Tips on how to wean off of Paxil (paroxetine): Bad withdrawal.

Your going way too fast. Reduce by 10 percent every three months.

Check out the Inner Compass Initiative: https://www.theinnercompass.org

I have been on Aropax (paroxetine) for just over 30years. My max daily dose was 10mg, recently I realised that the reasons I started it, no longer existed and really wanted to come off it. During the time I’ve been on it , it has mostly been good. If I missed a day I knew fairly quickly and would have a weird sensation where my thoughts took half a second to kind of catch up to what was happening. Anyway, being that I have been on this so long, and sensitive to medication, I have done the tapering extremely slowly. Also, as cutting down tablets can be really inaccurate, I located a local compound pharmacist (after a chat with my gp) so they could break down my tablets to 2.5mg size. I basically have done 10mg and 5mg alternate days for about a month, then 5mg daily for a month, then 5mg and 2.5mg alternate days for a month and now on the last leg @2.5mg daily.
My withdrawals, even though extremely tapered, has been emotional withdrawal. This lasts a few days with each drop down to the next level. I feel like my emotions are sitting just under the surface especially irritability and feeling overwhelmed to where I just want to bust in to tears.
I have to remind myself this is going to pass, it is literally the medical withdrawal. Once I plateau to the next level it seems to come right. Anyway, long spiel but hope this may give some insight to others

It sounds like you’re going about this in a smart fashion. I
Wish you success. I wish I had known about this 30 years ago when I stopped Paxil. My doctor had me do a one week reduction in dosage, then stop.

Two weeks later, I had a full blown anxiety/panic attack. It came on suddenly, with nausea, dizziness, anxiety, feeling like I wasn’t “all there”. I had to leave work. My Doctor was out of town, and his office told me to take half a Valium (2.5 mg’). A higher dose would have been more.helpful. I felt awful for about two weeks, then gradually a bit less anxious, and the physical sensations diminished.

When my doctor returned, he placed me on Prozac. One things I was told was that Paxil has a short half life, and leaves your system fairly quickly. I vowed never to take Paxil again. Best wishes on your taper.

Isn't it scary to see all the side effects these medications have, then think of the other medications that are not in the psychotropic category! I just spent the last 8 months experiencing profound vertigo, dizzy spells, visual auras all pre migraine episodes. Dizziness sometimes 3 times per day but something every day times 8 months. Finally decided to drill down on the cause myself because ENT was of no help and Neuro Nurse Practitioner wanted to start me on a anti-depressant. I was depressed yes but BECAUSE I was having vertigo etc. Dug into the research and lo and behold found the culprit! I had been placed on Eliquis to replace Warfarin mainly as a method of ease and not having to monitor lab work. Stopped Eliquis on 8/8/2024 and have had not one episode of vertigo, dizziness and/or visual auras thus no migraines either. Scary enough to not want to take any medication at all.

Hi,
Thanks for replying. One week taper, bloody hell that’s crazy , your doctor obviously had No idea. I feel for you on the anxiety/panic attack , that was part of the reason I was on it (also depression ), it could not have been a worse way for you to come off it and such a frightening experience. I was reading somewhere about people being put on to Prozac temporarily, due to it being easier to taper off.
The Aropax did do the job for me for many years, Just wish the coming off it had been more fully conveyed as even though I’m doing a really slow taper, the intensity of how so feel for days is just awful.
Best wishes to you ☺️

Good on you for getting it sorted yourself !!! It’s absolutely crazy what is being handed and , that’s not looking at the whole picture !!! Of course you would be getting depressed feeling like that everyday and it’s like throwing oil on the fire giving you that, without trying to get too the root cause.
Hopefully all of us having these conversations will give at least one person, a greater perspective and more information to make decisions for their own health, without feeling pressured into taking something that may not be right for them 👍

Hi, just wondering how you are doing with your journey now ?