Help to wean off Paxil/Senior Antidepressants

Hi,
I am currently weaning off Paxil also - from 40 mg, 30 mg, now on 20 mg. and feeling much better. Some days are better than others. I find that when I am home alone, my mind gets the best of me. Dr. is pleased, but wants me to stay at the 20 for another 6 weeks before going down any further. Does this sound encouraging? What do you mean by a "short taper"? I really want to get this over with. Has anyone else experienced these ups and downs during the process??

I think @sears meant since I was on such a low dose (10 mg.) and for only 8 weeks I would not have to have a long, gradual decrease of this drug when coming off of it. That's what @sears meant by a "short taper".
And that is exactly what happened. I was able to stop it quickly since I was not on it that long and the dose only 10 mg.
I think you should follow your doctor's advice in weaning off this drug. Don't know how long you were on it(?) but with a 40 mg. dose it's best to come off of it slowly as your doctor is advising you. It is encouraging. Don't know exactly what you mean by "my mind gets the best of me" when home alone but my guess is you find yourself mentally out of whack. Which is normal. When this happens try to "distract" yourself. Get out of your mind and focus on something you enjoy no matter what it is. Even going outside for a brief walk, listening to music can help. Accept that this feeling is happening to you - talk to yourself to overcome it and then move on to something else! You will eventually get rid off Paxil...be patient and best of luck to you.

The amount of time one uses Paxil has a lot to do with these tapers also. Several years at a high dosage will probably mean a very long drawn out taper and a ton of being extremely uncomfortable both mentally and physically. Be glad you didn’t take this longer than eight weeks! As a side note, my new doctor no longer prescribes Paxil or Effexor due to the horrible withdrawal it produces in most people.

Wow! That's interesting! I felt terrible on it - gave it 8 weeks and then was done.
However my psychiatric NP never told me about the horrible withdrawal I could potentially have.
Disappointing. Your new doctor sounds on point. Good for you!
I am now with a new provider and on Zoloft 50 mg. for PTSD and severe anxiety. I went up slowly, starting at 25 mg. then 37.5 mg. now at 50 mg. I feel much better on this vs. Paxil but wondering if I should even be at a higher dose. It "seems" that Zoloft is the drug of choice for "seniors"...I am sensitive to medications and never had a side effect from it. No weight gain either although I am in the process of changing my eating habits as I have weight to lose. So far 23 pounds. I will give it more time & hopefully we be fine on 50 mg. Thanks for your info 🙂

It’s been many years since I took Paxil. My complaint about taking it was I was gaining a significant amount of weight, and I wanted to take a vacation from antidepressants. I’d been taking it for about six months, at a relatively low dosage. My doctor outlined a tapering schedule of about five days.

I followed that, was doing fine, but about 10 days after taking the final dose, I had a severe multi-symptom anxiety attack. This was the first time I had experienced one; I was miserable, and my doctor was out of town. I had Valium in the house, which was prescribed for an unrelated condition, but didn’t think to take it. That I wasn’t thinking clearly was another symptom (for me) of Paxil withdrawal.

After seeing my doctor, he placed me on Prozac, and I started feeling well again. My takeaway from this was the tapering time was too brief. My doctor explained that Paxil has a short half-life, which I understand as leaving your system more quickly. I would never take Paxil again. I also took Effexor briefly, and stopped taking it due to side effects, i.e seeing light flashes, and what I described as electrical zaps in my head/brain. Effexor is another med I wouldn’t take again.

Another thought: I stopped smoking 26 years ago, and about three months later, began experiencing depression again, after not needing antidepressant medication for many years. This had happened once before when I stopped smoking, and not long afterward had an episode of depression. Very few effective antidepressant medications were available (mid-1970’s) then. The point I’m trying to make is that since smoking is an addiction, and a way to ‘sooth your nerves’, giving up smoking might also bring on an episode of depression in some, not all, people. For anyone reading this, I do NOT recommend you continue to smoke to avoid getting depressed. Smoking causes significantly more and serious health problems, and now there are more effective antidepressant medications. I’ve read about this occurring to some people, and realized this might have affected me.