015.

Currently taking fish oil, pro-biotics, Vit. D for deficiency, and Magnesium (but only occasionally).

End of April 2016 started taking Trader Joe's "Calming Sleep Formula" which seemed to help; it is L-Theanine 200mg, 5-HTP 30mg, and Melatonin 3mg - but I read 5-HTP affects serotonin, so I am going to stop that also, and try only Melatonin instead.

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ChessieCat Grand Master

ChessieCat

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Hi there,

 

The staff at SA are wondering how you are.  We'd love to hear how you are doing now.   Would you mind dropping by and giving an update?

 

Thanks.

CC

* 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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Frankgrimes Newbie

Frankgrimes

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On 3/9/2016 at 10:41 AM, Greenacre1 said:

Thanks Brassmonkey! I will try and be as helpful as possible. Hi there Altostrata. I VERY slowly weened off of Paxil over a period of almost a year. I used liquid Paxil. It works the best. I went down in doses of .5mg or even 1mg-4mg every 3-5 weeks. I was at 60 mg on my highest does of Paxil. And yes I had major withdrawal symptoms. Brain zaps, blurred vision, major hearing enhancements, cold sweats, constant anxiety. Almost like living outside of my body. My wife took care of me. The withdrawal affects only lasted about 3-4 weeks though. My wife took care of me. God bless her! Please try and be with someone or always talk with someone when withdrawing. I made it through and to a brighter side of life!! I worked out during my withdrawal. I think it helped. Now I meditate and work out and try to eat right when I can. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Mario 

 

Congrats!  Each time you went down, how long did it take to stabilize before tapering again?  How long did the immediate withdrawal last for?  Thanks!

- for 16 years took: morning: lexapro 10 mg, wellbutrin xl 150mg; evening: paxil 2.5 mg, zoloft 25mg

- feb 22:  tried to change and decreased paxil to 1.25 and zoloft to 50 and experienced eurphoria and possible mania, needed less sleep, etc.

- decreased zoloft back to 25 over 2 weeks and decreased paxil to 0

- withdrawal started a few days later and increased paxil back to 1.25 - stabilized but flat after a couple days (eventually got paxil back to 2.5)

- also took levaquin for possible prostatitis

- never really improved and we tried deplin, different formulations of generics and brand names

- Mid June 2019 lost the ability to sleep completely

- 7/1/19 cold turkeyed in hospital off 2.5 paxil and shortly thereafter 25 zoloft, titrated lithium up to 1200 but settled at 900mg

- 8/10/19 tried 12.5 lexapro for 2 weeks with disastrous sensitivities 

- 8/26/19 and currently: morning: 10 mg lexapro, 150 wellbutrin xl; evening: lithium 900 mg (Took klonopin for wknd)
9/20 tapered to 780mg lithium from 900mg - hypomania almost immediately, tinnitus, dizziness, pain, burning, freezing cold

- 9/29 reinstated to 900mg lithium

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